As an update, our first post about this 1920's O'Mahony diner in Kent, Ohio was in our July 8th blog entry. A little over a month later we updated that post, noting a planned event for the diner prior to the auction. This post was updated again on the 12th of this month when a new Record-Courier article appeared online. Deborah Guziak's article shares memories of the diner from several people at the party. At the end of her article she noted Mike Zenone of North Olmsted is interested in acquiring and restoring the diner.
Matt Fredmonsky of the Record-Courier provides an update today on the diner. His article states Mike Zenone was the successful bidder. Ending price was fifty dollars. Over the years this O'Mahony diner has suffered from neglect and deteriorated. Mr. Zenone estimates only a small percentage of the original diner can be saved.
We'd recommend Mr. Zenone contact Richard J. S. Gutman, director and curator of the Culinary Arts Museum at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I. Not only has Mr. Gutman restored diners and consulted on the restoration of many others, he is recognized as the leading authority on the subject of diners and their history. We should note Mr. Gutman has another book in the works. The subject of this one? O'Mahony diners. Also, someone may want to put Mr. Zenone in touch with Steve Harwin of Diversified Diners. Steve Harwin is well versed in diner restoration. He's brought back many diners that some declared beyond restoration.
Mr. Zenone certainly has a challenge ahead of him. We wish him the best on his project. More information will be posted here about the restoration as it becomes available.
Article Tools
Diners: Still Cookin' in the 21st Century
Culinary Archives & Museum at Johnson & Wales University
315 Harborside Blvd.
Providence, RI
View Map / Send to GPS*
Diversified Diners
Cleveland, OH
We invite you to visit our flickr diner photostream.
I believe Mr Zenone has been in contact with Gordon Tindall.
ReplyDeleteI'm incredibly biased, but I believe Gordon is the best person to talk to.
Don't get me wrong, Mr. Gutman would be an incredible asset, and it wouldn't be difficult for Mr. Harwin to work on an old barrel roofed diner after working with the classic stainless steels. They all have the same concept to the frame.
Both could do this with their eyes closed.
Also, with your new right click protector, I couldn't right click on the articles to open them up in new web browsers(tabs). So No one can keep your main page open while reading any story you have linked.
Mike, thank you for writing! It wouldn't be considered bias. You have first hand experience and made an excellent point. Gordon's latest restoration project the Yellow Rose, now Spudboy Lunch was chronicled on Joseph Dupont's YouTube channel. We've written about Gordon Tindall's amazing restoration of both diners. He's to be commended for his hard work and determination. We weren't sure if he was looking to take on another diner. Though we do know of another possible 1920's Tierney diner in need of a frame up restoration.
ReplyDeleteGlad you mentioned that script--we removed it for now. There's been a few challenges, prompting us to reconsider this new template.