The great diner extinction

Category: Preservation

Published on Wednesday, 15 February 2012 14:50

Written by Randy Garbin

As a fan of not only diners, but also of design, quality, history, and heritage, few things crush my heart more than seeing that photo of the once-​pristine diner where its owners have seen fit to completely obliterate all those traits that made us fall in love with such places. You cannot, of course, turn back the clock, but if at any moment I wish I had Superman’s powers to reverse time, I would have moved it back a month to just before the point just before the worker applied the crowbar to the Deepwater’s façade.

In the twenty-​odd years of Lou-​Roc-​ian infamy, some have yet to get the message. Some never will, of course, but I have to think that too much of this insult to our landscape comes from simple ignorance. People just don’t know better. Perhaps we spread the message a little too well that we have no one left to do proper and affordable restoration work. When faced with the difficulties of finding the right contractor who will properly restore the diner as opposed a more expedient solution to keep the losses to a minimum, the owner walks the path of least resistance. Plus, when the contractor comes up and sells “modernization” because that’s all they know, the operator with little or no knowledge or appreciation of the diner’s inherent charms and marketing advantages hears a siren song too seductive to resist.

Of course, it doesn’t help matters that those of us who carry this torch don’t actually work in the business. Who’s going to listen to a group of whiney preservationists in numbers too small to fill a Greyhound, and who among themselves can’t even seem to get along?

Frankly, I don’t get that last part of it. I never did. My original goals for Roadside were pretty simple: Get more people to appreciate diners and get them together to speak with one voice. Sadly, some among us have chosen instead to co-​opt this effort for their personal gain, taking more from the community than they have given, and in the process caused a pointless schism that has effectively diminished our collective voice.

The insanity of Skee’s

Category: Preservation

Published on Friday, 25 November 2011 16:18

Written by Randy Garbin

Earlier this week, the Torrington Register-​Citizen posted the latest developments behind the effort to restore and save Torrington’s Skee’s Diner. As regular readers know, I’ve already posted my opinions about this project, and this story has changed none of them. Though I originally questioned Joann Ryan’s plans to for using the diner as a welcome center in a parking lot near Route 8, with the latest news, I now have to question her sanity.

The story reports that “Branford-​based contractor A. Secondino & Son, submitted a $534,000 bid for the project, or $159,000 more than the original project estimate. The increase comes due to projected costs for the possible removal of asbestos or other materials deemed hazardous.”

Aside from articles posted on our site, people who actually know how to do these things have given Ms. Ryan some sensible advice. She dismissed all of it. Anyone who knows anything about restoration will tell you that a half-​million-​dollar price tag to restore a diner comparable in size to a large back-​yard pool house would evoke riotous laughter if it otherwise wasn’t such a tragic waste of time and money. The amount of asbestos involved in this project, by the way, would fit into a standard garbage bag. The equipment you need to remove it would cost about $500.

Restoring the Roar: One simple way to give baseball fans everywhere something to cheer about

Category: Preservation

Published on Thursday, 07 July 2011 00:00

Written by Matt Simmons

This, obviously, is a website for diner lovers. But us diner lovers also tend to have a widespread appreciation for slices of Americana that hold a rich and romanticized past. Consequently, a lot of us diner lovers are also baseball lovers. This is a story for baseball lovers who can recall when some of the sport’s long-​term laughingstocks were actually among its most proud franchises. With the adoption of one simple change, baseball can save communities from languishing through endless futility from their hometown teams. And it’s not a salary cap…

Emerging from the concourse with my mother-​in-​law beside me, the exhilarating appearance of a major league baseball field beneath a bright blue sky envelops my senses. Though it’s the day before the 4^th of July, this trip to Comerica Park to cheer for the Tigers against the world champion Giants is a belated Mother’s Day present. This fledgling annual tradition included my own mother just once ~ the same year she passed away due to post-​surgical complications.

Mom was a devoted Tiger fan from her youth. In 70 years of rooting, she witnessed 7 postseason appearances and 3 world championships. Back when only 2 teams qualified for postseason play, she suffered through a 22-​year drought. As a grandmother, she languished through 12 straight losing seasons ~ including a 2–year period in which Detroit compiled a whopping 225 losses. Just 2 seasons ago, Mom basked in 146 days atop the Central division. Her Tigers led by 7 games going into the final month of the season, and were still up by 3 with only 4 left to play. When Detroit was forced to a tie-​breaking game by Minnesota, Mom watched them squander an early 3-​run advantage, surrender a 1-​run lead in the 10^th, and ultimately lose the game and a playoff berth, 6 – 5 in 12 innings.

That was the last Tiger game she ever saw.

Yet, there are currently millions of baseball fans who would find my mother’s experiences worthy of envy.

Fegely’s finds shelter in Boyertown museum

Category: Preservation

Published on Monday, 06 June 2011 15:09

Written by Randy Garbin

Sometimes doing nothing is the best option of all

Boyertown, Pennsylvania — Jim Swope stands in front of the newly restored Fegely’s Reading Diner with a palpable sense of pride and accomplishment. When he talks about getting the 1938 O’Mahony into the safe haven of the Boyertown Historic Vehicle Museum, he exudes a mixture of relief, of victory, and not a little pride. His mission to save Fegely’s began in 2003. He oversaw its move from its original location on Route 422 to a foundation laid for it in Mt. Penn and again through a hole punched out of the museum’s wall.

Jim Swope stands inside the saved and restored Fegely’s Diner

Make something of the holiday

Category: Preservation

Published on Sunday, 05 December 2010 20:00

Written by Randy Garbin

UPDATE: Longtime reader and fan Jeff Rapsis pointed me to an article in the New York Times showing how General Electric plans to get back to making things. Referring to GE’s CEO Jeffery Immelt, reporter Steve Lohr writes, “He’s most animated talking about heavyweight products that take patience and piles of cash to develop, weigh tons and last for years — next-​generation jet engines, power turbines, locomotives, nuclear plants, water-​treatment systems, medical-​imaging equipment, solar panels and windmills.” I think I’ll go out and buy some light bulbs today. Read that article here.

This holiday season once again finds our country grappling with some serious questions about its future. In a time of scarcity — of money, of time, of natural resources, of courage, and of leadership — I fret more about the scarcity of consensus. Everyone’s answer to the problems we face usually involves making the other guy shoulder the burden.

When we finally get over that hump where the excuses stop and we own up to our responsibilities, we will feel better about ourselves. Getting to “yes” will involve a painful, if not convulsive process, but we have little choice but to get there. Your kids and mine have little future otherwise.

Despite its continuing global predominance, our economy’s manufacturing sector only accounts for about eleven percent of the total gross domestic product. I have for a long time listened to economists say that we should accept if not embrace this transition to a post-​industrial service economy, one where we repair, administer, and manage. And yet, when I drive around the cities and towns of this country, I don’t have to travel far before I see a very sad place where something used to be made. If that place still has any activity at all, it now sells or services something. Towns and cities that once boasted themselves as the home of [name your product] considers itself lucky if their congressman brings back funding for a museum to tell the history of that product.