The DINER.

[ledsled]

Informative link

Thanks for the link Dinerman. I can quickly see that Brian has quite a following! I hope he can rebuild, and somehow make his new diner look old....

I usually have my birthday breakfast at O'Rourkes. I missed it this year. Damn. It feels like I never had a chance to say goodbye to a good friend. Hope I'll get my second chance.

 

[Lincsong]

I think it was in St. Pete's Beach, FL that I saw one of those old diners that was built inside a trolley car. lol lol

 

[ledsled]

Baker City, Oregon

Speaking of diners made out of trolley cars, have any loungers eaten at the diner in Baker City, Oregon that was made out of a Railroad car? I love that town!

 

[Salv]

I think it was in St. Pete's Beach, FL that I saw one of those old diners that was built inside a trolley car. lol lol

Was it the Pelican Diner?

Last time I was there (May 2004) it was locked up and for sale. I put some photos of the interior in this thread.

 

[Dinerman]

I'm sorry for this rant- but 99 percent of diners were not and are not trolley cars or railroad cars.
Just like automobiles- they were built in plants devoted to building diners.
I'll just rattle off the names of a few builders
silk city
mountain view
kullman
deraffelle
fodero
the list goes on, though less than 5 are left in business today.

I just thought I'd take a bit of time to tell you all.

I'm off to NJ for a diner trip tomorrow.
wish me luck

 

[carebear]

Were they built in the factory as diners but using the same forms as the trolleys and such?

Like the purpose built motorhomes built on generic bus chassis and bodies?

 

[Dinerman]

nope-
a diner was built strictly as a diner

A good deal were custom built for specific customers, though you could get an off the rack model for cheaper.

they had nothing to do with trolleys or railcars. the two weren't built by the same companies.
designs change company to company and builder to builder.
they were a direct decendent of horse drawn lunch wagons (similar to today's hot dog carts).
Over time these humble carts grew larger, and lost their wheels. More and more companies were started.
Materials shifted from painted wood to porcelain enamel then to stainless then to stone, and finally back to stainless.

Monitor roofs and barrel roofs were popular to early diners, making them easily confused with train cars and trolleys to the untrained eye. Later, more curvy roofs were employed, as were hidden roofs.

Diners were either shipped whole on trucks, or, depending on their size, split into sections, shipped and reassembled.

It was a large industry, but with fast food and the like, it's dwindled, with only a handfull of builders still left today.

 

[ledsled]

Rant continued

Once I figure out how to post pictures here, and if I can find the picture of the Baker City diner, I will show you that they used a railroad car as a basis to construct it. If my memory serves me right (that's always up for debate), the diner is sort of V-shaped. I think they cut a railroad car in half, and then built the connecting joint themselves. While I agree with Dinerman's main point about diners being made as diners, I stick to this particular one in Baker City starting out on the railroad.

 

[McPeppers]

Most Diners were built to be just diners <---fact.

However throughout history several "converts" have been discovered. Old shells from trolley's have been converted, the hulls of old airplanes and of old boats (not ships... the debate on the difference between a boat and a ship is a long and heated one. For most purposes this line is used, "All ships are boats but not all boats are ships. The difference is that ships can carry a boat somewhere in or upon it, while a boat cannot carry a ship"),Old Railroad dining and passenger cars have been converted aswell.

Personally I like those for their uniqueness.

 

[Dinerman]

but there were so few of them converted, and even fewer left...

Personally- I've been to about 200 diners in the past 2 years. Of those, only one has been a interurban convert. One used as the kitchen- the other used as the counter area. That one was in nashville.

 

[McPeppers]

Well they are an exception, not the rule ^_-

 

[Dinerman]

Here was my dinering today.
we went to NJ for the Diner day at the Bay way diner.

Breakfast at the elgin diner in Camden, NJ



stopped at this former white tower



We went to the club diner about a year ago. since then, they'veremodeled it into this. It's just sad looking.



The main event was held here- at the bay way diner in Linden, NJ
I ate a texas weiner platter.



2 hamburgers at the white diamond in Linden, NJ



the white rose in Linden, NJ



The deepwater diner in Carney's Point, NJ



there's a mid '40's diner built by silk city under all that porch

 

[McPeppers]

Sweet hehe

 

[ledsled]

Sandy Hook, CT

Hey Dinerman, I see you made it up to NJ. If you ever make it further north along I-84 in CT, there's a very old little diner in Sandy Hook, CT. It's less than a mile off the Newtown exit. Don't get mixed up with the new, flashy Blue Colony diner. Oh, no, no, no. Go down the hill to Sandy Hook and it's sits right next to the road. I don't recall what they call it now (Sandy Hook Diner? Teddy Bear diner?). I do not think there's any metal. It did begin it's life as a diner, though (probably in Danbury), and then got connected to an old house. Maybe it's listed on you website. Sorry to say I have not searched for it. I just saw you were in Jersey, so thought I could entice you to continue up north a bit. If you do, let me know!

Back to the Baker City diner, I've emailed a friend that lives there. His computer is forever crashing, and he rarely checks it.... but I've put in a request for him to confirm what I think is the origin of that diner. Meanwhile, I'll tear my house apart looking for the photos of it! lol

 

[Dinerman]

yeah- I've been to the Sandy hook diner. It's a very rare '20's diner built by the Tierney company. Great food, and it's just such a slice of history.

Yesterday, we hit up a diner in Kennett Square, PA. It got flooded out a little while ago, and is now closed. That diner is a 1920's O'Mahony or maybe also a tierney. It's hard to tell with these older diners- they copied each other's designs, and with the state of unoriginally of most of them, it's difficult to tell much.

anyway- here's the picture of it.



and this is what it would have originally looked like

http://www.geocities.com/cornwallace55/dpics/towanda1.JPG

 

[Vladimir Berkov]

Growing up in New Jersey going to the diner was a common occurance. However, living in Texas they are conspicuously absent. The only "diners" are really either cafes/lunchcounters or retro chain places like Johnny Rocket's.

 

[Dinerman]

Looks like there are still a few real diners in Texas.
you've got Hullabaloo's in Wellborn, TX http://www.hullabaloos.net/wellborndiner.html

you've got a '50's diner graft of two diners in Wichita Falls. Tose are collectively known as the pumpjack diner.

Dallas has Theo's diner
Glenrio has the now abandoned Little Juarez diner.

There are a good many of others, but they are new "fake" diners.

none of these are anywhere near you, so it doesn't really matter anyways. Keep them in mind if you do any traveling though.

 

[Sweet Leilani]

and this is what it would have originally looked like

http://www.geocities.com/cornwallace55/dpics/towanda1.JPG

Dinerman, have you ever been to that diner in Towanda? I drive by it all the time on my way to my inlaws, but it's always too late (I think they are only open breakfast & lunch). I will be there for a week starting Oct. 7, so I may have a chance to stop in. It's now attached to the bldg. next door, so I guess business is pretty good.

 

[Dinerman]

that's one of the diners on my short list of places to visit. Once I get my licence- I'm there.

Before it was restored, that place was the definition of dump. From the pictures I've seen, it looks exactly like it would've the day it came from the factory. Looked like http://www.dinercity.com/paDiner/jerrysExtM.jpg
sad, huh.
And now it is the sparkling beaury in that other picture.
I've only heard good things about the food.

 

[Sweet Leilani]

Yes, it looks so new I wasn't sure it was actually old. I will try to make a point to go there & give you a report. Like you said, I have heard good things about the food- I understand the cook/owner is a real diner lover.