Someone must have thought a topheavy stucco box would look better than the slender transitional spaceage/environmental facade this diner came with. Oddly, it appears the windows were canted in, following a late ’80s post-modern diner trend.
Originally Bob’s Diner- in operation since 1945.
This one conforms to ’30s dimensions, but it looks like sometime between the 1980s and now, the diner itself was torn down and a new building was built with the same footprint. The original addition survives, for what that’s worth. Here’s the distinctly non-diner interior of the present building.
Long Island City.
Long Island City. Despite the ridiculous looking exterior renovations, the changes made to the interior are fairly tasteful. And what’s more, there’s a google interior streetview.
All these renovations must be fairly recent- here’s the old website showing the previous state of the diner.
Directly to the left of the diner in the previous post is the Buccaneer Diner. Though I’m not overly fond of this era of diner design, the version in the 1980s photo certainly had more of a unified idea to the design. East Elmhurst.
Sometime between the 1980s and now, this space age diner lost its everything and became a cleaner’s.
9313 Astoria Blvd. Queens, NYC. Two doors to the left is another diner. They practically share a parking lot. More to come on that one.
You would probably never guess the diner heritage of this sports medicine center to look at it these days.
3825 Astoria Blvd. Queens NYC
Another installment in the never ending series of bad renovations. This old Silk City is still with us, at 3020 Hunters Point Ave. Queens, NYC. It looks like half is Kryptonite Comics and half is a Latin restaurant.
Baltimore’s Oriole Cafeterias still stand today, though you would probably never recognize them. Here they are, contrasted with original illustrations of the locations from 1947. The chain opened in 1922, with a fourth location at 22 Light Street. Going by city directories, this location didn’t last as long as others. The chain was defunct by 1975.
17 E. Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD
11 East North Avenue, Baltimore, MD
edit: The picture is of the Aurora Theatre. The Oriole stood directly to the left, a fragment of what remains of the building can be seen. It was originally the Peabody Theatre, which burned down in the early 1970s. More info.
306 North Howard Street, Baltimore, MD
Five Star Pizza, located at 982-976 Park Avenue, Bridgeport, CT, is at the former site of the Fountain Diner, which dates back to at least the early 1940s. The proportions and window/vestibule placement are correct for this being a renovation of the Fountain, but I find the way it sits to be suspect, just not many diners of the era this would seem to be without steps up to the vestibule.
It’s amazing how many diners there were at one time. Here’s a sampling from a directory of Bridgeport CT from 1942. Likely, some of these were storefront greasy spoons, and probably some of the “luncheonettes”, “grills”, and “lunches” in town were factory built. Looking through on google maps, the vast majority of these are now small vacant lots.
Barnum Diner – 2445 Barnum Ave.
Bell Diner – 360 John
Blue Clipper Diner – 391 Fairfield Ave
Bridgeport Flyer 1726 Fairfield Ave (1941 sterling streamliner, replaced in 1960s with a Swingle. Demolished 2008. Read more)
Bud’s Diner – 1052 North Ave
Charlie’s Diner- 2016 Fairfield Ave
East End Diner 1144 Stratford Ave
Fountain Diner – 982 Park Ave (extensively remodeled, now Five Star Pizza)
Frankie’s Diner – 1660 Barnum Ave (Silk City, replaced by a DeRaffele)
Green Comet Diner – 90 Kings Highway Cutoff (later became the Fairfield Diner (1980s)(2010))
Harry’s Diner – 605 North Ave
Jack’s Diner – 2321 Main St. (replaced by a Swingle, now New Colony Diner II)
Mac’s Diner – 1025 Barnum Ave.
Madison Diner – 716 Madison Ave.
Marge’s Diner – 1860 Barnum Ave.
Matty’s Diner – 631 Fairfield Ave
North End Diner – 700 North Ave.
Popular Diner – 1381 Stratford Ave.
The S Diner – 767 State Street
S&S Diner – 316 State Street
Slim’s Diner – 372 State Street
State Diner – 1075 State Street
Steve’s Diner – 2992 Fairfield Ave.
Stiles Diner – 1205 Barnum Ave.
Terminal Diner – 593 Post Road
Diner Hunter 
