Michelle Zauner, the host of Japanese Breakfast, used to reside in Philadelphia. Working the coat check at Union Transfer, one of the city’s music venues, was one of her odd jobs before to fame. Zauner’s coat check has now been named after her in honor of a sold-out five-night stint at that venue in favor of her album Jubilee.
“MICHELLE ZAUNER COAT CHECK!!!” Zauner wrote on Instagram. “Thank you [owner Sean Agnew] and [Union Transfer] for commemorating our historic five night run in Philly with the most memorable present of all. The coat check I used to work when the venue first opened has now been enshrined as my coat check. I love Philly the most.”
Apart from the new moniker, the coat check now has a plaque that reads, “May everyone who works in this room go on to sell out five nights at Union Transfer,” followed by the performance dates.
A Reddit user who claims to have seen one of Japanese Breakfast’s Philadelphia gigs also offered a genuinely sweet anecdote from the evening, writing:
“[Zauner] told a story about working coat check there and how she allowed a customer to get change for a fake $100 bill (unbeknownst to her). She got in trouble and was responsible for covering the missing money out of her shift money. […] The owner of Union Transfer, Sean Agnew, stepped in and paid it for her. On Saturday, she brought Sean out on stage to say thank you and (I believe) returned the money that he had spotted her. So cool.”
