What Defines a "Diner" (Eatery)?

[rotuts]

P.S.:

 

a short movie here :

 

https://www.theagawamdiner.com/news

 

enjoy

[blue_dolphin]

My frugal parents rarely took us out to eat but on those occasions it tended to be to a diner or Howard Johnson's.  I always thought the diners I remember were converted rail cars that had been added on to but thanks to this post, I learned that at least one of them, The 9 & 20 Diner, at the junction of routes 9 and 20, south of Albany NY was built as a diner by Silk City Diners, a division of the Paterson Wagon Company in Paterson, NJ.   The other was John & Pat's Diner in East Greenbush, NY.  Couldn't find any info on that building but it had that classic shiny metal design with a counter and booths.

Both diners had those little jukeboxes in each booth where you could put in a coin and choose a song to be played.  My frugal parents never allowed us to do that. 

 

Not a diner, but I loved going to HoJo's.  Always thought it was a treat!

[heidih]

3 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Both diners had those little jukeboxes in each booth where you could put in a coin and choose a song to be played.  My frugal parents never allowed us to do that. 

 

Forgot about that . Of the ones I mentioned out here only Dale's had that. Perhaps we were memorable because my bestie ad her sis would break out into song with the selection.  And then we have Ed Devebic's - SO annoying but I try to accommodate my friend's tastes on occasion  https://www.eddebevics.com/abou

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Another diner characteristic is its club-like ambiance.    You will find the same people arriving at the same time every day, at breakfast or lunch.    Familiar to the staff and to friends they join in booths.    Seemingly picking up conversations from the day before.   We have often adopted one of these when traveling, having breakfast everyday at the Peterborough or Miss Flo diner.    We were always of interest in that we were obviously not locals much less club members.   Often the waitress would ask where we were from.

 

 

[blue_dolphin]

Also not a diner but a coffee shop with Googie architecture, the Ships chain had not a jukebox but a toaster on every table.   Not sure if there were ever any electrocutions but as this article points out, Ships always did smell like burnt toast!

[rotuts]

point well taken about HoJo's

 

they did not exist in CA  while growing up

 

I have been to a few here in NE a long long time ago

 

HoJo's  was more like a Restaurant !

 

equally exotic , in a different way.

[Eatmywords]

The diner's I grew up on around NY were Greek run, had booze, some full bar, some beer and wine only. One of my first waitering jobs was at the Lantern diner in Long Island.  Breakfast was the worst shift.  Alota work for small chk avgs/tips.   Lobster night was challenging. We had to fish them out of a tank up front, put them on a cocktail tray and bring them to kitchen.  Remember it like it was 10min ago 35yrs later.   Fun and stressful times for sure.    

 

Bobby Flay helps answer any q's.  Looks just like the places I frequented then and now.

 

 

[heidih]

53 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Also not a diner but a coffee shop with Googie architecture, the Ships chain had not a jukebox but a toaster on every table.   Not sure if there were ever any electrocutions but as this article points out, Ships always did smell like burnt toast!

 

I know I ate at at least 2 of the Ships several times yet have no recollection of the toasters or the food. Must have been in my "do not eat heartily in front of males" phase.  Pre GPS at least you could see them from far away as they were/are on busy streets.  Like Randy's  giant donut topped shops. 

[BeeZee]

4 hours ago, Margaret Pilgrim said:

Another diner characteristic is its club-like ambiance.    You will find the same people arriving at the same time every day, at breakfast or lunch.    Familiar to the staff and to friends they join in booths.    Seemingly picking up conversations from the day before.   We have often adopted one of these when traveling, having breakfast everyday at the Peterborough or Miss Flo diner.    We were always of interest in that we were obviously not locals much less club members.   Often the waitress would ask where we were from.

 

 

My retired Father joined up with a "men's club" in his over-55 community, they invade a local diner once a month for breakfast and likely torture the same waitress who always works their table, and probably has the patience of a Saint.

[heidih]

4 minutes ago, BeeZee said:

My retired Father joined up with a "men's club" in his over-55 community, they invade a local diner once a month for breakfast and likely torture the same waitress who always works their table, and probably has the patience of a Saint.

I see them at the diners and at Denny's in particular. I've commented to the waitresses and they love serving them - despite the $1 under the coffee cup tip. I wish my dad had cultivated something like that.  In retrospect on my post re Ship's above  it was the lack of the feeling of belonging that probably made the visits not memorable.  And veering once again away from diners - I think of the donut shops that also have the regular crowd (men) every morning over coffee solving world problems + donuts.  There is one on the Pacific Coast Highway where if a guy does not show up they text to make sure he is still kickin. An attractive female friend used to walk past with her pup every morning and sit for a bit - kinda made their day. Outdoor seating.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

5 hours ago, heidih said:

I see them at the diners and at Denny's in particular. I've commented to the waitresses and they love serving them - despite the $1 under the coffee cup tip. I wish my dad had cultivated something like that.  In retrospect on my post re Ship's above  it was the lack of the feeling of belonging that probably made the visits not memorable.  And veering once again away from diners - I think of the donut shops that also have the regular crowd (men) every morning over coffee solving world problems + donuts.  There is one on the Pacific Coast Highway where if a guy does not show up they text to make sure he is still kickin. An attractive female friend used to walk past with her pup every morning and sit for a bit - kinda made their day. Outdoor seating.

 

Here there is a coffee shop in the same building* as the post office, not far from the library.  I have never been inside.  No women, always the same men.  Old men.  As far as I know the coffee shop gets by without waitresses.

 

 

*a converted house.  Keep in mind the population is about the same as fictional Centerville in The Dead Don't Die.

 

There was a diner out by the highway, but that is another town, and the dinner is now a bank.  I broke a tooth on their salad once.

 

If I had a car I think it would be fun to drive up to the Catskills and locate that dinner from the movie.  I just wouldn't stay at the motel.

 

[weinoo]

A coffee shop is not a diner.

 

Waffle House is not a diner.

 

Howard Johnson's was not a diner. Nor is Denny's, IHOP, et al.

 

This is a diner, in the city where diners were made industrially, by the Worcester Lunch Car Company, in Worcester, Mass. It's the Boulevard Diner. 

 

 

 

This is The Miss Worcester Diner...

 

 

Worcester's Historic Diners.  The Lunch Wagon Kings.

 

 

The Taghkanic Parkway was an early north-south route in New York state, east of the Hudson River. At one time, there were 4 diners along the route, for hungry travelers. There are still two; the one I've eaten at a couple of times is called the West Taghkanic Diner, taken over by a real chef and serving quite gussied up "diner food." It's a perfect example of how diners grew to be much larger than the original railroad dining car style diners...

 

 

Here's a nice lunch Significant Eater and I shared at the West Taghkanic...

 

 

 More about diners along the Taghkanic...https://www.roadsidefans.com/features/taconic-parkway-new-yorks-diner-drive

 

When I was a kid, our crew would go to one of two diners:  The Franklin Diner in Franklin Square, no longer in existence, and the extant Lantern Diner, on Hempstead Tpke. in West Hempstead.  Our waitress, Linda, could carry more plates on her arms than anyone in existence. Then we ran into her one night at Roosevelt Raceway, and knew she was a kindred spirit.

 

P.S.  The west coast has nothing to do with real diners. 

 

 

[weinoo]

1 minute ago, weinoo said:

P.S.  The west coast has nothing to do with real diners. 

 

 

And believe me, I loved the Fog City Diner, ate there many times in its early life. It was great.

[liuzhou]

Would you consider the setting of the Pulp Fiction Ringo and Honey Bunny robbery scene to be a diner?

[weinoo]

25 minutes ago, liuzhou said:

Would you consider the setting of the Pulp Fiction Ringo and Honey Bunny robbery scene to be a diner?

 

Nah - too fancy to be a diner...

 

       

[Eatmywords]

1 minute ago, weinoo said:

 

Nah - too fancy to be a diner...

 

       

 

I was thinking not fancy but too chain like.

 

It's the Taconic prkwy now.  (Taghkannic was obviously too challenging)

 

I think I worked with Linda.  Petit monde.

 

😁

[weinoo]

39 minutes ago, Eatmywords said:

I think I worked with Linda.  Petit monde.

 

Those diner waitresses were one of a kind!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

3 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

And believe me, I loved the Fog City Diner, ate there many times in its early life. It was great.

 

Totally agree.   FCD was a great little restaurant but a diner in name only.   It is still quite viable but not the star it was under creator Cindy Pawlcyn.