This was my first diner. I was about two months old when my parents visited it (me in tow) in 1991. Did those early experiences somehow lead me down this path of coffee, scrapple and neon? One can only speculate.

Here’s a comparison with a ’60s postcard and a view from today. The diner was built in 1932, most likely an on-site construction. It’s a barrel roof diner, later remodeled with a stucco and brick exterior, shed roof, knotty pine interior and a (now missing) glass brick counter.

Here’s a side by side- 1991 and 2011.

Shot through the window.

The Rainbow Diner is an early Mountain View diner. It is serial number 234, which places it at c. 1946. It has red enamel flutes with glass brick corners and extra-large cowcatchers. Over the years, a dining room has been added, as has a roof structure. Though the exterior of the diner, minus the roof, is still visible, it is difficult to see from the road because of the railing of the add-on porch.

The interior is remarkably in-tact. Any surface that can be has been covered over with years and years worth of trucking company stickers and decals. The booths are replacements, but the stools, and most everything else is original.

A sampling of the trucking logos. Some go back quite a ways.

And would you look at that- it still has its original Mountain View tag. #234. For reference, the Mineola Diner in New York is #236

Talk about great neon! And the perfect moderne facade. The front is now boarded over from the signage down, but these pics, which were took c.2001 still show that great rounded front window and flanking doors. By this point, it had lost the majority of its virtolite, exposing the brick underneath.

Back in 2005, the pre-GPS days, with no Worcester city map and a set of incorrect mapquest directions, we tried to tackle the city. We did manage to find some of them, but there was a lot of guesswork, wrong turns and frustration. This one was closed for meals at the time, as were most of the diners we tracked down.

More from August 2005. The Miss Worcester Diner, looking pretty down on her heels. She re-opened a little bit after these were taken, and from what I can tell, is doing pretty well these days.

It’s for sale! $405,000

The Bridge, a 1930s Silk City, has had some further unfortunate renovations since last time I visited. Take a look at this post from several years back showing it before the latest round of remodeling.

Dave’s is a 1940s Fodero diner.

There’s an interesting treatment to the front door: classical columns rendered in stainless steel.

Seth Thomas clock in a sunburst case. The menu boards have been replaced with mirrors, the rounded parts of the ceiling have also been replaced with mirrors and the monitor has been filled in with acoustical tile.

Enormous blueberry pancakes (almost more blueberry than pancake) and some of the best scrapple I’ve had. Great coffee that never dipped below a quarter empty. Eggs, homefries, bacon and toast in the foreground.

The Mor-Lan Dining Car works of Lewiston Maine appears to have been around from 1932 to late 1934 or 1935. They built one confirmed diner, and with the three year window of operation, possibly more than that. The company was founded by L Moreau and Louis Lantagne. Moreau seems to have been the design and build part of the equation, with Lantagne filling in more on the money side of things.

Article from September 8th, 1933

An article from November 1934 confirms the existence of the company as of that date, and lists Moreau as the owner of the first showcase diner listed in the above article. By early 1936, Moreau had sold the diner.

In 1944, the Hayes Diner, of 101 Park Street, Lewiston, Maine burned down. The diner was moved from the site and the Silver Dollar Diner, built by Mor-Lan was moved via the North Bridge to the site as a replacement. At this point, the Silver Dollar Diner was owned by a James T. LaRou (The Jimmy of Jimmy’s Diner) and the Hayes Diner was owned by Edward A. Hayes.
Though LaRou denies it in this article, the deal did go through and the diner was re-located.

Here is a shot of Hayes Diner, which I gather was also built in 1933.

In 1950, the diner was moved again, this time to 76 Park Street, Lewiston, Maine.

By 1955, the diner was owned by John Pelletier, shown here in the kitchen.

And here is a shot of the inside of the diner. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really show a lot about the place.

The diner experienced a small fire to the roof in 1957, but it re-opened and by 1960 was owned by Alfred and John Murphy.

By 1967, the diner had been demolished and was replaced with a parking lot.

Moreau passed away in 1982. Though he only stayed in the diner business for several years, he went on to a long career in other construction fields.

A special thanks to Mike Engle for finding the initial article in his research!