By Cara Anna | From the Hamilton Spectator | May 16, 2006

Croghan, NY.
This general store finally sold its last corset last year, to a young girl who thought it looked pretty cool.

Still on the shelves of E.M. Marilley and Co. are odd pieces of a made-in-the-U.S.A. past:

Flash cubes.

Dress shields.

Rubber boots from a B.F. Goodrich footwear division that hasn't been around since the 1970s.

Don't let the vintage fool you: All are stubbornly brand new. The store's philosophy is, it stays until it sells. So help yourself to the plastic-wrapped turtlenecks from a proud sponsor of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Or the 95 per cent polyester flare-leg jeans.

By Michael Sadowski | Pocono Record | May 11, 2006

Stroudsburg, PA
Right now, it might not be in the character of the downtown.

But when new construction on the site of the former Hoop building in Stroudsburg is completed, the owners are confident it will blend right in.

Through the rubble and demolition taking place this week, owners Troy Nauman and Bob Buff have mapped out a vision of what one of Stroudsburg's premier downtown locations will look like when it's done.

"We're excited about it," Nauman said while explaining the design and the time table. "It's something I think the town will enjoy."

Buff and Nauman recently purchased the Kitson House and the diner-type structure formerly known as The Hoop. The building opened in 1938 as the Colonial Diner.

They are spending the next few days demolishing the diner that served as the front of the building, and in the coming months, will build the new structure.

Already embroiled in a storm of her own, Lucy the Elephant found herself in the midst of a real one when lightning struck.

The bolt Saturday damaged the covered pavilion - or howdah - atop the 90-ton wooden elephant, which a land speculator built in 1881 to lure people to what was then called South Atlantic City.

The lightning damaged beams on the observation deck, destroyed a star and sickle, and sent pieces of wood as big as fireplace logs flying.

While it remains open to visitors, the howdah probably will have to be removed for full repairs, said Richard Helfant, executive director of Lucy the Elephant.

"We've been trying to figure out how to keep the electricity on, but this was too much," he told the Press of Atlantic City for yesterday's newspapers. "The timing is unbelievable."

Helfant and Margate officials have been battling over Lucy's budget. Last month, the city - which pays Lucy's utility bills - balked at doing so. Officials said they wanted more information about the nonprofit Save Lucy Committee's finances before agreeing to pay $35,000.

Cincinnati, OH
Third incarnation of Over-the-Rhine restaurant dubbed Vinyl

The former Diner on Sycamore is about to get a new life -- for the third time.

Two new owners, both with restaurant experience, plan to open the 1950s-era pre-fabricated diner at 12th and Sycamore streets in July and rename it "Vinyl." They said they plan a fresh, new look that will pay homage to the building's history, while at the same time turning to the future.

Michael Spalding, 33, and Roula David, 27, met working at Beluga, the hip sushi bar off Hyde Park Square that has attracted a wide array of Cincinnati's young and affluent professionals. Though both have restaurant experience, David's is a bit more high-profile: Her family started the Gold Star Chili restaurant chain.

That excites Over-the-Rhine Chamber of Commerce president Brian L. Tiffany, who thinks the pair's experience will be exactly what the struggling neighborhood needs.

North Adams, MA
Fans of the coffee and vegetarian fare served up at Brewhaha may have to travel a little farther to grab a cup of java if an application to move the business to the former West End Market is approved by the Planning Board. Owner Barry Garton said the move is contingent upon the completion of his purchase of the building from Charles Huberdeau. According to the application, Garton wrote he had the highest bid of $81,000 at the March 25 auction of the property at 437 West Main St.

The change-of-use permit for the storefront is the only item scheduled to appear on the Planning Board meeting agenda for May 8.

"It's a little premature right now. We're just doing the Planning Board application now, so when the financing comes through, we'll be ready," Garton said. Brewhaha is located at 20 Marshall St.

According to the application, he is "proposing to eventually move Brewhaha to the West End Market location," eventually renaming the eatery "Brewhaha at the West End Market."

Over the past decade, eBay has hosted auctions for many interesting bits of the American Roadside. While we haven't tracked the success of these auctions, it is clear that listing a diner or an interesting roadside attraction on eBay is likely to bring it wider exposure than would have been possible years ago -- and that means a better chance of saving some places which might otherwise have been abandoned, shutdown or demolished.

And so it is with the Shady Dell Trailer Park and Dot's Diner in the funky burgh of Bisbeee, Arizona. The entire menagerie is now up for auction, including all the vintage trailors which are rentable by the day and Dot's Diner, a lovely little Valentine.

No bids as of this writing, but the auction runs until May 17th. If you want your own delectable slice of the American Roadside, you might want to check out the auction here

Meanwhile, the original Porter's Diner, a lovely green and cream Worcester car is still up for auction as well. If you want to jump into the bidding, check out that auction right here!

The Southland's last A&W with carhop service is calling it quits. Today's eat-and-run crowd prefers drive- through windows.

Roll up your windows; it's time to go home.

Ontario's A&W drive-in, the last root beer stand in Southern California with carhop service, is closing Sunday.

In the birthplace of fast food, where car culture is king, the carhop is going the way of the Model T.

For 46 years, the curbside servers at A&W — on and off roller skates — have delivered their signature root beer floats in frosty glass mugs right to your driver's seat.

The proliferation of newfangled drive-throughs has elbowed A&W's throwback burger joint out of business.

"There's not many mom-and-pop places left," said Larry Roan, 64, who has run the stand with his wife, Sherrill, since 1971. After 3 1/2 decades of seven-day workweeks and diminishing sales, the Roans are ready to retire.

"I felt like a family member was leaving town," said longtime customer Bill Weisjohn, 63, an Ontario retiree. He and his wife, Sharon, stopped by Friday for one last deep-fried burrito and "cold, frosty diet root beer," he said.

The sun appears to be setting for the Holiday Auto Theatre near Oxford, one of the region's last surviving drive-in theaters.

The nearly 60-year-old community icon is for sale and probably will not stay open under a new buyer. If it closes, there would be only three drive-ins left within driving distance of Cincinnati - one in Amelia, another in Wilmington, and one in Versailles, Ind.

In 1979, the region had as many as 20 drive-ins.

"I don't want to sell it, but I have no other alternative," said owner Fred Baum. "You can't survive as a single-screen drive-in anymore. It doesn't work."

Charlie Olt opened the Holiday in 1948. In its heyday, it could accommodate 850 cars.

Thomas K'Burg is going to have to find someplace else to get his morning cup of coffee; the Salem Oak Diner is closing its doors.

After providing thousands of customers with excellent food service, the Salem Oak Diner will be serving its last meal on May 14.

The Salem Oak Diner has been a city institution spanning more than five decades. The family-owned and operated diner opened its doors to the Salem public in 1955. When Robert McAllister Sr. decided to retire in 1967, he looked no further than his son Bob McAllister, and sold the diner to him to keep the business in the family.

Bob McAllister and his wife, Barbara, have been working side by side in the diner for the past 39 years, forming bonds and friendships with everyone that came through the front doors for a cup of coffee or a hot meal.

"We've had a good long run, but its time for Bob and I to move onto the golden years," Barbara McAllister said. "It's time for us to sit back and not worry about the diner."

The challenges and financial rewards of owning a successful diner were nice, she said, but the reason she and her husband went to work every day were for the people they served and grew close to.

"We're an institution in Salem," Barbara McAllister said. "We still have people coming in here that started coming in the fifties and sixties. They still play the same music on our jukebox as they did back then."

"We have so many regulars, people that are here two to three times a day," Bill said. "I feel the worst for the regular customers. I'm more worried about guys like George Ahl, he's a three-time a day customer. Those guys have kept the place running."

As loyal as they are to their customers, the McAllisters may be more loyal to their waitresses. Described as "the best waitresses in the world" by Barbara McAllister, her girls have been through the good and the bad.

Chris Hollis, 76, has been working as a waitress at the diner for the past 46 years. She started in 1960, hired full-time by Robert McAllister Sr., and has worked there since.