On a flat, dull stretch of the otherwise picturesque and hilly Route 2 sits a tiny, unassuming food trailer that at first glance makes you wonder what's going on.

Stop the car and venture over and you'll see there's nothing sketchy here. In fact, it's a lunch spot complete with table service. Skip's Roadside Diner, owned by Dennis "Skip" Scipione and his wife, Nancy, boasts homemade slaw, hand-shaped hamburgers, and some of the best Polish fare this side of Krakow.

Benny Rubin, a mechanic from nearby Turner s Falls, is tucking into lunch at a picnic table behind the trailer. Scipione, a dark-haired and still-boyish 60, pops out of the trailer's back door, crosses a grassy patch to Rubin's table, and sets down two Styrofoam trays, each bearing three golden brown pirogis, a kielbasa link with spicy mustard, and a spoonful of cabbage. "Hi, Ben," says the proprietor. "These are for a couple of people on their way over from work." Ever since word got out, locals know enough to call ahead.

The gravel parking lot crunches under the tires of an arriving motorcycle and two pickup trucks. Scipione lingers a moment to see if other customers need anything. "You don't meet many people like Skip," says Rubin, as Scipione hustles back inside to wait on a growing line of people. "He'll bend over backward for you."

The nexus of pop culture and politics this week was the Mt Kisco Diner, a 50's era DeRaffele in the lower Hudson Valley area of New York, which was, according to the blog Suburbarazzi, the location for the filming of Hillary Clinton's latest TV spot.

Speaking from my "real job" as a longtime commercial director (with a specialty in political ads!) I find the spot incredibly weak, particularly considering the money Hillary would have had to do this. I realize they were trying to mimic the slow, deliberate pacing of "The Sopranos" finale, but here it just comes across boring and overly long. On the other hand, it was shot at a diner :-)

Click the "read move" link for the entire text of the blog, or check it out here directly.

Here's the spot on YouTube.

Decades before Larry Bird of the Boston Celtics made French Lick famous, the area in southern Indiana had been a thriving spa destination, where the rich and famous would come to partake of "the waters."

Now, one of the area's landmark hotels has undergone an amazing renaissance.

You can find the AP article here.

Diners have been showing up on eBay for many years now. Now another has appeared. Whether there is much of a market for such a tiny place remains to be seen, but here's a link and the description written by the seller:

“Mike’s Diner” originally operated in Providence, RI. Built in the mid 60’s by the DeRaffele Company, I believe it is the only one in existence. On a tri-axle, it was moved around town to hit the best locations. In 2002 I bought the diner, moved it to Kentucky on a low boy trailer, and restored it for use on our farm. After a summer spent degreasing the inside we replaced the floor, roof, lights, counter, and windows. We open it for friends and family. The diner is approximately 26 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 12 feet high and seats ten on stools at the counter.

Here's a link to the auction.

By Eric Ruth | The News Journal (Wilmington, DE) | June 15, 2007

The sign is faded now, with no lights to beckon nighttime travelers, but its big letters still proclaim the two words that many thousands have seen:

"Smyrna Diner."

Here by the side of the road that once was the state's north-south backbone, the little building has endured for about a half-century, through high school hijinks and waves of beach-bound motorists, through Smyrna's sleepier times and straight into the bustling growth the town faces today.

Soon, the building will be gone. But its story will not end.

The landmark diner itself -- a 1960 Paramount model, by one account -- is leaving Delaware, maybe for a town in Nebraska, all gussied up for a new identity, new people, new memories. The Smyrna Diner's name, along with its pots and pans full of homestyle love, will live on, just down the street, in a new building, with a new future.

Whether newer is necessarily better is the kind of question philosophers might relish, but the regulars have better things to do here at their counter stools. They know they'll miss the old building when the new diner opens early next year. But they also know times change, and that the thoughts that linger will be as sweet as Chef Irene's pies.

"There's a lot of memories," said Sandy Margist, 60, who has owned the diner since 1972, and has hosted such celebrities as Joe Pesci, Robert Plant and Loretta Lynn. "Especially a lot of our older customers are like, 'It's just not gonna be the same.' "

After a long period of silence, O'Rourke's Diner was making its share of noise Monday morning.

A huge rumbling crane moved a metal container, big as a hot tub, to the back door of the diner. Inside, construction workers shoveled and swept up debris, throwing it into the container and raising a bit of dust.

"It's important that everybody pitches in," said Larry Marino, who donated the use of his crane for the project. "This is our part."

Community support and donations to rebuild the diner have been flowing in since last August, after the diner was shut down indefinitely because of a fire.

On the agenda Monday was removing the rooftop units and knocking down and clearing away the chimney.

Actual reconstruction of the diner will take place in a few months, according to David Drake from Kronenberger and Sons Restoration Inc., which is helping oversee and advise on rebuilding the diner.

"Hopefully work will start on or about September 1st," he said. He said the goal was to have the completed diner serving food by Thanksgiving.

Lindsay, CA
On the northwest corner of Elmwood Avenue and Hermosa Street in central Lindsay, a small town fighting through economic struggles, rests Bob's Drive-In.

Owners Frances and Rabon "Dink" Loyd bought the mom-and-pop restaurant in 1967 — 40 years ago this month. Frances Loyd, 63, credits the restaurant's longevity, in part, to customer loyalty.

"It's all about the people," she said. "And we love our customers."

The other factor in the restaurant's staying power: three generations of family members who have helped run the business. "It's been hard work and family help," she said. "We couldn't have done it without our family."

The Loyds' daughter, Marie Arroyo, worked at Bob's Drive-In as a teenager. Now her sons, Travis and Tyler, are helping out.

"My dad's saying is, 'Once you are tall enough to see over the counter, you are tall enough to work,' " Arroyo said.

Frances Loyd's sister, Lois Jackson, has worked at the drive-in for about 38 years.

It's hard to know whether the last scene in the epic HBO series, "The Sopranos" will satisfy or annoy fans of the show, but for diner lovers, it couldn't have been better. Series creator and writer David Chase chose to wrap up the saga of Tony in the most archetypal of all Jersey locations - a diner. Here are a few links (updated) related to the final espisode.

New York Magazine

Empire Movies

Detroit Free Press

San Francisco Chronicle

The New York Times

Another North County landmark is about to be taped into our memory's scrapbook.

Chuck-a-Burger, 9025 St. Charles Rock Road, famous for its carhops and more recently a destination for showing off a cool set of wheels, will be closing it doors at year's end. For owner Ron Stille, the price of leasing the site in St. John has become too high.

"I didn't want this to happen," Stille said at the Chuck-A-Burger diner he opened recently in St. Charles, "but I had no choice."

The closing strikes a sad chord for St. John resident Rick Hussey, who is not only as a longtime customer but also an acquaintance of Stille. v "I've known Ron for I don't know how many years," Hussey said.

One of his more vivid memories of the diner's earlier days is when Stille's father, Ralph, was running the place.