My Art

I paint what I like.

Harold’s Furniture, Lebanon, PA.
Notice that the neon of the sign reads, “Furniture”, while the enamel reads Harolds. Photographed this one on a Lebanon diner trip. Unfortunately, most of the diners from that trip have now either been moved or are closed.

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Abandoned Silk Mill, Columbia, PA.
Saw this while driving down the highway on the way to Lancaster. Pulled off at the exit and took some quick snaps in the early morning mist. The roof’s long since caved in, and the entire thing’s fenced off. That’s probably a good idea, it looks about ready to fall down, and I’m sure there are enough people like me out there who are just curious and stupid enough to go in.
This is a fairly massive painting, done on a big piece of plywood. I finished in less than a week, working day and night at the Maryland Summer Center for the Arts at Salisbury University, to get it ready for a show.

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Abandoned Travel Trailer, Oatman, AZ
This is just outside tourist trap central, Oatman, Arizona, famous for its wild donkeys. The trailer’s an old model, filled with light wood and broken bottles.

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Music Store, Kingman, AZ
Kingman Arizona was the first stop of our Arizona trip. We stayed at a restored hotel across from the railroad tracks, owned by a French gentleman. The town’s a hotbed of neon.

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Nash, Cool Springs, AZ
A rusty old nash sitting outside the Cool Springs gas station, on the road from Kingman to Oatman, one of the most beautiful and winding stretches of road you’ll ever have the pleasure to drive.

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Gas pump detail (work in progress) Cool Springs, AZ
A detail from a large painting of a mobilgas pump at the Cool Springs Gas Station.

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Tiki
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Owl Diner – Lowell, MA
The most diner-enthusiast accommodating establishment I’ve visited. Homefries to die for. A great worcester semi-streamliner.
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Palace Diner – Maine
Hit the palace while it was closed, but took pictures, and did the drawing. The owner saw this drawing posted on Roadside, and got in touch with me about using it on their menu. Gave to go ahead, and never heard back after that.
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Diner – Winslow, AZ
Across the street from LaPosada. Closed.
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Diner – Winslow, AZ
It’s still for sale, all these years later.
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Motel- Holbrook, AZ – Painting won 2nd place at a Johns Hopkins art competition.
American Owned. Broken windows.
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Celebrating my win.
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Mahony Diners

I recently bought this matchbook from the estate of John L. Cronk.
Mahony was a short lived diner company, formed from the remains of O’Mahony.

This matchbook’s interesting in that it advertises not only the Mahony diner company and their Mahony Diner – Motel Center, but also the diner trade journal, Fountain Luncheonette and diner magazine of Rahway, NJ. The inside of the matchbook discusses the virtues of matchbooks as a form of diner advertising.
My other Mahony ephemera.

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A Mahony Diner tag, made for a diner that was never built.
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Unfortunately, other than its short lifespan and its relation to O’Mahony, I can’t seem to find all that much on the company. I’d love to know more.

Snow White Grill – Winchester, Virginia

The Snow White Grill in Winchester was built c. 1948. Snow White Grill was another burger chain, along the lines of Little Tavern, White Tower, or White Castle. They were in the West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland Area. Interestingly, the Snow White Grills were designed by the same architect, Luther Reason Ray, of the Structural Porcelain Enamel company, who also designed the classic Little Taverns, as well as Hot Shoppes in the same area. This explains the obvious similarities in design and materials.

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The Library of Congress has records regarding Snow White Grills from:

1941 – Snow White Grill for Hansel Hurst, Queen Street and Burke Street, Martinsburg, West Virginia
1948 – Snow White Grill for Hansel Hurst, 159 Loudoun Street, Winchester, Virginia – Luther R. Ray Architect
1948 – Snow White Grill – 9 Patrick Street, Frederick, Maryland
1950 – Snow White Grill for Hansel Hurst, 239 N. Market Street, Frederick, Maryland
1952 – Snow White Grill for Hansel Hurst, South Potomac Street, Hagerstown, Maryland (Detail Shots)
1954-1955 – Snow White Grill Inc., Baltimore Street and Guilford Avenue, Baltimore, Maryland
1955-1956 -Snow White Grill, Inc., West Baltimore Street and Howard Street, Baltimore, Maryland
1959 – remodel front of building for Snow White Grills, 1513 E. Joppa Road, Towson, Maryland
1960 -Snow White Grill, 1808 North Charles Street, Baltimore, Maryland

It’s possible that there were more.

South End Diner – Halifax Nova Scotia

I ate lunch here today. The interior of the diner features a horseshoe shaped counter, with a grill in back, and padded bongo stools. Every inch of the walls are covered in commemorative and souvenir plates.

I had the cheeseburger, which came topped with grilled onions, relish and mustard, and an order of french fries. The burger had that wonderful lunch counter taste, juicy on the inside, a little crispy on the outside.

South End Diner – Eat in – Take Out
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Here it is, showing how close it is to the Olympic Confectionary. Both are across the street from the rail station and the bus terminal.
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The Olympic
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The South End Diner is located at:
1128 Barrington Street
Halifax, NS B3H 2R2

March 1, 2010
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Jim’s Flyin’ Diner – Southbridge , MA

This is one of the most out of the way diners I’ve hit up, way out of town, at the Southbridge Airport. Our mapquest directions let us down, and we had to stop for directions downtown, asking both at the library and the post office. Only one person knew what we were talking about, and we got our directions.

Upon reaching the airport, where it is located, it turned out to be closed (we visited in April, which apparently is out of season). It was incredibly cold, windy and bitter, so upon seeing it was closed, we cut the picture-taking to a minimum, just to get back into the heated car. I can’t imagine the diner does much business to people outside of the airport traffic which it is there to service.

A composite panorama showing the diner’s proximity to the runway
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The boxy little ’50s diner partially obscured by the roof and deck
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The interior of the diner. Interesting that the interior old style enamel barrel roof was still used by master at this late date (c1958), especially when contrasted with the exterior of the diner, which seems quite up to date, with its sharp, crisp lines. This manufacturer isn’t very common, with less than fifteen thought to be in existence.
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Venus Diner – Gibsonia, PA / Cleveland, OH

Here is a photo of mine, of the Venus Diner, shortly before it was moved from Gibsonia, PA to Cleveland, Ohio by Steve Harwin of Diversified Diners. It is for sale on their website.

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Here’s how it appears, more recently, awaiting restoration in Ohio.
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Some more pictures of it, taken when it was open, can be found here.

The M&M Cafe – Butte Montana

According to the Butte city webpage, the M+M has been open since 1890. It is half lunch counter and half bar, the bar being the counter on your left as you walk in, the lunch counter being the one on your right. In the back is gaming.

Food at the cafe is excellent, and as it is cooked behind the counter, you get a show as you wait. The stools are a type I have never seen before, with a vertical “twist” ripple to their top. The cafe logo is embossed in their seat covers.

We were in Butte, working the National Folk Festival, and hit up the cafe twice, once during the three day festival, and once a day after. While the event was in town, the M&M was standing room only. It was so full and swamped that we gave up. The second time was different, slower, once the festival had left town, and it was back to mostly locals.
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I love the juxtaposition of the M&M and the R&R. The Neon, the hand painted sign on the side of the building and the lettering in the trimwork up top all proudly announce the name of the cafe. The stainless facade adds some sparkle to the old brick building. The current neon was added sometime after 1939. A different piece is found in this 1939 picture of the cafe on Shorpy. The town doesn’t look all that different, though than it did 70 odd years ago.
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Pip’s Diner – Pittsburgh, PA

We visited Pip’s on the same trip, and after a few wrong turns and a little unplanned exploring, finally found it. It’s an interesting location, on a small road, directly under a bridge, across from some old industrial buildings. It has been remodeled inside and out, the exterior now covered with stone, and some of the windows filled in.

Pip’s is a ’20s model, of indeterminate manufacture, possibly Tierney, possibly O’Mahony, it’s difficult to say. It feels more like a social club than a diner, in that we were the only people in the place who were not regulars. Most times there is at least someone else who is either passing through, or a local who occasionally drops by. Not here, at least during out stay. Food was good, and cooked up on the grill behind the counter. We, unfortunately, missed the last of the hamburgers, we were told they were out of meat when we ordered, though while we waited for our food, the last couple patties were cooked up for regulars who came in several minutes after we got our food. I had the chili.

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An ad for a Tierney diner of the period, similar to what Pip’s would have looked like when new.
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Here’s the copy, which I typed up from my copy of that ad. Gives you a look into what was being pitched when the diner was new.
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No matter what your present occupation, or where you are located- if you have been seeking YOUR opportunity; if you have been anxious to get into business for yourself- to be your own Boss- or if you are in business and dissatisfied with its results; if you want to make more money than you ever made in your life- if you are willing to work and win success- then a Tierney diner is YOUR opportunity. It’s a clean, respectable PROFITABLE business for YOU- Every day in the year!

You would be one of the most independent men in your community. Your money would be turned over quickly. 30% – 40% of each days receipts would be your NET profit! You would have a strictly cash business. No bad accounts. No collections to make

The Dining Car business is spreading fast. Men like yourself, and with no more experience at the start, are getting rich in it. You can do it, too!

A Total capital of $3000 – will set you up in this business- provide the first payment on your car and leave enough to install it on location, open it up and start your daily receipts coming in- and many successful operators have done it on less.

YOU CAN START
The Dining Car Business in your own town.

The Tierney Real Estate Department checks up your location, or obtains one for you, thus assuring a proper business building location for your car.

We train you for success, just as we have trained hundreds of other operators of Tierney Diners.

You can take advantage of our Training School, if you desire.

Tierney service helps you in all details of operation, providing reliable and experienced chefs, and other employees, if desired, and supervises and guides your management, if needed, until you are sufficiently experienced to assure success by yourself.

no Tierney Dining Car located and operated in accordance with Tierney Service and Instruction need ever fail, for when you purchase a Tierney Diner you get back of you thirty years of successful experience in this business.

Tierney Service makes Monthly Payment Plan possible. The Lunch Car business is essentially a worker’s business. It has not been built up by capitalists, although it has created capital for its operators- but has won out through the energy and close attention to business of men who with a small amount of money to start with have followed up that moderate capital with an unlimited supply of conscientious, faithful work. That is what makes the Lunch Car business such a sound, dependable business to be engaged in; it is built on foundations of individual industry and common honesty.

“Fully ninety-five per cent of the hundreds who have won success and independence in this business have started with very little money, so the plan had to be devised to help these men get there cars as well as stand by them until they had made a success of the business. In other words, after you have made your first payment down, the car will pay the balance.”

Wherever you see a Tierney dining car you will find a man who is making money.

This portable restaurant is delivered on its own wheels to its permanent location, where connections are made for water, sewer, gas or electricity

Just the Way they look inside: Tiled floors and walls, stool porcelain, oak tops with nickel rim, counters marble or black walnut. Back of counter complete kitchen, tiled ice box, equipped with most modern type of range, short order stove; steam table, nickeled coffee urns, hot water heater. The last word in brightness and cleanliness.

If YOU owned a Tierney Dining Car like this, $5000 to $10000 should be your YEARLY PROFITS

Gatto Cycle Diner – Tarentum, PA

I visited this one the same day as Peppi’s, on a diner run up to Pittsburgh.  We hit it a little before the chili, which they are famous for, was ready, unfortunately, but the same day that it got a large spread in the local newspaper.

The Gatto Cycle Diner was built in 1949 by the Jerry O’Mahony Company. It is the same model as the Tastee Diner in Silver Spring, and like the Tastee, the original, matching factory kitchen, visible in the pictures of it as Digger’s, is no longer in existence. It is now attached to a Harley Davidson dealership, and is really secondary to the motorcycle shop.

It was abandoned for some time, and was in fairly poor shape by the time it was moved to Tarentum. Though it is obvious, at least to experienced eyes, that a good deal of the diner has been remodeled, it isn’t overblown, and looks essentially the part.

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Here is the diner as it was in its original location, in Butler, PA as Digger’s Diner.

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Photo Courtesy of TheAmericanRoadside

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Photo courtesy of TheAmericanRoadside

And as it was between locations.
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Yankee Diner – Charlton, MA

Here are some shots I took of the Yankee Diner last April. I was stopped by a Massachusetts State Patrol officer while here, not while I was walking back through the woods, not while I was taking pictures or peering through windows, no, according to the officer, I was stopped for looking suspicious, because I was wearing a long overcoat (it was really cold out) and sunglasses.

The diner was/ is closed, but it’s a nice example of an old Worcester lunch car.

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The interior. Please note the axe at the far end.
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And here’s something, back in the woods that’s of note- the original neon
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