Diner Hunter

The Mt. Penn Diner – Reading, PA

dinerman — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 02:04:53 +0000

The Mt. Penn Glass Front Diner was located at the east end of the Lindbergh Viaduct in Reading, PA. It looks like it was located roughly at 2101 Howard Blvd, where Arner’s Family Restaurant is now. (A real estate listing for that restaurant can be found here). The diner is certainly an unusual one. The extreme width (for the pre-war period) is reminiscent of diners built by General and by Bixler, however the roof curvature and detailing is wrong. More than likely it was built on-site by a local contractor. I will give them credit, though, this is a well executed job if that’s what it is.

This photo is from a menu I have in my collection dating from 1941. Some fun facts about the diner from that menu:
Do you know? That we employ 24 people in the diner, 24 hours.
Do you know? That we average over 25,000 patrons monthly.
Do you know? That this is America’s only Vitrolux Glass front diner and Pennsylvania’s Finest.
Do you know? That you have only a five (5) minute drive from the diner to the Chinese pagoda on the Sky Line Boulevard. (Dinerhunter note: It’s worth noting that they’re referring to it as a “Chinese” pagoda. Possibly to do with the Anti-Japanese sentiment of the war-time years.)

Quality food at the lowest possible price is our first consideration
We select all our employees, and instruct them to be civil, kind and thoughtful, even under the most trying circumstances.
We think you have a right to know the quality of food we are serving.

It may interest you to know: That we only use Idaho Potatoes – the world’s finest and that we served more than 60,000 pounds in 1940.
That all our french fried and julienne potatoes are cooked to order in our modern electric fryers.
That we use only the highest grade vegetable shortening for all our cooking and baking.
That in 1940 we used more than 100,000 Berks County fresh eggs, supplied by a reliable farmer. All our eggs are fried in pure dairy butter.

Do you know? That we used 6,000 pounds of creamery butter in 1940
That we served 215,000 cups of coffee the same year.
That we served 5,650 quarts of pure cream for coffee in 1940.
That we served 15,500 quarts of milk during the year 1940.

Do you know? That we grind our own hamburger fresh daily, from choice young beef rounds, and that we served more than 18 tons during 1940.
That we use Swift’s special bacon and choice beef.
That we use Heinz ketchup and tomato juice exclusively.
That we use Spanish onions- the sweetest in America.

We Do Know
That our success depends upon your satisfaction and your recommendation. . . If your food is not as you expect it to be, please oblige the management by having your waitress return same. We do appreciate your patronage.

The White Star Diner – Winnipeg, Manitoba

dinerman — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 16:47:31 +0000

I visited the White Star Diner on a trip to visit my girlfriend and her family this past February out in Manitoba. If you want to know what it is to truly be cold, I suggest this area in the winter.
It was the morning of Valentines day and we were out tromping through the snow filled streets, seeing the sights. Winnipeg is a very interesting city and has a ton of sights, even in conditions that would bring other cities to a screeching halt. What better meal for a romantic Valentines breakfast than a stop in at the White Star? None, I would say. I had a pulled pork sandwich topped with bacon, and a side of Poutine. Anna had a grilled cheese and a chocolate milkshake. Walking around all day outside in that kind of weather, it’s just the thing that hits the spot.
It’s a great old fashioned type of place, in an infill site, with ghost signs behind. Inside, it has a window counter and an open kitchen.

The White Star Diner is located at:
58 Albert St Winnipeg, MB R3B 1N6, Canada

The Happy Day Diner

dinerman — Sat, 20 Apr 2013 16:12:40 +0000

I last visited the Happy Day diner in 2004, and wasn’t too impressed. It’s a very pretty ’59 DeRaffele built diner that got the retro treatment. Fortunately, most of it is cosmetic, stickers, paint and bolt-ons. Almost nothing which couldn’t be un-done at a later date. Smiley face on the roof, and Elvis on the vestibule. The smiley face up there has actually been toned sometime in the intervening decade, see the original here.

Nine years later, we decided it was time to give this diner a second chance. It is, after all, just down the road. The waitresses were friendly and attentive, the coffee was good, and the interior still looks pretty good. I had the cream chipped beef, my dad had his usual eggs, bacon, homefries and toast. Maybe we’ll give it another chance in another decade.

The Happy Day Diner
8302 Pulaski Hwy Baltimore, MD

The retro remodeling of the Happy Day Diner harks back to the time of 45s and of Elvis. Here it is in those days, with freedom riders being arrested after trying to be served.

The Medport Diner – Medford, NJ

dinerman — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:42:25 +0000

We had dinner at the Medport Diner. It’s a L-shaped DeRaffele- built diner, with a stainless steel A-frame style vestibule.
122 New Jersey 70 Medford, NJ. While it’s a big diner, its floor plan, with the L shape, and a row of booths between the counter and the row of booths at the window, keep it cozy. I feel that from the ’60s onward, as diners grew ever larger, they lost the intimacy of earlier ones which harbors interaction. Despite its capacity, this DeRaffele design manages to keep the local vibe of earlier models. The interior got a facelift early last year (photos), but it’s fairly complementary, and I much prefer it to the “retro” look so many are revamping their diners with.
The food was good and plentiful, and while the menu was extensive, enough of the options were variations on basic ingredients. Those typically NJ diner menus with 15 pages of everything-under-the-sun always overwhelm me and make me a bit nervous. I settled on the Texas burger, a cheeseburger with barbecue sauce, and a side of Disco Fries. From my years living in Canada, I became a bit of a poutine junkie, and having moved back to the US, I’ve been jonesing for my next fix. Disco fries are mozza and gravy on fries. They’re not curds, but the idea and flavor’s there. The cheese on the burger was particularly melty and the burger was juicy and flavorful. A great diner and a great way to round out the day.

The Medport Diner is located at:
122 New Jersey 70 Medford, NJ

Somers Point Diner, Somers Point, NJ

dinerman — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:50:58 +0000

We ended up finally eating lunch at the Somers Point Diner. At some point in the past couple of years, the Somers Point traffic circle was replaced by a intersection. The Circle Liquor Store across the road has lost its namesake. The Point diner was built by Fodero. Since the original postcard, it has lost the top of its pylon sign, gained a large addition, and an extra tier to the roof. I love the floor to ceiling glass of the vestibule and the dining room addition, where the bottom infill panels, instead of being stainless or stone are glass. It takes the space age diner design of more and more glass in the facade to its logical conclusion. Inside, the diner has been significantly re-done, though I really enjoyed the paintings of the Jersey shore in the 1960s which hang in the L of the diner.
The special of the day was a hot open faced roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy. That used to be my default diner order, but I haven’t had one in a while. If it’s on special, I’m always game, so in went the order. My dad had his usual hamburger, plain (nothing on that), medium rare, with fries and a diet coke. Mine came out garnished with parsley and, as I discovered after biting in, a sliver of aluminum can. The mashed potatoes were over-watered and of the powdered variety. The meat was tough. I didn’t finish. My dad’s burger was alright, but was pre-formed and frozen. It all had Sysco written all over it.
Back in the car, and on to Margate to visit Lucy the Elephant. I think there will be a blog post about that leg of the trip over at Neon Dreamscapes shortly.

The Rio Grande Diner – Middle Township, NJ

dinerman — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 18:17:45 +0000

This was lunch stop candidate no. 2. It’s an early 1950s Mountain View Diner which has received the New Jersey treatment of stone and mansard. The distinctive lines of the cowcatcher corners are still visible, but have been covered, like the rest of the diner, in a stone veneer. We pulled in, I jumped out to take a quickie photo from the sidewalk before heading in, and within seconds someone had come out of the diner to hassle me for it. From previous experience, it’s always best to move along when that kind of thing happens. So we passed on lunch, I jumped back in the car, and off we went down the road.

The Rio Grande Diner is located at:
1305 New Jersey 47 Middle Township, NJ

Surfside West Diner – Wildwood, NJ

dinerman — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:57:45 +0000

I had intended lunch yesterday to be at the Surfside West Diner in Wildwood, NJ, a rare one by the Superior Dining Car Company. Unfortunately, they were closed for the season, and will not reopen until May 11th. The diner is currently painted turquoise, and the old neon which graces the roof in other pictures of it online has been covered (replaced?) by a plastic one with a picture of a diner on it.
For shots of the interior, see HERE

The Surfside West diner is located at:
5308 New Jersey Ave, Wildwood, NJ 08260

Elmer Diner – Elmer, NJ

dinerman — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:44:13 +0000

Breakfast ended up being at the Elmer Diner, which I last visited about seven years ago. A diner on the site goes back to the 1920s. The ’50s incarnation has been turned perpendicular to the road, gutted and has been used for the past forty odd years as a dining room. The main diner is a 1970s model with bay windows. Since I was there last, an argyle pattern has been painted on the vestibule, and stainless has been added to the exterior of the dining room. I had the 2+2+2 special, 2 pancakes with cream chipped beef, bacon and sausage. Dad had scrambled eggs, bacon, homefries and toast. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the bacon memes and bacon craze of the past couple of years, but it seems that diners now include much more bacon than they did just a couple of years ago.

The Elmer Diner is located at:
41 Front St Elmer, NJ 08318

Woodstown Diner – Woodstown, NJ

dinerman — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:23:44 +0000

Though we did not end up eating at the Woodstown, the parking lot filled with pickup trucks and police cars is always a good sign.
16 East Ave Woodstown, NJ 08098

As the Woodstown Diner appeared in the 1970s

Famous Restaurant – Texas Hot Wieners – York, PA

dinerman — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 22:53:10 +0000

In this day and age of 20 page Greek mega-diner menus, a traditional hot dog restaurant like the Famous is refreshing. Yes, they’ll do you a hamburger, and they’ll cook you up a breakfast. But when a place advertises hot dogs on the sign out front, why would you order anything else?
And these don’t disappoint. Before dogs are cut down the middle about 3/4 through, and then cut about every inch. They’re opened up and grilled flat on the griddle. The bun is lightly toasted. A layer of mustard, of chili sauce, and a mound of chopped raw onions finish it off.
For such a simple dish, every hot dog place seems to put its own twist on the old standby. The Famous Restaurant’s chili sauce is a bit darker and sweeter than other Texas Hot Wiener places in the area.
The restaurant is a time warp. While it’s not my preferred decade, it’s always nice to see places so well preserved. Orange vinyl and wood grain formica set the tone. The grill is in the front window, as is typical with these storefront Texas Hot places, and the counter dominates the seating, as it should.

The Famous Restaurant is located at:
652 W Market St
York, PA 17401
(717) 848-2300

Another entry in the Weiner/Wiener spelling debate.
The York, PA, Famous Restaurant spells it Wiener

The Texas Hot Weiner lunch in Hanover spells it Weiner
The Famous Lunch in Hanover spells it Wiener on their wall signage, and Weiner on their neon.
Curtis’ in Cumberland, MD spells it Weiner
Ernie’s in Gettysburg spells it Weiner