Mother Courage (restaurant)
Restaurant in New York, United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mother Courage was a feminist restaurant located at 342 West 11th Street in Greenwich Village in New York City. It was the first known feminist restaurant in the United States.[1]
| Mother Courage | |
|---|---|
 Interactive map of Mother Courage | |
| Restaurant information | |
| Established | 1972 |
| Location | 342 West 11th Street, New York, New York, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°44′08″N 74°00′29″W |
History
With the help of $10,000 crowdsourced micro-loans and personal savings, women's rights activists and lesbian couple Dolores Alexander and Jill Ward established Mother Courage in May 1972.[2][1] It was named after the title character in the play Mother Courage and Her Children by anti-war Marxist poet, Bertolt Brecht.[2][1]
It was the first known feminist restaurant in the United States.[1]
Description and influence
Mother Courage was a hub for the women's liberation movement of the 1970s. It was a DIY affair, a renovated dilapidated luncheonette transformed with the help of a volunteer construction crew of family and friends in the women's liberation movement,[3] and decorated with house plants and sketches by local feminist artists and the menu written on a chalkboard.[1] Clientele ran the gamut politically, and men were welcome but not prioritized over female patrons.[4] Well-known patrons included Susan Brownmiller, Gloria Steinem,[4] Audre Lorde, and Kate Millett.[3] The restaurant played host to readings and other cultural events.[4]
It closed in 1977 but inspired many other feminist restaurants throughout the United States and Canada.[5]
