Another Valentine Diners shot from my collection. This photo was originally in the sales portfolio of Valentine salesman O. Glenn Griffin. (1899-1993)

This is the 1940s Aristocrat model, produced by Valentine Industries.

Another Valentine Diners shot from my collection. This photo was originally in the sales portfolio of Valentine salesman O. Glenn Griffin. (1899-1993)

This is Judy’s Diner, a pre-war model (Ablah? Hayes?) with some unusual detailing. The buttresses, usually seen on the short ends, as on the Aristocrat model, are on the front. The overhang wraps the parapet vertically and the ends have metal “timbers”. The “Sandwiches” and “Meals” signs are freestanding letters rather than being painted on.

The back of this print gives the location as Scottsbluff, Nebraska. I’m assuming the diner is long, long gone, but the large, ivy covered brick building on the right seems like it is distinctive enough to give a location as to where the diner used to be.

Update December 2019- location has been identified as the corner of Overland and 14th, Scottsbluff, NE

Another Valentine Diners shot from my collection. This photo was originally in the sales portfolio of Valentine salesman O. Glenn Griffin. (1899-1993)

These small prints are all from the pre-war era, so this one was likely built by Hayes. It was still being installed when the photo was taken, so unfortunately there’s no name on the pylon to give a clue as to the address. The caption on the back does give the city as San Angelo, Texas.  This one’s interesting (and somewhat unusual) for the size of its kitchen addition, which is larger than the diner itself.  San Angelo was home to quite a few restaurants, and Valentines bore the “diner” name far less than their east coast counterparts, which can make them difficult to track down.  Going through a 1942 directory, I’d say the most likely candidate would be the Midget Inn, 405 S. Chadbourne St., just based on the name.

Another Valentine Diners shot from my collection. This photo was originally in the sales portfolio of Valentine salesman O. Glenn Griffin. (1899-1993)

This pre-war diner, probably built by Hayes, was located in Shawnee, Oklahoma according to the caption on the back of the photo.

Another Valentine Diners shot from my collection. This photo was originally in the sales portfolio of Valentine salesman O. Glenn Griffin. (1899-1993)

The caption on this one reads, “L’ Trio No 1+No 2 on R.I., Des Moines, IA”. The sign on this pre-war diner reads, “Valentine Sandwich Shop, manufactured by Hayes Equipment Mfg. Co., Wichita, KS”

Another Valentine Diners shot from my collection. This photo was originally in the sales portfolio of Valentine salesman O. Glenn Griffin. (1899-1993)

The Nifty-Nine was a nine stool model, with waist height buttress panels, a perpendicular pylon and ribbed corners.

Another Valentine Diners shot from my collection. This photo was originally in the sales portfolio of Valentine salesman O. Glenn Griffin. (1899-1993)

This isolated shot sports a particularly shiny exterior and stubby pylon. I’m guessing by the lack of signage, and by the reflections in the windows, that this was taken in a back lot at the manufacturer’s before it was moved to a site.

Another Valentine Diners shot from my collection. This photo was originally in the sales portfolio of Valentine salesman O. Glenn Griffin. (1899-1993)

Another Valentine Diners shot from my collection. This photo was originally in the sales portfolio of Valentine salesman O. Glenn Griffin. (1899-1993)

This batch of photos were heavily water damaged, made much worse by their storage in nearly 70 year old plastic page protectors, which trapped water inside, stuck to the image and curled.

Another Valentine Diners shot from my collection. This photo was originally in the sales portfolio of Valentine salesman O. Glenn Griffin. (1899-1993)

The 6 unit Beach Cabana design comes from the short lived Lunch-Craft Incorporated of Wichita, Kansas.  The only record of Lunch Craft names O.G. Griffin as the sole officer on record. Since so much of this binder’s contents are Valentine, everything about this, from the photo studio used to make the prints, to the style of rendering, to the “design by Gilbert” are identical to the Valentine Industries promo material of the same era, I don’t know if Lunch Craft was a sub-line of Valentine, or a short lived reorganization, or even a short lived competitor.  I’m leaning more towards a c.1945-1946 reorganization, as Valentine was coming out of the war and starting up production again.  Hayes Mfg., who had built Valentine Diners, went out of business in 1942, Valentine Industries only lasted 1945-1947, closing when H&H parts, who built the diners for Valentine, switched to building aircraft components. Valentine Mfg., the best known in the chronology of Valentine Diners, opened in 1947. For me, this period of change seems the most likely for a previously unknown name to pop up, then disappear, with novel products, possibly without actually building any of them.  I’d also wager that the Gilbert in “design by Gilbert” refers not to a person, but to Gilbert Street, where Hayes (and by extension Valentine) was based in the late 1930s-early 1940s.

Valentine and all the related companies did not limit themselves to diners, building “universal” models with no interiors and models designed to be liquor stores.  This beach cabana design is a bit of a departure, but looks like it uses the same basic kit of parts as the other buildings, just simplified and extended. I’m not sure how many of this design were produced, if any were at all.