The former Zinn’s Diner.

Somewhere under all this lies a remodeled 1950s diner, according to “Diners of Pennsylvania”.

Currently still on the road- full post to come.

You’ve probably all seen the postcards of Jimmy’s No. 1 Diner, sitting at a right angle to a white, later brick gas station. I can find newspaper records of Jimmy’s going back to at least 1934, so it’s an old one. I’m not sure whether it’s factory built or an on-site construction with sensitivity to what was coming out of the factories at the time (i.e. Nick’s Good Food Diner in Front Royal, VA) . The differences in the shape and type of windows in the first post card, from tall, narrow ones on the left (diner) and the wider ones on the left (addition) make me think that it could have been an off-site construction. It was remodeled several times, encased in brick, covered with a roof, windows changed, and entirely obscured. The gas station was enlarged, bricked over, and sprouted an extra story. I’ll be back up in Auburn in a couple weeks, so hopefully I can see if there’s anything recognizable through the windows.

There was a second Jimmy’s Diner at 188 Court St. Auburn, ME as of 1938. James LaRou opened Jimmy’s gas station in 1928 and later branched out to at least one other diner and five other gas stations.

The Piccadilly Grill of Winchester, VA is currently a small storefront lunch counter- stools only, white facade- very much like the Snow White Grill, just down the block. The same block used to be home to the Piccadilly Diner, presumably the forerunner to the Grill. The Piccadilly Diner was a 1930s Jerry O’Mahony Monarch diner.

This was the second diner in the Silver Diner empire, and the first of many to be built on site. It was put up in 1990. The old Rockville location, now sitting vacant, was their only “true” factory built location.

Just a little bit down the road is a great piece of neon, which, by the way, still works. Giant Food Grocery Store. It’s pretty great for a chain of this size to still keep around a little bit of their history.

I recently posted a link to an old post about this place on my facebook page, which were taken back in 2007. Back four years ago, it was known as the Deluxe Diner. The “Diner” part of the sign looks like it’s the same as it was in ’07, but the first name has been swapped out in a matching typeface.

It’s an on-site construction, but I like its lines. It plays the regular diner games, but with some interesting twists, like the two story end-vestibule , slatted windows and canted roofline.

Just a quick dinner stop before going to see Richard Thompson perform. This Double T was built by DeRaffele.

While on the topic of the Toddle House chain, mentioned in the post about Peter’s Carry Out, let’s take a look at the other Bethesda location, which came in in the early 1990s. They took over the Wisconsin Avenue Little Tavern location after that chain went out of business. They also took over the College Park Little Tavern, around the same time. The architecture and layout of the Little Tavern shops was perfect for a Toddle House takeover- similar Tudor cottage style, similar counter/backbar setup. As a Toddle House, this location didn’t last very long. It has been a Golden House Chinese restaurant for over ten years. At the time these pictures were taken, Golden House had already taken over one of the Silver Spring Little Tavern locations.

The Little Tavern neon was removed, and the tubes re-done to read Toddle House, in a matching color scheme. This was one of the better repurposings of a former Little Tavern.

Neon underlighting. Stainless gutters.

The universal sign of the coffee cup.

The take out vestibule was an old add-on to the existing porcelain enamel structure. Since Golden House took possession of the building, the back wall of the structure has been removed (along with the interior of the shop), so now this take out glass box forms the exterior wall.
What this location looks like today, as the Golden House.

The other Golden House, one of (if not) the last purpose-built building by Little Tavern, put up in the 1970s. The overall lines are the same, but the detailing is much simpler, with less specialized parts than the earlier taverns. This location operated 15 years or so as the Golden House before being demolished in 2008.

The College Park Little Tavern’s awning still bears the ghost of the Toddle House name.