The closing of Al Mac's Diner in Fall River, Massachusetts seems to have caused quite the disturbance in The Force among the diner preservation community. In the hands of the Gauthier family for the past 23 years, Norman Gauthier blamed "the economy" for hanging up the spatula. He went on to also blame increased licensing fees and other higher costs that he could not apparently pass on to his customers.
I could never call myself a regular at Al Mac's. Like many people, the magnificent neon sign drew me like a moth several times over the past two decades, but I can't say that I remember much about what I ate. If anything, I remember the giant coffee cups and I remember the cigarette smoke, which cleared away when the entire commonwealth imposed a ban it. And though I can't say I had much of a professional relationship with the owners during Roadside's print history, I think most of us considered the diner in good hands and well-loved enough by its community to ensure its future. The story that the city rallied around the diner when developers wanted to clear it for a new shopping plaza is the stuff of legend.
I spend a lot of time thinking about why these diners close — even one as "justly famous" as Al Mac's. Most of the time, I recall the words of Bubba Galanis, owner of the Agawam Diner in Rowley, Mass. "The problem can usually be found on the plate." In other words, if you don't serve good food, you will fail. This could very well explain the demise of Al Mac's.
I wouldn't accept Yelp or any online user review website as gospel in such matters, but the Yelp reviews garnered only a three-star rating. I read similar sentiments at TripAdvisor.com and UrbanSpoon.com. Diner people, I find, will gloss over a lot of faults in a place like this, but we are not exactly legion. A diner, like any restaurant, depends upon the regular business of a cross section of the market. Most people with any real money to spend demand something that they can't or won't make themselves, served in a clean atmosphere by people who take pride in their work. Does this describe Al Mac's over the past five years?
Make no mistake: Running a diner is extremely hard work. I sympathize with the Gauthiers and anyone else who dons the apron in this business. Twenty-three years is a damn good run, especially in a declining mill town like Fall River. When Al MacDermott opened his first diner, the city hummed day and night with industry. Since this version of Al Mac's, a 1952 DeRaffele, came to town, Fall River had already stepped on the slippery slope to decline. Today, the USS Massachusetts, outlet stores, and the Lizzie Borden bed and breakfast keep it tenuously clinging to the map.
In such an environment, continued growth means either moving out or innovating, and the Gauthiers felt they could do neither. I love diner food as much as the next guy, but for many of my generation, it has increasingly become a special treat and not the norm. Only someone who works like a steelworker can down plates of meat and mashed potatoes, stuffing, huge egg dishes, and all that cheese, cream and sugar on a regular basis. Most work done these days is not so physical, and we all need to watch what we eat. Did Al Mac's offer fresh-made, healthy alternatives?
Even if it did stick to the classic comfort food program, did the chefs build value into that meat loaf that might have justified an increase in price? People have all kinds of theories as to why General Motors nearly crashed and burned, but at the end of the day, they forgot how to build a car that people wanted to buy at any price.
The media will soon light up with stories of this diner's demise. Did the Gauthier's attempt to make their diner newsworthy before this happened? I can tell you that they never once called Roadside to announce anything, and unless Ted Kennedy had hit the campaign trail, I never saw them in the papers or on any national top-10 lists. I saw them in plenty of books (including my own) that usually featured that sign. While neon may look great, it tastes pretty awful.
In other words, did Al Mac's coast to this stop? I feel for the Gauthier's and for all of the fans and regular customers of Al Mac's, but if you don't change with the times, the times will certainly end up changing you.
Holy crap, I can't believe that Al Mac's closed. It seemed like the kind of place that would be there forever, at least based on the beauty of the diner and it's sign. I only ate there a couple of times, most recently this past April when I took a photographic diner drive through RI and Massachusetts. I had dinner at The Shawmut, which was delicious and freshly-made. I stopped at Al Mac's for dessert, and a couple of your suggestions about why they might have closed struck me while I was there. First, the place was kind of dirty, and I'm not usually that sensitive to that. Second, the dessert offerings were primarily lackluster big box store-bought cakes. I ultimately chose the only fresh dessert, the grape nut pudding (which was very good). A larger variety of really good, freshly-made offerings would have been more appealing. After experiencing the high level of preservation at the Shawmut, Al Mac's was disappointing inside: the booths werent original, and the replacement formica on the counters was a garish shade of green and orange. Ultimately, I felt that the diner had a very pretty face, but there wasn't much in terms of personality or quality to back it up. I'm still sorry to see them close, and I hope somebody else might take the place over and really do it justice. I'd hate to think that sign might be dark for good.
I'am saddened to hear Al Macs closed. I'm sure ol' Al McDermott is shaking his head from up high. Middletown R.I.'s Tommy's Diner spent the 1st 13 years of its life on that property before it was moved to Rhode Island. It is now in Oakley Utah as the Road Island Diner.
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