Photo Courtesy Mike Engle

Kent, OH
"They served lots of love and grease," said Pat Garrison of Kent as she stood looking at the remains of Jerry's Diner.

It was a sentiment shared by many who attended the last cookout at Jerry's Diner Saturday.

The diner, located at the corner of South Water and Erie streets, will be auctioned off by the end of the month. It has stood vacant for more than 10 years as fire almost destroyed it. The cookout was held behind the diner.

"Grease fires were a problem with the grills," said Linda Nay Smith, whose father, Bill Nay, brought the railcar to the site in 1945. He then added storage, an office, bathroom and kitchen onto the diner. It was first called "Bill's Diner." As it changed hands, it also would be known as Jerry's Diner, Terry's Diner and simply the Diner.

In 1949, Nay also built the "Diner Liner," which was located at the other end of the block. Today, it is the site of Kline-Kavali Plumbing & Heating Inc. Nay operated both diners at the same time.

"They should break it into pieces and sell them," Anne Stesny of Kent said of the diner. She said she didn't eat there, but her mother, Irene Upner, had been a daytime waitress at the diner.

Dave Hinzel of Virginia peered into the glass window of the diner -- the only window not covered with graying sheets of plywood. Through the window, one could see the oak paneled counter front and charred wall studs.

"It got me through finals," he said of the diner. "I'd go there at 2, 3 in the morning and have a hamburger and greasy french fries." Hinzel, who attended Kent State University from 1970 to 1973, said he hopes the diner will be restored.

So does Smith.

By Steve Harvey | LA Times | Oct. 3, 2008

Philippe's, home of the French dip sandwich, turns 100 this year, and for much of the last century local historians and foodies have been arguing over one question: How was the dish created?

Was it the brainstorm of a customer who didn't want to see the juice in the roast pan go to waste? Was it an accident -- a server dropped a dry sandwich into the pan and found that the patron liked the result? Or was it conceived at Cole's, a rival downtown eatery, for a gent who had sore gums?

You can't go back in time to ask Philippe "Frenchy" Mathieu, the founder of Philippe's. But you can journey to that era, price-wise, on Monday when the North Alameda Street restaurant throws a centennial bash.

From 4 to 8 p.m., sandwiches (normally $5.35 to $6.50) will sell for 10 cents, and coffee (normally 9 cents) will be reduced to a nickel. (Tips of more than 20% for the servers might be in order this day.)

KCET-TV storyteller Huell Howser will emcee the show, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other politicos will speechify, the USC band will march through, and Roger "the Peanut Man" Owens of Dodger Stadium will toss bags of goobers to hopefully attentive folks waiting in line.

Also on hand will be 64-year-old Philippe Guilhem of Alva, Okla., grandson of founder Mathieu. And he knows the story of the birth of the French dip from his namesake.

We haven't had time to confirm this rumor, but there is word on the street that the classic Melrose Diner in the City of Brotherly Love might be up for sale... again.

Note. This is the Internet, so proceed with caution. No need to bid on that great coffee cup sign on eBay just yet.

Here' a link to the online article that alerted us to this.

Let us know if you have any info....and we'll start checking, too....

Green River, WY
The sign on the door reads, "Help wanted: Join Team Moondance and Experience the Magic."

While the new owners of the historic Moondance Diner are cooking up some magic these days, it most likely won't be served up until later this fall.

The reconstruction and renovation is continuing on the Moondance Diner -- albeit not as fast as new owners Vince and Cheryl Pierce would like.

The couple bought the former New York dining icon last year and trucked it tiny LaBarge in southwest Wyoming in the summer of 2007. Renovations on the dining icon have been ongoing for nearly a year now.

"We're still cruising right now, and we are getting closer (to opening)," Pierce said in a phone interview last week.

"It has been a bit of a struggle for us, and everybody is wondering what's taking so long ... so many people from all over Wyoming and New York and Idaho and Utah have been calling and asking when are we going to open," she said.

"We're taking our time because we want to do it right and we want to do it correctly, and we wouldn't have it any other way," Pierce said. "But we are getting excited, and we can't wait to actually get in there and get started."

The Pierces saved the diner from its planned demolition when they purchased the Moondance for $7,500 and trucked it back to Wyoming.

By Kathy Cleveland | Nashua Telegraph | Sept. 27, 2008

Manchester, NH
Manchester's landmark Red Arrow Diner will open a nearly identical 24-hour eatery on the Oval in the old Milford Diner.

The location will be the Red Arrow's second diner and it will bigger than the Manchester one, said Dawn Foote, daughter of Red Arrow owner Carol L. Sheehan.

The low-slung Manchester eatery, a well-known campaign stop during presidential primaries, is squeezed into a narrow strip of land on Lowell Street and is often bursting with customers.

Milford residents seemed happy with the news that the old Milford Diner location will open again. It has been closed since July when co-owner Gordon Maynard was killed in a car accident.

Karen Walker, owner of Karen's Kollectibles, across the street from the Milford Diner, said she is excited.

"People come in here and ask where can I get a soda or a cold drink," she said, because there is nowhere to go after 2 p.m. "Between (the new diner) and the good Chinese restaurant" nearby, it's good news for Milford, Walker said, referring to the China Golden, across from her shop.

Jerry Grubb cares so deeply about the future of his former diner that he is offering to give away the '50s-style restaurant for free.

Grubb only has one stipulation: The new owner must transport the landmark to a new location and reopen it for business.

''These types of diners are really making a comeback, and I'm surprised no one locally wants it,'' Grubb said. ''It's an excellent piece, and you can't get them much cheaper.''

The locals called it the end of an era when Grubb's Diner, a 24-hour Huntingdon institution, shut its doors for good last year to make way for a new Rite-Aid pharmacy at South Fourth Street and Route 22.

Grubb, the diner's manager and cook for 52 years, decided it was time to hang up his spatula, but he didn't have the heart to demolish the timepiece.

Instead, he dismantled it and paid a moving company to haul the silver 68-foot-long diner a mile up the road to the Huntingdon Motor Inn.

It now sits on two flat-bed trailers perched over Route 22, frozen in time and empty, except for the original retro light fixtures, booths and bar. A menu on the wall offers dinners for $1.15 and lobster tail for $2.50.

By Max. R. Mitchell | Watertown Daily Times | Sept. 2, 2008

Ogdensburg, NY
Inside the small red-and-white Phillips Diner, the crowd was large. There were just enough dark leather booths to seat everyone. Owner Judi A. Ashley barely had time to talk.

"You're going to have to cash yourself out today," she joked with one customer.

This summer the diner is celebrating its 60th year under Phillips family ownership, and it is as busy as it has always been.

"They live here," said Mrs. Ashley of the customers and suggested that she should put in beds.

The diner is an institution in Ogdensburg, popular with customers carrying canes to coloring books. The majority of the customers are regulars, with some eating three meals a day there.

Pamela J. and William D. Mitchell said they have been coming to the diner "forever," attracted by the food and the prices.

"We like to come to family-owned places, too," Mrs. Mitchell said.

If your summer included a screaming good ride on a roller coaster, you can thank a fellow by the name of Fred Ingersoll.

In the "Pittsburg" of 1905, as fiery steel furnaces belched black soot into the air, this gifted entrepreneur opened a palace of amusements in Oakland called Luna Park.

This stately pleasure ground offered picnic pavilions, dance halls, a lagoon, a coaster-like boat ride called Shoot-the-Chutes, and performers such as Mademoiselle Novi and her triple-somersaulting automobile.

Modeled after Luna Park on New York's Coney Island, it boasted a hodgepodge of architectures ranging from Japanese to Moorish and was built at a cost of $375,000; re-creating it today would cost about $8.5 million.

Mr. Ingersoll, the mustachioed genius behind this wonderland, went on to create the nation's first chain of 44 amusement parks and design or build 277 roller coasters.

You probably have not heard of Mr. Ingersoll, even though he designed and built Kennywood Park's first Racer roller coaster, a Three-Way Figure-Eight Toboggan.

He ranked among the five most influential men when amusement parks exploded between 1899 and 1905, a time when 75 new parks were built each year.

"He was very visionary in that he saw this as an industry, not just a collection of businesses," said Jim Futrell, author of "Amusement Parks of Pennsylvania."