Weekend Roundup

The Weekend Roundup feature draws from some of the postings we made during this past week. It's purpose is a quick summary and one area of the blog where we don't include map links. At times we may include other items here not making the blog that may be of interest to our readers. We'd like to hear your comments or suggestions.

No new diners were added to the database this week.

The former Big Dig Diner arrived in Grafton, OH on Monday and is now know as Nancy's Mainstreet Diner. Additional site work is needed and we await a grand opening.

One diner closed: Olga's.


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Culinary Museum at Johnson and Wales - Providence, RI

Johnson & Wales Culinary Arts
Museum Diner Exhibit
courtesy of photosonflickr

A reader sent us a link to the article, "Things That Just Aren't There Anymore: The Ever Ready Diner on Charles Street." Next to the article watch the video and see how many diners you can name. Read the entire article here.

We'll post more on this later. . .





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Diners: Still Cookin' in the 21st Century
Johnson & Wales Culinary Museum
315 Harborside Blvd.
Providence, RI
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La Carreta - Bridgeport, CT

La Carreta
courtesy of photosonflickr

On a diner trip back in November 2007, the La Carreta Restaurant was the thirteenth diner we visited. Upon arrival we noticed the diner was closed and the subject of vandalism. Closing during 2004, the prospects of it reopening now didn't look good.Throughout the years, this 1968 Swingle Diner Company diner maintained its Colonial style exterior of stone, brick and carriage lamps. Inside the diner, things looked close to the original too. At intervals on the ceiling, there were dark wood-like beams running the width of the diner. Suspended by chains from the ceiling were large wagon wheels with four lamps. The back bar area was covered in a mosaic of small tiles. On the wood paneled wall of the perimeter booths is a Seeburg Consolette jukebox. Some of these were still labeled with a name the diner operated as in the past; Bridgeport Flyer. At the counter, we noticed the stool post mounted into the foot rest rather than the floor. Also, the foot rest matched the terrazzo style floor.

Thirteen turned out to be an unlucky number for this diner. Today's Connecticut Post article by John Burgeson reports the diner was demolished yesterday. The site is slated for unrelated businesses.

This Swingle diner replaced what looks to be a 1940's double-ended Sterling Streamliner diner. See our post about Sterling Streamliner diners here. We found two other names for businesses operating at this address: Five Star Diner and El Taino. While there are Colonial style Kullman and DeRaffele diners in Connecticut, we'd like to know if there are other Swingles remaining.

For more pictures of diners, we invite you to visit our flickr photostream here.


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Weekend Roundup

The Weekend Roundup feature draws from some of the postings we made during this past week. It's purpose is a quick summary and one area of the blog where we don't include map links. At times we may include other items here not making the blog that may be of interest to our readers. We'd like to hear your comments or suggestions.

No new diners were added to the database this week.

Two diners are in the process of moving: Big Dig Diner and Sunrise Diner.

One diner was demolished: La Carreta Restaurant.


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Sunrise Diner - Jim Thorpe, PA

Formerly operating as Steve's Diner, this 1950's O'Mahony diner arrived in 1954. The Sunrise Diner pictured here in mama4774's flickr photostream, was purchased a year ago by Noel and Bernadette Behan. They wanted to expand their existing business so the diner next door had to go. After being advertised as for sale nobody wanted it. It seemed Noel Behan couldn't even give it away.

Bob Reynolds of WNEP-TV wrote an article yesterday with an update on this diner. Steve Harwin of Diversified Diners will restore the diner in Cleveland, Ohio. After which it will then be ready to begin a new life in your town or city.

Steve's been in the news a number of times recently. We posted a blog entry yesterday about another diner he's recently worked on for the second time; the former Big Dig Diner. It was mentioned online that Steve may be working two other diners: Smyrna and Cheyenne.

In Bob Reynolds's article watch the video and you'll notice the green semi with the flatbed trailer. It looks like Mel Brandt will be moving this diner to Ohio. Mel has moved many diners over the years. Around this time last year, he moved the former Tommy's Deluxe, now Road Island Diner, to Oakley, Utah.


Diversified Diners
Cleveland, OH

M & M Leasing & Rigging Company
Lancaster, PA


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Today in Diner History. . .

On this date in 1939, Ronald L. Stickney received patent #Des. 115,803 for his restaurant design. The patent was assigned to J. B. Judkins Company. His design is reminiscent of a Sterling Streamliner double-ended diner. Click here to view the drawing and patent.

The Modern and Salem are examples of operating Sterling Streamliner diners.


Modern Diner
364 East Ave.
Pawtucket, RI
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Salem Diner
70 Loring Ave.
Salem, MA
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Tin Man Diner - North Falmouth, MA

Tin Man Diner Exterior

Joe Burns of Falmouth Bulletin wrote a new article about the diner. A link to the entire article is here.

Read our blog post from June 4th about the Tin Man.

For more pictures of diners, we invite you to visit our flickr photostream here.


Tin Man Diner
70 County Rd.
North Falmouth, MA
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Former Big Dig Diner - Boston, MA

former Big Dig Diner

An article about this diner's future appeared online today. Though here's a little background on this Silk City Diner, built in 1946 by the Paterson Vehicle Company of Paterson, NJ. According to Mario Monti's book, A Directory of Diners - 3rd Edition, this diner has been known as the Windmill Diner in Ono, PA, Fern's Diner in Norristown, NJ, and the Exton Diner in Exton, PA.

In 1995 it left Diversified Diners after being restored and was installed at 4 Drydock Avenue, in Boston, MA. Once there it served as the culinary training center for the Log School Settlement House. The organization modeled their Big Dig Diner Project after the Chesapeake Center for Youth Development's culinary training at the Hollywood Diner in Baltimore, MD. It operated for a few years, though due to financial issues, the Big Dig Diner closed in 2003.

Former Big Dig Diner
courtesy of photosonflickr, (c) 2006

The photograph in the upper right shows the diner's exterior in June 2005. Since the diner sat upon city land, they were anxious to get rid of it. On Wednesday, October 11, 2006, the diner was put up for auction, yet failed to find a buyer. The picture to the left taken a few weeks after the auction, shows various interior items were sold. Here's an article about the diner written in October 2006.

Several months later, when updating our records, we were surprised to find a blank spot in the Google map where the diner once stood. Checking Google's StreetView confirmed this.

In 2007 the diner was moved back to Diversified Diners and began the restoration process one more time. On Monday it's expected the former Big Dig Diner will arrive in Grafton, OH. It will then be known as Nancy's Mainstreet Diner. Grafton is located about 15 miles from Lake Erie.

Though O'Mahony and Worcester manufactured diners are commonly found throughout Massachusetts, we wondered if there are any other Silk City diners remaining. Tim's, in Leominster is one we visited in July 2005.

When we have more information about Nancy's, we'll post it here.

For more pictures of diners, we invite you to visit our flickr photostream here.


Diversified Diners
Cleveland, OH

Nancy's Mainstreet Diner
426 North Main Street
Grafton, OH
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Tim's Diner
15 Water St.
Leominster, MA
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Thru-Way Diner - New Rochelle, NY

Thru-Way Diner
courtesy of photosonflickr

Last November we read Ken Valenti's reports in The Journal News regarding this diner's future. After more than fifty years, it would soon be time to turn the lights off and lock the doors.

Our photographers drove to the Thru-Way, an early 1990's postmodern diner, for what could be our last chance to see this standing.Upon arrival they noted the diner was open and had a good flow of customers. A sign posted on the railing in front of the diner announced an upcoming planning council public hearing to discuss the proposed changes. Although members of the community objected, a signed contract was already in place. It was then only a matter of time before it closed.

Six months later while on assignment in the area they made another visit and found the diner still open. We found out the diner would close the end of June.

The diner remained open another two weeks past the June deadline. Ken Valenti wrote today that the Thru-Way diner closed yesterday. The building's future is uncertain as the land has been leased for another chain drugstore. The closing of this diner represents both a loss for the community and diner aficionados alike.

We read that the Thru-Way was the first of its design for DeRaffele Manufacturing Company Inc. About two dozen similarly styled diners were built after it. The Royal Coach in the Bronx is another one. We would like to know if there are more diners like the Thru-Way and Royal Coach remaining and where they are located.

For more pictures of diners, we invite you to visit our flickr photostream here.


Royal Coach
13260 Boston Rd.
Bronx, NY
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Thru-way Diner-Restaurant
810 Main St.
New Rochelle, NY
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Weekend Roundup

The Weekend Roundup feature draws from some of the postings we made during this past week. It's purpose is a quick summary and one area of the blog where we don't include map links. At times we may include other items here not making the blog that may be of interest to our readers. We'd like to hear your comments or suggestions.

This week we added the following diners to our database. If you have any information regarding these diners, please contact us.

Clairmont Diner
584 Hwy 3
Clifton, NJ
- mentioned in this blog.

Duke's Diner*
Norwich, CT
- mentioned in this article

Fortin's Diner*
Bath St.
Norwich, CT
- mentioned in this article

Holly Brook Diner*
1655 Route 38
Mount Holly, NJ

Jerry's Diner*
behind the Palace Theatre
Norwich, CT
- mentioned in this article

Lakehurst Diner Restaurant*
401 Route 70
Lakehurst, NJ

Philly Diner
51 Industrial Hwy
Essington, PA
- mentioned in this blog

Rosie's Diner
14061 East Iliff Ave.
Aurora, CO
- mentioned in this article.

Tom's Diner
Ledgewood, NJ
- Agilitynut's page

Unknown diner
Lawrenceville, NJ
- Agilitynut's page

(*) Added provisionally pending further investigation.


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A look Back on July 10th

Tommy's Moving
Photo courtesy of photosonflickr

7/10/2007
The former Tommy's Deluxe Diner of Middletown, RI started its journey on the way toward its next life. It arrived a few days later in Oakley, Utah.

The restoration process began while it was temporarily located behind City Hall. In December 2007 it was moved onto its foundation at the Weber Canyon Road site. Many individuals were a part of this ambitious frame up restoration project. We thank Keith Walker for his vision and determination that brought this project to completion.

Tommy's was renamed Road Island Diner, linking it to its Rhode Island and Providence Plantations roots. It recently reopened and we posted an entry here.



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Road Island Diner
981 Weber Canyon Road
Oakley, UT
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Smyrna Diner - Smyrna, DE

The Smyrna Diner is among those built during the early 1960s. One Internet site states, "The Smyrna Diner, located in Smyrna, Delaware, was installed in 1965. It replaced a smaller one which had been at the same site since 1954." (1) A picture of the previous diner may be seen here. An exterior picture of the current diner is available in martysdomain's flickr photostream.

Smyrna's rustic exterior, which may be the result of renovations, is a departure from the stainless steel and large plate glass windows as typically seen in diners. It also follows the movement away from exteriors of steel toward more environmental materials. The vestibule includes an overhang reminiscent of a folded plate roof line. Compare the diner with the former Deerhead Diner of the same era.

After thirty-six years, Sandy Margist will soon shut the lights off one last time. As is often the case, she owns the diner, but not the land upon which it sits. A new diner is being constructed a short distance down the road, near the intersection of U.S. 13, and Delaware 1. Several articles last year spoke of the diner's history, planned closing and restoration by Diversified Diners of Cleveland, Ohio. Today's article has pictures of the diner and its new location. About 9.3 miles further down the road on North Dupont Highway is the Hollywood Diner, a 1954 Fodero.

Melrose Diner
by Chris_In_Philly_'08
and appears here under
Creative Commons license

Compare the corner of the current Smyrna with another Paramount diner, the Melrose Diner of Philadelphia, PA pictured at right. The Melrose is an example of an older Paramount diner with its trademark "wedding cake" corner.

When more information about the new diner's opening becomes available we'll post it here.




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Diversified Diners
Cleveland, OH

Hollywood Diner
123 N. Dupont Hwy.
Dover, DE
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Melrose Diner
1501 Snyder Ave.
Philadelphia, PA
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Smyrna Diner
304 N. DuPont Blvd.
Smyrna, DE
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For more pictures of diners, we invite you to visit our flickr photostream here.

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Today in Diner History. . .

On this date in 1938, Bertron G. Harley was issued patent #D110417 for his diner design. View the entire patent here.


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Today in Diner History. . .

On this date in 1997, Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner in Lakewood, CO was added to the National Park Service's, National Register Of Historic Places.


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Davies' Chuck Wagon Diner
9495 West Colfax Ave.
Lakewood, CO
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Barr's Diner - East Providence, RI

Barr's Diner
photo courtesy of photosonflickr

This diner was last used as an office at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire. As with many diners, it had several owners/operators through the years. Barr's Diner was one name under which it operated.

On the right is a picture of the diner at its current location, the East Providence Technical and Career Center, East Providence, R.I. The diner has many features we've seen in other diners, giving us an idea of the manufacturer and its age. A search through the diner database yielded some results of similar diners. Two examples are: the former Fegely's Reading Diner and the former Serro's Diner. Both are Monarch models built by Jerry O'Mahony, Inc. in 1938. Barr's appears to be consistent with those diners.

Fegely's was moved to a site in Wyomissing, PA in October 2005. It awaits further restoration by the Archbury Foundation. In February 2003, Serro's was moved to Latrobe and put into storage. The Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor organization stated they will restore it. Plans are to include it as part of the Welcome and Interpretative Center on Route 30 near Ligonier, PA. Since it has been a few years, we would like to know the latest on these two projects.

diner stool
photo courtesy of photosonflickr

Perhaps you are wondering what Barr's may look like if it was restored? Agilitynut has two pictures on her website of the former Fegely's Reading Diner: external and internal. As in Agilitynut's internal picture link, Barr's has the same front counter style with orange and black tiles. The diner's stools and booths are missing. Replacement stools would be like the ones pictured to the left, as seen in the former Tommy's Deluxe Diner, a 1939 O'Mahony when it was located in Middletown, RI. More about Tommy's and its restoration here.

The Worcester Lunch Car Company adopted a similar counter style and colors. An example of this would be the Four Sisters Owl Diner. Agilitynut has pictures of that diner here.

Performing a restoration of Barr's presents serious challenges. From the years of neglect, the roof shows signs of water damage. The extent of which probably won't be realized until the restoration begins. Keith Walker just opened the former Tommy's as the Road Island Diner. Total restoration costs reportedly ran about a million dollars. We'll follow the progress on Barr's diner and report as new information becomes available.


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Archbury Foundation

East Providence Technical and Career Center

Four Sisters Owl Diner
244 Appleton St.
Lowell, MA
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Lincoln Highway Heritage Corridor

Road Island Diner
981 Weber Canyon Road
Oakley, UT
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Today in Diner History. . .

On this date in 2007, the former Moondance Diner of NYC closed it's doors. It's undergoing a restoration in LaBarge, Wyoming. The latest on the progress of the restoration may be found here.

On July 1, 1941 Arthur E. Sieber was awarded a patent on his "portable diner."


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