Here we are again – it’s November 29th and as always, I like to make note of this day, now 43 years ago when I shot my first 35mm photograph of a diner. There I was on my second road trip to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, two days after Thanksgiving visiting my pal Steve Repucci who I had helped moved just short of 3 months earlier to the capitol of the Keystone State. Myself and my brother Rick as well as friend Scott Drown had driven down from Massachusetts the day before, the Friday after Thanksgiving and basically hung out that afternoon in Steve’s apartment. We decided to go to breakfast the next morning at the nearest diner to where Steve lived which turned out to be the By-Pass Diner on Herr Street. This is when I “broke my cherry” so to speak and turned my camera lens toward taking this first tentative photo…
The By-Pass Diner, Harrisburg, PA November 29, 1980 photo by Larry Cultrera
Since then I have photographed just short of 900 different diners throughout a good portion of the eastern United States, from Maine to Virginia and Tennessee as well as a few in Florida and one in Georgia and into the midwest area counting a handful in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.
In this blog post I want to highlight the diners that I have photographed in the Capitol region of Pennsylvania. I will start with another view of the By-Pass Diner…
By-Pass Diner – Harrisburg, February 19, 1984
Dempsey’s Diner – Harrisburg, April, 1987
Dempsey’s Diner – Hershey, April 19, 1987
Ray’s Diner (AKA East Shore Diner) – Harrisburg, February 19, 1984
Riverview Diner – Harrisburg, March 20, 1982
West Shore Diner – Lemoyne, August 9, 1981
Decoven Diner – Duncannon, November 28, 1981
Trail Diner – Duncannon, August, 1981
Blue Diner – West Hanover Township, March 22, 1982
Bill’s Friendly Diner – Hummlestown, April 3, 1983
Highspire Diner (AKA Friendly Diner) – Highspire, March 27, 1982
Okay, so October 31st has come back around and as regular followers of Diner Hotline may know, I always like to acknowledge that this is the anniversary of the start of this blog. It has been 16 years since the debut of this blog which originally started out as a column in the Society for Commercial Archeology’s (SCA) News Journal which I wrote in December of 1987. This first Diner Hotline column which was not even a whole page, appeared in the Winter 1988 edition of the News Journal, a newsletter type publication by the SCA.
Eventually the News Journal was divided into two publications two or three years after I started the column – the SCA News (membership newsletter) and the SCA Journal (a magazine). At that point, I was given the option as to which publication Diner Hotline would appear in and I opted for the SCA Journal. Diner Hotline continued until the 2007 Summer Edition of the Journal when I decided to retire the column. Within a month or so after I discontinued the column, my friend Brian Butko emailed me. Brian knew I was thinking of continuing Diner Hotline possibly as another entity, and suggested I start a blog. So on October 31, 2007 this blog came into being…
So instead of just acknowledging the anniversary of the blog, I thought I would impart some news about a handful of diners being sold to new owners and hopefully (most) will be brought back as working diners in the near future.
Harrisburg’s By-Pass Diner moved from long-time operating location & saved from possible demolition.
The very first diner I ever photographed was the By-Pass Diner of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. That one photo taken on November 29, 1980 led to my taking thousands of photos of 896 diners since and that diner has always held a spot close to my heart.
By-Pass Diner, Harrisburg, PA November 29, 1980 by Larry Cultrera.
The diner changed hands in the 1990s and the new owner Fred Jenkins operated it for many years as the American Dream Diner before closing in 2020. As of January 28, 2021, the diner had reopened as Harry’s Bistro by Lou Antonio Vazquez with his daughters, Audrey and Anna Vazquez. Unfortunately for some reason the diner was forced to close within a few months of re-opening. As of earlier this year it was announced that the property the diner occupied as well as the parcel next door that housed a gas station was going to be redeveloped and the diner was put up for sale.
According to a news article dated last week (October 26, 2023) by Sue Gleiter of Penn Live, the diner was disassembled and moved across the street to get it out of harms way. The following is the gist of the news article… A nostalgic Harrisburg diner saved from the scrap heap by a longtime customer and local insurance agent, could face roadblocks as attempts are made to resurrect it at a new address. Hugh Dorsey recently bought the 70-year-old American Dream Diner at 1933 Herr St., where a convenience store is slated to be built. He then relocated the 1953 stainless steel DeRaffele diner across the street to a vacant lot next to the former State Police headquarters in Susquehanna Township.
Sections of the By-Pass Diner after the move to property across the street. Photo by Dan Gleiter, Penn Live.
At the time of this report, it is not clear where the diner may end up or if in fact it will be set up and reopened. I truly hope this diner will have a good outcome!
World Famous Rosie’s Diner gets sold after 12 years sitting idle.
Rosie’s Farmland Diner, Little Ferry, NJ. June 24, 1983 photo by Larry Cultrera.
The diner known as Rosie’s was originally operated as the Silver Dollar Diner in Little Ferry, New Jersey. Built in 1946 by the Paramount Dining Car Company, the diner was located at the traffic circle on U.S. Route 46 when it opened in the 1940s. Owned by Ralph A. (Tex) Corrado, Sr. and his young son, Ralph A. Corrado, Jr., the Corrados operated the diner together until Tex retired in the early 1960s when Ralph Jr. took over and eventually renamed the business the Farmland Diner.
The diner’s large size and close proximity to New York City were perfect for the diner to become the location for many print ads and television commercials, for different products and services. In the earlier days of the diner, commercials were filmed for Sanka Instant Coffee and Pepsi Cola. Other companies like Ethan Allen Furniture, New Jersey Bell and Sony used the diner’s location for their advertisements. However, the series of TV commercials that made the diner famous were for Bounty Paper Towels.
The Bounty commercials were filmed at the diner during the 1970s when it was known as the Farmland Diner (local Little Ferry residents affectionately referred to it as “The Greasy Spoon”). In the TV commercials, clumsy patrons would knock over beverages, and Rosie the Waitress, played by the late actress Nancy Walker, would clean up the mess using Bounty Paper Towels, pronouncing the product the “quicker picker-upper”. Two decades after the first commercials were filmed, Walker was still cleaning up after her television customers, but in a studio instead of in the diner. After the Bounty Paper Towel commercials became well known, Ralph Corrado decided to take advantage of the notoriety and renamed the restaurant in the 1970s to Rosie’s Farmland Diner after the waitress character from the commercials.
In 1989, after running the diner for 45 years, Ralph Corrado and his son Arnie sold the land under the diner to the auto glass repair shop next door. The business did not want the diner, leaving it up to Corrado to sell the building. His offer to place “the most famous diner in America” in the Smithsonian Institution was rejected.
At this time, in steps Jerry Berta, a Michigan artist that produced ceramic replicas of classic diners, with the original Rosie’s as one of his inspirations. He already owned one diner, the former Uncle Bob’s Diner a 1947 Jerry O’Mahony diner (moved from Flint, Michigan circa 1987) at that time located on his site on 14 Mile Road in Rockford, Michigan. Berta used that diner as a studio and gallery known as The Diner Store.
On a subsequent trip to the New York City area toward the end of 1989, Jerry and some friends revisited Rosie’s Diner and found out that the New Jersey diner was for sale. Berta bought Rosie’s and moved it to Michigan to it’s current location. The purchase price at the time was $10,000 for the 24-by-60-foot (7.3 by 18.3 m) building. Work crews separated the two sections of the diner and lifted it off the foundation the week after it closed in January of 1990. The sections were loaded onto two flatbed trucks for the move to Michigan. The restaurant opened in its new location on July 5, 1991. The following link is from a video I posted to You Tube featuring all of my photos of Rosie’s Diner….https://youtu.be/2XlDiGzRM3I
The Diner Store and Rosie’s Diner in Rockford, MI. 1990s photo by Fred Tiensivu.
Diner World in the late 1990s. Left to right – Diner Store, Rosie’s Diner, the former Garden of Eatin’ Diner and an on-site built addition. Photo courtesy of Jerry Berta.
The vintage two-diner collection expanded to three when Berta purchased the former Garden of Eatin’ diner (a 1952 Silk City) and moved it from Fulton, New York to the Michigan site in 1994. A fourth (reproduction) diner was also built on site as an addition. Known collectively as Diner World or Dinerland USA, the location featured the Diner Store art gallery (in the O’Mahony car), Rosie’s Diner (the primary restaurant), and a 3 1⁄2 acre food-themed mini-golf course designed by Berta, where guests could putt around a big burger and slice of pie. The roadside attraction continued under Berta’s ownership being operated by able management and staff until 2006, when it was purchased by new owner/operators.
View of Diner WorldPhoto Photo courtesy of Tom Loftus & Robin Schwartzman on their Website ” A Couple of Putts”.
Jonelle and Randy Roest purchased the diner in January 2006. They continued to run Rosie’s as a diner and reopened the Silk City car as a sports bar. The O’Mahony car was opened seasonally as an ice cream shop. The mini-golf course was not reopened. While under the Roests’ ownership, the location received TV coverage on the Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and the Travel Channel’s Diner Paradise.
Rosie’s Diner closed for business on October 2, 2011. The property was sold through online auction to Aaron Koehn of nearby Koehn Chevrolet, with a winning bid of $125,000. In September 2014, he offered tours of the buildings as part of a car show that attracted an estimated 3,000 people.
Since then the diners including Rosie’s have sat idle – slowly deterioratng. But the good news is that within the last two weeks it was announced that Rosie’s Diner has been bought by Chuck and Dawn Perry of Millersburg, Missouri and they’re going to restore it. He’s a car restorer, and she runs restaurants. So, it’s like the perfect fit,” said Berta. Although the Perry’s actually purchased the diner last winter, all the T’s are crossed and the I’s dotted, allowing the process of moving the diner to it’s new location. This transition may take some time but it looks like Rosie’s has found a new home and a renewed lease on life!
Dawn Perry at Rosie’s Diner in Rockford, MI. Courtesy of Dawn Perry.
Shawmut Diner of New Bedford will live again!
The Shawmut Diner, New Bedford, MA early 2000s photo by Larry Cultrera
One of my favorite diners in Massachusetts -the Shawmut Diner, formerly of New Bedford looks to be on the road shortly to a new location and life in Norwich, Connecticut. The Shawmut Diner closed in 2014 when long-time owners Phil and Celeste Paleologos decided to retire. Back in the mid-to-late 1990s, Phil who also had a daytime gig as a local Radio personality hosted a daily news/talk and entertainment show right from the diner. Called the Diner Show, he interviewed national personalities from show business and politics to the local customers of the diner. I was on his show quite a few times.
Phil Paleologos and myself in the broadcast booth set up in the back corner of the Shawmut Diner. September, 1998 photo by Denise Cultrera
Back at the beginning of 2014 the Paleologos’ had a generous offer from Cumberland Farms, a local Gas Station/Convenience Store chain for the property. The Paleologos’ hoped to sell the large 1953 vintage Jerry O’Mahony Diner but were not getting any reasonable offers in the short time allotted. So they in turn donated the building to the Bristol County House of Correction and had it moved to the prison’s property in nearby Dartmouth, Massachusetts.
Phil and Celeste Paleologos on the last day of operation at the Shawmut Diner. March 20, 2014 photo by Larry Cultrera
The hoped for plan was to get the funds to set the diner back up and have it used for vocational training to rehabilitate inmates prior to release. Unfortunately, this plan never came to fruition and the diner has been sitting on blocks awaiting it’s fate.
Earlier this year the current Sheriff of Bristol County announced plans to put the diner building up for auction. The auction was held in July and the winning bid of $20,200 was won by New Yorker Evan Blum, owner of Demolition Depot in Harlem, and the yet-to-open Irreplaceable Artifacts of Norwich, Connecticut.
According to Blum, while his business is in buying and selling old items like the Shawmut Diner, he has other plans in this case. “I have a property over in Norwich, CT and I’m opening up an art, antiques and crafts market there,” he said, “and I wanted to put this in the parking lot to help attract more people.
“I figured I’d get one of my operators there to bring in some decent food and set it up so it’ll be an accomodation.” Blum, noted that he is still working out “some logistics” of transporting the diner from the Bristol County House of Correction property in Dartmouth to Norwich, Connecticut, said he looks to have the diner up and running “some time next year.”
On a side note, the last diner to operate in Norwich was Burt’s Diner which was moved out in the 1980s and is now operating in Hubbard, Ohio as the Emerald Diner.
Burt’s Diner, Norwich, Connecticut July 10, 1983 photo by Larry Cultrera
Miss Bellows Falls Diner on track for a restoration and reopening!
Miss Bellows Falls Diner, Bellows Falls, VT. August 7, 1983 by Larry Cultrera.
The Miss Bellows Falls Diner, Worcester Lunch Car No. 771 was the second diner to be listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Built by Worcester in 1941and originally installed in Lowell, Massachusetts as Frankie and Johnny’s Diner, its stay in Lowell was brief.
The diner was then transported to Bellows Falls, Vermont in 1942 to begin a new life, adorned with new front panels announcing the diner’s new identity. It has since been operated under quite a few different people over the intervening decades which continued until it closed in early 2020 at the beginning of the Pandemic.
Fast forward to May, 2023 and it was reported that after signing a purchase and sales agreement earlier in the Spring, Rockingham for Progress (RFP) took possession of the diner.
RFP, a nonprofit formed in 2016 to promote progressive economic development, an appreciation of the historic and cultural value of Bellows Falls, and citizen participation in our local democratic processes had plans for the diner’s revival. Undertaking the challenge of restoring the Miss Bellows Falls Diner to its original working condition is being done in consultation with historic diner expert Richard J.S. Gutman and with the support of a $100,000 Paul Bruhn grant from the Preservation Trust of Vermont.
“They plan on using the grant funds exclusively for the restoration of the historic dining car. Both the exterior and interior will be repaired and restored, including the marble counter, tile-work, built-in coolers, stools, oak booths, fixtures, signage and stained-glass filigrees on the windows,” the Preservation Trust said in a prepared statement.
Red Wing Diner of Walpole, Massachusetts closed and For Sale.
The Red Wing Diner, a long-time favorite restaurant on U.S. Route 1 in Walpole, Massachusetts known for its fried seafood and iconic (bar Pie) pizza has closed.
Back on September 5, 2023, an announcement was posted on the Red Wing Diner’s Facebook page that the diner was temporarily closed for repairs. By the beginning of October a “For Sale” sign had appeared outside the diner.
The Red Wing Diner, Walpole MA. May 26, 2006 photo by Larry Cultrera.
The Red Wing Diner, Walpole MA. 1930s photo from my collection.
The Red Wing is Worcester Lunch Car, No. 709 dating from 1933. The diner was expanded later when the owners purchased the former railroad depot in town. They moved the building to the diner’s location and attached it to the left side of the diner.
The Red Wing Diner showing the attached addition in the 1940s, from my collection.
Jack Conway Realtors out of Mansfield is handling the sale. It is listing the 2,727-square-foot restaurant and 5-acre property at $1.35 million. Unfortunately, with a price tag of that size, redevelopment would be a likely scenario and it seems unlikely the diner will survive. We will have to see how this pans out.
Well, it’s that time of year where I mark the anniversary of taking my first 35mm photo of a diner. As regular readers of this blog know, that first Diner photo was the following photo…
By-Pass Diner of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
November 29, 1980 photo by Larry Cultrera
In looking back on these last decades there was an unofficial pattern of going on road trips over Thanksgiving weekend. So I did some digging and found some images of diners I had photographed on the Thanksgiving weekends in the years from 1980 until now. It seems there were actually only 10 of those weekends between 1980 and 2022. Now granted, on some of those weekends in the early 1980s that I photographed more than a handful of places, so I will only choose one diner from each of those trips to be representative from the year.
Olympia Diner, Newington, Connecticut
November 27, 1981 photo by Larry Cultrera
Ed’s Diner, Brattleboro, Vermont
November 26, 1982 photo by Larry Cultrera
Market Diner, New York, New York
November 25, 1983 photo by Larry Cultrera
Libby’s Diner, Manchester Center, Vermont (never opened here)
November 27, 1987 photo by Larry Cultrera
Andros Diner, Belmont Massachusetts
November 27, 1993 photo by Larry Cultrera
Old Lunch Wagon /derelict cabin, Brookfield, Massachusetts
November 24, 2006 photo by Larry Cultrera
Roundabout Diner, Portsmouth, New Hampshire (former Howard Johnson’s Restaurant)
By-Pass Diner, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. November 29, 1980 – My first Diner photo
Monday, November 29, 2021 marks the anniversary of me shooting the first of thousands of “Diner” photographs. Most regular readers probably know I always acknowledge this date every year on the Diner Hotline blog. A couple of things have come together in recent months that sort of underline the importance to my life that this seemingly innocuous event that happened forty one years ago has loomed large in the scheme of things, at least to me.
Number one: I have completed the digitizing of all my 35mm prints and slides of “Diners”. This task in itself took all told at least 4 years to complete. I have also updated my database (digital Diner Log) to reflect the location of the original slides and negatives of those images as well as included two photos of each diner entry into the log. I am currently revamping the 35mm slide archive of “Diner” images to be housed in new archival boxes. This task is being done to get all images into a semblance of order to possibly facilitate the eventual donation of these slides to an institution that might want them as part of an historical record. Doing something like this to the 35mm prints (and negatives) might actually be a little more daunting. Not so much for the prints more than the negatives as other non-diner images are mixed in with the diner images. That is a problem to be attacked at another time.
new Archival Methods 35mm slide storage boxes for my Diner slides
Number two: the future of diners in general is still precarious and to place a spotlight on this fact, that first diner I documented with my photos, the By-Pass Diner of Harrisburg, PA is currently in limbo. The diner had changed hands in the 1990s and been operated as the American Dream Diner right up until the last year or so. It changed hands again earlier this year to become Harry’s Bistro. If you check it out online, it has gotten some great reviews and it gives the impression that it is still in operation. But someone I know recently stopped by and found it closed with an ominous notice taped to the window that says there were problems that have shut down the business. For how long, I do not know but the person who reported this fact said it looked like it had been closed for some time.
It turns out there are other diners I have documented over the last four decades that are also in jeopardy, including another Harrisburg diner, the East Shore Diner. The East Shore Diner is being threatened with possible demolition or at least in the best scenario moved to a new location because of a planned construction project to revamp highway on/off ramps adjacent to the property where the diner has been since the early 1950s when it was first installed as Seybold’s Diner.
Harrisburg, PA’s East Shore Diner is currently threatened with removal, either by demolition or hopefully moved to a new operating location.
Another diner threatened with demolition is Bishop’s Fourth Street Diner of Newport, Rhode Island as the property owner wants it gone to expand an adjacent business.
Newport, RI’s Bishop’s 4th Street Diner also threatened with demolition
Back at the end of July, 2021, it was reported that the Daddypop’s Tumble Inn Diner of Claremont, New Hampshire had suffered a suspected arson fire. They were reported to start repairs on the damage which affected the basement and electrical equipment. Unfortunately this may be complicated by the fact that Deborah Ann Kirby, the owner of the Tumble Inn passed away suddenly towards the end of October, putting the fate of this diner in limbo.
Claremont, NH’s Daddypop’s Tumble Inn Diner is in limbo after an arson fire and passing of owner Deborah Kirby
Another diner is also in limbo and slated for demolition is the former Ann’s Diner, operated more recently as Pat’s Diner of Salisbury, Massachusetts. Pat Archambault the owner for many years has had the diner up for sale for quite some time. She finally sold it at the end of July and unfortunately the owner of the gas station next door to the diner bought the property and has no intention of utilizing the diner. Ironically as I write this I just found out that Pat Archambault just passed away herself.
Salisbury, MA’s Pat’s Diner (when it was still Ann’s, circa 1989) is threatened also…
Two other Massachusetts diners future are questionable, the first is the Salem Diner which is currently owned by Salem State University. The university stopped using it as a food option within the last two years and is trying to get someone to buy and move the diner. As far as I know, no one has come forward with a likely proposal to move and reuse this very rare Sterling Streamliner.
The Salem Diner circa May, 1982
The second Massachusetts diner is a late model Worcester Lunch Car currently operating as the Breakfast Club in Allston, Mass. The diner sits on leased property which is slated to be redeveloped. The future of this diner is not looking good at this point.
The Breakfast Club Diner with a brand-new addition circa, 2012.
Within the last week or so we have heard that the 29 Diner in Fairfax, Virginia has had a very bad kitchen fire that miraculously has spared the diner in front but closed the business for at least 6 months.
Fairfax, VA’s The 29 Diner (when it was known as the Tastee 29 Diner circa 1990).
It’s not all bad news as the Edgemere Diner of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts which has been closed fairly recently was sold at auction within the last two weeks. The diner had been owned since 1995 by the town of Shrewsbury when the diner and property was taken for back taxes owed by the owner of the business. Since then the town has leased the diner out to numerous operators until now. The town finally decided that they did not want to be landlords anymore. The good news is that Michael Cioffi bought the diner and said he plans to move it from its location on U.S. Route 20 – which was a stipulation of the sale – to New York’s Catskills, where he already owns and operates the Phoenicia Diner.
Shrewsbury, MA’s Edgemere Diner is being moved to upstate New York.
So this post not only highlights that first photo of the By-Pass Diner but also sheds some light on the fragility of the American diner and the diner business in general. It points to the fact that my photos are my contribution to documenting diner history over the last forty one years….
This year November 29th falls on a Sunday. Who knew that a tentative single 35mm photo taken on this same date 40 years ago in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, would lead me into a multi-decade mission to document diners (at last count 875 in my database) throughout the Eastern United States with my photographs.
Now granted, I have always had a fascination with diners that goes back to my early childhood in Medford, Massachusetts in the late 50s and early 60s. I recall going with my dad to a few local diners like Bobbie’s Diner and the Star Lite Diner, both on Mystic Avenue in our hometown as well as the Victoria Diner in Boston.
Bobbie’s Diner, 33 Mystic Avenue – Medford, Massachusettscolorized image of the Star Lite Diner, 383 Mystic Avenue – Medford, MassachusettsVictoria Diner, 1024 Massachusetts Avenue – Boston, Massachusetts
I also recall after Easter Morning Mass going for breakfasts with my family to Carroll’s Colonial Dining Car on Main Street, a large “L” shaped diner delivered in the early 60s that was a brand new replacement for a smaller stainless steel diner that the Carroll family had operated previously in the city from 1948, that itself was a replacement for an even earlier diner started in 1929.
Carroll’s Diner, 101 Main Street – Medford, Massachusetts
Later on during high school as well as years after graduating, Carroll’s was the go-to meeting place that was open 24 hours a day. Myself and my friends could be found there, day or night! So I can safely say that diners became part of my DNA, a constant throughout my life and by 1979, I started thinking about them in an expanded view. My pal, Steve Repucci and I started taking Sunday morning road-trips around the area and the first stop along the way was a local diner for breakfast. Soon, the task of finding a diner to have breakfast determined the direction of the road-trip.
All through the 1970s, I had owned one or two Kodak Instamatic cameras and never seriously looked at photography as a hobby. As 1980 began, I had been toying with the idea of getting into photography after being exposed to it by Steve Repucci who had been shooting 35mm photos for a number of years. So the first of two key events leading me to take that first diner photo occurred sometime in the Summer of 1980, when I co-purchased my first 35mm camera along with my older brother Steve. My friend and former co-worker Scott Drown was selling a used Mamiya 1000 DTL that he had been shooting with for a few years. So my brother and I alternated using this camera for around 9 months before I decided I needed my own camera and sold him my half.
a camera similar to what I used to take that first Diner photograph
The first couple of months I tested my wings by shooting scenic photos, etc. It was just a month or so into using that first camera when the second key event happened. Steve Repucci had decided to try living outside of Massachusetts and moved to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This happened on Labor Day weekend. Because I owned a van, I of course offered my services in helping with the move. This was my first ever trip down to the Keystone State. During that first visit to Pennsylvania, I had taken notice of one or two diners driving around the Capitol region. After that first trip a second one was already planned for Thanksgiving weekend.
Thanksgiving fell on Thursday the 27th that year. If I remember correctly, my brother Rick and friend Scott Drown accompanied me on that trip. We left not long after midnight on the 28th and drove out through Connecticut and New York on Interstate 84. In fact we took I-84 all the way to Scranton, PA to access I-81 south to Harrisburg. I recall hitting some pretty bad fog through that stretch of highway between Scranton and Harrisburg, possibly the worst I have ever attempted to drive through in my life. After arriving we rested a bit and visited as well as probably going out to eat somewhere and probably called it a day fairly early. The next morning we went to breakfast at the nearby By Pass Diner on Herr Street, probably around four miles or so from where Steve was living on North Progress Avenue. This is when I snapped my first photo of a diner. Little did I know this would be the first in what has turned out to be a few thousand photos taken in the next four decades!
My first diner photograph, By Pass Diner, 1933 Herr Street – Harrisburg, PA
Well, the dam was broken and after I came home from Harrisburg I started going around the Greater Boston area and shooting photos of all the diners I knew of. Unfortunately, in my inexperience, I was insisting on using a wide angle lens in a lot of these early photo excursions. The reason I say it was unfortunate was that I was usually across the street using the wide angle lens and it pushed the subject a little too far away. Now in hindsight this seemed to work out OK as anyone who sees these early photos can get the perspective of seeing the diner in relation to its surroundings. And seeing that I am currently in a multi-year endeavor of scanning all my archive of diner photos, I have developed a way to create new versions of these photos by zooming in and re-cropping the image to represent the photo it should have been (and keeping the original version intact).
Here are a few of those early shots after Harrisburg…
Viv’s Diner – Malden, Massachusetts_November, 1980Boston Street Diner – Lynn, Massachusetts_November, 1980White Way Grill – Lynn, Massachusetts_November, 1980 a rare early close-up only because the truck was blocking the view. Unfortunately, I never got another shot of this the way it looked here as new owners renovated the diner totally and lost the original classic look…Rosebud Diner – Somerville, Massachusetts_December, 1980Apple Tree Diner – Dedham, Massachusetts_January, 1981Salem Diner – Salem, Massachusetts_March, 1981
Since those early days I have used quite a number of different cameras to shoot diner photos including some Kodak Brownie and Dual Lens Reflex cameras that I have collected. Also two Chinon 35mm cameras as well as some small digital cameras. Since 2008 when I changed totally to digital, I have used my trusty Pentax DSLR, a couple of Nikon Cool Pix and my newest an Olympus Pen mirror-less camera. After changing careers in 1996, I have become proficient in using Adobe Photoshop to digitize all of my 35mm slides and am currently working on the early 35mm prints. I hope to complete the digital archive of all the diner photos within the next year!
On this day, 39 years ago (November 29, 1980) I took one 35mm photograph of a diner… namely, the By Pass Diner of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. This event, small in comparison to others in the greater scheme of things, steamrolled into a multi-decade long odyssey that encompasses thousands of photos of 870 plus diners throughout the northeast United States down through the mid-Atlantic states as well as small pockets in Tennessee and Florida.
The By Pass Diner of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Photo from November 29, 1980
I have been in the process of scanning and in some cases, re-scanning the library of 35mm prints and slides, to digitize the archive. In looking back on some of the older photos, including that first one, I am delighted in how these have held up as time goes on. The slides have been scanned but the prints are only partially complete. My hope that now that I am semi-retired, I can make more inroads in the scanning project.
Now when I started this little research project of documenting diners, I will confess that I was a “diner-snob”. Of this I mean that I would only take photos of classic factory-built (prefabricated) diners. The ones built between the 1920s through to the 1950s. Initially, I sort of ignored the newer ones (1960 -1980) and have been kicking myself ever since for not including more of these. As time went on, I did get quite a few of the newer ones and just wish I had gotten more. I also started including storefront and on-site built diners as subjects for my photos.
That being said, in honor of the 39th anniversary of taking my first diner photo, I decided to take some photos of a “Diner” that is about to open within the next month.The Minuteman Diner, located on The Great Road in Bedford, Massachusetts had this honor. I had been reading earlier this year that Ed & Diane Cohen were taking over the spot in a commercial strip-mall that had housed a D’Angelo Sub Shop and planned to open it up as a diner after renovations and updates to the spot were complete. The Cohen’s plans were to open sometime in August, but these plans had a slight detour due to unforeseen building code requirements that set them back a few months. These problems have been alleviated and they are waiting for the town to sign-off and allow them to open.
The Minuteman Diner, Bedford, Massachusetts.
An exterior view from November 29, 2019
The Minuteman Diner, Bedford, Massachusetts.
An exterior view from November 29, 2019
The Minuteman Diner, Bedford, Massachusetts.
An exterior view from November 29, 2019
The Minuteman Diner, Bedford, Massachusetts.
An interior view from November 29, 2019
The Minuteman Diner, Bedford, Massachusetts.
An interior view from November 29, 2019
I had contacted Diane the other day and told her I was planning on showing up this morning to take photos. When I got there, I had a nice conversation with both her and Ed and am excited to see them do well as there are no other breakfast and lunch places in town other than McDonalds, Dunkin’ Donuts and various sandwich places. I am definitely planning to make a return trip or two when they open up soon….
My first attempt at photographing a diner. In this case, the By-Pass Diner of Harrisburg, PA – November 29, 1980
It is still amazing to me that the photo featured above would ever snowball into hundreds if not thousands of photos over a span of 38 years (and that’s just counting the diner photos). Truth be told, this was not my first 35mm photo as I had taken other scenic & miscellaneous shots in the 3 or 4 months prior to this one. But the above photo represents various forces that had finally coalesced into a 38 year personal crusade to document not only the American Diner, but other roadside buildings and businesses before they disappeared.
To this day I will tell you that I am not a technically trained photographer, I still basically employ a point and shoot kind of approach. But I can say that I am a camera geek and own many cameras. From a collection of Kodak Brownies and Instamatics, as well as five or six 35mm film cameras and close to a half dozen digital cameras. This also is curious because I can recall my feelings were quite ambivalent about photography back in the mid-to late 1970s.
These feelings toward photography started to change after meeting my long-time friend and travel companion, Steve Repucci. Our paths crossed toward the end of 1976 when I started a new job at Analogic Corporation, a company I had previously worked for briefly when I was still in High School in the Spring of 1970. We did not connect right away as we were in different departments. In fact I first became friendly with Steve’s brother Scott (who also was employed there) before I eventually socialized with Steve.
Steve and I had bonded a little at work thru passing conversations in the coming months of 1977 into early 1978. This bond was sealed further during an impromptu camping trip to Lake George, NY on June 24, 1978. We found out that we were kindred spirits who enjoyed taking road trips, etc. I learned that Steve had been an avid photographer using 35mm cameras since his time in the U.S. Air Force during the early 1970s. By 1980, I had seen quite a lot of his photographs and was totally inspired to get into it myself.
So by the Summer of 1980 I had heard that a friend was selling a used 35mm Mamiya 1000 DTL, (which coincidentally was Steve Repucci’s first 35mm camera). I actually went and bought the camera with my older brother Steve and we shared it for about 1/2 a year before I sold him my half and got a new camera. The Mamiya was the camera I used for all my diner photos from November 29, 1980 into the Spring of 1981 when I got the first of two Chinon 35mm cameras. I later graduated to owning two Pentax 35mm cameras, the last one was my go-to camera until 2008.
A Mamiya 1000DTL similar to my first 35mm camera .
A photo of yours truly standing in Medford Square (Medford, Mass.)
Possibly the only photo showing me with the Mamiya 1000 DTL 35mm SLR.
(1981 Photo by Joe Fortunato)
Since that first photo of the By-Pass Diner, I have gone on to document over 860 diners, most are factory-built classic diners while others were home-made or on-site establishments. I have photographed some old neon signs and various roadside buildings as well.
I started to experiment with digital photography circa 2000 or so while continuing with film cameras. Gradually I was taking more and more digital shots for a few years until the last roll of film came out of the Pentax with photos from 2005 thru 2008. I realized that it was not worth using the film cameras anymore and decided to make the switch totally when I bought the Pentax K200 Digital SLR at that point.
This brings me to 2018 and I now carry 3 digital cameras in my bag. The Pentax K200 DSLR, a Nikon Coolpix P7800 and the newest – a Olympus E-PL29. This last one is a brand-new retro version of an Olympus PEN model that was very popular for years, starting in 1959. I have yet to shoot any diners with this one as I have had a skin ulcer on my left foot since the end of July which has kept me in a cast. When the foot is healed I hope to get back out and take some photos.
Also, in the last 2 years or so I have been diligently scanning all of my 35mm slides and prints to create a digital archive. I have completed the slides and am now slogging thru the prints. The prints take more time to scan, clean and enhance. It helps to have patience to do this because it is very gratifying to see the finished image. This process has made me appreciate the early diner photos even more. I am pleasantly surprised at how decent a lot of these shots actually are. The following images are some of my early favorites….
Collin’s Diner – Canaan, Connecticut
Photo from October 3, 1982
Hightstown Diner – Hightstown, New Jersey
Photo from May 31, 1982
Norm’s Diner – Groton, Connecticut
Photo from September 18, 1982
Ruby’s Silver Diner – Schenectady, New York
Photo from October 2, 1982
Salem Diner – Salem, Massachusetts
Photo from May, 1982
Tom Sawyer Diner – Allentown, Pennsylvania
Photo from February 26, 1982
Diner Hotline Weblog 