The reason I haven't been obsessively blogging for the past chunk of hours is because I was working on my research paper on diners, which I am DAMN proud of. I will post it here, for any of you who care at all. Probably noone, but maybe it can help some poor soul someday googling for some bullshit to fill their paper on diners with...maybe not. I'm proud of it, so here it is, whether you care or not!
The first diner appeared in Providence, Rhode Island in 1872, spawning a new era of dining that would revolutionize luncheons forever. Although the span of influence of these portable restaurants did not reach much farther than northeastern United States for many years after the first diner, there were a few sparsely placed across the American landscape. Although the first recorded diner was not opened in Worcester, “many people who have studied diners believe they evolved from the night lunch carts that were manufactured in Worcester between 1890 and 1908 by T. H. Buckley” (WHM, 2009). Providence may have stolen the diner glory from Worcester, but the city is still largely attested for their birth and growth. Today, Worcester is one of the few cities to still have diners in abundance—doing its part in keeping the diner alive. However, during the time of its creation, the “’floating’ restaurants were so popular that in Providence, for example, nearly fifty were roaming the streets by 1912” (Gutman, 1975), a case which was much the same in Worcester during the same time period.
Walter Scott was the owner of the first diner opened in Providence, and he endeavored to revolutionize the restaurant world. In Scott’s time, every restaurant in town closed at 8 P.M., and he wanted to change that. Scott “load[ed] a covered express wagon with food and park[ed] it outside the Providence Journal. And there he stayed, every night from dusk until two in the morning, for the next forty five years, selling sandwiches and boiled eggs to the compositors for a nickel, and sliced chicken to the ‘dude trade’ for thirty cents” (Josephy, 1977). Scott’s portable cart of food fed many factory workers throughout the night, and the idea spread like wildfire. An out flux of imitators soon spread throughout the East, who soon set up “elaborate wagons with kitchens and counters, whose stained-glass windows were etched with portraits of the Presidents.” And so began the long lifespan of the diner, with one man’s wagon full of food.
In 1897 diners became more grounded; they were no longer on wheels, and the abandoned old carts were sold for as little as 10 dollars. Diners were a “solution to the hot-dog-stand problem” (Rhoads, 1986); in the 1920’s, hot dog stands had become prevalent in cities and towns, but “communities whose reputations as desirable homes for the well-to-do rested largely on the tidy homogeneity of their buildings in the accepted historical styles came to fear the intrusion of the messy and smelly hot-dog stand and gasoline station.” Hot dog stands were spreading, and cities that did not want their reputations tarnished by these lowly forms of cutlery had to move fast to staunch their spread. Diners became the solution to the hot-dog-stand problem, although the diner today does not resemble the very first diners completely. Early diners aimed more towards resembling a modest suburban house that had three styles: Spanish, Norman, and the colonial which looked much like a Cape Cod cottage. Within the basic scheme of the roadside diner, there was much room for variety, which soon lead to the highway and car design of diners that is more prevalent today.
During this period, diners were “rough, seamy places, and they gave the fledgling industry a bad name—respectable people did not frequent diners” (Josephy, 1977). A man named Patrick Tierney wanted to change the route of the diner from downhill to upscale, and he succeeded. Tierney began manufacturing thirty foot long restaurants ten and a half feet wide, and “by 1917—when Scott retired, grumbling that new and overweening customers were demanding a slice of onion with their egg sandwiches—Pop Tierney was turning out a diner a day” (Josephy, 1977). A 30 foot long and 10 ½ feet wide standard Car from Tierney’s factory cost $7,500 in 1924. It seated fifteen, and each additional stool required a proportionate enlargement of the Car and cost $250 (Gutman, 1975). Tierney’s business of manufacturing diners changed the industry, and by the 1920’s diners had gone from lowly places to eat, to reputable establishments. However, the transformation of the diner was just beginning.
Diners have undergone many transformations since Scott’s first wagon-drawn invention that started the diner craze. Next came Tierney’s model of the diner, with barrel roofs and a wooden frame. By the late 1920’s, stainless steel replaced the wood, and even sooner after that railroads introduced streamlining, and the “diners followed suit. This sort of ingenuous imitation gave rise to the persistent legend that diners were reconditioned railroad cars” (Josephy, 1977). The diners’ final transformation took place after World War II, at first merely growing larger, but soon diners were made of concrete and surrounded by parking lots instead of being made of steel and being placed on street corners. This seems to have been the move that began the decline of diners, for diners lost their authenticity, which ended up being the main draw. Ever since the early 1900’s, the golden age of diners, they have been in rapid decline, and Worcester is one of the few cities with a wealth of them left.
By the late 1920’s, the Tierney’s had run their business into the ground, and the position of main distributor of diner cars the northeast was soon snatched up by the Jerry O’Mahoney Company of New Jersey. O’Mahoney offered a plan of financing his cars so that people could pay a small sum as a down payment, and pay the rest off gradually. This made for a good deal for both sides involved; O’Mahoney sold many more cars than he initially would have because of their exorbitant cost to a middle class entrepreneur looking to open a diner. If O’Mahoney had charged full price for his diners up front the numbers of diners he sold would have been significantly less. O’Mahoney’s customers were able to be assured of the quality of the product before even having to finish paying off the bill for it. O’Mahoney even claimed after 13 years of business that not one of his diners ever failed.
Both O’Mahoney and Tierney offered similar deals for financing, and they even had a hand in picking the location of the diner. They offered training classes to those interested in opening a diner, teaching them the tricks of the trade. Tierney and O’Mahoney both published short magazines on educating the diner owner’s and the public on the advantages of Dining Cars, with tips on running a diner and information about buying one. These manuals were sent out for free, and were their own form of advertisement. Being knowledgeable businessmen, they both knew the importance of their diners succeeding, to show others of their prosperity and bring in even more sales. Although these classes showing how to run a diner seem at first glance like an added courtesy, it is actual a strategic move on their part; if their diners failed, their business failed.
From the outset of dining cars, they aimed to cater to entire families. Their food was fashioned to “be just the sort that mother would cook and serve at home,” and they still aim for this goal today. Diners strove to be the place where families dined, and they embodied this in every way: from the nice suburban-looking exterior, to the quaint and cozy New England aura they gave off, and finally down to the good old American food that they served, diners were the place for families to eat, and they remained a main staple in a New England families diet for many decades. Diners attracted people of all types, not just families; motorists were also frequenters of the roadside eateries and with these two main contributors to the diners’ legacy, they have endured through the years.
Worcester was one of the first cities to grapple onto the new idea of diners, and they hopped on the bandwagon early in the 20th century. Charles Palmer of Worcester soon followed Scott’s lead and on September 2, 1891, Massachusetts received patents on two of his wagons, ‘The Night Owl Lunches.’ His carts were “large enough for a customer to enter” (Gutman, 1975). Thomas Buckley, who was known as the “Lunch Wagon King,” built the first noteworthy cart. “His factory in Worcester had 80 craftsmen turning out seven wagons a month. Buckley widened the wagon from 6 to 10 feet, allowing more comfort for both customer and operator. He built a substantial counter, comfortable stools, and installed a bright nickel coffee urn” (Gutman, 1975). Although Providence may have come up with the original design; Worcester was where the birth of the true diner was. Instead of a portable wagon, a portable restaurant; Buckley’s expansion on the original cart more resembles the true diner that is still in use today.
The Worcester Lunch Car Company operated from 1906 to 1961, and was one of only 10 other companies in the United States that built diners; its location in Worcester paved the way for the trend by producing hundreds of diner cars in the early 1900s, many of which still operate as restaurants today. The Worcester Lunch Car Company “built their counters so that the marble top sloped slightly back to the rear of the Car. If something were spilled, it would flow backwards, away from the patron, and the counterman could easily wipe it up” (Gutman, 75). Miss Worcester on Southbridge Street is one of the most famous of Worcester’s diners, serving its first hungry customer their first meal in 1948, and since then has retained the classic car type diner, with a long counter along the length of the car, with stools and booths. Miss Worcester is noted for the Crunchy French Toast, which is bread dipped in Honey Bunches of Oates cereal and deep fried. The Miss Worcester Diner “is scheduled to have its very own episode in a TLC series about exclusive dining destinations. The historic diner was picked from hundreds across the country, according to Ms. Kniskern” (Dayal, 2010). Kim A. Kniskern is a cook and owner of this ideal diner, and puts her love and care into every batch of home fries. Miss Worcester “is a quintessential American diner, where comfort food comes in big portions for small prices, where home fries and lively conversation are never in short supply.” The Miss Worcester car was Car Number 812 of the Worcester Lunch Car Company, “which used to sit on Southbridge Street and build hundreds of diner cars like the Miss Worcester.”
Miss Worcester has been featured on television seven times, with this appearance on TLC being the eighth. What owner Kniskern enjoys the most about owning such a historical diner is the diversity: “I love the diversity,” she said. “In one day, I can have Hell's Angels sitting at the counter with police officers and politicians … city workers, senior citizens, a lot of college students. I love socializing and cooking and feeding people. I love my job.” Kim Kniskern's daughter, Erikka Duval, also works at the diner and enjoys it immensely. With such a willing taker in her daughter to inherit the diner when Kniskern is unable to run it any longer, it is clear that Miss Worcester is a diner that will be around for many more decades. With such strong historical roots, even if Kniskern was to sell it, it would be sure to sell quickly, and for a good sum. Diner owners are not in the business to get rich, but for the atmosphere of the diner, and the hope in keeping a dying institute alive. Miss Worcester contends with the many who say that the diner industry is quickly reaching its end; Miss Worcester, Kim Kniskern and Erikka Duval are all willing to prove this belief wrong, and it seems as if they just might.
Shrewsbury Street is the hot spot for diners in Worcester, with three notable diners all within a stone’s throw of each other: The Parkway, the Boulevard and Mac’s. The Parkway has been remodeled on the outside, because it was beginning to look run down and uninviting, but it still retains the same interior as it did from the day of its opening. The Parkway originally only operated at night, serving dinner, however now it is open for breakfast and lunch. It is most well known for its lasagna, which probably began because Shrewsbury was a mainly Italian neighborhood when The Parkway first opened, and the Italian roots still shine through in the diners on this street. The Boulevard is opened 24 hours a day, and claims that the wee hours of the morning are its peak hours. “The diner has been run by the George family for two generations. Jimmy George took over ownership from his father Ringo. The Boulevard, built in 1936 and on the National Register of Historic Places, is perhaps the finest example of a Worcester Lunch Car Company Diner” (Giorgio, 2008). Mac’s Diner is a family owned diner that has ever-changing lunch specials that keep regulars and newbie’s alike coming. The Kenmore Diner is located under a highway overpass, and it is known best for its wonderful breakfast selection. Besides breakfast, Kenmore’s menu is packed with traditional diner food. The Corner Lunch is known for its Apple Danish French Toast; many diners have a signature dish, that keep people coming back again and again.
As the diner craze began to face in the 1950’s, companies began scrambling for ways to renew the look of the burnt out steel covered vessel that’s attraction to customers seemed to be declining at a rapid rate. Years earlier the railroad image had seemed to lose its charm, so diner distributors had to come up with a new way to sell their diners; if they did not do something to freshen up the image of the diner, their companies would go out of business. Manufacturing companies went to great lengths to achieve this goal, first by enlarging the windows to draw customers in, which ended up being futile. Companies then tried to revert back to the past by drawing families back into the diner, and instead of building the Cars out of steel they built them with wood, brick and stone. Designers of these Cars “turned toward historical revival styles: Tudor, Arabesque, French Provincial, Mediterranean, in addition to Early American” (Gutman, 1975) when looking for inspiration for new designs for diners.
Diners have come a long way from their modest beginnings at a price of $7,500; today diners are “colossal structures. They generally take three months to build, and their average price tag runs between $100,000 and $500,000” (Gutman). Many companies began to adopt the American belief that bigger is better in their manufacturing of diners, and that has followed through until today with these extravagant creations, at least in comparison with the first portable wagon that was the first recorded diner. However, for as long as the Worcester Lunch Car Company was making diners, they were as small as the first cars made in the late 19th century. Until as late as 1947 the diners produced in Worcester were still transported on the back of a truck, while other companies were requiring entire trains for transportation of their diners.
Gutman wrote another article on diners that focused more on their growth in Worcester instead of the growth of the industry in general. “The great Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan, had the foresight in 1984 to acquire Lamy's, and a million visitors a year walk through this thirty-nine-seat classic” (Gutman, 1993). This diner that originated in Worcester is described in great detail, exactly how it would have been set up during its time:
We are looking down the polished marble counter toward the roost of the short-order cook in Lamy's, a 1946 Worcester Lunch Car. The tools of his trade are all here: the No. 2 Welsbach broiler-griddle; the custom-made, gas-fired, three-burner short-order plate; the stainless steel No. 10 Pitco Frialator with twin baskets; the chrome-topped Hamilton Beach milk-shake mixer; the six-quart Wyott cream dispenser; and the three-gallon coffee urn with glass liner. Set into the sunburst stainless steel backbar panels, dual exhaust fans stand ready to suck out grease and smoke at the flick of a switch. With its mahogany trim, Formica ceiling, milk-glass transom windows, ceramic-tile walls and floor, and chrome stools, Lamy's represents the zenith of diner design during the diner's golden age.
Although diners may no longer represent this idyllic scene, they have adopted new strategies to survive in current times, and although the time of the diner is in decline, it is not over. The story of the diner has many parallels to the story of Worcester itself: both started off small, had a time of booming economy and commerce, and are now in slow decline. However, both Worcester and the diner have much room for improvement, and the ability to rise up to their once great height. With renovations, the diner can adapt itself to current times, and resurge itself, becoming the sought after hot meal it once was. Worcester also needs to make changes to be able to become the economic center it once was. Diners started out in Providence and Worcester mainly, and have spread across the United States, into Canada, and even to Europe. For an idea with such strong roots in Worcester to have been such a world-wide success, it is clear that Worcester is capable of great things, in the past, and in the future.
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