Photo by Ron Dylewski

Syracuse, NY
Say it isn't so.

Doc Good may have to shut down a Syracuse landmark, Doc's Little Gem Diner on the city's West Side.

"I'll probably be closing my doors soon," Doc said last week when we talked at the Little Gem, which has been a fixture in our town more than 50 years. "This place pulled me down. It's been one thing after another."

He did say he'd consider sale of the business to a willing buyer. "And I'd be glad to stick around and break in a new owner," Doc explained.

Doc filed for Chapter 13 bankruptcy protection in federal court in Utica in September. Under Chapter 13, the debtor arranges a plan to repay debts. He hasn't paid taxes on the diner and the parking lot next door since 2006.

No question, Doc, who bought Little Gem in 1997, has deep financial troubles. He says he's tried for 2½ years to refinance his diner with no luck.

"The banks said no," he explains.

Little Gem was a part of American diner culture

Doc says things started to go south at Little Gem on July 24, 2003, when the state ban on smoking in most public places kicked in. The ban hit Doc's Little Gem hard; he now figures he lost about 40 percent of his business when smokers quit the diner to smoke at home, or elsewhere. "Why should I suffer?" Doc asks.

He said the other day he lost a group of military veterans who used to come in nights, sit in the smoking section of the restaurant, drink coffee and smoke. He doesn't think patrons who used the diner because we couldn't smoke there made that much difference.

By Holly Angelo | The Republican | March 6, 2009

Chicopee
Al's Diner owner Costas Mathews received the news he expected on Thursday.

His circa-1957 diner at 14 Yelle St. will not be gracing the state's next quarter.

"We knew that," he said.

Instead, it appears that the Gloucester Fisherman's Memorial has won the honor. The three alternate sites selected were the Lowell National Historic Park, the House of Seven Gables in Salem, and the frigate USS Constitution in Boston.

The U.S. Mint will make the final decision, based on design feasibility. The last Massachusetts quarter featured the Minuteman. Gov. Deval L. Patrick was asked by the U.S. Mint to choose one preferred and three alternate sites to be featured on the reverse side of the next state quarter. The governor asked residents to help him by voting for their favorite federally recognized historic site from a list of 114.

The list included Al's Diner and 15 other Western Massachusetts places. The state received 245,000 votes online, and announced the results on Thursday.

"Certainly, there are historic sites in Western Massachusetts that are of comparable historical importance, yet, the ones chosen are certainly appropriate," said Guy A. McLain, director of the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum. "Obviously, it's very slanted towards eastern Massachusetts because there's a lot more people in eastern Massachusetts than in Western Massachusetts."

The Quadrangle, the Springfield Armory National Historic Site, and the Emily Dickinson House in Amherst were among the sites included on the voting list. Al's Diner made the cut because it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Mathews's loss is really his gain. He promised his customers breakfast for a quarter if his diner was chosen.

"I wouldn't have made that statement about breakfasts if I thought we would win," he said. "All my customers said they were voting two or three times. They were all hoping to get a breakfast for a quarter."

Westport, MA
Quentin Sanford, owner of Handy Hill Creamery, faced some pointed questions about three unused diners on his property on Hix Bridge Road.

Sanford was at a recent selectmen's meeting for a hearing on an NSTAR conduit to serve the new Central Village fire station across from Handy Hill. NSTAR agreed to complete the installation before mid-May when Handy Hill reopens for the season.

While Sanford was there, selectmen read a letter from Nancy C. Crosby, co-owner of Partners Village Store, who asked for the status of the "three derelict diners." Crosby called them a "discouraging eyesore to all who pass by. They are surely no longer usable for the interesting, ambitious project that Mr. Sanford planned."

One of the diners is the former Jimmy Evans Flyer from New Bedford. The others, according to a Web site called Roadside Diner, are the former Route 66 Diner and Tin Man Diner.

Sanford had planned to restore the diners and open them for business but he could not get permission to hook them to an existing well used by Handy Hill.

Selectmen Chairman J. Duncan Albert said under state regulations, the well is not big enough to serve the three diners as well as Handy Hill.

However, Sanford said "the project is still on," and that they were looking for a location for a new well.

We've been rather slow in getting new podcasts up and running, but we now have a new one ready to go.

The subject of our latest is The Maine Diner in Wells, Maine. I discovered this gem many years ago, and, after diving headlong into their lobster pie, I've been back many times.

On that busy stretch of coastal Route 1 between the resort towns of Ogunquit and Kennebunkport, the Maine Diner has an interesting history, which harkens back to a Boston lunchroom...and a guy named Socrates.

Owner Myles Henry takes us on a tour of the Maine Diner's history.

Just click the "Podcast: Listen Now" link in the menu to, ah....listen now!

Ellicott City, MD
The griddle is still sizzling and the coffee's still hot, for now.

After more than 60 years in business, the Forest Diner's days are numbered.

The iconic diner on Route 40 in Ellicott City has been sold to make way for an office complex, although there's an unusual catch. Diner owner Will Reich, 70, struck the deal with the condition that he could rent the property back for five years.

He plans to keep the diner open until then, to give his employees -- and his loyal customers -- time to plan for a life without the Forest Diner.

"I had a number of employees who've been here a long time, a lot of customers who've been here a long time," Reich explained. "We just didn't want to cut it off that fast."

Reich sold his land to a group of investors that includes Michael Weal, whose family has owned the nearby Forest Motel since the 1960s. The motel (which closed last month), diner and two homes behind them will be replaced by an office and retail complex, Weal said.

The decision to close down the diner was not an easy one, Reich said. The poor state of the economy influenced his thinking, he said. At age 70, he's also not sure that he wants to run the restaurant indefinitely. Others in the past have offered to buy the diner for redevelopment, he said, but they all wanted to shut down the restaurant immediately. The sale helped assure Reich that he can stay afloat during rough economic times and give his employees plenty of time to prepare for the closing. "They're all a little disappointed," Reich said, "but this takes the pain out of it a little bit." The deal was inked in August, which gives the diner's loyal customers 4 1/2 more years to get their daily ration of eggs and coffee, burgers, and homemade meatloaf.

By Ron Dylewski | The American Roadside | Feb. 15, 2009

It's an off-year election, but the voting is now underway to see which Massachusetts icons have a chance of ending up being minted into the next set of "state quarters. Could it be a diner?

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick will be able to submit one "preferred" and three alternate choices and the new coins will start to become available in 2010. As part that effort, the Governor's office has put the selection process up for a vote.

From an initial list, the only remaining "roadside" bits are Al's Diner in Chiopee, the Rosebud Diner in Somerville and the Miss Worcester, which sits right across the street from the former Worcester Lunch Manufacturing Company works.

To vote, go to this link.

While it's hard to imagine any of the diners will beat out Plymouth Rock, Cape Cod, the Gloucester Fisherman, Walden Pond, Harvard Yard or Faneuil Hall, ya' never know!

By Peter C.T. Elsworth | Journal | Feb. 14, 2009

It’s almost easy to imagine Dick Shappy’s 1911 electric trolley rattling down the streets of Providence.

Almost, because it is still missing its wheels and two electric engines.

But the basic structure is in shape, with rebuilt platforms at each end, two rows of wicker-covered seats running along the inside and a new coat of Pennsylvania Transit Green paint on the outside. Shappy has even lined the inside with period advertisements.

But seven years ago, when Shappy paid $1 to salvage the skeleton of the trolley from a condemned diner, it was hard to imagine it doing anything but taking a one-way trip to the garbage dump.

“It was two weeks from the wrecker’s ball,” he said.

Indeed, it was in such bad shape it was only identified by the bolts on the undercarriage.

“By the bolt pattern I believe that car to be an Osgood Bradley [electric trolley],” he said in a recent interview, citing an expert’s opinion that got the restoration project started.

Shappy was standing in the workshop he built in 2004 to house the restoration project. He said the trolley had spent a couple of years in a parking lot under wraps after being trucked up from Warwick on a flatbed.

He noted that while he paid $1 for the salvage rights, bringing it up to Providence cost $6,000.

Subsequent research by Shappy and others, most notably the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, Conn., revealed it to be a 1911 Osgood Bradley trolley built in Worcester and delivered to the Rhode Island Co. on Dec. 14, 1912. It was the first of 31 trolleys delivered, number 1068 in a sequence that ran to 1099.

“I’ve always had a love for early transportation history and a fondness for early trolley cars,” he said, adding that he had been looking for an antique trolley for some 25 years before discovering the Osgood Bradley hidden in the diner.

Shappy said the trolley was in service until 1939, sold in 1940 and converted into the Veterans Square Diner in Warwick. Others were burned in a vast pyre at Rocky Point, with a small number refurbished and continuing in service, he said.

Miss Adams Diner brings back the atmosphere of a true 1950s eatery.

Established in 1949, the historic Worcester dining car at 53 Park St. has an extensive menu, delicious food and a friendly waitstaff.

The night we dined there a couple of weeks ago, "The Beverly Hillbillies" and the movie "Grease" were playing on televisions located at each end of the car, pictures of James Dean, Elvis and Marilyn Monroe were hanging behind the counter and the sounds of '50s music could be heard the second you walked in.

After a short stint as a seafood restaurant last summer, the diner reclaimed the Miss Adams name and reopened on Nov. 9 with manager Annmarie Belmonte, who has been in the restaurant business for 24 years.

"I had been looking into opening the diner before it opened as the Captain's Tavern," said Belmonte, who ran Corky's Deli for a short period. "When the opportunity arose again, I wanted to bring back the Miss Adams Diner name and redecorate the inside."

Belmonte says she is thankful that business has been very good so far.

"Usually restaurants are slow over the holiday season, but we were still quite busy," she said. "Business was a lot better than I thought it would be."

On this particular Saturday afternoon, business was certainly steady. My husband, David, and I had planned on a midday snack before returning home from the Berkshire Mall but instead enjoyed an appetizer and early dinner.