Hope runs out: The American Diner Museum unloads its follies

Created on Friday, 08 July 2011 12:00

Published on Friday, 08 July 2011 12:00

Written by Randy Garbin

Diner Museum diner blowout sale underway!

As regular readers know, this website has for the past ten years kept a close, critical eye upon the doings of the American Diner Museum and its founder and sometimes director, Daniel Zilka. We last reported in depth back in 2005 after the then-​public organization staged its last known members meeting, where Mr. Zilka issued a manifesto in response to our on-​going investigations. Since that time, Mr. Zilka has seen fit to privatize his “museum,” eliminating any pretense of transparency, and has largely conducted his business out of the public eye. This despite the fact that the museum’s members went to great strides donating time, money, and energy building up something they truly believed in.

Apparently, this public closure took place sometime in 2004, not long after the museum’s then-​vice-​president Quentin Sanford invited this reporter to the next scheduled meeting. The intent of the invite was to dispel concerns that the ADM was operating as a private club without public accountability. It is now seven years since that invite but we’ve heard nothing since. Presumably the meeting came and went. In records obtained by RoadsideOnline, we discerned that the agenda of this meeting must have included a bylaw change that put an end to outside membership (and invites to unwanted journalists.)

Daniel Zilka speaks to WJAR-​Providence reporters in this 2009 news report about the transport of the Midway Diner to Smithfield Vocational. Since then, Mr. Zilka continued his diner acquisitions, and most significantly, launched a collaborative effort with the Rhode Island Training School in Cranston, Rhode Island called the “New Hope Diner Project.” Announced with great fanfare and with articles in newspapers and television news all over New England, including the Boston Globe and New York Times, the Project would utilize the resources and the inmates of the state correctional facility to restore diners and return them to service.

Suffice to say, with Mr. Zilka’s sorry record preceding him, we stood alone as the only media outlet that actually looked upon this with any degree of skepticism. Mr. Zilka’s history with diner restoration projects usually stuck to the same script. Mr. Zilka would advertise his diner restoration services. Owners would retain his services for a non-​trivial fee. He would show up at the site for a while until he finished stripping irreplaceable materials and parts from the structure. After that, he’d largely make himself scarce, leaving behind befuddled workers and frustrated owners, and a diner in much worse condition than when he found it.

Four years later, our predictions for the New Hope Diner Project have become reality, and it looks now like Mr. Zilka seeks to unload his crusty rotted burdens. Recent activity observed on CraigsList​.org and on Ebay​.com leads us to believe that Mr. Zilka has orchestrated nothing short of a vintage diner blowout sale. As in “We’re Overstocked!”, “Liquidation Sale On Now” and “Everything Must Go!” Sadly, there will be few interested parties in these decomposing relics. Doubtful there will be any buyers, and certainly not at the asking prices. These are the pitfalls of diner hoarding.