Pursuits : Elizabeth Thomsen

Archive for the ‘Diners’ Category

Day 15: January 15, 2010
This diner was manufactured by Jerry O’Mahony, Inc. of Elizabeth, New Jersey, in 1949. It was originally Michel’s Diner and later Chick’s Roast Beef. It’s tucked tightly into a wedge-shaped lot on Main Street in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

The exterior is pretty good shape and looks original, but the interior (and of course the menu) has been altered.

I travel around Massachusetts a lot for work, mostly for meetings, but I rarely seem to be able to take advantage of these trips to visit a new diner. Even when I know there’s a diner in town, it seems that they are never near enough to the meeting site, and I usually don’t have any time to spare before I have to get back to the office.

Wednesday, however, I really lucked out. I had a meeting at the Palmer Public Library. I knew that the Day and Night Diner was in Palmer, but I’ve never been to Palmer before and didn’t know where it was in relation to the library. A quick check of addresses showed that the diner was directly across the street from the library.

I was able to run over and get a few pictures during a break. It’s my very favorite type of diner, a classic Worcester Lunch Car Company diner from 1944. The thing I love about these diners is the perfect curve of the roofline on the short ends, similar to Deb’s Diner in Salem (Mass.) and the Boulevard in Worcester. The Day and Night is also one of those rare diners set on its lot perpendicular to the street — the entrance is on the one of those short ends, under that perfect curve.

I didn’t have time to check out the interior, the food or (most importantly) the coffee, but I’ll definitely make a point of getting off the Mass. Pike next time I am out that way to make a proper visit!

Day and Night Diner
1456 Main Street / Route 20
Palmer, Massachusetts

Worcester Lunch Car Company #781, 1944

I was saddened to hear the news of the accidental death of former baseball player Mark “The Bird” Fidrych yesterday. In 1976, Fidrych joined the Detroit Tigers. He was named the American League Rookie of the Year and was selected as the American League’s starting pitcher for the All Star game. For a short time, he was a celebrity. A 1977 New York Times article referred to him as “the legendary ‘Bird’ of the Detroit Tigers pitching staff and the biggest box-office draw in baseball in years.”

But then he lost it all. His baseball career was cut short due to an injuries. He struggled to recover his pitching ability, and spent served some time in the minor leagues attempting a comeback. He ended his baseball career in 1983 at the age of 29.

He went back to his hometown of Northborough, Massachusetts, where he married Ann Pantazis, whose parents owned Chet’s Diner. On weekends, he helped out at the diner, serving breakfast, washing dishes, doing whatever needed to be done.

His mother-in-law, Nancy Pantazis, is quoted in the Boston Globe : “He loved it. Every Saturday he was there…He was a wonderful guy. I couldn’t ask for a better son-in-law, and he’ll be missed.”

I never met him, but by all accounts he had a good life in Northborough, and didn’t allow his life to be ruined by regret over the way his baseball career had been cut short.

In a 1999 interview, he told the Boston Globe : “I got a great life now…I got a family, I got a house, I got a dog. I would like my career to have been longer, but you can’t look back. You have to look to the future.”

I’m sure he’ll be missed.

Mark ‘The Bird’ Fidrych, 54; Pitcher Enthralled Fans — By Bryan Marquard, Boston Globe, April 14, 2009

Modern Diner | 364 East Avenue | Pawtucket, Rhode Island | Sterling Streamliner, #4110

I finally had a chance to photograph the Modern Diner in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. It’s one of the two remaining Sterling Streamliners. The other is the Salem Diner in Salem, Massachusetts, one of my favorites. These striking diners were built in 1941 by the J.B. Judkins Company of Merrimac, Massachusetts. They look nearly identical from the outside, other than the color. The Modern Diner was closed when I visited, so I wasn’t able to check out the interior.

Modern Diner — The Library of Congress American Memory site includes a set of black and white photographs of the Modern Diner from the 1980s, part of the Built in America collection (Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey, 1933-Present.)

Sterling Streamliner Diner — The Patent Room website has a beautiful patent drawing of the Streamliner by the original designer, Roland L. Stickney.

Here’s the Modern Diner’s twin sister, the Salem Diner:

Salem Diner
70 Loring Avenue
Salem, Massachusetts