Forty one years since I shot that first photo of a diner in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania………

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….

Worcester Lunch Cars No. 821 thru 828

Following up on last weeks post, I decided to show the next group of Worcester Lunch Cars. As I said at the end of the last post, Worcester Lunch Car No. 820 the former Stadium Diner of Everett, Mass. (aka the Miss Everett) was destroyed in the early 1970’s. But WLC No’s. 821 thru 828 are still in existence although not all are close to original condition or serving food.

Miss Adams Diner, WLC No.821

Miss Adams Diner at its only operating location, 53 Park St., Adams, Mass.

The Miss Adams Diner was delivered to Joseph Wilusz on December 7th, 1949 and it is still being used as a restaurant. When I first found it in the early 1980’s, it was known as the Peir 53 Restaurant. It had already gained its stone facade (instead of the porcelain steel panels) at that point. The interior was fairly original though. It has since operated under various names and had its interior trashed to a degree in the intervening years but recently went back to the original name since the property was sold. We are hopeful that new operator Philomene Rivard will return some of the lustre to this late model Worcester out in the western part of the Bay State.

Carmen’s Diner, WLC No. 822

WLC No. 822 now operating as the Computer Exchange on U.S. Rte.1,
728 Washington Street in Attleboro, Mass.

Originally known as Carmen’s Diner, it was delivered to its first operating location on Mechanic Street in Leominster, Mass. on November 1st, 1949. Sometime later it made it down to its current location in Attleboro, where it was known as the Mayflower Diner. When I first spotted this in the early 1980’s it was being used as a Ceramics Studio. Later it was a clothing store known as Bogie & Bacall’s. It is now a computer store and the interior is completely gone. You can also see from the above photo that the barrel roof is hidden.

Miss Mendon Diner, WLC No. 823

The Miss Mendon Diner, located on Rte. 16 in Mendon, Mass

Regular readers of this blog know that the Miss Mendon Diner in Mendon, Mass. was reopened this past January after being in storage for a number of years. Originally called the Miss Newport Diner, it was delivered to Noble Croft on May 16th, 1950 at its first operating location on East Main St. in Newport, VT. It operated there until it was moved in 2003 to Salisbury, Mass. where it was being stored. Kevin Meehan, owner of Imperial Cars bought the diner in 2008 and started the process of bringing this beauty back to life.

Ann’s Diner, WLC No. 824

Currently operating as Pat’s Diner, it is seen in this shot prior to the porcelain steel panels being removed by the current owner.

Ann’s Diner is now Pat’s Diner. Delivered on April 14th, 1950 to James F. Evans, it replaced an earlier monitor-roof Worcester Car that had been here for 2 years on U.S. Rte. 1 (11 Bridge Rd.) in Salisbury, Mass. It has a unique interior set-up, there is the typical counter and stools with 4 booths on the right-hand end of the diner with a partition just to the left of the front entrance. There is a large pocket sliding door in this partition to access a dining room that houses 6 booths. After Pat Archambault purchased the diner a few years ago, she removed the exterior porcelain steel panels and replaced them with t-111 wooden panels. other than that the diner is probably 90% original inside and out.

Bluebonnet Diner, WLC No. 825

Bluebonnet Diner at its only operating location 324 King St. (Rte’s. 5 & 10)
in Northampton, Mass. (Delivered May 12th, 1950)

The Bluebonnet Diner is the first of 3 diners that were built with this interesting configuration. It was built with 5 windows flanked by a door at each end of the front facade. The other 2 that were designed like this were the Miss Beverly Diner (No. 828) and Arthur’s Diner (No. 830). Eventually the owners of the Bluebonnet Diner wanted more room and decided to add onto the diner. They did this rather ingeneously by removing the left end wall and swinging it out to be level with the front facade. Then they made the addition behind this new front section. You can get a feel for what was done by looking closely at the details behind the windows in the wooden entryway as seen in the above photo. The diner not only has the added dining room but also a large function facility behind.

Jigger’s Diner, WLC No. 826

Jigger’s Diner, 145 Main St. (U.S. Rte. 1) in East Greenwich, RI
The diner was delivered here on June 21st, 1950 to Leonard Boren.

Jigger’s Diner during a small stretch in the 1980’s was completely gutted and used for storage by a neighboring paint store. It looked like this could be the end for this in-town diner until Carol Shriner got her hands on this and actually brought it back to life. Only someone with a trained eye could possibly see what is original and what is not. Carol has since moved on to other ventures but the diner is still going strong. Ordering the johnny cakes here is certainly a treat.

Peterboro Diner, WLC No. 827

Peterboro Diner as it currently looks. The original windows have been replaced. Located at 10 Depot St. just off School and Main Sts. in downtown
Peterboro, the diner was delivered on September 20th, 1950.

When I first visited this diner in the early 1980’s, it was still being run by Edward Fontaine, a brother of the original owner, Milton Fontaine. The diner was a perfectly preserved stand-alone lunch car. It was built with a partitioned-off kitchen on the right-hand end of the building as well as having the grill behind the counter. Within a couple of years the diner was sold to new owners who immediately made changes. They removed the partition and auxiliary kitchen, added new booths in this section and a large addition off the back of the diner. The large addition had room for a new kitchen, restrooms as well as more seating. They removed the grill and adjacent work station and cut a door to the new kitchen. Since then they upgraded to newer generic booths and have more recently changed the windows. I was intitially appalled at the changes, but as the years have gone by, I have mellowed my feelings and now think this place has a great small-town diner ambience.

Miss Beverly Diner, WLC No. 828

The Miss Beverly Diner as Buffalo Bill’s Roast Beef located at
386 Cabot St., Rte. 1A in Beverly, Mass. It has since been changed to a Subway Sandwich Shop. This diner was delivered on December 14th, 1950.

I recall when the Miss Beverly Diner was still the Miss Beverly Diner. This was back in the early to mid 1970’s. I never went in there although I’m sure I had plenty of opportunities at that time, as my sister lived right around the corner then. By the time I was photographing diners in 1980 the place had become Buffalo Bill’s Roast Beef. As seen in the above photo, the exterior was bricked-up under the windows and a mansard roof was built covering the original roof. Other than that the exterior changes could have been reversed. The interior was better as they still had the counter but just like Beachmont Roast Beef  (from the last post) the counter was raised to be a take-out type sevring counter. The stools were also removed and I believe the booths were changed also. It stayed this way until a few years ago when it had been closed for a short time. Then unfortunately, Subway Sandwich Shops bought the building and completely gutted the interior! If this had not happened, the place could have easily been brought back as a working diner.

This ends this series of consecutively numbered Worcester Lunch Cars as No’s 829 and 830 no longer exist. No’s. 831 thru 835 are extant, No. 836 is probably gone. No’s 837 thru 839 are still around while No. 840 is not. It is like this thru the 840’s where some are still with us and some are not. The last Worcester Lunch Car out of the factory was No. 850, currently the Route 104 Diner in New Hampton, NH.