I created the Pink Taco restaurant & bar concept and opened the original in May 1998 — a year before the Mortons opened their first.

The controversy and community response to their version is tame compared to what I faced in ultra-conservative Manhattan, Kansas. We had aggressive picketers, petitioners, hate letters, anonymous threats, an onslaught of negative letters-to-the-editor, and police
discrimination.

There were many stories in the local papers. The ABC affiliate out of Topeka came to Manhattan and did an on-site story that ran state-wide on the evening news, and the CBS affiliate invited us to join them in-studio for their half-hour morning show (which we declined since things were spiraling out of control).

I would do Internet searches at the time that would call up page after page of hits about me and my store. My Pink Taco dominated the regional news and spread nationwide through online postings and reprinted stories in towns across the country.

Anyway, I have written an article recounting the history of the original Pink Taco and the intense controversy it caused (complete with pictures and links to about a dozen of the news stories). You can read it on my blog if you’re interested:
http://helpmestartauniversity.com/2008/04/17/the-amazing-true-story-of-the-original-pink-taco-restaurant-bar/