An early advertising postcard from Kullman Dining Cars, showing a monitor roofed model from 1933.

This building, located at 5335 O Street, Lincoln, NE, is currently operating as a Subway, but prior to that, I’d bet you it was a Diner. I’d guess from the ’90s retro-diner revival, and almost certainly an on-site construction. Unfortunately, this was just a drive-by shot, so I didn’t get good detail, but it has a corner entry, flanked by round glass block, and topped by a winged clock.

Poor quality Google Streetview shot to flesh out the side of the diner I wasn’t able to photograph.

Mototeria took a page from the lunch wagon playbook. They were a chain of grocery stores on wheels, with shopping room for ten people in the back. Not quite a delivery truck and not quite a permanent store, they set up in different locations day to day.

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Here’s another diner which looks like it’s still be with us. The Carlisle Diner was a Ward and Dickinson owned by R.F. Shetler, who also owned Hagerstown’s Dixie Diner. The diner originally operated at 118 W. High St., Carlisle, but was moved around the corner to 10 N. Pitt St. at some point in the 1930s. At this N. Pitt St. location, it was integrated into a larger building, flanked by two side entryways, and covered with a roof. It looks like the rear “Grill” section was an existing building.

At a later point, a further addition, in the tudor half-timbered style of the flanking building was added onto the front of the structure. The location is still there, and is still quite identifiable. The condition, and how much of the original Ward dining car is still inside the location, currently operating as “Alibi’s”, is impossible to tell without further investigation.

Little Tavern Shops Baltimore No. 4 opened March 21, 1931. It closed in 1932 due to a lease problem. As I understand it, the building was renovated shortly after. Little Taverns had an an overall form taking design cues from Tudor architecture, but with modern detailing and materials. This location was “un-modernized”. The slick porcelain enamel exterior was covered over with stone. The modern interior was redone in a palate of wood, with false beams.

Since this location only lasted in the Little Tavern chain for a year or less, I haven’t been able to track down any photos of it while it was operating as a part of the chain. So instead of a true “before” picture, I give you Washington No. 16, built in 1936.

The Stone Tavern as it appears now. The form is still unmistakably Little Tavern. The square rooftop sign support posts of early Taverns are still visible. While the chain locations for the most part had their windows enlarged from a three or four section unit to plate glass, this one still has more-or less what it would have come with originally. It looks like the side windows may have been reduced in size at the time of the renovation.

Interior
Again, with a lack of period photos from this location, an interior shot from Washington No. 13, built in 1935, will have to do as a substitute.

The interior has several layers of renovations done over the years. The stone and wood walls appear to be the oldest, with the counter, stools and floor coming in at a later date. Compare this to the “before” picture, though, and you will see how in-tact this location is, all things considered. Original booths, original hardware, original floorplan, and some original backbar equipment.

Current interior photos come courtesy David B. Stinson, whose book, Deadball, recently hit the shelves.

In 1936, a mere four years after Baltimore No. 4’s closing, another Little Tavern, Baltimore No. 7, opened up almost directly across the Street. This newer location was featured in John Waters’s “Female Trouble”

Baltimore No. 4 at bottom left, Baltimore No. 7 at upper right.

Baltimore No. 7 at lower left, Baltimore No. 4 at upper right.

The Potomac Diner was originally located at 930 S. Potomac St., Hagerstown, MD. It opened in 1942. By 1945, the address was being used by an Insurance company and the diner had moved to 934 S. Potomac St., what had been the site of the Hagerstown Auto Exchange up until that point. In 1977, it became Barbie’s Place, and the address was 925 S. Potomac.

As mentioned in the previous post about the Dixie Diner, the manager of that establishment, Earl Shetler, switched over to manage the Potomac after the Dixie lost its land.

This is the only photo of the original diner I’ve been able to find. It looks like an on-site construction to me, but with only one poor quality photo, it’s hard to tell. Looks like there may be neon clocks on the ends.

The Dixie Diner opened at 39 Summit Avenue, Hagerstown, Maryland in 1932. It was built by Ward and Dickinson of Silver Creek, NY. The Hotel Dagmar, mentioned in the opening day notice, is still there.

Pictured next is a cleaned up version of their matchbook. The full version can be seen here. The owner, R.F. Shetler, operated another Ward and Dickinson in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the Carlisle Diner/ Carlisle Grill. More on that later.

The Dixie Diner operated for seventeen years at that location, offering steak dinners for every home run for the local baseball team. But as seems to be the case all too often, the diner was on leased land, which was sold out from under it. The land was bought by the neighboring Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, who used the site for additional parking. When you consider that a Ward and Dickinson of this type is in the 10′ by 25′ size range, that’s one or two parking spaces. If you look at the last news story, from 1957, it says the telephone now has a parking place at that site.

The diner had been managed by R.F. Shetler’s brother, Earl Shetler. After the diner’s closing, he moved to manage the nearby Potomac Diner.

The diner may have been moved to the intersection of Rt. 11, Elizabeth St. and Center St. That location had a fire in 1967 from children playing with matches. I haven’t been able to determine whether the Dixie Diner at that location was the same one that was moved.

While we’re on the subject of diners built by Rochester Grills, let’s take a look back in time at the former Deluxe Diner of Bradford, PA, which opened in 1940. It’s still there, currently operating as “Grandma’s House”. It recently did a stretch as “Bloomer’s Florist”. It is located at 16 Congress St.
Its size is listed as 15’x75′ in this article. It replaced an older diner which measured 10’x36′. The owners of the Deluxe Diner (The Bradford Dining Car Company) also operated another diner in the city, which is also still in existence, at 431 E. Main St.

Rochester Grills built diners from late 1935 through to 1941. Their designs were similar to earlier Bixler-built diners.
Their offices were at 6 Hastings St., Rochester, NY. Their smallest model measured 10’x25′. Their diners were built sectionally- like slices of bread, which were assembled on site. These ads mention locations in Altoona, PA, Bradford, PA, Olean, NY and Rochester, NY.

If you liked the Armory Grill and the Chester Diner- here’s another diner find for you: The Meriden Diner, of Meriden CT.
Mike Engle was researching this diner today and was able to dig up some really great info on its history. We were chatting about what he’d found and I looked it up on google maps to see what they built on the site, and what do you know? It’s still there. Boarded up, mansard roofed, and covered over, but still recognizable.

The Meriden Diner was opened in 1931 by Fred Klett. It was built by the Ward and Dickinson Dining Car Company of Silver Creek, New York. Klett supposedly invented the Steamed Hamburger at the Meriden Diner. Mr. Klett unexpectedly committed suicide after five years of operation, leaving the running of the diner to his wife.

Fred Klett was a true diner man. Prior to 1911, Klett ran the Uneeda Lunch Room (on State Street) and the Lenox Lunch Room (Corner of Hanover and W. Main). He sold the Lenox in 1911, buying out his business partner’s interest in the Uneeda. Around the same time, Klett started operating what would become known as the Palace Diner on West Main Street, Meriden, CT. It is possible, likely even, that this original Palace Diner founded by Klett was the forerunner to a 1949 Silk City (#49212), which is currently operating as Cassidy’s Diner at 82 W. Main St., Meriden, CT. That location was known as the Palace Diner until 1983.

But back to the Meriden. It was bought by Wilson A. Veillette in 1938, who sold it to Clifford P. Hourigan in 1956. The old Ward and Dickinson car lasted until 1963, but by that point the car was small and dated. So a second-hand diner was brought in to replace the dining car. Veillette bought the Washington Diner of Hartford, Connecticut. This second hand Paramount would be replaced by another, more modern Paramount, located at 175 Washington St., Hartford, CT. Hourigan ran the diner until c.1973.

In 1974, the land was sold to Aida Incorporated. The ’70s and ’80s get fuzzy as far as ownership and operational status go, but I can say that in in the 1990s, it was the Meriden Bicycle Center, and was gutted by that point. Rite Aid received approvals for an 11,180 sf building with a remote drive-thru on the site. Eep.

The Meriden Diner (or what’s left of it) is located at 518 Broad St., Meriden, CT.