I strolled into the familiar white restaurant with glass bricks on two of the walls, plush, sparkly red and green seating along the edges, and stopped in the waiting room. The old TV set played another 50s or 60s band that I couldn't place. But the guitar was pretty good, even though the screen was hazy and in black and white. Old hubcaps framed the entrance and another door to my right took me to the real restaurant. Bright colorful red, blue, green and yellow lights greeted me, while the sound of old school rock and roll flowed through my body. It was like the colors outside were muted. And I was stepping into the brand new technicolor world. The hostess took me to the table and I sat down on the same old faded leather that I’d sat on since I was a kid. There were approximately 18 flat screens hanging from the ceiling, and at least three life-size bumpers of cars used as decoration throughout the restaurant. One doubled as the hostess station, a ‘57 Chevy, while another hung from the wall above the pastry glass, a screen hanging just above it that flashed the daily specials.
Photo by Sarah Hood-Recant
This was my favorite diner growing up. It’s named River City diner, because it’s so close to Richmond and the James River. When I was younger I used to gush over the cloud decorations that hung from the ceilings, and strum the out of tune guitar held between the fiberglass hands of a young Elvis Presley, frozen permanently in the sitting position just across from the hostess. There was another statue of James Dean that I used to imitate the position of, and I always envied his bomber jacket with the fleece collar up. I used to ask for crayons and paper, and the hostess would bring me a paper soda jerk cap that I thought was the coolest. And I would ask for a quarter so I could put it in the small jukebox that every table had, and listen to the music from the era. Up until my middle school years there were zero flat screen TVs, famous statues surrounded the dining areas, and about three Harley Davidsons were mounted on the half walls. There was a Marilyn Monroe mannequin who posed in her signature position as her dress flew up because of a small fan on the ground. The walls that separate each section, between the bar, regular dining area, and private seating used to act as stages for the mannequins and antiques that the diner collected and displayed. Less cluttered nowadays, the walls and customer service haven’t changed.
Photo by Sarah Hood-Recant
My diner is a time machine, taking me back in time to when I was three or four years old, coming in with my parents and always ordering the same meal. I loved getting the strawberry milkshakes after Church on Sundays, and seeing Joanne, our waiter with a pen and pad, knowing what I wanted, just the way I liked it. But more than that, it is actually a time machine, transporting each and every person who walks through that door back a half century, back to a simpler time, and yet, a false time. I wanted to travel back through time to those days, and this diner gave me the illusion that I was. It’s happy and sad, the idea of the American Diner.
* * *
The history of the American Diner dates back to the 1800s, when Entrepreneur Walter Scott went out in his little white wagon and sold food to late shift blue collar workers. It was the first “dining car” ever. But the tried and true diner that I love today doesn’t come around till the 1920s, when people began modeling buildings after the dining cars on trains, and adding the metal siding to spruce it up. Most restaurants had one row of booths, and a long bar to sit at, though nowadays, most diners are a little bigger than that. My Diner resides only five minutes away from my house, and offers the same American Cuisine that stars like Lucille Ball, Elvis Presley, and Marilyn Monroe used to eat. Home cooked meals, like mom’s famous meatloaf, or country fried chicken, or an old fashioned burger are what set Diners apart from just any other restaurant.
The restaurants lost favor for a short time when owners of the cars were so obsessed with making money that the diners themselves fell into disrepair. However, when women became more of factor since men were off fighting in World War I, the owners remodeled their diners, giving them a more “feminine” touch with flower boxes, toilets, and a more open floor plan. The box restaurants have gone through many iterations of designs, from the first canvas wagons, to wooden models, to the familiar metal design that is meant to be a nod towards the future and the space age. But, it wasn’t till after world War II, when men and women in service were coming back in 1948, and America was just getting back to the norm that the diners really took off. People were eager to spend money now that they had it, and flocked to the restaurants. And of course then came the baby boom. Diners were already a staple of American culture, and to the younger generation, the metal boxes with a jukebox were the go to place for a quick, cheap meal and fun time.
Photo by Unsplash
But, the image that comes to mind when we think of diners is less to do with the fact that high schoolers and teenagers at the time often went to diners, and more to do with the fact that movies depicted diners as hubs for greasers, jocks, and the like. Movies such as Grease popularized the belief that diners were mostly populated with high schoolers. Even more startling, is that when looking at pictures of diners there are hardly any leather jackets to be seen. The image of a diner that people produce in their heads is a Hollywood makeup of what the true diner aesthetic looked like. So, the question remains, why focus on an image that isn’t real?
* * *
I know that when I think of diners, the images that spring to mind are mostly from Hollywood and movies that glorify the age. The true image of the diner has been swept to the side. When thinking of the good ol’ days, diners are a key factor. They catered to families, couples, and anybody who walked through the doors was considered a neighbor it seemed. The concept of the Diner harkens back to the days when America had just come out victorious from two World Wars, and the United States was still unified. The American dream was still an attainable idea that people could grasp. People didn’t question the government, and everybody thought one way back then. In a way, it was conformist, but it was also the last time in history the country would ever be as united as it was. There were already seeds of disruption even in the 50s. The Vietnam and Korean Wars began in the 50s, and the Civil Rights movement began shortly after. And yet, it’s as if the diners were their own thing, completely separate from the turmoil that the nation was going through.
I know more now, and thinking back on those times when I wanted to time travel back to the 1950s, I have realized that I shouldn’t want to. The 1950s was a time of tension, that was ready to boil over. Racism, sexism, the concept of women belonging in the kitchen, were all ideologies that were ok back then. There’s more to that decade than people realize when they imagine the 50s. The American Diner glosses over those times, turns a blind eye to them and focuses on only the most pure and innocent ideals of what America had to offer. And yet, the diner today, my diner, River City shields me from the tough times that I face in today’s society. Even if the image of the diner that I see in my head is Hollywood magic, it’s nice to imagine simpler times. The nostalgic feeling is nice. The people who work at River City now are always great, and the food is amazing. Though I can’t ignore the darker parts of the 50s, my diner is a place where I can stop, just for a little while and enjoy a home cooked meal while I listen to Elvis Presley’s latest hit, Jailhouse Rock.