The diner has a long and proud history in New England, from its roots outside of a Providence newspaper to today’s retro lunch car offering comfort food and local banter. Once ubiquitous, they had their own language, customs and architecture. Some New England diners even have a place on the National Register of Historic Places.
Their status as historic landmarks probably would have come as a shock 150 years ago. Back then, diners served their blue-plate specials from discarded railroad cars near mills and factories. People in polite society associated them with bad manners, greasy food and low-class factory workers–as well as denizens of the demi-monde. Because diners sometimes attracted disreputable characters, Buffalo, N.Y., and Atlantic City, N.J., benned them for a while.
Worcester Lunch Car No. 773 in Somerville, Mass.
Then the diner got a makeover when manufacturers started producing shiny, train-car-style “lunch wagons,” with stools and a counter. Hundreds of actual diners were manufactured in Worcester, Mass., by the Worcester Lunch Car Co. starting in 1906. Then the Jerry O’Mahony Diner Co. began making them in New Jersey in 1917. By 1925, “lunch car” had morphed into “diner.”
Many Greek immigrants who arrived in New England found jobs and, later, business opportunities in the diner business. They often started as “bubble dancers” (dishwashers) — one of the few jobs they could get. They worked hard and saved their money. The owners eventually exhausted themselves running a business 24/7, and sold out to their Greek employees. Diners named “Athenian” and “Olympian” began to proliferate throughout the Northeast.
The Golden Age
Diners peaked in the 1950s, when the United States had about 6,000 of them. The Northeast, though, had the densest concentration with 2,000. Fast-food chains then overtook the diner for cheap, quick meals, putting an end to the Golden Age of Diners. Less than half of the original U.S. diners survive.
Since the New England Historical Society first published this story several years ago, two of the six diners mentioned have closed. High food prices, scarce workers and COVID have driven diners out of business. Sometimes the owner just retired and no one wanted to buy the business.
Diner sign, Shrewsbury, Mass. Image courtesy Library of Congress.
Many of the diners that survived have adapted their food. You’re as likely to find Belgian waffles and quesadillas on the menu these days as you are to find Adam and Eve on a raft.
Diner LIngo
People love diners for their fast, cheap comfort food, their friendliness and the local repartee across the counter. Perhaps all that camaraderie accounts for the diner’s rich nomenclature. Or perhaps diner slang arose from the colorful mix of people who eat and work there.
Some diner slang made its way into the mainstream: “eggs over easy,” “sunnyside up,” “BLT” and “joe.” Other, more entertaining diner lingo stays on Bald-headed row (the line of counter stools).
Champs in Woonsocket, R.I., 1979. Image courtesy Library of Congress.
Diner menus generally include such items as the ‘mystery in the alley’ (hash), “virtue” (cherry pie) and “bun pups” (hot dogs). You can order eggs 33 different ways: as “broken hen berries” (scrambled), “kiss the pan” (over easy), “two dots and a dash” (two fried eggs and a strip of bacon), “wrecked and crying,” (scrambled eggs with onions} or “drown the kids” (boiled).
Order “beans to go,” “belly warmer,” “cup of mud” or “dirty water” and you’ll get coffee. With milk or cream it’s “blonde,” with sugar it’s “blonde and sweet” or “hot blonde in the sand.” Add Irish whiskey and it’s a “Joe O’Malley.” A cup of weak coffee might draw a complaint that it’s “all arms and legs.”
Biblical references abound: ‘Noah’s boy’ means a ham slice, while “first lady” refers to an order of ribs. “Adam’s ale, hold the hail,” means water, no ice. “Adam and Eve” refers to two poached eggs. “Adam and Eve on a raft” means on toast, “on a log” means with sausage.
A Diner Claim To Fame
Louis’ Lunch in New Haven
The founding myth of the hamburger starts with slang. In 1900, a customer rushed into a New Haven lunch wagon called Louis’ Lunch and ordered his meal to go. “Louie! I’m in a rush, slap a meatpuck between two planks and step on it!,” he said. The owner, Louis Lassan, put his mix of ground steak trimmings between two slices of toast. Thus the burger (“Wimpy,” “Bessie” or “hockey puck”) was born.
The fourth generation of the Lassan family still runs Louis’ Lunch, now in a brick building.
Here are six other New England diners where you can probably order “whistle berries” (baked beans) and a “bow-wow in the hay” (hot dog with sauerkraut).
Modern Diner
Modern Diner
Providence, R.I., is the undisputed home of the diner. In 1858, 17-year-old Walter Scott, a part-time pressman at the Providence Journal, needed some extra money. So he began selling sandwiches and coffee to newspaper workers from a horse-drawn wagon. By 1872, Scott’s side hustle made him so much money he quit his job as a printer. Others followed his success, often staying open late or around the clock for night-shift workers.
the Sterling Streamliners’ modernism was intended to attract a prosperous, “with it” clientele who attached positive associations to the whole concept of modernity –a concept with much currency in the 1930s.
You’ll find the Modern Diner at 364 East Ave in Pawtucket, R.I.
Henry’s Diner
Henry’s Diner
When Henry’s Diner opened in Burlington in 1925, society ladies and the local church objected to its unsavory presence. But diners were rebranding themselves during the ’20s. Manufacturers started making their lunch cars with booths, thinking that would attract women. Henry’s went along, putting flowers in windowboxes and waffles on the menu.
On the outside, Henry lacks the gleaming chrome of the typical diner. But inside, the decor is decidedly retro, with cheerful orange booths that may or may not appeal to the ladies.
At Henry’s, they make almost everything from scratch. That would include their famous Belgian waffles. And of course you can get pure maple syrup, as you can in almost all Vermont diners.
Henry’s opens seven days a week for breakfast and lunch. The diner has a children’s menu and some Greek specialties on offer, such as souvlaki and gyros.
You can find this classic old New England diner at 155 Bank St. To find out about other Vermont diners, click here.
Makris Diner
Makris Diner. Photo courtesy Boston Public Library postcard collection.
You may not find a better example of the 2,000 diners made by the Jerry O’Mahony Co. than the Makris Midtown Diner in Wethersfield, Conn. The O’Mahony company churned out diners in Elizabeth, N.J., until 1941.
Makris still has the original nameplate, with O’Mahony’s motto, “In our line we lead the world.”
Back in the day, Makris’ stainless steel Moderne architecture differentiated it from its neighbors on the Berlin Turnpike. Between 1942 and 1965, the turnpike served as the main route from Hartford to New Haven. It became one of the great neon strips of the Northeast, with diners, dairy bars, hot dog stands, motels, drinking places, bowling alleys and dance halls.
To catch the motorist’s eye amid all that commercial clutter, businesses adopted colorful, kitschy atchitecture. The sleek, stainless-steel look of the Makris diner sent a message to drivers: “We’re clean and modern.”
Today, Makris serves traditional diner food, but it also caters to Connecticut’s ethnic groups. The menu has included a kielbasa omelette, poutine, Greek pork chops and huevos rancheros.
Makris Midtown Diner is at 1797 Berlin Turnpike south of Hartford.
Eat at Moody’s
Bald-headed row at Moody’s
Anyone who travels through Waldoboro on U.S. Route 1 in Maine knows Moody’s Diner. Percy and Bertha Moody started Moody’s in 1927 with three tiny cabins on the old Atlantic Highway. Their children (nine of them), grandchildren and great-grandchildren expanded the business over the years to include18 cabins, a 104-seat diner and a gift shop. Along Bald-headed row, locals catch up with the gossip over bottomless cups of coffee.
Moody’s specializes in a hot turkey sandwich and half-pound hamburger along with pie. Gourmet magazine asked for its walnut pie recipe, Saveur magazine called its Whoopie pie a ‘1999 food find’ and the Culinary Hall of Fame gave a gold medal to Moody’s blueberry muffins. You can also get “Eve with a lid on” (apple pie).
Customers in the know order breakfast with cheddarwurst, a cheese-infused sausage. Moody’s gift shop sells T-shirts that state, “Pie fixes everything.” Photographs of world travelers wearing Moody’s T-shirts cover one of the walls.
Homesick Mainers (or anyone for that matter) can order Moody’s homemade donuts and Whoopie pies by mail.
To see a five-minute video about Moody’s, click here.
Miss Worcester Diner
The Miss Worcester Diner, built in 1948 by the Worcester Lunch Car Company, sits across the street from the site of the company’s plant, closed in 1957 and now gone. The company used it as a showroom diner and a place to test new features.
The Worcester Lunch Car Company made 651 diners and shipped them all over the Eastern seaboard. You can tell the manufacturer because of the characteristic Gothic-style lettering. You can find others in the Massachusetts area: the Miss Florence in Northampton, the Boulevard Diner in Worcester, the Rosebud Diner in Somerville and Casey’s Diner (see below).
Today Miss Woo is known for large portions and stuffed French toast. BuzzFeed listed it as the first of 21 diners you must visit before you die.
The National Register of Historic Places lists the Miss Worcester Diner. Stop in for lunch or breakfast at 302 Southbridge St.
Peterborough Diner
The Peterborough Diner, the first Worcester Lunch Car made with green and cream, has kept much of its historical character. It arrived in its current location on Depot Square in 1949 with the motto, “The Diner With Distinction.”
Peterborough is a picturesque town in the heart of leaf-peeping country, New Hampshire’s Monadnock Region. Locals savor the diner’s friendly atmosphere, reasonable prices and onion rings.
The Peterborough Diner is located at 10 Depot St. and serves breakfast and lunch, seven days a week from 7 am to 3 pm.
Honorable Mentions
Casey’s Diner
The Red Arrow Diner
you really can’t run for president without grabbing some grub at the Red Arrow Diner. Every four years during New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, pretty much every White House wannabe makes a pilgrimage to this tiny almost 100-year-old diner tucked onto a side street of the state’s largest city.
Photos: Miss Worcester Diner, By Improbcat – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7813073; Peterboro Diner, Av John Phelan – Eget arbete, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27555305; Central Diner, By Kenneth C. Zirkel – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21355747. Henry’s Diner by By Farragutful – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=117649261. Modern Diner By Kenneth C. Zirkel – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21733520. Casey’s By Totrcs – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3851566. Red Arrow By Amidamelio – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=130701038.Louis Lunch By amanderson2 – https://www.flickr.com/photos/amanderson/48763944691/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=125792016. Rosebud Diner By Vistawhite – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20292754.
This story was updated in 2024.
