Eastern Shore – Delaware and Maryland

These pics were sent to me by my friend, Susan Hormuth from a trip she took on the Eastern Shore in April of 1980. I’ll get text up later today.

Tom’s Diner. Route 50?- Easton, MD. Here are some more pictures, taken by Larry Cultrera, of Tom’s, taken about a year after these. Larry’s pictures are the only reference I can find to this one. I assume it must have closed a while ago for that to be the case.
I’ve tried locating the site by looking for the radio towers shown in the background. Rt 50 splits- 50 goes to the East of Easton, 322 (the Easton Parkway) goes to the west. The WEMD radio towers off the Easton parkway seem to look about the same, but the area has grown- all suburban houses and big box stores. If this is the right area, there’s no trace.
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How about that groovy plastic sign over the vestibule? And the freestanding neon’s pretty spectacular.
Green flexglas, stacked roof. Double-wide with factory kitchen and dining room.
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We think this Mountain View was somewhere between Salisbury and Assateague Island. The newspaper box is for a Delaware newspaper, but that would fit that location.
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Diner in Bridgeville, DE. It’s still there and looks to be in about the same shape as it was then. Here’s a picture taken two days ago by Randy Garbin. Here’s a post, with interior pictures, from when it was still operating back in 2005. It’s currently for sale. Call 302-628-8467.
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English’s Diner- Salisbury, Maryland
Here’s a shot of what it looked like when it closed.

I’m not positive which diner these interior shots go with. Anyone recognize it? Want to hazard a guess based on manufacturer and size?
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The Korner Diner- Newark, Delaware

The Korner Diner was closed, and supposed to be “updated” this past october, according to an article in the University of Delaware review.

Korner Diner closes
Tells more of the story of the battle over the diner.

Pictures of the diner from several years back, when I visited.
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L-shaped O’Mahony with blue flex-glas. Double doors on the corner

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Manufactured by Jerry O’Mahony Inc. Elizabeth, NJ In our line we lead the world

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Corner of the diner

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curved booths. They’ve carpeted over the floor. Doesn’t seem like there’d be much reason to do that.

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interior with back wall of windows. Pink formica, gray booths and stools.

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The L-shaped diner is very original, other than the carpeting, and in excellent repair.

Photo of the Korner Diner’s old neon, reading “Newark Diner”. I have another picture, of the diner as Jimmy’s but I can’t seem to find it at the moment. It was also known as Jude’s.
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Hollywood Diner- Dover, DE

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This diner was made by the Fodero Diner company of Bloomfield, NJ, which was around from 1933 to 1981. This one was built c. 1954.

Fodero Diner factory site now

For pictures of the Hollywood Diner from 2008, visit here.

Bridgeville Diner- Bridgeville, Delaware

I thought this would tie in nicely with my previous post. The bridgeville is a ’40s O’Mahony, a particularly large model, featuring a striped red and blue enamel and stainless exterior, with blue upper windows. I like the diagonally ribbed tile on the interior, but I’m not sure if it’s original, I’ve never seen it before. This diner is very similar to the recently restored Road Island Diner, though this one has five bands of color, while the road island has four. This exterior is a nice transition from the fully enameled exteriors shown in the previous post to the later fully stainless ones.

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Smyrna Diner – Smyrna, DE / Cleveland, OH

The Smyrna Diner is a 1965 Paramount diner, which replaced a smaller diner, from 1954. The original can be seen here. At some point, the futuristic exterior of the diner was covered in wood. Recently, the diner was replaced with a modern, on site diner. The old Paramount is now in the capable hands of Steve Harwin of Diversified Diners.

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Exterior

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Exterior

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Freestanding sign. I believe this showed up on eBay a few months back.

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Original sign, a bit cracked up.

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Interior of the diner. Compare it to the vintage photo below.

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Interior of the diner.

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The exterior of the diner as it originally appeared. Since then, the tilework and much of the stainless has been covered in dark wood, while the windows have been replaced, drastically changing the look of the diner.

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The interior of the diner as it originally appeared.

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Picture of Diner being moved

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The new diner.

Story of diner’s move in the Sun Times – September 24, 2008
http://oh-diners.com/
– Go to Diversified Diners, then Diners for Sale

From the Diversified Diners website:
“The. . . diner is a 1960’s Paramount Diner which operated in Smyrna, DE since it’s manufacture. It was a local landmark until the late summer of 2008 when it’s property lease expired and a new larger and more modern diner was built about a mile down the road. The Smyrna Diner tradition continues and now the original Paramount diner is ready for a restoration and a new lease on life. It measure 65 feet long by 19 foot wide (in two sections) not including the vestibule. It has seating for 83 patrons.”