At the diner, it's nostalgia a la mode

The lunch cart was the forerunner to the diner

December 27, 1997
Web posted at: 8:54 p.m. EST (0154 GMT)

NEW YORK (CNN) -- In today's world of drive-throughs and drive-bys, the diner is parked in our hearts -- and our bellies.

This year marks the 125th anniversary of the invention of the diner's forerunner -- a lunch cart built to serve newspaper workers on a graveyard shift.

The diner, a small restaurant with counters and booths, is attracting a new generation of Americans with its down-home cooking and stay-a-while atmosphere.

CNN's Brian Jenkins reports 2 min. VXtreme video

After 19 years of working for other restaurants, Ira Freehof discovered the appeal of this classic American eating establishment.

Freehof wanted his own bistro serving American cuisine. He realized that meant a diner.

Freehof happens to be from Providence, Rhode Island, the city that saw the first lunch carts and lunch wagons, the forerunners of factory-built portable diners. Many are built to resemble sleek rail diner cars.

Last year, in midtown Manhattan, Freehof opened The Comfort Diner. He remodeled an old coffee shop, evoking the best of diner decor and diner menus from the past.

That evocation translates into "good home cooking, reasonable prices, a very comfortable atmosphere," Freehof said.

The golden age of diners, Freehof says, was from the 1930s to the 1950s.

By the '50s, there were some 6,000 diners in the United States, but as more city residents moved to the suburbs, fast-food franchises sprouted across the landscape.

Diners seemed out of date and fell out of favor by the 1970s.

But they have made a comeback.

The 1982 film "Diner," set in Baltimore in the 1950s, may have helped revive interest. Many young parents have had it with fast food and are taking their children to diners for home-style cooking.

Peter Genovese, author of "Jersey Diners," said that "diners have rally changed with the times. You can get all your light, nutritious, calorie-watching sort of things. And you can get your grits and mashed potatoes and 40-ounce steaks, too."

New Jersey has nearly 600 diners, more than any other state, followed by New York and Pennsylvania. New diners are popping up all over the United States, not to mention England, Germany and Russia.

They are places where every not only knows your name, but your order -- by heart.

"Before they even open up their mouth, you know what they're having and how they're having it," said John Eliakostas, a New Jersey diner owner.

That's because the customers are loyal -- like one young woman at The Comfort Diner. "Excellent food, good service," she said. "Food, food, food. Breakfast, lunch, dinner."

Correspondent Brian Jenkins contributed to this report.

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