A tragically redone c.1948 diner at the intersection of Webster and 182nd in NYC.

Bronx had the second lowest number of diners of the five boroughs in New York City. Based on Sanborne maps, “Diner” magazine and other sources, I have counted ‘only’ 72 diners. Now you know how Tierney and O’Mahony were building a diner a day in the 1920s!
Taking inspiration from Spencer Stewart’s two recent finds in New York city, I went through my Bronx list posted on nydiners.com in the New York In Depth site.
Papa John’s Diner, the original name, came up on a google search in one of the comments from
http://forgotten-ny.com/2009/12/belmont-bronx/
There was a picture of Joe’s Cafe on the site, recognizable by the vertical flutes, even if they were painted over. A quick search on google maps shows just a car wash on the site. In an inglorious demise, the owners took the diner and turned it into a car wash. But if you look on the far end, there are still vertical flutes on the building.

The former Lou’s Diner is at the corner of Leonard St. and Meeker Avenue, Brooklyn, NYC. The ’30s barrel roof diner has suffered over the years, but it is still recognizable. Some of the windows have been filled in, a flat roof has supplanted the original, and the entire thing has been painted/covered over. Despite all these changes, when you compare it to the original photograph (source), it is easily identifiable. I haven’t been able to track down any photos of the inside of the diner as it stands today, but I highly doubt much (if any) of the original components or detailing still exists.

This one’s a bit of a mystery. It’s at the corner of West End Ave and 60th St., NYC. Back in the ’20s and ’30s, this area of town was rife with diners and semi-permanent lunch wagons. This appears to be a survivor of that era, now used as an office for a parking lot. Most of these old barrel roof models has square box skylights. I think the square bump-up on the northwest end of the structure is a delete panel covering where one of these would have been.

Then there’s Tacos La Hacienda, at 96 Wyckoff Ave, Brooklyn, NY, a recognizable ’30s/40s monitor roofed diner with a ’50s exterior update. A good photo of the interior can be found at bushwickbk.com

Another possible (probable?) former diner is located at the intersection of Fresh Pond Road and Metropolitan Ave (40.712582,-73.900245) in Queens. It was formerly the Riley Diner. Here is a photo from 1949. Here is a photo of what is on that site now.

After years of painstaking restoration, Gordon Tindall’s Spud Boy Lunch opened this week in Lanesboro, Minnesota.

Full story (with pictures) here.

More backstory on the project from Mike Engle here.

I had an early 1960s photo of this one, but with no caption or address. I also had a handful of addresses that I’ve pieced together from newspaper records, but which I haven’t been able to illustrate with photos yet.

A bit of hunting (it is the dinerhunter blog, after all) on googlemaps, I was able to put a location to the photo, matching the church in the background of the Black and White shot to a location. And what do you know? The Little Tavern is still there! Well- sort of. This is the most drastic Little Tavern conversion I’ve seen so far. It has been operating as a burger king for at least the past five years or so. A bit of research reveals that before that it was Bridgette Foods, and that while it had been painted red, green and yellow and partially covered with awnings and signage at that point, it was still mostly in-tact on the outside. Photos from that era can be seen here and here.

Burger King has opened up the front part of the LT with floor to ceiling glass, similar to Washington No. 26 and Baltimore No. 2. The distinctive Little Tavern peak roof has been sheared off, though part of it is still visible, attached to the adjacent building. The windows have been either filled in or covered over in the service section.

Interesting to note in this location is the extreme length in the back section over the standard Little Tavern. I wonder if this was the location of the Baltimore head offices?

• Richard C. Briggs – Started July, 1932 in Washington, DC, transferred almost immediately to Baltimore No. 2
• Joseph Clark – Started Dec. 26, 1936
• Paul F. Erler (b. 1902) – Started May, 1935 – worked at the “Little Tavern Tap Room” aka the “Baltimore Grill”, a bar opened by Little Tavern in Baltimore shortly after the repeal of prohibition.
• Harold E. Fosnot (b. 1911) – Started June, 1932 – Started in Washington, transferred almost immediately to Baltimore.
• Victor M. Gatewood – Started 1936.
• Earl M. Hurdle (d. 2009) – Started December 1935. Went on to become District Manager of High’s Stores in Baltimore, MD
• John J. Hyman – Started November 1936
• Gilbert Johnson – Started 1932/1933
• James W. Jones – Started April 1935. Worked at No. 7
• John R. Jordan, Jr. – Started October 1936
• Harmon Joyner – Started April 1936
• Grover Cleveland Kelbaugh, Jr. (d. 2004)– bartender at “Baltimore Grill”/ “Little Tavern Tap Room”
• Charles McGinnis- Started August 1936
• “Red” James J. Maloney – Started 1930
• Donald F. Marsee (d.1946) – Started August 1935 in Washington, transferred to Baltimore
• Frank S. Miller, Jr. – Started 1936, worked at No. 7
• Joseph H. Miller – Started 1936
• Olan E. Morgan – Started August 1935 – Worked at No. 5
• “Buck” Henry D. Oliver – Started 1929/1930
• Homer T. Pettit – Started Dec. 1931 in Washington.  Left in 1934 to marry Thelma R Schultz, came back and started working in Baltimore
• Joseph J. Ritter (b. 1906, d. 1990) – Started September 1934 – Worked at No. 5
• E. Wallace Rogers – Started January 1934 in Washington, transferred to Baltimore.  Worked at No. 5
• H. Arthur Shearer – Started October, 1936
• Ben J. Staib (d. 2005) – Started 1936
• Allen R. Walters (b. 1905, d. 1990) – Started 1933
• James F. Woodall- Started Dec. 1936, transferred to Baltimore to work at Little Tavern Tap Room/ Baltimore Grill

• Catherine Airey – Started July 10, 1934 – Baltimore Grill
• Virginia Blackburn (b. 1912, d. 1947) – Started February 1935 – Baltimore Grill
• Catherine M. Griffith – Started September, 1936
• Alma Haslup (b. 1903) – Started December, 1936 – Baltimore Grill
• Carolyn Williams – Started January, 1934 – Baltimore Grill

• William E. Gittings – Started February, 1935 – Cleaning, Maintenance
• Hubert Hoskins – Baltimore Manager – Started April 8, 1928 in Louisville, KY. Transferred to Washington in late 1928 to open Washington No. 1,  transferred to Baltimore in 1932.

Little Tavern employees as of the end of 1936. If anyone has info on any of these people, please, leave a comment.

• Marvin D. Arion (b. 1914, d. 2005) – Started 1935 – Little Tavern No. 13
• Robert H. Bowler (b. 1912, Kentucky) – Started in July 1933. Originally worked in Louisville, KY, transferred to Washington.
• “Tommy” – Thomas H. Bowler (b. 1914, Kentucky) – Younger brother of Robert H. Bowler – Started March 1934, left Dec. 1935, started again in 1936. Worked at Washington No. 9
• Lester G. Burke (b. 1912, Washington DC) – Started in 1935 in Washington, transferred to Baltimore, then back to Washington.
• “Eddie” – James B. Canter – Started Nov. 1936
• John W. Carr (b. 1904, Illinois) – Started May 1930
• Stanley F. Carver (b. 1908) – Started September 1929 in Louisville, KY. Transferred to Washington No. 4 until Washington no. 14 opened.
• Eugene M. Chambers – Started November 1935.
• Carroll Clowser (b. 1910, West Virginia) – Started Dec. 1936 at No. 2
• William B. Daniel, Jr. (b. 1903, Washington DC) – Started 1935 at No. 6
• Harold W. Dickinson (B. 1914, VA) – started July 1935. Worked at No. 3 and No. 4
• James M. Dickinson (B. 1904, VA) – Older brother of Harold W. Dickinson – Started 1932 – Worked at no. 5
• Eugene S. Dumas (B. 1914, NC) – Started late 1935/early 1936 – Worked at No. 11
• Marvin L. Duncan (b. 1896, VA) – started one day after Eugene Dumas.
• H. Ferrell Eastwood – Started April 1936. Worked at no. 7
• O. Dean Ellis – Started April 1935 – Worked at No. 6 and No. 3
• Albert W. Gable (b.1905, d. 1991) – Started Dec. 8, 1936
• Carl J. Garrison – Started June, 1935 at no. 10 and no. 17
• Donald O. Goins – Started 1936
• George Hemby – Started April, 1934
• Thomas Howard – Started July, 1936, married shortly after
• Louie F. League (b.1914, d.1955) – Started late 1935/ early 1936
• Herman M. Literal (b. c.1914, d. 1986) – Moved from Louisville, KY (where he discovered LT) to Washington to start in 1935 at No. 3.
• Dave McCarty- Started Sept. 27, 1929. Worked at No. 4
• Kenneth McDaniels – Started Sept. 1933
• Charles A. McDaniel – Started Sept. 1936 at No. 7
• “Chick” Calvin S. Moore – Started October 1933. Formerly an usher at the Tivoli Theatre. Worked at No. 12.
• “Artie” Arthur J. Moreland – Started 1935/1936
• W. Marvin Moreland – older brother of Arthur Moreland – Started late 1936
• “Flip” J. Prosper Nimro (b. 1903, d. 1971) – Started 1931
• Roland B. Owens – Started November 1936
• “Motorcycle Pete” – Charles J. Patterson – Started June 1932
• Anthony J. Phillips – Started December 1936
• George H. Rice, Jr. – Started June 1934
• Linster G. Riggs – started August 1935
• Fred E. Roberts – Started October 1935
• “Bill” William O. Roberts – Older brother of Fred Roberts – Started July 1932 in Washington, then Baltimore, then back to Washington
• Noland D. Robinson – Started December 1936
• Raymond Robinson – Started August 1936
• David H. Sellers – Started April 1936
• Carl R. Schaffer – Started 1935. Worked at No. 10.
• Edward E. Smith – Started 1935. Worked at No. 16
• “Red” Edwin M. Sowder (b. 1908) – Started June 1935. Went on to careers in baseball and trick-horse riding. Arrested for the murder of his wife, Dorothy Sowder, a former Miss Washington competitor, in 1951
• “Bill” William H. Stallings, Jr. – Started 1934/1935
• Felton Crawley Summerlin (b. 1915, d. 1970) – Started October 1936
• Hoke Summerlin (b. 1921, d. 1987) – Started April, 1936. Worked at No. 2
• “Bob” Robert H. Summerlin (b. 1908, d. 1978) – Started June 1936
• “Si” Simon F. Summerlin – Started April 1, 1936. Worked at No. 4
• Leonard Swinburn (b. 1914, d. 1978) – Started April 1935 as a janitor at head office, later floated shop to shop during busy periods
• “Louie” Louis B. Thompson – Started 1936. Robbed at gunpoint at No. 5
• “Bill” William W. Tillett – Started Dec. 1936
• Albert S. Trueblood (b. 1916, d. 2003) – Started Jan. 1935
• “Cal” J. Calvin Trueblood – Started Dec. 1932
• Ernest D. Tyndall (b.1913, d.?) – Started Dec. 29, 1936 – Worked at No. 9. Served 6 months in 1976 for public drunkenness.
• “Davey” C. Davis Welsh – Started June, 1934
• “Jake ” Jesse A. Wilson – Started 1936 – worked at No. 12
• “Red” Alfred C. Zimmerman (b. 1905, d. 2003) – Started October 1932 – Worked at No.

• David R. Gossett – Started October 1930 in Louisville, KY. Moved to Washington, taking the position of delivery driver, delivering all warehouse goods and fresh baked pies, in addition to manning the counter when need be.
• John R. Fletcher – Started on payroll May 1933, but had been working on and off as a contractor before then – Handyman for chain- did all painting, maintenance and repair work.
• Henry L. Downs – In charge of cleaning the exteriors of all Washington locations.
• A. Camille Bryson – Started April 1936
• Anna S. McGrogan – Started 1933 – Worked at No. 9
• Evelyn Weaver – Started Dec. 1936
• Joseph R. Maxwell – In charge of coffee purchasing, roasting, blending, packaging and delivery
• A. C. “Scotty” Stark – Washington Manager. Started August 1929. Became area manager in 1933

Row 1
Harry F. Duncan (b.1899, d. 1992) – Founder and president of Little Tavern.

“Jake” – Paul H. Hoddinott (b.1909, d. 2002) – started April 6, 1931 – formerly with the Washington Gas Light Co. At Little Tavern, organized baseball and basketball teams, editor for “Urn and Griddle” Magazine (anyone out there have a copy of one?) Accountant for Little Tavern Shops, Inc.

“Bob Mc” – Robert F. McFadden (b.1907, d.1990) – started July 1, 1927. Went on to become president of Little Tavern. Cousin of Harry Duncan. Full post/obituary here.

Row 2
“Pat” – Patricia Mancuso- Started c. 1933 – private secretary to Harry F. Duncan

Helen Pruitt – Started 1935/1936. In charge of twice- monthly reports.

Row 3
Vivian M. Chapman (b.1918, d. 1995) – Started 1935. Graded performance of individual locations, in charge of food bills, typist.

Loretta Lee – Started 1936.

“Kitty” – Katheryn J. Smyser – started April 21, 1930 – in charge of payroll

The Little Tavern chain was started in 1927 by Harry F. Duncan. Five locations were built in Louisville, Kentucky before the chain expanded to Washington and Baltimore. It would seem that after the 1930s, the chain focused the majority of its attention on expansion and development of its east coast locations, and the Louisville locations were sold.

If anyone has more information on these Kentucky locations, or on any of these employees, please, leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you.

This was the Louisville Little Tavern employee list as of late 1936.
For Louisville locations, see here.

Row 1
Merlin G. Bauer (b. 9/22/1905, d. 2/17/2000) – Louisville manager, started March 1928. Moved to Washington to open first location, returning to KY. Later worked for 30 years for Tommy Borders Wholesale Meats.
Max Beale – started 1936
Marshall DeVore – started 1933 or 1934. Managed the Laurel, MD location starting 1939. Married to Catherine DeVore (springgate)

Row 2
Elbert Downey (b. 10/8/1903, d. 2/3/1942) – started 1933
Cellan Gotte – started 1936
Harold W. Headrick (b. 7/15/1912, d. 10/12/1988) – started May 1935

Row 3
Leonard Higdon (b. 12/27/1907 d.?) – started 1930. Later owner of “Little Castle” chain in Louisville
L. Hugh Jones – started May 1930
Thomas Lanham

Row 4
Jeff O. Lewis – started April 18, 1928
J. T. Lewis –
Clarence Lloyd (b. 12/21/1903 d.7/1/1975) – painting, repair, counterman. 1928 to 1932, 1936-

Row 5
Howard Yates – started 1935
Merlin G. Bauer – see above

Other Little Tavern employees from Louisville I have found named
L.H. Jones- robbed in 1933 and 1936 at location no. 2
Louis Hayden – robbed in 1942 no. 3
E.B. Downing – robbed in 1935 at no. 3
John W. Osborn (Osbourne?) – robbed in 1934 at no. 1
Henry Lake – robbed in 1933 at no. 5
Joseph Billingham – robbed in 1939 at no. 3
Clarence Lloyd – robbed in 1934 at no. 5
Herman A. Parris – robbed in 1931 at no. 4
Carl C. Taylor – robbed in 1929 at no. 1, in 1932 at no. 3, in 1934 at no. no. 2
George Gash – robbed in 1934 at no. 2
R.C. Clements – robbed in 1930 at no. 5
Clifford Whilener – sent drunk customer to hospital in 1933 at no. 5
Elbert B. Downey – robbed in 1934 at no. 2
Leonard Higdon- robbed in 1932 at no. 2

This sign sold on ebay last year. I just noticed it in an early ’60s photo from my collection.