Part 3: Counter points
This photo shows interior renovations of the Tilt'n Diner already underway in 1992. You can see here how the owners completely knocked out the back bar, except for the support pillars.
In order to better connect the O’Mahony’s interior with the expanded dining area, the renovators carved large holes through the back-bar. A seat at the left side of the counter affords customers a view into the dining room, but it also allows dining room customers to stare back. In fact, for those who prefer to sit in the diner part, this expanded view actually diminishes the experience. A real diner’s original design and proportion creates a unique form of public intimacy and as well as some impromptu theater, but people don’t sit at the counter because they want an audience.
I believe that people go to diners because they seek not only a good meal, but an atmosphere that invites a chance conversation with the owners, the waitress, or friendly strangers. For example, the Mayfair Diner in Philadelphia seats well over 100 people, but its long, narrow proportions put individual customers into a more intimate setting. Each customer sits in a contiguous, overlapping dining sphere that puts about sixteen people in direct visual contact with each other. The frenetic activity of the staff, the clash of dishes, and the general din continually give a constant reminder of the diner’s size, but within the customer’s immediate field of vision, this diner can feel as cozy as a lunch wagon.
The counter, a key and vital ingredient in any great diner, serves as a fulcrum that balances the warm repose of the booths and the cool efficiency of the kitchen. The customer choosing a stool buffers those two forces. The direct interaction with the wait staff humanizes the efficiency, while the counter area’s faster turnover compels the loungers to get moving.
A back bar serves as a workspace. In an ideal diner world, it also includes the grill, but as such, it requires the staff to perform most of their duties in full view of the customer. A back bar bereft of equipment deadens the counter area because the potential for staff-customer interaction disappears. Simply put, a counter without a show will lose its audience. Before long, owners wonder why they bother having a counter at all.
Removing a back bar to extend the view makes counter seats as intimate as the dais at a Rotary Club meeting. Removing whole sections of it to give customer access to an added dining area creates ambiguity and discomfort for the customer. From the first day we go to a restaurant, we learn and accept the restriction that keeps customers out of the area behind a counter. Like passing on the right, we instinctively stay out.
Without a doubt, the counter area makes the diner a diner. Changing the counter changes everything, altering the look, feel, and attitude of the environment in subtle but important ways. Changes here can cheat the customer seeking an authentic diner experience. After going through all the trouble of searching for, moving, and restoring your roadside classic, why take that risk?
Next: Interior desecrations
