Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (2024)

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Food

Erin McDowell

Updated

2024-03-26T19:11:07Z

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (1)

Nothing is more quintessentially American than a '50s-style diner.
Diners, which were originally referred to as "lunch cars," first emerged in the 1920s.
By the '50s, they had grown in popularity due to their low prices, large menus, and extended hours.

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Once the go-to hangout spot for American teens and a symbol of opportunity for small business owners, diners are one of the most beloved remnants of mid-century America.

The first railcar-style diners popped up in New Jersey in the early 1900s.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (5)

Railcar-style diners were modeled after dining cars or sometimes converted from the original train cars into stand-alone eateries, the Telegraph reported.

Diners, which were relatively affordable to purchase at just $1,000, were constructed in factories and then shipped to their destinations, much like mobile homes. Since they had to be transported using a truck or railcar, they were purposefully designed to be narrow, the Telegraph reported.

Once they arrived, the utilities simply had to be connected.

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New Jersey essentially became "ground zero" for diners.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (6)

Nearly 95% of the shippable restaurants were once manufactured in New Jersey, Curbed reported. The state was well-positioned for the task because of its "working-class population and transportation network," Curbed wrote.

New Jersey's oldest diner, the Summit Diner, opened in 1928, was rebuilt in 1939, and is still open today.

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Until the Great Depression, most diners could be found in the Northeast.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (7)

However, after World War II ended and the suburbs began to boom, more and more people began opening diners nationwide.

The small businesses could prove extremely profitable for owners.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (8)

Since the restaurants themselves were so small, and the kitchens so narrow, not many employees were required, which kept costs down and profits up, Curbed reported.

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With the implementation of cross-country highways in the 1960s, diners continued to grow in popularity.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (9)

Travelers along the new highways could stop off and grab a quick bite at the roadside establishments.

Many diners featured a row of bar stools along a counter, allowing many people to be served without much effort from the diner's staff.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (10)

Diners typically operate around the clock, allowing patrons to stop by at any time for a meal.

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Diners became popular due to their large menus featuring American food staples like hamburgers, fries, and club sandwiches.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (11)

Most diners had galley kitchens that made it easier for cooks to move from one dish to another, making service quicker than in a traditional restaurant, the Telegraph reported.

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As well as being quicker to make, dishes served at diners were cheaper, too.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (12)

Items like pancakes, sausages, meatloaf, burgers, and sandwiches were standard on diner menus, and still are today.

The meals were priced low, making diners popular even before their rise in the 1950s. During the Great Depression, diners provided an inexpensive way for families to go out to eat, the Telegraph reported.

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Since they are open all night, many pop-culture depictions of diners involve a feeling of loneliness and isolation.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (13)

Edward Hopper's 1942 painting "Nighthawks" shows a diner and its few occupants late at night. The painting is based on a diner in New York City's Greenwich Village.

However, diners were also a romantic, affordable date spot for young people.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (14)

Young couples could stop into a diner for a couple of burgers, hang around the jukebox, and meet up with friends in a casual, public setting.

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Diners have appeared in pop-culture favorites like "Grease," "Seinfeld," "Gilmore Girls," and "Twin Peaks."

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (15)

"In the movies, the diner is a special kind of space, a mythic place, a zone of escape," film critic John Patterson told the BBC in a 2011 interview.

Suzanne Vega, who wrote the '80s hit song "Tom's Diner," added, "The attraction of the diner is that it's a sort of a midway point between the street and home."

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Diners brought together people from different economic levels but remained segregated by race until the 1960s.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (16)

Michael C. Gabriele, who wrote "The History of Diners in New Jersey,"told the Telegraph that "diners are the state's ultimate gathering places — at any moment, high school students, CEOs, construction workers, and tourists might be found at a counter chatting with the waitresses and line cooks."

During the civil rights movement, NPR reported, diners became a popular place for activists to hold "sit-ins" in restaurants that refused to seat Black people, despite many of them employing Black people to work there.

In 1964, Congress outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels through the Civil Rights Act, but many diners in the South continued to segregate their establishments, afraid that seating Black people "would drive away white patrons," NPR reported.

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Railcar-style diners are still manufactured in factories today, but they're much more expensive to purchase and ship.

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Curbed reported in 2017 that new diners can cost more than $1 million to produce, and restoring or renovating old ones can be extremely pricey as well. Many '50s-style diners in operation today are built on-site to cut shipping costs.

By the 1970s, the rise in fast-food restaurants led to a decline in the popularity of traditional diners.

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As McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King restaurants continued to pop up nationwide, it became difficult for small business owners to compete with the huge corporations also selling cheap, convenient food.

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Diners today face an uncertain future.

Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s (19)

In 2022, Time Out reported that two notable New York diners, Good Stuff Diner in Chelsea and Meme's Diner in Crown Heights, had closed their doors in the previous two years. The New York Times also reported that between 2014 and 2019, 15 diners were sold across four of New York City's five boroughs: six sales in Queens, six in Brooklyn, two in the Bronx, and one in Staten Island.

However, a recent embracing of nostalgia — think, the increased popularity of speakeasies, as reported by USA Today — has also revitalized the typical American diner.

A recent addition to New York's Soho neighborhood is the trendy '50s-style Soho Diner, part of the Soho Grand Hotel. Other New York diners, like the Waverly Diner and the Empire Diner, have managed to keep their doors open despite changing tastes.