A diner is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of American life, especially in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, as well as in the Midwest, although examples can be found throughout the United States, Canada, and parts of Western Europe. Diners are characterized by offering a wide range of foods, mostly American, a distinct exterior structure, a casual atmosphere, a counter, and late operating hours. "Classic American Diners" are often characterized by an exterior layer of stainless steelâ€"a feature unique to diner architecture.
History
The first diner was created in 1872, by a man named Walter Scott. He decided to sell food out of a horse-pulled wagon to employees of the Providence Journal, in Providence, Rhode Island. Scott's diner can be considered the first diner with “walk up†windows that were located on each side of the wagon. Commercial production of lunch wagons began in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1887, by Thomas Buckley. Buckley was very successful and became known for his "White House Cafe" wagons. Charles Palmer received the first patent (1891) for the diner. He built his "fancy night cafes" and "night lunch wagons" in the Worcester area until 1901.
Manufacturers
- Worcester Lunch Car Company
- Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company
Sterling Streamliner diners
Inspired by the streamlined trains, and especially the Burlington Zephyr, Roland Stickney designed a diner in the shape of a streamlined train called the Sterling Streamliner in 1939. Built by the J.B. Judkins coach company, who had built custom car bodies, the Sterling and other diner production ceased in 1942 at the beginning on American involvement in World War II.
Two Sterling Streamliners remain in operation: the Salem Diner at its original location in Salem, Massachusetts and the Modern Diner in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
Prefabricated diners
As the number of seats increased, wagons gave way to pre-fabricated buildings made by many of the same manufacturers who had made the wagons. Like the lunch wagon, a stationary diner allowed one to set up a food service business quickly using pre-assembled constructs and equipment.
Until the Great Depression, most diner manufacturers and their customers were located in the Northeast. Diner manufacturing suffered with other industries in the Depression, though not as much as others, as people still had to eat, and the diner offered a less expensive way of getting into the restaurant business as well as less expensive food than more formal establishments. After World War II, as the economy returned to civilian production and the suburbs boomed, diners were an attractive small business opportunity. During this period, diners spread beyond their original urban and small town market to highway strips in the suburbs, even reaching the Midwest, with manufacturers such as Valentine.
In many areas, diners were superseded in the 1970s by fast food restaurants, but in parts of New Jersey, New York, the New England states, Delaware and Pennsylvania the independently-owned diner remains relatively common. During this period, newly constructed diners lost their narrow, stainless steel, streamlined appearance, and grew into much bigger buildings, though often still made of several pre-fabricated modules and assembled on site and still manufactured by the old line diner builders. A wide variety of architectural styles were now used for these later diners, including Cape Cod and Colonial. The old-style single module diners featuring a long counter and a few small booths sometimes now grew additional dining rooms, lavish wallpaper, fountains, crystal chandeliers and Greek statuary. The definition of the term diner began to blur as older, pre-fab diners received more conventional stick-built additions, sometimes leaving the original structure nearly unrecognizable as it was surrounded by new construction or a renovated facade. Businesses that called themselves diners but which were built onsite and not prefabricated began to appear. These larger establishments were sometimes known as diner-restaurants.
Architecture
Like a mobile home, the original style diner is narrow and elongated and allows roadway transportation.
In the traditional diner floorplan, a service counter dominates the interior, with a preparation area against the back wall and floor-mounted stools for the customers in front. Larger models may have a row of booths against the front wall and at the ends. The decor varied over time. Diners of the 1920sâ€"1940s feature Art Deco or Streamline Moderne elements or copy the appearance of rail dining cars (though very few are, in fact, refurbished rail cars). They featured porcelain enamel exteriors, some with the name written on the front, others with bands of enamel, others in flutes. Many had a "barrel vault" roofline. Tile floors were common. Diners of the 1950s tended to use stainless steel panels, porcelain enamel, glass blocks, terrazzo floors, Formica and neon sign trim.
Diners built recently generally have a different type of architecture; they are laid out more like restaurants, retaining some aspects of traditional diner architecture (stainless steel and Art Deco elements, usually) while discarding others (the small size, and emphasis on the counter).
Cultural significance
Diners attract a wide spectrum of the local populations, and are generally small businesses. From the mid-Twentieth century onwards, they have been seen as quintessentially American, reflecting the perceived cultural diversity and egalitarian nature of the country at large.
Throughout much of the twentieth century, diners, particularly in the Northeast, were often owned and operated by Greek-American immigrant families. The presence of Greek casual food, like gyros and souvlaki, on several diners' menus, testifies to this cultural link.
In the days when diners were America's most widespread 24-hour public establishments, the fact that they were open all night meant they could also serve as symbols of loneliness and isolation. Edward Hopper's iconic 1942 painting Nighthawks depicts a diner and its occupants, late at night. The diner in the painting is based on a real location in Greenwich Village, but was chosen in part because diners were anonymous slices of Americana, meaning that the scene could have been taken from any city in the country-and also because a diner was a place to which isolated individuals, awake long after bedtime, would naturally be drawn. The spread of the diner meant that by 1942 it was possible for Hopper to cast this institution in a role for which, fifteen years earlier, he had used an Automat all-night restaurant.
But as a rule, diners were always symbols of American optimism. Norman Rockwell made his 1958 painting, The Runaway, generically American by placing his subjects, a young boy and a protective highway patrolman, at the counter of an anonymous diner. In television and cinema (e.g. The Blob, Happy Days, and Diner), diners and soda fountains have come to symbolize the period of prosperity and optimism in America in the 1950s. They are shown as the place where teenagers meet after school and as an essential part of a date. The television show Alice used a "diner" as the setting for the program.
The diner's cultural influence continues today. Many non-prefab restaurants (including franchises like Denny's) have copied the look of 1950s diners for nostalgic appeal, while Waffle House uses an interior layout derived from the diner.
Manhattan was once known for its diners. The Moondance Diner, was shipped to Wyoming to make room for development. Diners provide, in rather the same way that fast food chains do, a nationwide, recognizable, fairly uniform place to eat and assemble. The types of food served are likely to be consistent, especially within a region (exceptions being districts with large immigrant populations, in which diners and coffee shops will often cater their menus to those local cuisines), as are the prices charged. At the same time, diners have much more individuality than fast food chains; the structures, menus, and even owners and staff, while having a certain degree of similarity to each other, vary much more widely than the more rigidly standardized chain and franchise restaurants.
Diners frequently stay open 24 hours a day, especially in cities, making them an essential part of urban culture, alongside bars and nightclubs; these two segments of nighttime urban culture often find themselves intertwined, as many diners get a good deal of late-night business from persons departing drinking establishments. Many diners were historically placed near factories which operated 24 hours a day, with night shift workers providing a key part of the customer base.
The Poirier's Diner and Munson Diner, both manufactured by the Kullman Dining Car Company of Lebanon, New Jersey, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Diners in art
Diners are the focus of several artists, especially the well known photorealist (Photorealism) painter John Baeder who has spent the last 40+ years documenting diners across America through his photographic work and paintings. John's work rather than simply reflecting the interest in diners, adds to almost mythical quality of American diners which have seen their popularity begin to grow again, in the US as well as other countries.
Alternate spellings
The word diner is sometimes spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania
American Diners Association
American Diners Association, founded in 1943, provides ample reviews for diners all around the world. They travel from diner to diner usually in packs of 35-40 to review various items on the menu. Chairman Soren Ibsen had this to say about the quality of diners; "I usually don't eat out, but when I do, I prefer a quality diner."
The ADA normally travels from 3-6am, exploring the various diners in a particular area. A supervisor who is on the bus typically calls the diner 30 minutes prior to arrival to ensure that the diner is prepared to seat 35-40 people.
Cuisine and immigrant influences
Diners almost invariably serve American food such as hamburgers, french fries, club sandwiches, and other simple fare. Much of the food is grilled, as early diners were based around a grill. There is often an emphasis on breakfast foods such as eggs (including omelettes), waffles, pancakes, and French toast. Some diners serve these "breakfast foods" throughout the business day and others who focus on breakfast may close at around 3 pm. These are most commonly known as pancake houses.
Coffee is ubiquitous at diners, if not always of high quality. Many diners do not serve alcoholic drinks, although some may serve beer and inexpensive wine, while othersâ€"particularly in New Jersey and on Long Islandâ€"carry a full drink menu, including mixed drinks.
Like the British greasy spoon, the typical American diner serves mainly fried or grilled food, for example: fried eggs, bacon, hamburgers, hot dogs, hash browns, waffles, pancakes, omelettes, deep fried chicken, patty melts, and sausages. These are often accompanied by baked beans, french fries, cole slaw, or toast.
There is regional variation among diners. In Michigan and the Ohio Valley at "Coney Islandâ€"style" restaurants, coney dogs are served, as are certain types of Greek cuisine like gyros. In Indiana, fried pork tenderloin sandwiches are typically on the menu. The Northeast has more of a focus on seafood, with fried clams and fried shrimp commonly found in Maine. In Pennsylvania, cheesesteak sandwiches and scrapple are fixtures in most diners. Diners in the southwest serve tamales. In the southern U.S., typical dishes include grits, biscuits and gravy, and country fried steak. In New Jersey, the "Pork roll, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich" is a staple of many diners.
Many diners have transparent display cases in or behind the counter for the desserts. It is common with new diners to have the desserts displayed in rotating pie cases. Typical desserts include a variety of pies, often on view in a separate transparent case. Most diners in New York and Chicago also offer cheesecake.
The food is usually quite inexpensive, with a decent meal (sandwich, side dish, drink) available for less than ten dollars.
Several foreign ethnic influences have been introduced into the diner industry. Many diners in the United States â€" especially in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut â€" are owned or operated by Greek Americans. Eastern European owners, chiefly Polish, Ukrainian, and Eastern European Jews, are also typical. Italian Americans also have a notable presence. These influences can be seen in certain frequent additions to diner menus, such as Greek moussaka, Slavic blintzes, and Jewish matzah ball soup, deli-style sandwiches (e.g., corned beef, pastrami, Reubens), and bagels and lox.
See also
Manufacturers
- Fodero Dining Car Company
- Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company
- Kullman Dining Car Company
- Mountain View Diners Company
- Musi, Dining Car Co.
- Worcester Lunch Car Company
American diner experience overseas
- OK Diner â€" a roadside restaurant chain in the United Kingdom
- Eddie Rocket's â€" an Irish restaurant chain
Further reading
- Baeder, John, Diners. Rev. and updated ed. New York: Abrams, 1995.
- Butko, Brian, and Kevin Patrick. Diners of Pennsylvania. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1999.
- Garbin, Randy. Diners of New England. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2005.
- Gutman, Richard J. S. American Diner: Then and Now. New York: HarperPerennial, 1993.
- Witzel, Michael Karl The American Diner. MBI Publishing Company, 1998.
- "Greasin' up the Griddle, and Rollin' into History" The Journal of Antiques and Collectibles, August 2003, retrieved on December 29, 2007.
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