An advisory panel charged with preserving city landmarks will consider awarding special status to Oxnard's shuttered Wagon Wheel motel complex, hoping to delay its demolition for at least six months.

The Oxnard Cultural Heritage Board unanimously agreed Monday to consider the matter Feb. 12.

The panel wants to save the dilapidated, 1940s-era motel and two of its restaurants as examples of Western-style architecture. The complex also merits landmark status because it was built by the late Martin Smith, a real estate pioneer in the county, board members said.

Orange County-based property owner Oxnard Village Investments LLC wants to raze the 64-acre complex and build new housing and commercial space there.

Recently released, "Driving the National Road in Indiana" is an extraordinary paperback book capturing the expression and scenic beauty of Indiana's 200 year old highway and its people. With 108 pages and more than 90 black and white photos, the guide book takes travelers on an incredible journey across one of the nation's most fascinating historic highways by highlighting roadside attractions and curiosities from yesteryear -- like the 1954 Plainfield Diner; marker commemorating fourteen pioneer travelers who died from food poisoning on their trek westward; Little Orphant Annie's final resting spot; 1830s mile markers (only two remain) -- this handy guide book provides cover-to cover entertainment for both armchair and on-the-road travelers.

"Driving the National Road in Indiana" is currently available at the Old National Road Welcome Center, Richmond, Indiana, and with online retailers such as Amazon.com, and booklocker.com. The book will be arriving on the shelves of local bookstores and gift shops. Temple will be touring Indiana this spring to promote "Driving the National Road in Indiana."

There is a silly battle going on between Athens, Texas, and New Haven, Conn., over which can lay claim as the birthplace of the hamburger sandwich.

It is silly because everyone knows - or should know - that the hamburger was invented in Wisconsin.

It was invented in Seymour, west of Green Bay, in 1885 by a 15-year-old boy named Charlie Nagreen.

We will have more about "Hamburger Charlie" momentarily, but first let's hear from those in Texas and Connecticut who are arguing a moot point.

The current controversy began when a member of the Texas House of Representatives, Betty Brown, recently introduced a bill claiming that Athens is the home of the hamburger.

The local legend holds that an Athens luncheonette owner, Fletcher Davis, invented the sandwich in 1904 and took it that year to the World's Fair in St. Louis, where it was an immediate hit.

By Herb Meeker | Herald & Review | January 18, 2007

Mattoon, IL
Tom Clark fell in love with the Bluebird Diner when he first laid eyes on it.

So, he and his stepbrother John Sebeck from Fayette County, Pa., bought it. Now they are preparing a new nest for the Mattoon diner along the National Road south of Pittsburgh.

"When we found out it was available, we drove to Illinois. It took 10 hours. It was exactly what we were looking for. It will go behind our drive-in theater, which is one of the last ones along the National Pike or U.S. 40. We had wanted to buy a diner for years," Clark said Thursday afternoon.

Clark and Sebeck are crazy about the days when people pulled up in wide cars to enjoy an outdoor movie as the sun was setting on the horizon or climbed into booths or swivel chairs in brightly colored diners.

Almost everyone has a fondness for diners.

Whether it's a convenient place for a meal on a long-distance roadtrip, the regular place you roll into at the end of a night on the town, your every-Tuesday-for-meatloaf lunch place or the excuse for an excursion, most people have eaten in these most American of restaurants.

If you want to spark a lively discussion, ask those same people to define what makes a diner.

The answers you get will be as numerous as the items on the menu and as diverse as the customers they serve.

When it comes to defining diners Brian Butko is a purist. "A diner is a factory-built restaurant transported to its site of operation," Butko says.

Butko ought to know.

He and Kevin Patrick wrote "Diners of Pennsylvania," published in 1999 by Stackpole Books, which serves as a statewide guide to the 260 diners that existed at the time.

Walk into Terry’s Diner and you know you are hearing something similar to what has probably been heard for the last 50 years: clanging plates, loud TV, the squeak of the swinging door and a steady murmur of conversation.

We found the owner and cook, Terry Holmes during a rare respite at the counter. Usually he can be found in the kitchen making all those all-American meals that can be found on every plate that goes out.

Cooking for 35 years, Holmes learned from the chefs working for his father, Terry Sr., who opened the diner in 1956. He admits he learned as a trial by fire that way, which is almost prophetic considering the original Terry’s burned down in 1999 after a horrific fire. Holmes and his wife decided to reopen and went to look at new diner cars being built in New Jersey, but found them to be too expensive.

“By chance, we came upon the Skyliner Diner, which had been in Dupont, and actually had been owned by my father’s sister,” Holmes said. After moving the diner, originally built in 1955, Terry’s reopened in 2000.

In the past, many people would retire to a diner after the movies let out. Today, however, many diners just aren't open that late. So, sometimes, we need to find reasons to hit a diner and do another event. With this series, we look at diners that are open before hockey games. Most hockey arenas don't have real food, the closest I have seen, myself, is a Subway Shop inside of Dartmouth College's rink. So, get out the winter coat, and hit the road for some good hockey and even better eating!

As part of this series, we will be focusing on minor league hockey and College Hockey. These opportunities are more fan friendly at an affordable price.

Choices in Amherst and Northampton, MA

Choice is good. So to start out the new years in the right fashion, we're giving you the choice of three diners and two hockey teams to watch. We have the D-I UMASS Minutemen and D-3 Amherst College Lord Jeffs, both in Amherst. For food, you could stay nearby and go to the Route 9 Diner in Hadley, a retro diner built by Kullman just a few years ago.

Or! You can head west a measly 9 miles to Northampton, where two diners await you. The Miss Florence, a Worcester is just two miles west, still on Route 9, and the Bluebonnet Diner, another Worcester is about a mile north of town.

The Route 9 Diner is everything you would expect from a retro diner. They're selling the theme of a 1950s diner, with long hours, all set to cater to college students who want a lot of food and a lot of coffee. The diner has almost anything you could want, and will remind many people of your typical Metro NY diner. The other two diners are more traditional New England Diners.

What is rare about both the Bluebonnet and the Miss Flo, as it is affectionately called, is that they hold dinner hours. Most small New England diners close for dinner, like Kathy's Diner in downtown Northampton. As any fan of diners will tell you, they're extremely happy both diners serve dinner. The Miss Flo has had some alterations done on the inside, but still serves up the mostly the same classic menu it has had for ages. Since Northampton is also a college town, they offer some vegetarian fare. Usually, the Miss Flo dependable, highly recommended diner (my personal favorite in the area), but checking on-line, a few people have complained of poor service.

Click through for lots more info, including team schedules and directions to the diners and the rinks!

Four months after O'Rourke's Diner was heavily damaged by fire, a campaign to restore this culinary treasure to its rightful place on the menu of Middletown's Main Street restaurants is making tantalizing progress toward its goal.

The diner, housed in a distinctive glass-and-steel dining car and listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has stood at 728 Main St. for six decades. Under owner/chef Brian O'Rourke, the diner built a wide reputation for its delicious and creative fare.

In the early morning of Aug. 31, however, a fire triggered by a hamburger steamer that had been left on overnight forced the diner to close. To make matters worse, Mr. O'Rourke didn't have fire insurance.

The response to Mr. O'Rourke's plight has been heartwarming. Volunteers - many of them students from Wesleyan University - helped to demolish damaged portions of the diner's interior last fall. Others set up a website and helped to organize fundraisers (the next one is tentatively scheduled for St. Patrick's Day; check www.orourkesdiner.com for details).