Village Diner, Milford, PA
Photo by Larry Cultrera, copyright Nov. 1981
Right after I posted the piece about Cassidies Diner in Meriden, Conn. being damaged in a car accident, I found out that another diner also suffered a similar incident. The Village Diner, a 1950’s Mountain View diner was struck by a local Police cruiser that was responding to a possible burglery call when it veered across Route 209 and hit the nearest (left-front) corner of the diner.
Being that the diner sits up on a brick foundation (about 2 to 2 and a half feet above the parking lot), it looked to do the most damage there. The report says the cruiser proceeded to then travel 20 feet further on and start to go up the steps to the entryway when at this point it flipped over and landed on the large planter at the base of the diner’s roadside sign.
According to the report the police officer was hurt and the diner suffered around $30,000.00 worth of damage. Here is the text of the Pike County Courier news report….
Owner, Dimitrios Pagelos surveys damages caused
when a police car crashed into the Village Diner
early Tuesday morning. (Photo by Nick Troiano)
Milford officer injured in crash
Westfall — A report of a pick-up truck running over garbage cans in Milford led to an accident involving a Milford Borough police vehicle and the Village Diner in Westfall, early Tuesday morning.
Milford Officer Harold Hosking was responding to the call, returning from Westfall Township at around 1 a.m. Tuesday morning, when the accident occurred, according to Milford Police Chief Gary Williams. Williams said he did not know the exact cause of the accident, which is being investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police. The investigating trooper was not available for comment Wednesday.
Damage at the scene suggests that the vehicle crossed the oncoming lane of traffic and entered the diner’s parking lot, striking a vehicle in the lot before colliding with the building, continuing up the front steps, and finally flipping over onto the diner’s cement flower pot. No other vehicles were involved in the accident, and the diner was closed at the time.
Hosking suffered a broken femur among other injuries and was medivaced to an unnamed hospital from Wal-Mart’s parking lot.
According to police records, Hosking had been on duty for fourteen hours at the time of the accident.
Eastern Pike Police Chief Chad Stewart confirmed the officer’s being in Westfall Township prior to the accident and said that Hosking had responded to a report of a burglary at a local business. Stewart said the officer’s presence was not requested, but it was not out of the ordinary for the police departments “to back each other up.” Eastern Pike Police received the call of the accident at 1:04 a.m.
Dimitrios Pagelos, nine-year owner of the Village Diner, said he received a call from the police at 3 a.m., alerting him to the accident and was shocked at the news. Arriving on the scene, he was told by emergency personnel that the officer was cut off while driving and lost control of his vehicle, a report that could not be confirmed by any responding department.
Pagelos said his son called the police department on the following day to secure insurance information and check on the officer’s condition. He said the officer on the phone would not comment about the injured officer and no apology was offered for the damages. “If you make a mistake, you make a mistake. You have to pick yourself up afterwards. I’m waiting for an apology, but I am not going to ask for one,” he said.
Williams commented that the department tried unsuccessfully to contact Pagelos on Wednesday afternoon to do so.
Pagelos said he estimated the damage at around $30,000. He added that the Westfall building inspector permitted the Diner to reopen on Thursday. No details were available as to the officer’s condition, which Chief Williams described as “good” on Wednesday.
Diner Hotline Weblog 
We stopped here in November 1997 when I was still relatively new at diner spotting. Because this diner was not mentioned in “American Diner Then and Now” or Roadside Magazine, it was – for me, at least – a “discovery” (something that doesn’t happen much any more.)
I also remember asking the waitress “What kind of diner is this?” and she pleasantly answered, “This is a Mountain View” and walked me over to the tag. Elsewhere, I had received less-than-pleasant responses from diner personnel not accustomed to “diner nuts.”
Back when I first checked out this diner on the way to Harrisburg (1981), it was still giving out free calendars, postcards and matchbooks. It has always been clean and well maintained. I believe their slogan was the diner with the “Tea House” atmosphere (or something like that).
I have their postcard, but I had to buy mine! I found it at a flea market after my visit to the diner. The wording, in part:
At the Northeastern Gateway to the Pocono Mountains
20 Unit Motel Adjacent
“The Diner With The Tea Room Atmosphere”
96 Seating Accommodations
Owned and Operated by Graham D. and Glen Musselwhite
By coincidence, the photo I took was at almost exactly the same angle as the post card, and my black 1988 Camaro was parked in the same space where a black 1965 Ford is in the post card.
To clarify my earlier comment: the Village Diner IS listed in the “Where the Diners Are” directory at the end of “American Diner Then and Now.” When I said it was “not mentioned,” I was referring to the main text and photographs of the book. (And for a new diner-spotter, that’s a great place to start!)
I worked at this diner when I was in high school (1971-1973), washing dishes at first, then as a short-order cook. May have been the hardest I ever worked, but I enjoyed every minute of it. I have visited twice since, once after Glen Musselwhite had passed, and again after the diner was sold. I hope it continues to be the piece of Americana I remember.