Another cool old roadside restaurant that’s been lost to the hands of bad renovation. The building is still recognizable, with its stepped roofline, but nearly everything which made it interesting has disappeared.
The Prospect Diner has become our go to breakfast stop ever since it was taken over by Mike Conroy. It has become everything a diner should be. It’s a classic mid 1950s Kullman, a model transitioning into the space age. I think my first stop there was when I was about five years old, so you could say it’s been a tradition for a while. Every time we’ve been in, the diner is full of locals- always a good sign. The food is good, plentiful and inexpensive. I had chicken and biscuits, topped with sausage gravy. Side of (perfectly done) home fries, and coffee which, thanks to expert waitressing, never dipped beyond half empty.
We traveled on from Columbia to Lancaster, passing the Columbia Diner, at 1725 Columbia Ave Lancaster, PA. It’s a remodeled ’50s Kullman, known as the Wheatland Diner from 1955 to 1973.
Directly next door to the Columbia diner is this old McDonalds golden arch.
A Frame. Bright’s Restaurant.
Highlights of Ephrata, PA
The main event, a meet up with Michael Engle and Glenn Wells at the Cloister Diner. The Cloister is a 1952 Silk City. It was remodeled in the 1960s. The end wall was removed to open the diner up to a dining room addition. The tile in the addition flows very nicely from the diner itself. Panels from the end wall were moved to replace the front door, which was also removed in the remodel. The original neon was kept on the roof during the remodeling, really the only hint from the exterior of what lies inside.
We were lucky enough to chat with the truly inspiring Elva Stauffer, the owner of the diner since 1972.
Fresh homemade peach pie. It’s as good as it looks, believe me.
With Glenn and Michael.
I just got the original print of this one in. I love the image.
I made the drive down from Maryland to Midlothian VA today to pick this up.
This neon sign was previously mounted on Richmond White Tower No. 1, which was located at 223 East Grace Street. It was originally built in 1939, and remodeled in 1960, which is probably when this sign was installed. The building is still there. It’s been de-towered, and painted, but it’s still recognizable.
Here’s a recent addition to the collection- just arrived today.
This sign came off the Lincoln Diner in Chambersburg, PA. The diner itself is now long since gone.
If any of you out there have a picture of the Lincoln Diner, I’d love to see it!
Another installment of Engle on the Trail of Diners!
Hullabaloo’s Diner may be in Wellborn, Texas now, but it spent its formative years in the Capital Region of New York.
Now we have learned that originally, diner was known as Reilly’s Diner and was located at 835 Central Avenue. Wednesday January 8, 1950 was the opening day of the diner by Frank T. Reilly. After becoming Bill’s Diner and Drive-In in 1951, the diner soon closed.
A March 23, 1953 newspaper article stated some of the facts. “A dispute over a Central Ave. real estate transaction, which has been held up 10 months because of an unused diner on the premises, was settled today in a decision by County Judge Schenck.” Then went on to say, “The contract provided that, if the diner were not removed by last June, the purchase price would be reduced by $150; if it were still there in July, the reduction would be $200; in August $250, and for each month thereafter that the diner remained, $300 more was to be deducted from the purchase price. Mr. Alpart contended that so long as the diner remained he was not obliged to convey title to the property. The court ruled the contract should be carried out immediately, with the price reflecting the appropriate reductions. The diner is owned by Alfred Equipment Company, which acquired it from a previous owner in bankruptcy proceedings.
The diner was moved up Central Avenue where it went on to become known as Little Nick’s Diner. We are aware of this time, but do not have any photographs of the diner in this location. The Albany city directories recognized this diner as Little Nick’s Diner starting in 1956, and went until 1964. The managers listed in the city directories are: Nomikas Koutouzis 56 : Arnold J. Madison 57 : Ben J. Blecker 58 : Frank J. Wagner 60-62 : Nomikas Koutouzis 63-68 : John Marshall 69-74.
In 1976, Rudolph Schlegel of Albany, NY bought the diner from the Capital City Realty Corp. It was reported that there were back taxes owed on the property. Rudolph sold the diner to a Mr. Lassy who moved the diner up by the entrance to the Saratoga National Park and the Saratoga Battlefield on US Route 4. In 1977, a Mr. Lasek was running the diner, then known as Carol’s Diner, until 1989 when it was sold to David Wolff. Wolff ran the diner for some years before it sat vacant for some more years. The property was bought by a Mr. Dyer who had plans for the property, but fell ill. Mr. Dyer was a friend of my uncle who let me know that there was a possibility of the diner being demolished. I quickly contacted Daniel Zilka who made a few calls and attempted to get the ball rolling on saving the diner. The diner risked demolition and was merely a day away from being demolished before Daniel Zilka was able to successfully come through and found an owner at the last minute. Eric Schulte from Wellborn, Texas bought the diner and had it moved to Texas. In moving, the diner did have one hiccup, as it hit a SUV in Saratoga Springs, on its way to the interstate. This led the diner to become sidelined in a parking lot for a few days before again hitting the road.
The diner now operates as Hullabaloo’s Diner in Wellborn, Texas and has been a hit! Hullabaloo’s can be found on the Internet http://www.hullabaloodiner.com/ and also has appeared on such shows as Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. The original flooring has been covered over, but otherwise most other things are quite original, Schulte has said. His intention is making the diner compliant and safe, but also allowing a future owner to possibly restore the floor to its original appearance.
I just got this (probably) 1950s slide of New York City’s Penn Diner. It replaced an older barrel roof model, but the neon transferred. The caption on the slide is in Japanese.
The Forest Diner closed on May 28th, 2012. Here’s a full post on its closing, with pics of its final days. To refresh your memory- here’s the way the diner looked a little less than a month ago. The old Silk City diner was entirely encased in a larger restaurant, with about four feet between the diner’s facade and that of the surrounding building.
In these past couple weeks, the surrounding building has been razed, leaving nothing but the diner itself. Word on the street was conflicting- one person at the site saying that it had already been sold and was going to be moved to Virginia, the other that it had not been sold, but was moving to temporary storage off-site until plans can be made for it. Once I hear back from people who know for sure, I’ll post it on the blog. Either way, the diner is being saved, but removed from Rt. 40.
Haussner’s opened in 1926 and served its last meal in 1999. My matchbook from it advertises its Bavarian Rathskeller and Haussner’s Bavarian Orchestra. The restaurant was famous for its art collection, which sold at auction after the restaurant closed for ten million dollars. As luck would have it, I spent the day a block down from Haussner’s at the Maryland Traditions Folklife Festival, so I took some pictures of the building.
Some info about a recreation of Haussner’s which appeared in Mad Men
This matchbook is from the Baltimore chain of White Coffee Pot restaurants. They operated in the Baltimore area from 1932 through to 1993. At one time, they had 33 locations. They’re all gone now, but at one time, they were all over Baltimore. They’ve come up a fair bit in my Little Tavern research, but I haven’t done any dedicated research into them directly as to their full history or locations.
Diner Hunter 