Winchester, VA’s Triangle Diner named State Landmark

early postcard view of the Triangle Diner from my collection

The currently closed Triangle Diner of Winchester, VA, a 1948 vintage Jerry O’Mahony diner has been named to the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Landmark List according to the following Associated Press article with Information from: The Winchester Star, http://www.winchesterstar.com…….

Historic Winchester diner on Va. landmarks list

WINCHESTER, Va. – The 61-year-old Triangle Diner in Winchester has been placed on the Virginia Landmarks Register. The diner also has been nominated to the National Register of Historic Places. It’s one of 10 prefabricated stainless-steel diners in Virginia and has stood in Winchester since 1948.

The Triangle Diner is owned by Dulles-based Medallion 7 Financial. Managing director Michael Lessin says the diner is one of the few remaining examples of that type of architecture. The diner is closed but Lessin says the company plans to restore it and reopen it in the spring or summer. Lessin says the company plans to invest about $1 million in the restoration.

slightly later postcard view of the Triangle Diner from my collection

I first knew about the Triangle Diner with one of the earliest inclusions to my diner postcard collection, the one pictured above (full color real photo card). Later, October 10, 1986 to be exact, Steve Repucci and myself were following U.S. Rte. 11 from Harrisburg, PA to Knoxville, TN and we stopped to have lunch at the Triangle Diner. It is said that legendary Country-Western singer Patsy Cline worked here before rising to stardom. Below are my 3 photos shot that day in 1986.

Triangle Diner photo copyright 1986 by Larry Cultrera

Triangle Diner photo copyright 1986 by Larry Cultrera

Triangle Diner photo copyright 1986 by Larry Cultrera

Here’s hoping the 1million dollar restoration the article mentions includes removing that roof that connects the diner to the rear kitchen addition so the diner will be more visible! If the nomination to the National Register of Historic Places goes through, it will join 3 other diners from Virginia already there, namely the 29 Diner of Fairfax, Bill’s Diner of Chatham and Burnett’s Diner of Chatham.

Legendary Tony & Ann’s Pizza to reopen after 7 year hiatus

Back in the winter of 2002, I was driving back to Saugus after having  breakfast at a diner in New Hampshire (I do not recall which diner). I was travelling south on Rte. 3A in North Chelmsford (just north of Vinal Square) and decided to finally stop and photograph Tony & Ann’s Drive-in Pizza stand. I had been driving by this place for years and had always thought about documenting it with some photos but never acting upon it.

Tony & Ann’s Pizza sign, 2002 photo by Larry Cultrera

Tony & Ann’s Pizza was not a remarkable building by any means but just one of those mom & pop type places that seemed to have been around for ever. When I shot it on that overcast wintery morning I had no idea that the business would close by the end of that year. Now these photos I shot were not the best but considering the lighting, they were not bad.

Tony & Ann’s Pizza, 2002 photo by Larry Cultrera

Here is the history of Tony & Ann’s from their website (http://www.tonyandannspizza.com/   ………………………………….

1953 – Tony & Ann Privitera open The Princeton Creamery on Princeton Boulevard in Chelmsford, MA.  It was an Ice Cream stand that was originally part of The Princeton Lounge.  Soon after, Tony (a baker by trade), creates a recipe for a unique style of pizza.  Their customers sample it and as a result Tony and Ann’s Pizza is born.

1958 – Tony and Ann’s Pizza moves to it’s new home on Tyngsboro Road as a pizza-drive-in.

In the early 60’s Tony and Ann enclose an area to provide shelter to their customers during inclement weather thus creating the signature red & white facade that will be featured on a national televison series later on.

In the mid 70’s Tony and Ann’s places picnic tables around perimeter so their customers could enjoy pizza outside of their cars on pleasant sunny days.

In the early 80’s Tony and Ann’s move the picnic tables to the front of the pizzeria creating an open air dining room.

1998 – Tony and Ann’s is featured in 2 episodes of the popular animated televison show The Simpsons.

1999 – After 46 years of cooking his unique style of pizza and greeting generations of customers every weekend, co-founder Tony Privitera passes away in June. 

2002 – December 7, after nearly 50 years, Ann and her family retire from making pizza.

Tony & Ann’s Pizza, 2002 photo by Larry Cultrera

Within the last couple of years I posted 1 of my photos on Flickr and received a couple of comments, one from old friend Rich Beaubien, who said he missed Tony & Ann’s and another from Bob Philpot. Bob is a long-time fan of Tony & Ann’s Pizza and has a webpage dedicated as an homage to the establishment. His page is at http://www.gatogato.com/images/tonyandanns.html and features relevent links and info including a video that shows Tony & Ann’s on “The Simpsons”!
Bob asked if he could use my photo on his webpage and I told him he could. I also sent him the other 2 photos I shot as well.

Through Bob I learned how much people loved and really missed this place after it closed. It made me want to try the pizza and unfortunately, I could not. 

Well the story took a new turn 2 weeks ago when I noticed Charlie Terenzio, a friend on Facebook posted something about Tony & Ann’s reopening in a new location. I asked him about it and he sent a link and some other info. He also informed me that Tony & Ann’s was THE BEST PIZZA he had ever had.

I took a ride to shoot some photos of the new Tony & Ann’s Pizza which will be run by grandchildren of Tony & Ann and it is expected that the recipe for the pizza will remain the same.

The new Tony & Ann’s Pizza, 2009 photo by Larry Cultrera

The new Tony & Ann’s Pizza, 2009 photo by Larry Cultrera

I peeked inside and it looks like they have a little work ahead of them before the place is open but it is well on its way! I cannot wait to finally try a Tony & Ann’s Pizza! The new location is at 11 Broadway Road (Rte. 113) in Dracut, Mass.

A rare Paramount Diner in North Carolina

I received an email from Debra Jane Seltzer of Agilitynut Roadside website http://www.agilitynut.com/roadside.html last week. She was inquiring whether I knew anything about a diner in Greensboro, NC. She sent a couple of photos that were shot by Robby Delius that showed a late 1940’s Paramount Diner. I replied to her that I recalled a post card of a similar diner (so I checked my collection and actually found one). It was the Southern Queen Hot Shoppe.

Postcard view of the Southern Queen Hot Shoppe

Hot Shoppe Restaurants were started in 1927 by J. Willard Marriott, the company later became the Marriott Corporation. I am not sure if this was part of the chain, if it was, it certainly was out of the ordinary.

The diner currently is in a different location from the postcard image and according to a manager that I spoke with briefly, it is in fact the smoking section of La Bamba Mexican Restaurant at 2702 High Point Road in Greensboro. It is attached to the rear of the main building of the restaurant so if you were approaching the establishment you would not see the diner.

Photo by Robby Delius, courtesy of Debra Jane Seltzer

Photo by Robby Delius, courtesy of Debra Jane Seltzer

I was actually amazed this diner still existed and Debra also commented that no one had this listed. I am not sure how much of the interior is still original and would love it if someone checked this out and got back to me.

Notes from the Hotline, 12-5-2009

The paintings of Gordon Inyard

Gordon’s painting of the Pineland Diner at a former location
somewhere on U.S. Rte. 1 in Maine. It is currently located in 
the town of Ellsworth, ME and operating as Maidee’s International
Cafe. It is now enclosed within another building.

Gordon’s painting of the Yankee Diner, Charlton, Mass.

I first wrote about Gordon Inyard in the “hard-copy” version of Diner Hotline back in the Spring-Summer, 1995 issue of the SCA Journal. It was in the “Diner as an Artform” piece in which I featured the work of Mary Michael Shelley, David Noyd as well as Gordon.

Gordon’s painting of the sign that belongs to a diner formerly known
as the Blue Crystal Diner, a Mountain View Diner located in
Long Island City, NY

I knew of Gordon and his work possibly through Randy Garbin (I cannot actually remember). I believe we had had some conversations by telephone as well as some correspondence. In 1992, my wife Denise and I had spent the Memorial Day weekend on Long Island, NY and had actually arranged to meet Gordon when he was showing some of his paintings at a gallery in Greenport.

Gordon’s painting of Leo’s Diner formerly of Rochester, NH

Gordon’s paintings are strongly remeniscent of John Baeder’s style, very photorealistic. We have remained in contact sparodically over the years and I thought it was time again to get his name out there for all my newer readers since I’ve brought Diner Hotline to the internet. Gordon has a website that people can check out at…. http://gordoninyard.com/

Gordon’s painting of the Arrow Motel sign

Coffee Mug Logos I have designed

Not long ago I posted photos of my coffee mug collection. I mentioned that a few of the mugs in the collection had logos that I designed. I am proud of these and my philosophy is that when I design a diner coffee mug, I do the design fairly accurate using a photo for the basis of the line-art. I then email the artwork to Westford China of Nashua, NH who create the coffee mugs for the particular customer.

Rosebud Diner

The first mug logo I designed was for the Rosebud Diner in Somerville, Mass. It was  printed on one side for a right-handed person with the logo facing away. This artwork was created directly from a photograph.

Central Diner

The second mug logo was for the Central Diner of Millbury, Mass. This was also printed on one side although it was for a left-handed person with the logo facing away. This also was created directly from a photo.

Tumble Inn Restaurant

Jack & Jo Ann Neary asked me to design a logo for their coffee mug back around 2002. Being that the Tumble Inn (located in Saugus, Mass.) is a store-front type diner, Jo Ann wanted a logo representing the interior. I shot some interior shots one day and created line-art from one of those shots. They also wanted printing on two sides.

Tumble Inn Diner

A year ago Bob Penta, the current owner of the Tumble Inn changed the name from “Restaurant” to “Diner”. When he found out I did the original logo he asked me to update it to reflect the changes.

Lunch Box Diner

When I designed the Lunch Box Diner coffee mug logo for Scott and Kristen Drago I tried to convert a photo to line-art but had a difficult time with it. I then resorted to my Adobe Illustrator skills and actually created the line-art by drawing over the photo, using it as a template. This worked very well and has become my preferred method for the creation of line-art.

Tim’s Diner

I recently designed a logo for Tim’s Diner in Leominster, Mass. It has not been actually ordered and printed yet but should be within a short time. I told Tim his logo that he has for his t-shirts would work well but he said he wanted the diner to look the way it used to before it was hit by an automobile and got a brick facade under the windows. he knew I had a couple of photos from the early 1980’s and wanted me to use one of those for the creation of the line-art. I enjoyed doing this one as it is one of my most favorite diners. As I tell Tim almost everytime I go there, I wished I lived closer as I would be there all the time!