About Diner Hotline
That is me on the right with my late friend Owen Abdalian (former owner, Main Street Diner, Woburn, Mass. circa 1993)
My name is Larry Cultrera and I have been conducting a personal research project on documenting the American Diner. Since November of 1980 I have photographed 807 diners throughout the northeast including all the New England states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland & Ohio, as well as parts of Florida, Tennessee, Michigan and Virginia. I have also photographed other selected businesses/buildings along the roadside and have a fairly large collection of postcards and memorabilia.
I have been a member of the Society for Commercial Archeology since 1981. I am starting this blog (October 31, 2007) to carry on where my Diner Hotline column for the Society for Commercial Archeology’s Journal magazine leaves off. I retired the column after 19 years of writing for both the SCA NewsJournal (and then the Journal) and have decided to take it in a new direction. In the old column I mostly talked about news that primarily focused on diners. With this blog, I am going to branch out to talk about other roadside related things as well.
I love your site! I worked at Carrolls from December 1973 through May of 1974, while finishing up my BA at Tufts. I’d taken a lot of extra courses so only had to do one more to graduate, freeing up time to work as a waitress. My friend Carey and I shared a house with two other women on the north side of the Tufts campus (can’t remember the name of the street) and worked at Carroll’s Colonial Diner from 4:30 in the afternoon until about 3 am. The best shift: early dinner, normal dinner, late dinner, post movie crowd and the late night cabbies and policemen. I was paid $1:00 an hour (minimum wage then) but averaged at least $5.00 an hour in tips.
Larry-
Wishing you all the best with this blog and the new direction it will be headed in. We will miss you at the SCA Journal, but it is great that you, and your writing and photos, will still be available here. Hope your audience increases, you continue your travels, and we get to share your discoveries for a long time.
Long-time fan and fellow SCA member.
Jack Murphy
Wonderful blog! I love diners, as you possibly can tell from my flickr sets. I love to eat in them, as well as photograph them, and I will drive many miles to do so!
Happy New Year and keep up the good work!
Thanks Gail, I like your photos on Flickr!
Hello,
I enjoyed your Blog. Where is the diner that is your page top photo?
I just started posting on Flickr (milkbottledude) diners I come across. Got interested in researching old diners as I came across a 1963 Valentine diner, Ma’s Coffee Pot & Diner in South Haven Michigan. Now I’m looking to purchase a classic diner.
Thanks,
Tom
Tom, If you check back to the early posts on my blog you will find “Diner in my Header”. That will tell you a little about it. The diner has not existed since the late 1980’s. There wasn’t much left by then.
Larry,
I was in Peabody today, Sunday and the Little Depot Diner is now open, formerly The Railroad Diner (Kurlands).I did not stop in because I was on my way to the Salem Diner, Excellent breakfast and a very pleasant new owner.
bob higgins
Larry,
The Mr. Peanut sign on route 1 was one of my favorite signs as a kid. More important to me was the Mr. Peanut walking and waving to the cars driving by route 1 on the sidewalk. I thought he was real!
If you remember on the packages of planters peanuts, you could send away for a Mr. Peanut Bank…….Well I did and waited for the mailman every day for at least a month. Finally……….The Mr. Peanut bank arrived (blue in color), so I placed it on the Mantel above the fireplace, out of the reach of my Brother Jack!
When I arrived home from elementry school the day after receiving the bank, I FOUND IT WITH THE BASE OF IT BROKEN, unable to stand up……..I was so upset!
I was so bummed. I remember to this day that the 1st thing I ordered in the mail only lasted less than 24 hours.
I loved that blue plastic Mr. Peanut bank!
True Story.
Good Luck,
Jim Harkins
Jimmy, I believe it. Things like that stay with you. Did you beat the crap out of Jack (sounds like he was the likely suspect)? We never stopped there, at least you guys did.
Hi Larry,
My name is Michael Perlman, and I am a preservationist from Forest Hills. I enjoyed reading about your background, and this is a great site! Thanks!
I consider diners the “ultimate public institutions,” and preservation & reuse priorities. I founded the Committee To Save The Moondance Diner over a year ago, and fellow enthusiast Kyle Supley was also highly integral. We worked with the developers, and it was donated to the American Diner Museum, which in turn, sold it to a couple in WY. I take pride that the Moondance Diner has gained a new lease on life, and will possibly be reopening this June.
I am disheartened to learn that another gem, NYC’s Cheyenne Diner on 9th & 33rd St, is closing its doors this Sunday. I am hoping the Cheyenne Diner will meet a similar fate, but hopefully remain closer to its roots. Please let me know if it will be okay to use your photo from 1986 depicting the Cheyenne as the Market Diner, and if so, how you wish to be quoted. Please e-mail me at unlockthevault@hotmail.com at your earliest convenience. Thank you!
Michael
[...] ’83 Cheyenne as Market Diner, courtesy of roadside photographer Larry Cultrera of Society for Commercial Archeology & Diner Hotline (http://dinerhotline.wordpress.com/about/): [...]
[...] ’83 Cheyenne as Market Diner, courtesy of roadside photographer Larry Cultrera of Society for Commercial Archeology & Diner Hotline (http://dinerhotline.wordpress.com/about/): [...]
hI Larry
Have you checked out the diner in the center of norwood mass.?
There’s a very unique diner in Natick behind the public safety building on rt.#135
Thanks for the call Larry. And I’ll be checking in regularly.
–Rich
What other diner has the interior of the O’Mahony?
Keith, Glad you got in touch with me! I have been meaning to get in touch with you. You are doing a fantastic job on the complete restoration of the old Tommy’s Diner! One of the best jobs I have ever seen. That diner needed someone like you to bring it back.
As far as your question, it reminds me of the title of a slide show I did back around 12 years ago. I called it “Is it a Fodero or an O’Mahony”? Most diner manufacturers did their own thing but indeed, there was copying between the different companies. In my opinion, O’Mahony and Fodero (during the 40’s and 50’s) had similar interiors to a certain degree usually with small differences.
Even DeRaffele had interiors with winged clocks (like Fodero) so to the untrained eye (and even the trained eye) it was hard to tell without a tag.
Exteriors even got close in their design between the different companies.
been in the business all my life worked in many many diners in new york and jersey finally have the finances to buy just cannot find one. any help you can give or info would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Larry,
I worked for the Richard’s Drive In folks, (a.k.a. General Cinema Corp) and later for WMEX
Adventure Car Hop also had a location (longest lasting) in Union New Jersey great photos (Where’d you find em?)
Even Arnie Ginsburg doesn’t remember what was in a “Ginsburger”
Happy Trails fm
Fred, I googled Adventure Car Hop. Also, did you know Bill Lawrence from his WMEX days? I used to pal around with his brother-in-law and we helped him do a couple of Oldies Record Hops.
Larry, What a great blog. I will share this with all of my friends. It’s a great history lesson. I’ll be in touch soon.
Hello!
I have been a diner fan since the 70s when I photographed any diner I ever visited. Now with kids, I like to stop in with them. You’ve prompted me to organize my photos! In taking a trip to visit my brother on CT/MA 395 isn’t there a Zippy’s diner somewhere? I’d love to stop off with the kiddos? Any other recommendations along that route?
Thanks!
Rene
Rene, Thanks for the compliment, glad to know that someone else may have been influenced (by what I do) to do something with their own diner photos. That’s great that you were documenting them in the 70’s! I wish I had started earlier. I shot my first diner photo in 1980. Part of the reason is I had figured out by that time that so many had disappeared that I recall from the 50’s and 60’s.
You are right, the diner you remember is Zip’s Diner in Dayville, CT, the intersection of I-395 and Rte. 101. Other diners in the area off I-395 is the Aero Diner on Rte. 6 in North Windham (near the airport) in the Willamantic area and another diner Mickey’s Windham Diner in Willamantic. These 2 are possibly 20 minutes to 35 minutes west of I-395