The Brunswick Cafe and Tepee Room with its now very much non-PC mascot named “skookum-um-chuck” was located at 411 Sherman St. in downtown Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Advertisements encouraged people to look for the “SIGN OF THE INDIAN.”
According to the back of the postcard above:
THE BRUNSWICK CAFE & TEPEE ROOM, located right downtown in Idaho’s foremost tourist mecca, Coeur d’Alene. It has a unique front featuring skookum-um-chuck, the smiling Indian. Fine food is hot-served. The cozy interior also makes it the place where everybody goes for “just a cup of coffee,” full course dinner, sizzling steak or their famous specialty – the “awful-awful.”
Bill Webster opened the Brunswick Cafe in January, 1954 but he had bigger ambitions than just running a restaurant. Webster served as a Democrat in the Idaho House from 1956-1961. In 1965 he was elected to the Senate where he served two terms before dropping out.In 1968, he was elected again and served until 1970.
In 1971, he became the superintendent of the Idaho State Liquor Dispensary. Too busy to deal with his new appointment and pressure of running the now dated restaurant, Webster sold his location Tom Robb to further expand his Iron Horse Restaurant.
The “Awful-Awful” is an incredibly large and messy hamburger and is still being served at the Iron Horse.