The original plan was to hit up the Sandy Hook diner for lunch, but a spot of traffic put us behind schedule and we arrived about a half hour after they closed.
Instead, we ate at the Blue Colony, home of very large baked goods.
After reading this post , I figured a stop at Dave’s was in order. After a fantastic breakfast at the A-1, we were too stuffed to make it inside for food, but we took a few pictures of the remodeled ’65 valentine for the file.
The last time we’d visited the Miss Portland, they had closed up shop. The diner was looking sad, the rooftop sign was partially off and with its future looked dim. Since then, the diner has been moved, but only a few doors down, restored, and a new, complimentary addition has been added off the left side.
The diner is Worcester Lunch Car Number 818, and was built in 1949. According to their website, the diner was originally located on forest Avenue, from 1949 to 1964. It was then moved to 49 Marginal way, where it stayed until it closed in 2004. It is currently owned by Tom Manning, who re-opened it late 2008.
Larry Cultrera’s November visit.
I had a short-stack of platter sized blueberry pancakes, with thick cut bacon and a cup of coffee. So often I find pancakes that sit like lead. Not so at the Miss portland, these were light, fluffy, and chock full of blueberries. The coffee was brewed fresh.
Their Website is http://www.missportlanddiner.com/
Today started the long drive back to school, from Maryland up to Halifax, Nova Scotia, by way of Gray and Bangor Maine. We take the drive to Gray, Maine every other year or so, to stay at the old family camp, but have always timed it wrong to make the stop in Portsmouth for the legendary lunch wagon.
A vintage photo from my collection of Gilleys with owner Bill Kennedy.
If I recall correctly, the article is from 1957.
Caption states: “The Night Lunch is an old, old Portsmouth institution. For more than 75 years, the mobile diner has parked on market sq. and old timers await its arrival to buy their franks and beans. Once pulled by horses, a tractor truck now deposits it here each night and picks it up in the morning. Owner Bill Kennedy has run it for 45 years.
Interior looking towards kitchen
The current diner was built c.1940 by the Worcester Lunch Car Company, and stays true to the earlier style lunch wagon floorplan, with the small kitchen on one side, and a couple of stools on the other. It was originally brought to the square and left. Later, it was mounted on a truck, upon which it still rests, although its traveling days are over. A complimentary barrel roofed addition was attached to the right hand side of the car in 1996. The diner is in remarkably good shape, retaining it’s original wood and enameled panels inside. The beautiful original vent hood still gleams.
As it has for nearly a century, the diner still turns out good food, inexpensively, and is open late.
The menu is limited, as it should be, to what can be cooked behind the counter at the grill. Hamburgers, dogs, grilled cheese, fries, etc. I ordered the chili cheese dog. Excellent natural casing dog, with a nice crisp to it when bit, on a squishy bun, covered in chili. It was almost impossible to eat without wearing it, but oh so delicious.
Friendly place, great food, served in a rare and well preserved lunch wagon. What more could I ask for?
I’ve been in Alaska the past two weeks, hiking, kayaking, fishing, and taking many pictures along the way.
Anchorage does have one “diner”, an on site retro-styled place, called the City Diner.
This is right down by the movie theater I usually go to in the Kentlands, though I never seem to have a camera with me. On site “diner” built in the ’90s. Strips of stainless around the base, and as you can see, a very diner-like interior.
Bristol, the birthplace of country music, is home to great architecture, neon, and at least two giant guitars.
The Grand Guitar, an enormous Martin
The fret markers are windows, as is the sound hole. It looks like it could stand to be re-strung.
And in town, is another large guitar, set in the ground, as a chamber of commerce / welcome sign.
On Monday, my friend and I loaded up the car and made the two hour drive to Breezewood, PA, a “Traveler’s Oasis”, the “Town of Motels”.
My fifteen year old bike rack popped a few of the mounting hooks along the way, but the bikes were still there when I pulled into the gravel parking lot at the Pike2Bike trail head.
I’d found out about this trip in a bit of an unusual way. Earlier in the year, my next door neighbor in my dorm had been listening to a Bloodhound Gang song on repeat. She showed me the video, and what caught my attention was the location where it was shot. A little bit of googling later, I’d found one of the many websites about the abandoned Pennsylvania turnpike. I emailed my friend about it, and plans were set in motion.
Not too soon after starting out, we spotted the first tunnel, Rays Hill Tunnel, the shorter of the two. We climbed to the top of the tunnel, climbed down a metal ladder, and in through a broken window. We found ourselves in the ventilation room, with its two large ventilation fans. We explored a bit in the ventilation shafts, which I must say is one of the most frightening places I’ve been. They’re claustrophobic, pitch black, and echo and amplify all sounds, the shuffling of our feet and the dripping of water filtering through the hill. We made our way through the two other stories of the building, down the rusted metal staircases, and exited through a broken out section of the ground floor door.
Ventilation shafts
Rusty metal and broken glass. What a turn on.
We pressed onwards to Sideling Hill Tunnel, the longer of the two, at 1.3 miles long. You can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel when you enter, and then when you finally do, it never seems to get any closer. The headlights we had installed on our bikes, supplemented by large flashlights didn’t begin to illuminate the place. You could barely see the pavement in front of you to dodge the chunks of concrete that had fallen from the ceiling of the tunnel. We explored both ends of the tunnel, and ate lunch when we arrived at the far end. All the ventilation rooms were the same, aside from the graffiti.
From there, it wasn’t far to the old travel plaza that once was the site of a Howard Johnson’s Restaurant, and the turnaround point.
Passed this guy along the way. My first thought was- hey- let’s get them off the highway. Then I realized where I was.
Driving down the highway outside of Pulaski, VA, we spotted the big neon for this place poking through the trees. I couldn’t get the camera out fast enough to snap it, so we took the exit and drove around a bit, until we found it. The motel is still there, though it’s closed. The restaurant isn’t visible from the road, and it’s on private property, so please don’t go searching for it
The motel was once the Days Inn. The last review of it is dated September, 2008, so it closed fairly recently. The restaurant, however, has been closed and abandoned for a bit longer. It is currently condemned. Going by a class of 1963 35th reunion banner still hanging in the restaurant, it’s safe to say that the place closed in 1998 or so.
It’s a great ’60s colonial Howard Johnson’s type place, with avocado green stools and a great rooftop neon.
Overgrown parking lot
Sandwich Shoppe
Blue Paint
Red paint
Shots of the interior. Sorry about the glare, they’re through the windows.
Counter
Left Side Dining Room.
Inside dining room. The “Forever Young” DHS class of 1963 35th Reunion. Possibly Dublin High School?
Candles and coffee mugs still on the tables. Ceiling is caving in.
Abandoned Road
Stopped in the town of Wytheville, VA for lunch yesterday. Wandered around a little bit, and spotted this old rusty barber shop sign. Went down the side street to get pictures of it, found that it was open and there were no customers. So I went in. The barber, still in the traditional white smock, asked what I wanted. I explained that I was into the whole ’30s/’40s thing, and that that’s how I wanted it. He responded, “so just a normal haircut, then”, and set to work, working almost entirely with the electric clippers. He worked without the length attachments on the clippers, and only used the comb to hold the hair away from my head, not as a guide. Great haircut, neat experience, and only $6.
Diner Hunter 