Preserving Diners A New England Invention & American Tradition Brian Roche Mobile horse-drawn Lunch Cars like Park Café (above) and Brooks Café (below) became popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries throughout the northeast. Photos courtesy of Richard J.S. Gutman. T he image of diners in our popular culture often conjures up a nostalgic view of the 1950s, but diners actually go back well over 100 years, making many of these historic structures “true” antiques that are well worth preserving. And while some diners may be restored for display at a museum or used for other purposes, most would agree that the best preserved diner is one that retains its original purpose as a local eating establishment. A place where people from all walks of life can sit shoulder-to-shoulder on slender stools, sit with the whole family in over-upholstered booths (hopefully with wall mounted music), meet with their neighbors, talk local politics, argue over sports or joke with the waitress. This is the type of American tradition that is worth saving. New England is the birthplace of the diner and still boasts a high concentration of them, while many states outside the northeast have very few or no diners. It all began in 1872 in Providence, R.I., when Walter Scott created the first “night lunch wagon” to feed the newspaper and factory workers on the night shift. Business was brisk and many competitors soon followed. In the 1880s, much of the growing business of manufacturing lunch Page 74 ■ Antiques Journal ■ November 2009