RoadsideOnline

Update: It seems that Sancliffe Corp, the company owned by the Sanfords, indeed bought this diner and property from the previous owners in August, 2000.

The recent addition of a "For Sale" sign in the window of the Star Diner in East Providence is completely consistent with everything I've written and we've observed about this bizarre family and their strange way of doing things.

As we don't know what the current market value of the real estate is in that area, it's too early to say whether a buyer would buy purely for the real estate, or buy the diner to operate.

Once again, I'll say what I've said before. It is unlikely the Star will ever re-open on that site. My guess is the diner will be moved off that property. The Sanfords badly damaged the foodservice trade reputation for that site after leaving it closed for 9 of 10 years. Sure, it could be re-established, but I doubt it will ever re-open.

Oil spill got you down, Bunky? Seeing all those pictures of pelicans covered with muck just making you sick? Are you asking yourself, "Why won't someone do something about this?" or maybe screaming "Those crooks at BP need to be thrown in jail!"

Do you sit behind the wheel of your car idling in a traffic jam during your morning commute listening to the news on your radio, and all it seems to have is one story after another of this disaster unfolding, and it just gets you more and more depressed?

And are you thinking that maybe we should all just boycott those evil bastards at BP to teach them a lesson?

Is that what's getting you down, Bunky?

As usual, the media, the president, and the general population have completely managed to avoid the most salient aspect of this horrific disaster, which simply is this:

If you have bought into the lifestyle that you cannot maintain without the use of your automobile, then you are a part of this problem. That oil well out there might just as well have your name on it. 

While driving behind the dirty windshield the other day, I was thinking about bumper stickers. A few posts ago I wrote about how you can tell where people are from by the way they drive their vehicles.  The same can be said by the bumper sticker on their car or truck. Disclaimer: This falls under the category of Truck Philosophy which is a discipline of philosophy practiced by people who spend too much time in a truck or other motorized vehicle. It is similar to Truck Science.

 Here are a list of bumper stickers I have seen and my thoughts on how the person will drive the car.

“I may be slow but I’m ahead of you” – This one is pretty self-explanatory with one addition to the obvious. This person will also either straddling lanes or in the high speed lane of the interstate.

Tour of the Petrogiannis Philly Diner Empire

Last night, I took a writer for Philadelphia Magazine on a little tour of Michael Petrogiannis' burgeoning Philadelphia diner empire, stopping at the Mayfair, Melrose, and Country Club Diners. What we found frankly surprised and often delighted me. Most of the interior renovations that we found were either applied lightly or appropropriately. At the Country Club, for instance, the extensive interior renovations corrected, in my opinion, a big mistake made by the Perloffs when they ordered it from Fodero back in 1967. Instead of three separate enclosed rooms, the diner now features one large, stylish open area more fitting of the diner experience.