Diners had a renaissance in the 90s? I grew up on Long Island, where they never left, but I always wondered why there are so few elsewhere.
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I often ate at lunch counters back in the 1960’s and 1970’s and missed watching the people cook my sandwich or just bustle around behind the counter. On a trip in VA recently, popped into a Waffle House, went in, and before I could sit down at the counter, the waitress was right on it “Hey Darlin’ - you want a cup of coffee? Have a seat and we’ll get some breakfast in ya.” Thought I had died and gone to heaven. Just watching the motion efficiency of the cook in action as he prepared my over-easy eggs, hash browns, sausage, grits(!!!), and pancakes was a joy to behold. It’s like getting flirted with while watching a show and having a meal. 10/10 I repeat as often as I can.
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There are 50s nostalgia diners here and there. But nothing like the NYC area “Greek Diners*” I love so much.
*Now often run by Russians, but the menus have hardly changed.
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The Woolworth lunch counter downtown was something that I always wanted to eat at. The closest I got was the Kresge’s counter (complete with balloons for dessert pricing!).
Diner cars made into new-wave old-school diners was big here in the 90s and 2000s; all died out when food trucks came into prominence. The diners that were here before the craze are still around, hanging on by the virtue of their regular breakfast and lunch customers.
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Wow! So it wasn’t just the counter at the Woolworth’s in Glen Cove!
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Remembering other lunch counters:
Long Island and NYC had a “minor,” low-end department store chain called Grant’s. The one in downtown Glen Cove, LI had a lunch counter: A few booths, and a small counter (maybe six seats?). I don’t remember my family ever getting anything there. In retrospect, it was an odd place to have a restaurant. Grant’s didn’t strike me as a “destination” shopping place where you’d spend a leisurely afternoon browsing.
The nearest Sears, Roebuck (Hicksville, NY . . . the second largest after Honolulu) had a small restaurant, much fancier than a lunch counter. Never ate there, either. Random note: At Easter the place hosted “breakfast with the Easter Bunny,” which I assume meant a few dozen fidgety, howling pre-schoolers eating pancakes and a sweating employee in a rabbit suit.
Sear’s also had a dessert counter. Ice cream, pop corn, sodas, that sort of thing. Maybe even hot dogs and pretzels? I remember having a chocolate Frappe here a couple of times; a kind of really thick chocolate shake. Ice cream and chocolate syrup, beaten to a hard froth. They were great!
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It’s already been 7 years (?!) but when I was in Dubai, they still had Woolworth’s. You can’t tell much from this photo, and I didn’t actually go in, but I think they just sold clothing (not a discount store like they used to be in the US).
I was visiting NYC when they closed all the Woolworth’s. It seemed like such a good place for them; they didn’t need as much room as a Target or KMart (though they managed to shoehorn large stores in, anyway).
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This is going to make Nancy Griffith sad…
I love this song… so very sweet.
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Interesting factoid. I never gave the Sears at the Ala Moana much thought, mainly because going there wasn’t really a destination for me. Lots of tourists, painful parking, and the last decade they have spent ‘remodeling’, i.e., construction everywhere. Much preferred Ward Warehouse, until it lost the Borders, then was torn down.
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I’d fall down, then I’d get up
While slipping on my tears
Billy broke my heart at walgreens
And then I cried all the way to sears
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I hadn’t heard it before. Thanks.
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should have included this link with the above:
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Thanksgiving lunch counter diner: Turkey on white bread covered in gravy. The meat and bread had the exact same texture. Perfect.
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TUNA MELT.
The VT Woolworths where I lived in the 70s-80s had a giant window poster showing a toasted tuna sandwich dripping with bright orange cheese. Utterly revolting to my brain; hot tuna (like microwaved fish in the work lounge) was a hard no.
Didn’t stop me from eating a crap ton of standard white bread grilled cheese there, with fresh mixed chocolate milk. Sometimes a chocolate shake. And for special occasions the aforementioned open faced turkey sandwich, or roast beast plate. Om nom nom.
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AKA hot turkey sandwich in my part of the world. There was a beef version as well. Both were as revolting as they sound.
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I will fight you over this… Open faced roast beef and turkey are fucking awesome cold day diner food.
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The article answers that - except for the Australia/New Zealand ones, they’re related. The Aus/NZ ones were the result of local businesses registering the name.
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