Americans take as much pride in our diners as the French do in their bistros and Italians in their trattorias. This is because diners are a home grown American culinary invention. Just think of the popularity of the TV show, Happy Days and how the majority of it was actually set in “Arnold’s,” a fictionalized diner.
I started wondering about the history of diners, their designs and how what was going on in America actually influenced the designs. The early diner concept, which started out as a lunch cart carried by horses, gelled after WWII. During the first half of the 20th century, diners were a Northeastern phenomenon. After the war they became popular in others parts of the country and in suburbs largely because highways, many which had been built as part of public works programs during the depression, made traveling easier. People not only took trips more frequently but also commuted back and forth to work at longer distances. As the demand for places to eat along the way increased, roadside diners popped up along main roads and thoroughfares.
Diner operators realized that they needed to incorporate the mood of the country into the atmosphere. The somber Deco black and metal tones of the 30’s and 40’s were swapped out in the post war era for bright red, yellow and turquoise. Checker patterned tiling replaced wood flooring. Wartime technology led to the creation of synthetic materials that were not only less expensive but were also easier to color. Leather seat coverings were traded in for Naugahyde and Formica was used instead of metal and wood for counter and tabletops.
The space age had an influence on diner design, especially in the later part of the 50’s. What was then called “Googie” (not Google) architecture and is now known as mid-century modern with upswept roofs and boomerang shaped signage (with McDonald’s golden arches being a perfect example) represented mobility and the race to space.
Not least, nothing says “50’s diner” like a jukebox. With rock-n-roll exploding amongst the youth, diners were a place where teenagers and young adults could go to get away from their parents, meet with friends and listen to the music that the older generations hated.
Diners’ popularity started to wane in the 60’s and reached a low in the 70’s but in the 80’s they started sprouting up again. Places such as Lori’s Diner and Mel’s Drive-In on the West Coast and Ellen’s Stardust Diner in New York took design and architecture cues from their 1950’s forbearers.
Diners might not be as popular as they were in the 50’s but they still have a place. They serve as a reminder that it is possible to move from the worst of times to the best and that life’s simplest things – like a milk shake or a hamburger with French fries – can also be our greatest pleasures.
