My New Series The Great American 1950s Diner By Paul Vetrano / Critic I dont care where in the US grew up..at some point in your hungry life, you had breakfast , lunch, or dinner at a classic American diner. I have personally eaten in many and supplied alot of them furniture when i was in the business. So, Where did these shiny metal, culinary roadside establishments come from? Dont Know? Ok, I will Tell you..how they began.What is a diner? A true diner is a prefabricated structure built at an assembly site and transported to a permanent location for installation to serve prepared food. Websters Dictionary defines a diner as a restaurant in the shape of a railroad car. The word diner is a derivative of dining car and diner designs reflected the styling that manufacturers borrowed from railroad dining cars. A diner is usually outfitted with a counter, stools and a food preparation or service area along the back wall. Decommissioned railroad passenger cars and trolleys were often converted into diners by those who could not afford to purchase a new diner. How Diners began? The origins of the diner can be traced to Walter Scott, a part-time pressman and type compositor in Providence, Rhode Island. Around 1858 when Scott was 17 years old he supplemented his income by selling sandwiches and coffee from a basket to newspaper night workers and patrons of mens club rooms. By 1872 business became so lucrative that Scott quit his printing work and began to sell food at night from a horse-drawn covered express wagon parked outside the Providence Journal newspaper office. In doing so, Walter Scott unknowingly inspired the birth of what would become one of Americas most recognized icons -- the diner. Over the decades The success of the early converted wagons inspired a few individuals to form companies and manufacture lunch wagons for sale. These improved wagons allowed customers to stand inside, protected from inclement weather or sit on stools at counters. Night lunch wagons or Nite Owls began to appear in many New England towns and cities during the late 1800s. Some models were elaborate and were fitted with stained and etched glass windows, intricately painted murals and fancy woodwork. The lunch wagons became very popular because workers and pedestrians could purchase inexpensive meals during the day but especially at night when most restaurants closed by 8:00 pm. Because of the attraction to the lucrative trade, lunch wagon vendors became so abundant on the streets that many towns and cities passed ordinaces to restrict hours of operation. This prompted some owners to circumvent the law by positioning their wagons on semi-permanent locations . At the same time that lunch wagons were becoming popular, obsolete horse drawn streetcars were being replaced by electrified models. Many of the displaced cars were purchased and converted into food venues for a fraction of the cost of a new dining car. Operating on meager budgets, most owners were more concerned with making a living than maintaining their car. Dining cars took on the reputation of the greasy spoon and gathering places for the unsavory elements of the community. The builders constructed cars with innovations such as indoor bathrooms, tables, longer length dimensions and repositioned counters to accommodate a larger food selection. Dining cars of the 1920s, although manufactured by different companies, were similar in style. The cars were an evolved version of the earlier lunch wagon. A few of the companies offered credit and financing in conjunction with fully equipped dining cars. The incorporation of the railroad car look and use of the word diner were efforts by manufacturers to change the image of the dilapidated dining cars and night lunches. The design of dining cars had remained relatively unchanged until the streamline moderne style appeared in the 1930s. Modern materials were fabricated into streamline forms to symbolize speed and mobility. Streamline design identified with the new and futuristic modes of transportation and the efficiency of the machine age. After World War II, the demand for diners increased dramatically. Servicemen eligible for G.I. loans were returning from the War and the economy was shifting back to non-military production. Americans were eager to spend money and make up for the years that they had to do without. In 1948, a dozen diner manufacturers were competing for part of the economic pie. Technological innovations developed before and during the war were shifted to the commercial production of new materials such as Formica, Naugahyde and terrazzo floors. As the population shifted from the cities to the suburbs the look of diners began to change. All stainless steel exteriors and large windows were new stylistic features incorporated into designs as a way to attract passing motorists. New developments in the mechanical systems (air conditioning, ventilation, and lighting) of diners in the 1950s liberated design from form follows function. The arrival of the Space Age reflected an obsession with rocket and jet transport, emphasizing upward and outward mobility. Space was the new frontier and it was reflected in the design of diners in the mid to late 1950s.
Posted on: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 18:20:47 +0000
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