https://www.austinchronicle.com/daily/news/2007-07-17/504414/

Nubian Queen Lo-La: Don't Tread on My Trim!

By Wells Dunbar, July 17, 2007, 2:14pm, Newsdesk

“I’m not going to paint this RV, because I’m not going to compromise,” Lo-La insisted. “When somebody gets so worked up over a color, believe me, it’s not going to end at a trailer. Next thing he’ll be asking you to change the color of your skin, change the color of your car, change the color of your hair.”

What's the ruckus about? Lozina E. Stephens, proprietress of beloved Rosewood restaurant Nubian Queen Lo-La’s Cajun Kitchen, is being threatened with eviction from the Royal Palms trailer court. What drastic offense has prompted this reaction from the management, you ask? Unbelievably, it's the purple trim she painted on her trailer. Here's an excerpt from our forthcoming story on Lo-La's predicament by the always estimable Diana Welch:

Unless reason returns to the Royal Palms trailer court by Saturday, July 21, Queen Lo-La will be looking for a new estate.

Like her popular Eastside restaurant, Nubian Queen Lo-La’s Cajun Kitchen, Lozina E. Stephen’s new RV is dark, cool, and comfortable, done up tastefully in burgundy and purple crushed velvet, with recorded gospel music in the air. It is remarkably tidy for its small size, especially given that it houses not only Lo-La but also her two teenage daughters and a small dog. The level of order Lo-La and her girls maintain is artful: Just beyond the houseplants that serve as dividers between the sitting area and the kitchen, bags of potato chips are carefully displayed in a line on a built-in rack on the counter. Outside, the garden is just as tidy, with windmills and other colorful trinkets sprucing up the rented lot at the Royal Palms (“Manufactured Home and RV Community”) at Ben White Boulevard and Highway 183, where the RV has been parked for less than two months. Fourteen-year-old Lisa recently personalized the home with a carefully executed present to her mom: She painted the trim and door of the off-white home in Lo-La’s signature color: purple.

Two weeks later, Lo-La received a phone call at the Cajun Kitchen. It was the Royal Palms manager (who declined to give his name or comment for this story), informing her that the color choice was unsuitable. “He said that he wasn’t going to have Queen Lola and her colors,” she explained, exasperated. “He said one of us was going to have to go.” Lo-La refused, explaining that she hadn’t received any paperwork or park rules dictating her color choices. A quick drive around Royal Palms finds homes painted all manner of colors in varying combinations: gold, red, teal, brown, yellow, orange, mint green, baby blue, navy, and now, with Lo-La’s RV, royal purple. (As of press time, Royal Palms’ owner, Sid Lanier, had not returned a call requesting comment.)

Keep your eyes peeled for the entire story this Thursday – and show Lo-La some support by getting down to her restaurant.