The Palace Diner opened on November 23, 1943 at 413 N. Second Street, Harrisburg, PA.  It was built by the Jerry O’Mahony dining car company, who were careful to note that it was constructed entirely from pre-war materials. The diner was originally owned by David S. Reed, who at the time of this diner’s opening, had already owned 12 diners over the course of 20 years, in Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. In the late 1930s, Reed had managed Moore’s Diners in Reading, PA, a chain of four double Ward and Dickinson diner grafts.  At the time, he also owned the Handy Diner, at 514 N. 3rd in Harrisburg.

His ownership of the palace lasted until 1947. It did a stint in 1947 as the Rose Diner, under the ownership of Rose and Frank D’Agostino. It was bought in early 1948 by Edward D. Coble, who changed the name to Coble’s Diner. There had previously been a Coble’s Diner at the corner of Front and Swatara Streets, which opened on May 11, 1940 and enlarged in October of 1941.

A slide from my collection. The Royal Diner, February 1969. Slide is captioned Newark, NJ, but the diner is located at 647 Garden St, Elizabeth, NJ John Baeder has done a couple of paintings of this diner.

It still stands, horribly remodeled with a second story addition.

Earlier in the week, I was fortunate enough to get an original 1940s plexiglas model made by the Little Tavern Shops chain.  As my way of sharing with all of you, I drafted up a version for all of you fans out there.  Download, print, fold and glue.

Here’s how it should turn out, with all the pieces attached on the roof. Assembly should me mostly self explanatory.  If you build one, I’d love to see it!  Send your pics to: https://www.facebook.com/dinerhunter

The inspiration. These original plexi versions have a lift-off roof.

I can’t pull quite enough detail out of this one to tell which burger chain this was shot in. White Tower, White Castle, and any number of others- they were all close enough inside as to be virtually indistinguishable.

Another in the Diner Disaster Series
The Broadway Diner, 271 W. First Street, South, Fulton, NY, exploded in 1946 as the result of a gas leak, destroying the kitchen and knocking the diner from the foundation.
The diner had a typical siting near the mills of Fulton, NY, on a steep slope leading to the river.

White Tavern Shops was founded in 1929 by Jerome Lederer. He lived in Louisville, KY in 1928, where he would have seen the early Days of “Little Tavern Shops”. It’s possible that he worked for them, and like confirmed Little Tavern employee, Leonard Higdon, left to form his own copycat version, called “Little Castle”
By the peak of the chain, they had 13 locations. With WWII, the chain wound down. In 1946, Lederer opened the first of what would become a chain of Jerry’s Restaurants. After Lederer’s death in 1963, his restaurant’s manager, Warren Rosenthal took control of the operation, going on to found Long John Silvers under the corporate umbrella.

The name “White Tavern” combined the names of two hamburger chains popular in Kentucky at the time, Little Tavern Shops, and White Castle. The slogan “Buy a Bagful” is the exact same as that used by White Tower, and mirrors Little Tavern’s of “Buy ’em By The Bag” and White Castle’s of “Buy ’em by the Sack”.

They had locations at:

216-1/2 South Limestone, Lexington, KY (1st location)

113 North Limestone Street, Lexington, KY

265 East Main Street, Lexington, KY

http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt702v2c8t1s_4628_1
http://kdl.kyvl.org/catalog/xt702v2c8t1s_4692_1

518 West Main Street, Lexington, KY. Later the “Jerry Freez” ice cream stand was opened next door.

327 West Main Street Danville, KY

Frankfort, KY

Trenton, NJ

308 W Washington Street, Charleston, WV

1215 Washington Street, Charleston, WV

A little after midnight on May 30, 1966, The Park Avenue Diner, 107 Park Avenue, Stroudsburg, PA exploded. The explosion was blamed on a leak of bottled propane after the installation of a new stove. Thankfully, there were no fatalities, as the diner had closed early that night.

It looks like what is now Compton’s Pancake House was built on the site after the remains of the old diner were cleared away. Photos

On Thursday, January 12, 1956, The Miss Batavia Diner, 556 Main Street, Batavia, NY, exploded from a natural gas leak in the basement, killing one.

On a sidenote, unrelated to the explosion, it’s interesting that the diner had been mostly absorbed into a building by the point of its demise, with a large vestiblue and roof.

Photos from the Buffalo Courier Press, Jan 13, 1956.

More on the explosion, with a different set of photos from another newspaper can be found here.

Mountain View #489 started life in 1957 in Crownsville, Maryland.  In 1963, it relocated to Front Royal, VA, reopening as the Mount Vista Diner.  It stopped serving food over a decade ago, last operating as the office of a used car lot.  Recently the diner was moved off of its foundations, wrapped, and is currently sitting awaiting transport. It will be going into storage somewhere either in VA or PA shortly.

Wrapped photos taken October 28, 3013 by Michael G. Stewart

Here’s another drawing I finished recently.  The Rosebud Diner, Somerville, MA.