Diners #71-75

  Lousy weather calls for dreams of diners.  But first some news.  The Hometown Diner from Ottawa, Ohio is moving to Rindge, New Hampshire.  This Silk City diner started out as the Silver Diner in Kentucky and was bought by Steve Harwin who fixed it up.  I was able to visit the diner while in Ottawa, Ohio, which is in the northwest quadrant of Ohio.  The diner had a mediocre location, being north of downtown in a corner of a mid century shopping plaza.  Good food and a good experience would negate any location issues.  The food was not bad when I was there, but I think the owner, who was living part time, if not most of the time, in Germany, wanted to be in Germany all of the time.  Ottawa is also not a large place, so I am sure they did not have a large customer base either.  Their population according to google is 4,438.
   In "celebration" of the moving of this diner, I will be posting photos of diners that have moved recently or will be moving shortly. 
 

  Here is the Hometown Diner, which by the time most people read this, will be in Rindge, New Hampshire.  But when this photo was taken, it was in Ottawa, Ohio.  You can barely see that the back building has a little Silk City style to it, but otherwise, it is plain.  I am not a fan of the foyer. It is too boxy and takes away from the curvy charm of this Silk City diner.  The interior has its original tones of brown tile and is simple but clean.  It will be sad to see this go, but getting to Ottawa was not an easy task without losing quite a bit of time on my travels.  Sometimes that is part of the purpose of traveling, and sometimes you just want to get to your destination, as a vacation is only so long.

Keeping in Ohio and with a Silk City theme is Kim's Classic Diner in Sabina, Ohio.  Another small town.  This one is west of dowtown, at least on a US highway.  I have eaten here only once and I think I have been through town three other times, when the diner has been closed.  The internet seems to say the food was not all that good, and Sabina just does not seem like a diner town.   This diner started out near Port Jervis, New york on US Rt 6, was bought by Al Sloan and moved to Alpena, Michigan before it went to Ohio.  I met the original owners and they seemed nice and interested in diners, but a business takes so much more than that.

Here is a two for!  The Pumpjack Diners located in Wichita Falls, Texas.  Both of these diners were remodeled by Steve Harwin.  This one was the former Brandywine Diner of Wilmington, Delaware.  Mountain View #368 from 1954 according to Steve Harwin.  Steve talks about the nightmare in rescuing and restoring the diner.  He stated that when the owner closed down the diner, he was living there and that many animals also lived inside the diner.  The other diner seen below is a 1955 O'Mahony diner from Dayton, 

Ohio.  In Dayton, it was known as the Gatehouse

Diner.  This was a chain of two diners, one being a Sterling diner.
  When I visited these diner in Wichita Falls, they were closed, and there is no word on if they will reopen.  The city is a good size, but the location is quite odd, being maybe 100 feet from an above round expressway over the city streets.  Not terribly difficult to get to, but not easy on and off, the diner really sits in a residential neighborhood just outside of the downtown area.

 A Valentine diner to end this trip out west to closed diners that have recently been moved.  Chickasha, Oklahoma is home to a roadside gem called the Muscle Car Ranch, owned by Curtis Hart.  Curtis has collected a ton of roadside signs from all our the lower mid-west and assembled them at his RV park.   Among his collection are two Valentine diners.  This one, Brees Diner spent most of its days in Chickasha.  Curtis found it in storage in a nearby town and brought it back to his ranch.  It is mostly original on the inside.

Disclaimer for all photos posted here: ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED. These are copyrighted photos, and I own that copyright. My photos may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way, in any format, in any media without my written permission. Any other use will constitute an agreement to pay me (Michael Engle) $50.00 (US) per day/per image, plus a $200.00 (US) administrative fee per photo, plus any other money generated through the use of my images. I will bill you for this amount when I find my photos being used without my written permission. When you are billed, you will also be instructed to immediately return all physical image copies, delete all digital images, and delete all links to my photos. Even after you have returned and deleted the images, you must still pay me for the previous unauthorized use. Any bills unpaid after 60 days will be referred to a collection agency. (thank you to Bob Marville)

Diners #66-70

Some historical diner stuff, which I will post about on the blog, but otherwise not a lot of diner news.  Had a nice mother's day dinner at the Country View Diner in Brunswick/Troy, New York.
  In Rhode Island, Poirier's Diner will reopen.  Not sure what the name will be, if they will keep the Poirier's name. Will find out soon.  The diner was moved to a different location in Providence and rehabbed.  If not sooner, I do plan to visit the diner on Saturday October 19.

  In honor of this, I will start with a diner in Rhode Island.  he State Line diner is on US Rt 6 just over the border from Connecticut.  I passed the diner a few times, but have only been inside twice.  The diner is a narrow model Worcester.  There is not a row of booths along the windows like your typical Worcester, but this one only has booths at one end of the diner.   This is the layout that Ward & Dickinson used for their diners.  The counter dominates the interior, and the interior is very original.  The absolute only negative in the entryway, otherwise this is a nice diner to see!

  The East Shore Diner in Harrisburg, a 1953 O'Mahony features a L shaped interior.  From my photo, you can see the two pieces that came together to form the East Shore Diner.   I have only passed this diner twice and have eaten here once.  The interior is nicely kept.  According to Diners of Pennsylvania, the diner is only open until 3 pm as the area's business dies down in the evening.  The diner sits on a former bypass of Harrisburg that has more of an industrial flavor.  It is a shame there are not many more of these double unit O'Mahony diners in such nice shape.

The Silver Spartan Diner sits on the Campus of Case Western University just east of downtown Cleveland in Ohio.  The Diner Mite built diner is open to the public, but seems to cater more to college students than to the outside public.  Urbanspoon dot com reported that Denny's has taken over  the location and google maps can not find the diner, so I do not know if the diner is gone or being used by Denny's.  You can not tell from this photo, but the diner is difficult to photograph due to its location.  Being a Diner Mite, there is not much interesting to the diner, from an architectural standpoint.

 Arthur's Paradise Diner in Lowell, Massachusetts is a Worcester diner.  I have been by this diner two or three times, but have never been inside.  The diner seems like it is only open on the weekdays.  The diner sits in a former mill area, where many of the mills have been re-purposed as either apartments or shops.  hopefully sometime in the near future I can partake in a meal at the Paradise.  although I have photographed all the diners in Lowell, I have only eaten in one of them.  Note the stained glass windows in the top sash, a Worcester tradition for many of their diners.

Unfortunately, by the time I got to this Mountain View in Front Royal, Virginia, it was a car dealership.  They did allow me to go inside and look at the diner. The terrazzo is original, so if someone wanted to, they could bring this diner back to life.  Front Royal is the northern entryway to Skyline Drive, the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.  It is a real shame this diner doesn't serve people in town anymore, as this is a neat old time town.  From the placement of the down drain, it looks like this was a two piece diner, which made it easier to be brought down to the factory in New Jersey.

Disclaimer for all photos posted here: ALL RIGHTS ARE RESERVED. These are copyrighted photos, and I own that copyright. My photos may not be copied, downloaded, or used in any way, in any format, in any media without my written permission. Any other use will constitute an agreement to pay me (Michael Engle) $50.00 (US) per day/per image, plus a $200.00 (US) administrative fee per photo, plus any other money generated through the use of my images. I will bill you for this amount when I find my photos being used without my written permission. When you are billed, you will also be instructed to immediately return all physical image copies, delete all digital images, and delete all links to my photos. Even after you have returned and deleted the images, you must still pay me for the previous unauthorized use. Any bills unpaid after 60 days will be referred to a collection agency. (thank you to Bob Marville)