by Randy Garbin

To most people, the picture here seems to show a rather large but simple wooden box -- maybe a jumbo-sized packing crate. However, to the diner expert, both actual and self-proclaimed, this photo taken yesterday actually reveals an extremely valuable artifact suffering inexcusable neglect.

We last reported on the condition of this structure almost two years ago when we found it outside the American Diner Museum's storage warehouse in Fall River, Mass. Now, it sits outside the new "private" Museum office in Lincoln, Rhode Island. As the image shows, the diner still languishes unprotected from the elements and clearly shows signs of interior water damage.

This image clearly shows some of the water damage sustained by the 101 since the Museum removed its tarp. You are looking up at the diner's unfinished ceiling. Click on photo for a larger image.
The museum now uses this important artifact as a kind of storage shed. The picture shows used restaurant equipment, presumably from another diner. Given the Museum's record in this matter, it's unlikely any of these items are catalogued. Also, everything depicted is unsecured and freely accessible. Click on photo for a larger image.

Worcester Deluxe 101 was a product of a failed attempt to continue diner building in Worcester, Mass. after the demise of the Worcester Lunch Car Company in 1961. Built on spec, the new company started construction with the hopes that a buyer would step forth and pay for its completion. That buyer never came, leaving the diner in limbo, but in dry storage for 36 years at the Van Slett Sign company in Worcester.

When contracted to salvage the remains of the company, Ed LeTourneau of LeTourneau Waste Removal agreed to "donate" the diner to the diner museum in 1999. Initially, it stood relatively protected outside the museum's storage facility in Fall River covered with a tarp. However, less than a year later, the tarp disappeared, and the 101, until this time in pristine condition, began its decay.

Does it really need to be stated that an entity chartered to preserve diners has obviously abrogated its responsibility in this regard? And where is the outrage of the Museum's membership at the failure of its board to properly oversee the activities of its Executive Director? We understand that Zilka proposes to find a buyer for this structure who will pay for its completion. This idea didn't fly 40 years ago, so why would it work now? Given the difficulty finding buyers for small diners in good condition, we would think it unlikely at best to find a responsible party to take on this project.

And who will complete the construction? Zilka? Given his failure to complete restoration projects at the Route 66 in East Hampton, Connecticut, the State Line Diner in Foster, Rhode Island, the Center Diner in Peekskill, New York, the Rosebud Diner in Somerville, Mass., and others, any prospective buyer had better think long and hard before entering into such a relationship.

When is the board of this museum going to finally wake up and realize that they have a serious problem on its hands, and that it starts with the letter Z? For all of the hubris proclaiming the salvation of "more than a dozen diners," a contestable claim to be sure, Mr. Zilka has instead worked overtime besmirching the name and reputation of the very entity he founded within the industry he plans to commemorate.

Further, he has made himself a pariah in this particular field of preservation, exhibiting a stupifying inability to foster working relationships with any of his peers. We predict a major embarrassment in the coming months for both this self-proclaimed diner expert and his Museum as a result.