Miss Adams Diner, Worcester Lunch Car No. 821. August 10, 2013 photo by
Larry Cultrera
I made a “quick” trip out to Adams, Mass. yesterday from my home in Saugus, Mass. Now if some of you do not know, this trip was from the extreme eastern end of the Bay State to the extreme western end…. a 3 hour ride one way! To not waste a huge portion of the day, I left at 3:45 AM (hey, I am up at that time anyway). My route for this trip is my very favorite in Massachusetts – State Route 2 (the western portion of this road is known as the Mohawk Trail) with three stops along the way, the first for a quick off/on in Leominster for a coffee to go (McDonald’s “Newman’s Own” coffee is very good by the way – a first for me). The second stop was for gas in Greenfield and the third was a very brief 3 photo stop at the infamous “Hairpin Turn” at the North Adams/Clarksburg town line (around 6:30 AM).
So, from the Hairpin Turn, it was a 15 minute ride to my destination…. the Miss Adams Diner in the town of Adams (south of North Adams on Rte. 8). I needed to get out to visit with Philomene & Ric Belair who have operated the diner since February of 2010. I initially met them a little over 2 years ago on a photo and fact finding excursion for my book, Classic Diners of Massachusetts. The diner is one of the ones I featured in the chapter on Western Massachusetts.
Unfortunately, the Belairs have been leasing the diner and earlier this year were informed by the owner that he was putting the place up for sale. Phil & Ric could not swing the purchase price so as of this coming Thursday, August 15th, the diner will be closed.
Left to right – Larry Cultrera, Ric Belair and Philomene Belair inside the Miss Adams Diner. August 10, 2013 photo by Larry Cultrera
I am particularly saddened by this turn of events as I have been reporting on too many diner closings recently. I want to wish Phil & Ric well in their future endeavors and will be keeping in touch with them.
Diner Hotline Weblog 
What a sadness…
Another Diner to close.
I planned to visit and eat in this Diner during our next trip to New England in next September.
Pizza had nothing to do in a Diner !!!
However, i will go to Adams, take some photos.
Cougar70, the French who love Diners
sorry to hear u are closing just what we need another pizza joint good luck you guys
The diner is opening Thursday Dec 12 and contrary to popular belief, pizza does have it’s place in a diner. We will be serving Breakfast, lunch, dinner and pizza. Our intentions to move out take out pizza place that has been in Adams for going on 5 years, is going to be an addition to the menu. We have purchased the building and are here to stay, operating under the name Izzy’s Diner & Pizza. We have a lot invested in this building and had from the past, we rented the diner before Phil & Ric and had done the majority of the work in the place costing me a good chunk of change that I was not able to recoup until now. Our plan is to restore as much as we can. We have started and will work on it as we find things. the future of the diner will be to restore the front of the diner and take down the stone at some point making it look as it did when it was placed in it’s current space.
Where did the original name of “Miss Adams” come from? Was there a Miss Adams. Just wondering.
Hi Laurel, The name came from the Worcester Lunch Car Company, the manufacturer of the diner. They probably suggested it to the owner who bought the diner to replace an earlier diner he had called the Adams Diner. There were many diners with the “Miss” appellation. Miss Malden, Miss Worcester, Miss Beverly and Miss Bellows Falls to name but a few. All of these were located in their namesake towns or cities and built by Worcester Lunch Car Company….