How can you not love the way the neon lights at the Silver Diner, 6592 Springfield Mall in Springfield, Virginia, glow just before dawn? The Silver Diner is a chain of 1950s style diner-restaurants founded by Bob Giaimo and Ype Von Hengst in 1989 in Rockville, Maryland.
Gorgeous neon sign for the Silver Diner, 6592 Springfield Mall in Springfield, Virginia. The Silver Diner is a chain of 1950s style diner-restaurants founded by Bob Giaimo and Ype Von Hengst in 1989 in Rockville, Maryland.
The Hudson River flows in more or less a straight line 315 miles through eastern New York from the Adirondack Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. In southeastern New York, the Hudson Valley has fostered its own sense of culture and community. The classic American diner is part and parcel of that culture, and the Hudson Valley has many fine examples of diners both historic and modern.
Situated on Peekskill Bay on the Hudson River’s east bank, Peekskill is a small river town with a modern downtown. The Center Diner, opened in 1939 on Bank Street off Route 202 (Main Street), is a classic greasy spoon wedged between an alley and a plasma center. It is a rare National Diner.
Cool ghost neon sign for the Valley Diner outside Toms Brook (south of Strasburg, VA) along U.S. Route 11. According to Diner Hunter, it opened in 1932 and was likely built on-site. This sign has been there since at least the 1960s. dinerhunter.com/2011/11/27/valley-diner-toms-brook-va/
Neon sign for the Twenty Four Hundred Diner, 2400 Princess Anne Street in Fredericksburg, Virginia.
If New Jersey is the diner capital of the U.S., Massachusetts is a close second. Thomas Buckley began to sell lunch wagons in Worcester, Massachusetts in 1887. Charles Palmer, who patented a “Night-Lunch Wagon” in 1893, also operated in Worcester. The Worcester Lunch Car Company, founded by Philip H. Duprey and Grenville Stoddard, was an iconic diner manufacturer from 1906 to 1957. It produced 651 diners, many of which still exist today. Several are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Worcester diners look more like railroad cars than their newer counterparts, with smooth metal exteriors and wooden interiors. Most have a distinctive barrel roof and a row of large windows, with entrances at either end.
The Miss Worcester Diner, 302 Southbridge Street in Worcester, Massachusetts, is a 1948 Worcester (#812) built for Dino Soteropoulos. It sits across the street from the old Worcester Lunch Car Company factory and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. This classic diner is a local favorite.
Les Daniel and Henry Strys founded the Mountain View Diners Company in Singac, New Jersey in 1938. From 1938 to 1957, the company produced around 400 prefabricated restaurants. Though of simple design, many are still in operation, proving that their motto “A Mountain View Diner will last a lifetime” still holds true today. When you think of a classic 1950s diner, a Mountain View probably comes to mind.
The 29 Diner, at 10536 Fairfax Blvd in Fairfax, Virginia, is a 1947 Mountain View, and its original owners were D.T. “Bill” and Elvira “Curly” Glascock. It was known as the Tastee 29 Diner in 1992 when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. A former waitress and her husband, Ginger and Fredy Guevara, purchased the diner in the 1990s and restored its original name. They owned it until 2014, when it was bought by John Wood.
Route 66 Diner, at 950 Bay Street in Springfield, Massachusetts, is a 1957 Mountain View, one of the last manufactured by that Signac, New Jersey company. Originally called the Bay Diner, owner Donald A. Roy bought it in 1975 and the restaurant is managed by his brother-in-law, Charlie Allen.
M.A. Kleen 
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