The restaurant was known for its sausage sandwiches and soul food, and also served breakfast to customers leaving the 6 a.m. show at Club Harlem.

Wash's Restaurant was founded by Clifton and Alma Washington, who moved from Virginia to Atlantic City in 1925 shortly after their marriage.

[4] While Clifton operated a jitney, Alma managed the sandwich shop in the mornings and was assisted by her sons after school and on weekends.

[1] The restaurant began by selling sausage sandwiches, hot dogs, five-cent milkshakes, one-cent cigarettes, and candy.

[8] Soul food entrees were added after customers saw Alma preparing beef stew or chicken and dumplings for her family and asked if they could buy that too.

Among the entertainers who ate at the restaurant after their sets ended were Redd Foxx, Nipsey Russell, Count Basie, Sammy Davis Jr., and Moms Mabley.

[5] During the summer tourist season, Raheem recalled: The adult males would work their permanent eight-hour day jobs and arrive at the restaurant in time to eat dinner before the extremely busy night shift.

The adult females would run the day shift as cooks, cashiers and hostesses, then return home in the evening to tend to their houses and children.

[3] Between the Atlantic City and Pleasantville locations, Wash's probably employed at least one person from every black family in A.C. and became an unofficial social services agency by doing so.

[5] The catering menu featured the same soul food offerings as the Atlantic City restaurant – seafood, barbecued ribs, and fried chicken.

[5] In 2009 Turiya S.A. Raheem, a granddaughter of Clifton and Alma Washington, published a memoir of the family business titled Growing Up in the Other Atlantic City: Wash's and the Northside.