Forgotten Winnipeg home once dished up food, music as hub for Black community

Tucked in a short street with a handful of homes squeezed onto postage-stamp lots sits one nondescript building that holds, behind its boarded-up windows, a significant history — particularly for Manitoba's Black community.

The structure at 257 Lulu St., next to a parking lot girded by a rusted rail fence, was once Haynes Chicken Shack, a gathering place renowned for its southern U.S.-style food and live music performances.

It was also home to a barrier-breaking man named Piercy Augustus (Percy) Haynes, whose tenacity led him to multiple athletic titles and to become the first Black man in the modern Royal Canadian Navy.

"Piercy Haynes is one of my favourite Winnipeggers," said Christian Cassidy, a Winnipeg historian and blogger of West End Dumplings. "He was an amazing man. He was a community builder."

Despite Hayne's accomplishments and the immense popularity of the chicken shack, there is nothing to indicate the building's distinction to any passersby — and its future looks bleak.

"It was put up for sale a couple of years back and in the ad it specified that it must be torn down," said Cassidy. "I think it's really sad that it's in that state and I'm not sure what can be done."

Haynes was born in 1911 in what was then known as British Guiana, now Guyana, and grew up in the Lulu house after his family moved to Winnipeg in 1912.

He was part of the Stella Mission's track team, the Olympics, which won the Dominion teen athletics championship in 1928. He was also a member of the Winnipeg Stellars basketball team that won the 1932 Dominion amateur basketball championship.

He was the city's amateur welterweight boxing champ in 1933 and 1934, and led a number of softball teams to city playoffs and championships as pitcher.

And Haynes was a gifted piano player and vocalist who became a fixture in Winnipeg's music scene.

"There was so much of his life that he was out there in the public and made a name for himself in a time where Blacks couldn't make a name for themselves," said Andre Sheppard, a member of the Black History Manitoba Celebration Committee.

"He had that drive to get out there and break down those barriers."

In 1932, Haynes met jazz singer Zena Bradshaw, who had recently moved to Winnipeg from Edmonton with her young son. They became a performing duo and lived at the Lulu address before the Second World War called to Haynes.

He tried to enlist, like many of his friends, with the Royal Canadian Navy but was told minorities weren't allowed, the Manitoba Historical Society says.