The recent transport of the Valley Diner from Waterbury, Connecticut back to its original home in Willimantic, Connecticut seems to have spurred an inordinate amount of press of late. Starting about a month ago, articles began to appear in the the Waterbury Republican-American and the Willimantic Chronicle, both which announced the sale the diner and the involvement of Daniel Zilka, again credited as the director of the “American Diner Museum.”

Regular readers of this site and our magazine know all about Mr. Zilka’s activities -- at least those we’ve so far seen fit to report. Since we posted our last online report his “museum” has laid relatively low. It is noteworthy that while the "ADM" posts regular updates concerning its diner brokering business on its website, it has not updated any news about its archives cataloging duties, or any other preservation activities or upcoming public events in over one year. Though it still has not issued a newsletter since late 2003, it did finally hold an annual meeting last September nine months late. We have posted the handouts from this meeting sent to us by an anonymous correspondent here. It does puzzle us though, what this meeting could accomplish with only three directors remaining, eight short of a quorum and four short of what the state ostensibly requires for incorporation.

Nonetheless, it seems that Mr. Zilka has reentered the diner-brokering business with a vengeance. In December, he brokered the sale of Wolff’s Diner which now sits in College Station, Texas. And just last week, the Valley Diner returned to Willimantic, an event that the Associated Press fed into their newswires.

Michael Haddad, a Willimantic restaurateur reportedly paid Mr. Zilka $10,000 to purchase this 1950 Mountain View, which the papers claimed was donated to his museum by Atlantic Holdings of Portland, Maine. We were already well-familiar with this diner and with the liabilities attached to it. When we first posted it on our For Sale listing, Atlantic asked us to price it at $65,000, explaining that they had foreclosed on the property and owed $40,000 in unpaid property taxes to the City of Waterbury. We explained to the contact at Atlantic that at this price, the diner would likely never sell. Two years later, they agreed to lower the price to $46,000.

Last year, I spoke again with John Sammarco at Atlantic, and he reiterated his company’s frustration at the situation surrounding the property, but again hoped that a buyer for the diner would ultimately cover the tax liability. Instead, it seems that Atlantic chose to give the diner away to Mr. Zilka, who continues to use the non-profit status conferred upon his bogus museum as an incentive for potential donors. Such a deal might work something like this: Depending on the income bracket of the donor, a diner valued at $60,000 would theoretically allow for a $20,000 tax deduction.

Why would someone give away a diner when they could have sold it for $10,000?

Donating your old automobile for a tax deduction is a common practice today, but there exists a relatively objective yardstick to help determine the value of that car: the Kelly Blue Book. No such yardstick is available for diners. Each requires an independent appraisal provided by an expert in the field. Mr. Zilka would indeed be such an expert, but as the recipient of the artifact, the law would preclude his involvement in that process. Any individual or company that used a Zilka-drafted appraisal for a tax deduction on a Zilka-received donation essentially commits tax fraud.

We don’t yet know if this happened with the Valley Diner, but no one has asked the obvious question: Why would someone give away a diner when they could have sold it for $10,000? We could have helped sell it for that price years ago. Reporters also failed to ask this question when the Royal Diner (Kingston, New York), the Wayne Diner (Wayne, Pennsylvania), the Mayfair Diner (Binghamton, New York), or the Community Diner (Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) ended up in Mr. Zilka’s control and then sold to third parties for sums ranging from $15,000-$25,000.

We did finally ask that question, and we will report on the answer in our next installment.

So while this question hangs out there, the AP newswire lights up again with a follow up story. It seems that neither Atlantic, Zilka, nor the rigger Mel Brandt filed for a demolition permit required to remove the diner from the site. If they had, the city collector’s office would have denied the permit since Atlantic still owes over $46,000 in unpaid property taxes. Despite this, Brandt hauled away the diner -- with a Connecticut State Police escort -- up I-84 on its way to its new home. Michael Haddad denies responsibility for the oversight, saying he purchased the diner from Mr. Zilka. With a lien on this property, it would seem that Mr. Zilka had no authority to sell the diner, nor could Atlantic Holdings give its diner away. Quite a mess, indeed, and it tells a cautionary tale that any owner or prospective purchaser of a vintage diner should heed.

In the past few months, we’ve spoken with two individuals who had considered buying diners brokered by Zilka, the Munson and the South Windham Diners respectively. Both individuals described Zilka’s sales pitch touting the popularity of diners and the relative ease of setting one up. This pitch would leave out any of the downside or pitfalls -- such as real restoration and operation costs, moving costs, regulatory hurdles, and other difficulties.

The fact remains that Zilka has little or no experience setting up a diner.  He does however, have an ever-growing list of unhappy buyers and clients.  He has no credentials in the food service and hospitality industry.  Zilka has never operated a diner himself, or does he possess any formal training in this field, or a degree in business management or administration.  Yet he continues to suggest he has these skills.  In this regard, many media outlets over the past decade have failed in their journalistic duty to independently confirm any real hard information on Zilka. The fact that someone presents himself as the "Director" of something called the "American Diner Museum" does not make it so.

It is the policy of Roadside (and our affiliated enterprise, State & Main) to paint a full picture of the work and cost involved required for getting into this business. No one would love to see those diners saved any more than we would, but it makes no sense for anyone to take on such a burden without knowing the challenges before them. When we described in detail what to expect, these individuals, one of whom already owned a restaurant, thought better of their decisions and backed off. In fact, we have dissuaded quite a few from taking this risk. In reality, few people have the ability, talent, and force of personality to make these projects work. Nothing endangers a diner more than an unqualified operator.

The city of Waterbury failed to stop the diner’s removal and so far cheated their citizens out of $46,000. Despite the fact that the papers reported on its impending move at least a month in advance, City Hall claimed it was never informed. Not exactly a vote of confidence for the Republican-American that the city employees don’t read the hometown paper. In any case, Atlantic Holdings could probably stonewall the city a few more years, happily allowing it to seize the property that they couldn’t sell anyway.

Meanwhile Michael Haddad has a diner he probably does not own. Mel Brandt gets his moving fee. And Zilka pockets his commissions -- all of which are tax free under the terms his non-profit status. Given the failure of the authorities to thoroughly investigate his past activities, and Zilka's ability to so far evade lawsuits, we don’t hold out much hope that he’ll return Haddad's money anytime soon.