Some quick and dirty sharpie sketches of Little Taverns
Do-Nut Diner – Front Royal Virginia (4″x6″)
This was originally part of the Donut Dinette chain. For more on the chain, look here.
Short Stop Diner- Wheaton, Maryland (4″x5″)
These photos were sent to me by my father, who recently took a trip with musician Barry Louis Polisar to Philadelphia to visit Nancy Heller, Professor of Art History at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia.
Some interior shots of the Melrose Diner before it gets re-done. The impending remodel was confirmed by staff at the diner.
This site has a good exterior photo.
The clock which used to hang above the Melrose counter until the mural was installed, I believe sometime in the 1970s. I bought and restored the clock after finding it listed on ebay several years ago.
Polock Johnny’s Polish Sausage- Baltimore, Maryland
Broad Street and Tasker. Tavern neon – Philadelphia
Museo Del Jamon – Ham Museum
Broad Street Diner, an old Fodero
The A-1 is one of my all time favorite diners. Great food with an excellent selection served in a beautifully maintained Worcester semi-streamliner in a unique location.
After debating between the South of the Border Burger (with chili and pepperjack) and the North of the Border Burger (with cheese and Canadian Bacon), I picked the North, I figured it was appropriate. My dad got a plain hamburger.
The burgers were big and juicy, the fries were fresh and hand-cut. For dessert we had a slice of oreo cheesecake.
Front of diner with flowerboxes.
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?
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
I saw this in the Gazette yesterday, a view of the new Silver Diner, to be built down the road, which is to replace the current Kullman-built Rockville Pike location as the flagship location
Some more from the archives, in no particular order.
Short Stop Diner, now Irene’s pupusas. Wheaton, MD
It’s a 1956 Kullman. The neon was nearly as big as the diner itself, but has since disappeared.
Then:
Now:
Diner- Front Royal, VA
It’s a 1956 Mountain View. Front Royal used to be a hotbed of diners. It had this one, Nick’s Good Food diner, the Do-nut dinette, and another ’50s stainless model. The other three have been knocked down, and this one’s now a used car dealer.
Now:
Frost Diner- Warrenton, VA
The Frost is a 1955 O’Mahony.
Inside
Counter
A sign of the times- Disco Fashion T-shirts
Pork Chop- $1.25, Fried Chicken $1.75
Tastee Diner- Silver Spring, MD
Tastee Diner- Laurel, MD
a rare Comac brand diner
Bud’s Broiler – New Orleans, LA
Bud’s Broiler
Allen Theater
Current Photos
Flower Theater
Current Photos
Summit Diner– Somerset, PA
Summit Diner
Moody’s Diner- Waldoboro, ME
Moody’s Diner
Diner- MA
Today, my dad and I tracked down and photographed what used to be Hymie’s Restaurant, an old homebuilt diner in Washington, DC.
I couldn’t find much on it, other than that it was owned by Mary Hyman and her husband, and that it was held up in 1970.
According to the court transcripts:
At approximately 1:20 P.M. on May 11, 1970, two men, one armed with a sawed-off shotgun, held up Hymie’s Restaurant and Carry-Out at 4408 Arkansas Avenue, N.W., in Washington. The man with the shotgun remained at the door of the restaurant while the other man entered the store and told the proprietress, Mrs. Mary Hyman, to put the money from the cash register in a bag. She complied, placing approximately $86.00 in a bag, which the man took. She noticed that this man was short, very dark, and that his head was cleanshaven. The robbers then left the store and escaped.
The only other record of it is found here, and reads:
Hymie’s Restaurant on Arkansas Avenue and Allison Streets NW. The
BEST cheeseburger for miles and Mr. and Mrs.
Hyman were the nicest proprietors of a business you’d ever want to
meet. It is now an auto parts store…
The signage currently reads, Andre’s Auto Sales, but there’s a for rent sign up, with the phone number, (301)-649-2361.
This was my first real diner trip in a while. I met up today with Mike Engle, author of Diners of New York; the man behind NYdiners.com, and roadside buff and frequent Zippy the Pinhead contributor Ed Engel at the American City Diner, and headed out from there.
The first stop of the day was the American City Diner of 5532 Connecticut Ave NW Washington, DC. It’s a late ’80s Kullman, one of the early retro-styled diners, and one of the ones that did it right. For some photos as it appeared when new, click here. Since then, it’s been added on to, with a large side addition, and a front porch which obscures everything to the left of the vestibule.
The Left side of the diner- 2009
The left side of the diner – 1989
The former Howard Theater. Great rusty marquis on this one.
The now abandoned Wonderbread / Hostess Factory
Ran into a little excitement along the way between these two stops, but all’s well that ends well.
Northeast Academy of Dance Neon sign. Look at the detail at the left hand corner of the sign.
We hit up the Capital City Diner, which was moved here on the 20th. Watch the video of it being moved. This Silk City, formerly of Avoca New York, has made its way to the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast DC.
Photos at its original location and some backstory can be found at :A Real Historic Diner Coming to DC!
This next leg of the trip had some neat neon and signage
A&R Auto Parts
Syd’s Drive In / Liquor
Cross Roads
Tesst theater
Hyattsville Hardware / Franklin’s
Calvert House
Silver Spring’s old Canada Dry bottling plant
A quick stop at the Silver Spring Tastee was made.
Now
Then
More old photos can be found here.
Then a side trip to Forest Glen, parts of which have deteriorated greatly since my last visit.
Dinner at the Tastee Diner in Bethesda
Then
And the trip’s final stop at Bethesda’s former Little Tavern. A 1990 photo of it, when it was still a Little Tavern, can be found on the Diner Hotline.
Here are some photos, taken on a Linden area diner trip a few years back, of the White Rose System, a little ’50s kullman dinette.
Diner Hunter 