In our own backyard, we have seen the Venus Diner take flight (now being restored in Cleveland) and the sale of our beloved amusement park, Kennywood, to a Spanish multinational after over 100 years of family ownership. But we also saw the Garden Theater get a chance at a new life, and we have faith that 2008 will bring a renewed interested in the American roadside and the great people that keep it alive and kicking!

I would be remiss if I didn't personally thank some of the people who helped out this year....and please excuse me if I miss you...it's just age catching up with me :-)

So, a special note of thanks to Brian Butko, Mike Engle, Larry Cultrera, Sarah Rolph, Dick Gutman, Steve Harwin, Chris Carvell and Barbara Ley.

And now, without further ado, our annual Christmas postcard; a tavern in the Lawrenceville section of Pittsburgh, own home town....

By Kelly Gillespie | SCNow.com | Dec. 20, 2007

A Pee Dee landmark is one step closer to demolition.

Wednesday crews began tearing down the Sky View Drive-In in Florence.

The forty-eight year-old restaurant burned down back in September.

Now what's left from that fire will come down, and each movement is almost like taking a personal hit for Nick Mathes.

"Of course it hurts. When I started in Florence every time I go by it I look. Even if it's a building or no building I still look," said Mathes, a property owner.

Mathes still catches himself looking back in time forty-eight years ago, to the heyday of the Sky View Drive-in.

Winsted, CT
Somebody broke into the Winsted Diner and looted its cash register.

And if that weren't bad enough, owner Jean Bauer said, some of the money stolen came from a fundraiser to help cover the burial costs of a Canaan teenager who died in a head-on crash two weeks ago.

The diner had been closed Tuesday, and Bauer said her cook arrived at the Main Street landmark about 4 a.m. Wednesday to discover the break-in. Blood stains were found on the back door, which appeared to be pried open, Bauer said.

Besides the door and cash register, nothing else was damaged, Bauer said. She opened the diner in September after buying and renovating the tiny Main Street fixture that had been closed since a December 2005 fire.

Christopher Goodwin, a 19-year-old killed in the crash along Route 44 in Canaan, dated Bauer's daughter and helped her fix up the eatery.

By John Guerriero | Erie Times-News } Dec. 19, 2007

Erie, NY
For 16 years, George Gourlias has flipped pancakes, fried eggs and cooked up other meals at the iconic Lawrence Park Dinor.

But Gourlias, the familiar figure behind the counter whose diner is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is cooking up something new these days.

The 1948 diner is for sale, and Gourlias, 39, plans to open a new restaurant in Millcreek Township in 2008.

Millcreek supervisors approved the land-development plan Tuesday for Gourlias' restaurant, which will be built at 3557 W. 26th St., the site of the former Coffee Shack. The approval is one of the last steps before a building permit can be issued.

The property is about 100 feet east of Caughey Road, on the south side of West 26th.

Gourlias hasn't settled on a name yet for his new restaurant.