Mahony Diner Tag

[Dinerman]

Just got 3 of these.
From the estate of John L. Cronk, who along with two partners bought the inventory of the O'Mahony diner company. They only built 4 diners, and tanked within a year. (lasted from 1956-1957) The tag was never on a diner, but if it had been, it would have probably been found above a door, identifying it, as a badge on a car identifies the maker. Pretty neat, eh?

 

[PrettySquareGal]

Cool!

Any info on why they tanked so quickly?

 

[ScarlettTurner]

Spiffy. What are the dimensions on that?

 

[Dinerman]

I think they tried to do too much too fast and bankrupted themselves.

It's 2" by 4"

 

[MrNewportCustom]

My brother collects road signs, but I prefer tags such as that one. Wow! I love it.


Lee

 

[Dinerman]

I got another diner tag. I probably payed waaay too much for this one, but it's from a pretty iconic diner (actually the replacement for an iconic diner, but who's counting). This tag came from the downingtown diner, a '60s replacedment for the original downingtown diner, where the end scene of " the blob" was filmed.

 

[Dinerman]

here's the diner that this tag was originally in. It's been unfortunately remodeled sometime after 1994, I'm not sure when exactly, with the stucco roof addition, the tower over the vestibule and the replacement neon sign.

 

[LawnFlamingo]

Oooh, those diner tags are great.

 

[Dinerman]

The tag showed up today.

The patent on the left, 2107854 was issued February 8th, 1938. The second, 2145919 was was issued February 9th, 1939. Both were issued to Irving B. Cooper, vice president of Silk City, and pertain to Silk City Diner vehicle body construction. Follow the links to see the floorplans.

Here is is with one of my Mahony diner tags, for a size comparison. The Silk City tag is much larger.

 

[Dinerman]

I got a letter from the previous owner, from whom I bought the tag from/

When I bought the Downingtown Diner, it had been closed for several years and in disrepair. There was a four foot hole in the roof and all I wanted to do was fix it up and sell it. Then I found out the history. I put in three times the amount of money into it that I originally had budgeted it for. It glowed like a jewel in the night. We had cruise nights every Wednesday with all the classic cars filling the parking lot, roller skating waitresses and plenty of Rock and Roll playing on the original Wurlitzer Juke Box (only 45s, no Cds) We had a 40th anniversary party for the rilming of the Blob and id drew media attention and several thhousand people. It was good times, but the present owner did not share my enthusiasm and changed it into what it is today, "Chef's Kitchen". I had a local artist paint the diner and had prints made up. I',m enclosing one for you. Hope you enjoy it.

Here's a lousy photo of the print. I'm going to get it framed (eventually) along with the tag and the letter.

Compare how good it looks there, and looked then, with how it looks now. It's a true shame, especially with how much work and love was put into it.

 

[Dinerman]

A matchbook advertising Mahony Diners, Fountain Luncheonette & Diner Magazine, and matchbooks. It's a real crossover