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In what reality is a plain white stucco box more attractive than finely-crafted, streamlined stainless steel?
Roadside first published more than twenty years ago. The Lou-Roc award debuted about two years later. The grapevine revealed to me a few years after that the term transformed into a verb — as in, "I won't lou-roc my diner."
The Deepwater Diner as it appeared in 1997.
All along the way, this publication and many others have spread the good word that diners offer both good food and a dynamic restaurant concept for entrepreneurs. People like diners. Actually, they love them. They feel good just to see them around.

Closed since 2001, Skee's Diner has fallen victim to time, weather, greed, and now idiocy. Slated to be "restored" and moved to a parking lot nearby, the 90-year-old diner has gone from a minor to a seriously major restoration project thanks to stupid neglect.
It would take four guys and a six-wheeler flatbed and about six hours to lift and cart away this rare antique structure, but instead its owner Joanne Ryan goes about seeking to raise a half-million dollars to realize her ill-conceived idea to plant this diner in a remote parking lot to serve as a visitor information dispensary.
Ms. Ryan, move this diner NOW! There is no excuse for this travesty.
My first exploration of Philadelphia occurred well over twenty years ago, and the Broad Street Diner was one of the first diners I personally documented. However, for whatever reason, it became just last week the last one I finally visited. Sadly, I got in there after Michael Petrogiannis completed his renovations to the diner.
Mainstream America might appreciate all the modern touches, but I know from peering inside during the three years it remained shuttered that this mid-1960s Fodero still had most of its original features. "Could be worse, I suppose" is the new mantra of those such as myself who fully appreciate diners as perfect food service structures. A good cleaning would have been enough, in my estimation, but so be it.
Petrogiannis also owns the Mayfair, Melrose, Country Club, Tiffany, and Warminster West diners in and around the city making him the undisputed diner king of the Delaware Valley. I can fault him for his aethetic sensibilities and his needless changes to iconic diners, but can't find much fault in the food or service, not for diners of this scale in this region.

The Paris of Appalachia, Pittsburgh in the Twenty-first Century by Brian O'NeillCarnegie-Mellon University PressPittsburgh, PA. $16.95 Back in 2001, right after... Read more

Rough Draft Roadtrip, Sixth Day North of Cave City along Route 31E, you will find plenty of pleasant scenic countryside, but... Read more
Let the record show that I, Randy Garbin, publisher of Roadside Magazine and RoadsideOnline.com, two of the finest documents of... Read more

Update: The Yankee Diner closed in the fall of 2010 and reopened in January, 2011 with new ownership. We understand... Read more
Rough Draft Roadtrip, Third day Gotta keep it short tonight. I got in late, and after two pints of McSorley's at... Read more
Kicked off its long-time location by a greedy landlord, Charlie's Diner sat on blocks for three years as owner... Read more

Franklin Davis and his wife Linda run a tight ship at their Jessup, Maryland, diner. Maintaining Frank’s Diner, a 1959... Read more

It's a rather dizzying tour of Daddypop's Tumble Inn Diner in Claremont, New Hampshire, but if you want to see... Read more

Update, July 2011: This story actually has a happy ending. In 2007, Chris Blanchard purchased the Worcester Deluxe 101 from... Read more

Arcade Restaurant in Titusville, Pennsylvania — one of several stops on our road trip from Grand Island, New York to... Read more

Nostalgia can take you back, but it can’t take you all the way back. Not in Salem, Illinois. They tore... Read more

by Sarah Rolph Tilbury House Publishers, Gardiner, MaineSoft cover, 120 pages, $20.00 In A1 Diner, Sarah Rolph compiles the best recipes from... Read more

Every Father's Day, I like to take my daughter on a train ride. This year I had the bright idea... Read more

Onion rings. Thanks to some genius, most places now serve those awful, bloated, pillow-like "beer-battered" onion rings. Everywhere from Applebee's... Read more

Rough Draft Roadtrip, Seventh Day Try as I may, I could not seem to tune in WKRP. No matter, after another... Read more