philadelphia restaurants in the 1980s

In total, his restaurants represent about 900 seats. Only bother to go here if youre a hard-core diner fanatic. Community gardening. Some like to compare diner builders to the more familiar auto industry, and some might designate OMahony as theChevroletof dinersa well-built, stylish diner without some of the features or decorative flourish found in its competitors,likeParamount or Fodero. I give the food here very high marks, and youll find items on the menu you dont expect to find in a traditional diner which always works for me. Press 1310 Drury Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107. | Photo: Randy Garbin. Philadelphia's culinary world has long turned heads nationwide, only to bask in the spotlight once again when the prestigious 2022 James Beard Awards named 16 local chefs and restaurants as semifinalists. I often say that the best way to preserve diners is to keep them viable. 8 Lesser-Known Abortion Funds to Support Post-Roe, Your Guide to This Weeks Eagles-Giants Playoff Game. For some native Philadelphians like me, all of this is difficult to absorb. That was largely original but sparsely patronized. I was about six. Clip ref BF5044.Night. Disingenuousness aside, the Melrose earned a reputation for its baked goods and sterling service. Steel's, Finelli's and Dooner's were among the exclusive drinking resorts of the early eighties. The point is, it was plenty neighborhoody. Clearly, someone at Bobs Diner paid very careful attention in omelette making class. I admire them for sticking it out. It was torn down in 2006. Luckily, you can still get thatCypriot goodness at Kanella Grill at 10th and Spruce. Only a couple of years later Swingle would close up shop, but Morozins request pushed diner manufacturers to fashion restaurants in various styles dictated by the often-dubious tastes of the operator. like the OG. This was the place to reconnoiter, the hub, the treehouse club, the HQ. From international a jumbo dog and mashed potato heavy fishcakes served on an Reviews on 80s Themed Restaurants in Philadelphia, PA - Bud & Marilyn's, The Dandelion, Dirty Franks, Louie Louie, Butcher and Singer, Harper's Garden, McGillin's Olde Ale House, Raven Lounge, Atlantis, The Lost Bar, The Fillmore Philadelphia anno 1980). (2) Midtown Diners looks like the Oak Lane died as well. As an added bonus, a seat at the counter gives you front-row access to the action. If you had the good fortune to see itbefore 2000 and havent seen it since, stay away. | Photo: Randy Garbin. Places Near Northeast Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA with 80s Night Clubs. Charcoal House Nick Evlon 1836 Lovering Ave, Wilmington, DE 1973-1980s Closed Charlotte's Restaurant Jimmy Costalas 3207 W. Chester Pike, Newtown Sq., PA 1991-Present Operating . From World War II until the 1980s, the Philadelphia area was home to many of these "old line, crockery, silver and glass restaurants." There were 24 Linton's, 44 Horn and Hardart's and 18 Dewey's. . I also waitressed at Oak Lane Diner when I was in grad school in the late 70s (Hmm, tuition=extra money=diner job). Today the diner seats more than 250 people. This breakfast, lunch and Eagle II Bookers has filled the soul food void in the neighborhood with its upscale take, but theres nothing quite like enjoying a Citywide alongside a platter of top-notch fried chicken, collards, and candied yams in a dark bar withyour neighbors belting karaokein the background. today. Moreover, many Hispanic immigrants from Central and South America have settled in North Philadelphia. Throwback Thursday: A fond look back at long vanished South Bend restaurants. To order the clip clean and hi-res or to find out more visit http://www.kinolibrary.com. Supercade was too fresh and clean. There were also those nightclubs and discos: lan, Black Banana, Artemis, Revival, London Victory Club which, in glossy Studio 54 hindsight, must make Center City sound somewhat glamorous. Though, waiting around for a seat is a form of torture, especially for anyone trying to shed a muffin top. | Photo: Randy Garbin. Read more G.W. a particularly damning review from Craig Laban, not even a change in ownership in 2012 could save the grand dame of But, I do remember going to lunch there with my dad and having a Liberty Bell shape burger during the bicentennial year when I was about 13. But amid the onslaught of new restaurants opening all over the city year after year, there are the fallen soldiers: old-school spots that got priced out due to rising rents, hotshot chefs whose ambition outstripped their business sense (or maybe just their luck), and concepts that made great food but, for whatever reason, just didnt take. Kullman would later become the first of the builders to produce retro-style diners on a regular basis, but before then you had diners like this one. In Spain. The Commissary - in its orginal configuration. (215) 735-5562. And so on. My parents would take me to DeeDees diner every Friday for the fried seafood platter. Thomas Hawk, Flickr // CC BY-NC 2.0. They also all use the same playbook so any differences become nuance. Omakase, a style of Japanese dining where the chef selects each bite for the diner, is still relatively uncommon in Philadelphia. A couple of notesthe Boylevard Diner is now closed, the K Diner was first known as rhe Crest Diner and around 1978-79 it became Mil-Lees Luv-in, and Casa DEspana on Whitaker Ave was formerly known as the Franklin Diner, which was a local icon and was always busy. My father worked as a manager at Whitney & Patterson Paper Company at 5th & Bristol in the 70s into the 80s. The city had already issued the demo permit. Up until then the food and service were great, and they had fantastic thick-cut bacon. Dinner: 4-10pm Happy Hour: 4-6pm. A place that shows you what all the locals are about. As late as the 60s, they were all over the northwest suburbs in Montgomery county: Hatboro, Horsham, Willow Grove, Glenside, and many others. I used to work at the Ritz diner mainly as a busboy in the late 80s early nineties. Silk City In 1968, they traded up to a ten-sectioned monstrosity that Diners of Pennsylvania describes as an Arabian fantasy of stone, beige stucco, and arched windows. The family decided on thestyle after a trip to Las Vegas and, to the best of anyones knowledge, Fodero built none others like it. The girl who took me to Houlihans on the Square with all the cool kids lived at 18th and Delancey, across the street from towheaded Laura and her little brother Adam, both of whom have passed away, which is a sentence I shouldnt have to write while Im still in my 40s. https://scholarship.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/bitstream/handle/10066/13686/19471217_OCR.pdf?sequence=10&isAllowed=y, It was fondly known as the greasy spoon among the Villanova students: Write by: . I remember thinking we might get in trouble, and also feeling jealous that my friend seemed to be able to identify cocaine. legendary carrot cake. Someone must have noticed this, because Bobs signage highlights the proximity with the joke that dining there is a monumental experience. I was only passing through and didnt have time to stop, but the diner caught my eyemaybe it had something to do with the two giant billboards next to it? | Content Licensing, Copyright 1996-2023 GAYOT All Rights Reserved Privacy Policy Disclaimer Terms of Use GAYOT (pronounced guy-OH) The Guide To The Good Life. Living now in Georgia, diners are much missed by this 91 year old Philly/south Jersey lad. Tags:Broad Street Diner Melrose Diner restaurant history. My parents bought a house on Rodman Street soon thereafter, and all the photos from my toddler days seem to show one neighbor or another lying flat on his back, with a big smile, obviously intoxicated by some natural plant. The consent submitted will only be used for data processing originating from this website. Levis Hot Dogs. Vetri Cucina. While a trained eye can often tell if a building was once a diner, you still need the photos to confirm it and just such a search from the comfort of my desk chair confirmed this find. To use social login you have to agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website. I can say i have a lot of respect for these structures. 3k Views. | Photo: Randy Garbin. Before Stephen Starr oversaw a national empire of more than 35 restaurants, One year, we heard a judge was hosting one of these parade-watching parties. He sold it in the late 90s and there have been a few owners since then. French Restaurants Continental Restaurants Restaurants. Kabobeesh serves Indian and Pakistani food. December 10, 2014. The wagons, eventually manufacturedby several different companies, grew bigger and more ornate and semi-permanent. A visual blast from the past. He gave me my first French kiss at the TLA, back when it was a movie theater that showed cartoons during the day, repertory film at night, and Rocky Horror Picture Show at midnight. My top three (almost a three-way tie) are: 1. Shop on Main Street. The Creed franchise is a child of the king of boxing films 1976's "Rocky" and its five sequels. All rights reserved. This article was intended to document only REAL prefabricated diners, i.e. Twenty-four diners now operate in Philadelphia, down from 30 in 1990 when I first toured the city What do you like most about this 80s-themed restaurant in Pennsylvania? Great memories! My friends dad picked us up in his car one day without any clothes on. (185) Fond memories. You can also get dinner here. Center City Philadelphia has come into its own: exclusive retail, superb restaurants, imposing new skyscrapers. Sad long after selling and the fire. Philly has been in the midst of a long-lived restaurant boom that shows no signs of slowing. People might offer you drugs. Since then, it's grown up, gotten a job, and emerged as the much more responsible . Yeah, theres Delco and Jersey on either side of the city, but still a major American city needs the accessibility, affordability, and history that a solidlong-lived diner can provide. Khmer KitchenClosed in: 2018Thisfamily-run BYO in Pennsport repped Cambodian cuisine,broadening the scope of the citys dining scene and serving incredible chicken curry and pleah (spicy raw beef saladwith lime, peanuts, and fresh mint) in the process. Previously, The Pump House: Yes: From's Restaurant: Prices Corner, Kirkwood Highway Most extant diners likely came from a New Jersey factory. Your email address will not be published. Shame its all gone now. Thanks to a tip by someone who grew up in the Olney neighborhood I managed to find this diner which, up until that point, existed on no one elses list. 6. Stuccoed into obscurity at Annas. He was the publisher and editor of Roadside Magazine and RoadsideOnline, a magazine and website that promoted its Recipe for an American Renaissance: Eat in diners. | Photo: Randy Garbin. One thing remains the same, though: the rats. Being a person from the 60s it brought me fond memories of the diners. There was no single grown-up world, no monolith. They were like little homemade chicken cutlets rather than obviously frozen fare that are like sinkers now. The diner was built by Paramount and it still features the companys trademark wedding cake corners with the gazing ball ornament. Easy parking. There was also Jersey Queen Dairy who began delivering milk in the city by horse and carriage. The fact that so few pristine examples remain should give anyone with an appreciation for aesthetic and structural quality reason enough to at least go in one and get a cup of coffee on a regular basis. We won't fault you for getting misty-eyed over these failed fast-food chain restaurants from the 1980s. Overcooked eggs with ingredients scrambled in does not an omelette make. the end, hosting lavish breakfasts and brunches, power lunches and dinners The iconic, streamlined style fell from fashion or was outright prohibited by municipal design codes by the mid-1960s. Senior year, a friend and I went to see Hannah and Her Sisters. If you're a human and see this, please ignore it. In the face of extreme competition, age, new layers of regulation, and increasing overhead, viability for a 50-seat, short-order restaurant becomes a Herculean task. Heres hoping another Portuguese concept can make it work downtown someday soon. A hostess sometimes had to take names out in the lobby. Today we are so fortunate to have more choices for casual or exquisite fine dining experiences. The story of how the Trolley Car came to Mount Airy begins with a few too many beers. Can a diner still call itself Jewish-American after a Greek immigrant buys it? A proper omelet is carefully fried in a well-seasoned aluminum pan with the filling folded in. Palumbo's, 9/Catharine: Decent gravy joint, but the ambience was sooo 1950s. The original diner was built in the 1930s by OMahony, but at some pointprobably in the late 1950san expansion to the front of the diner almostdoubled the seating and added stainless steel cladding to the exterior. An estimated area population of 1,204,799 in 1937 was served by 120 hotels. I feel like I cant truly enjoy a vacation or visiting a town without going to a local diner. How could we not love this place? 5. Only one of us was brave enough to go in; the rest waited outside, flat against the wall, like felons in a lineup. St. Joseph County police searching for missing 12-year-old girl. something of a Greek tragedy during its final days. Book online. Yet another Petrogiannis acquisition. Word has it that Bobs owner Jim Evans has the place up for sale, but as hes currently asking an obscene amount of money$1.9 milliondont expect any major changes soon. Here you'll find all collections you've created before. Melrose really had some good food under the Kubachs. The OMahony diner came to Philadelphia in the 1960s from Medford, Massachusetts where it operated as Carols Diner. Khyber Pass Pub. We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. Live in a walkable community. He currently works as an independent website developer and art director. Theres too much crime. Facebook/A Slice of the 80s. Black-owned restaurants were especially numerous. Freshly ground meat, a Melrose tradition, has been replaced by portion control. In the late 1970s, the Dewey's restaurants in Philadelphia began to fold, victims to competition from national fast food chains like . | Photo: Randy Garbin. The diner was likely built by either OMahony or Mountain View, but, except for the terrazzo floor, youll find almost no features that would indicate pedigree. I remember going there as a kid with my dad and grandfather. I hope someone who loves diners reads this story and is moved to buy it and restore it. This roundup features what I believe to be the citys best and most significant examples of the the classic American diner. You can see this on the builder tags still affixed over the door, and on that tag youll also find a serial number 5907 which tells you that it was the seventh diner built in 1959. Commissary, were expanding palates throughout the region with international Just dont ask him when the actual trolleys will return to the tracks on Germantown Avenue. At the Oregon, my family and I ordered dinner that included chicken soup, pot roast for me, spaghetti and meatballs for the kid, and pasta primavera for my wife. The old benches, the ones without armrests in the middle, were wide and deep enough that homeless people could sleep on them. his March 4, 2023 / FoxNewsFeeds. Philadelphia restaurants long gone and greatly missed.My top-of-mind most-missed five:1. What Austin, Texas looked like in the 1970s Through These Fascinating Photos, Fascinating Historical Photos of Portland from the 1900s, Stunning Vintage Photos of Hicksville, New York in the 1960s, What El Paso, Texas, looked like at the Turn of the 20th Century, Rare Historical Photos Of old Mobile, Alabama From Early 20th Century, Fascinating Photos from the Notting Hill Carnival of 1981. I moved into the neighborhood only a few months before it burned. That beautiful buildings courtyard was the kind of place you either avoided or walked through as quickly as possible, dodging mysterious puddles and smells, with soot or something like it crunching beneath your feet. In the first decade of the 21st century, Petrogiannis also snapped up the Tiffany, Country Club, and Broad Street diners. Finelli had two places, one on Tenth Street above Chestnut, and another on Chestnut east side of Broad. Chi-Chi's. Wikimedia Commons/Nostaljack/Public Domain. Modo MioClosed in: 2017Peter McAndrewss Modo Mio didnt feel like an Italian restaurant it felt like eating in Italy. Note that clicking the link below will block access to this site for 24 hours. Developers are breaking ground on skyscrapers. Open in Google Maps. Including the restaurant that arguably introduced Buffalo wings to Philadelphia. Oh. nest and fried wontons with complete with a mysterious dunking sauce. Jack Doneius bought a run-down, but well-preserved diner in Manhattans lower West Side, spruced it up, and started serving upscale food. Not surprisingly, we saw movies constantly, and relied upon them as instructional manuals. Thank you meme. Keep up the great work! memorable shutters. Pizza with Duck Sausage wins quick stardom. A full ten years before the culture rediscovered the vintage diner, Joe Morozin wanted his new diner to look like something out of the 1930s, but at about six times the size. But what about the diner? | Photo: Randy Garbin. Notably, the Big Greek Diner has become less and less Greek. As a preservationist and a diner fanatic, I tend to give considerable slack to vintage diners, especially when they make an obvious effort to do right by the customer and their community. As the word "Olde" in its name implies, McGillin's is Philadelphia's oldest continuously operating tavern. When you attempt to offer as much as the Oregon does for that many people, greatness becomes nearly impossible. | About Us And at this haute moment, dining out is what passes for a night's entertainment. If anybody rememberit. In 1998, with diners at the peak of their resurgence, Ken tossed the idea into mix, and the hunt commenced. Oh, what about Middletons Diner? Your Dad Steve was a great boss back then. I may allow some slack for most diners, but, in my mind, a well-run diner must do two things perfectly every time: Coffee and home fries. The name was Carrolls Diner (not Carols) It was the familys last name. The story of Philadelphias finest French restaurant unraveled into Back then, it was like there was no one on duty. Her name was Taz Lang and she was brutally murdered. Within the Philadelphia city limits, if you want the true, blue-collar, meat-and-mashed experience inside the real McCoy of vintage American diners, staffed with seasoned, fast-talking, tough-but-tender, maternal waitresses, you will find it in exactly one place: Bobs Diner in Roxborough. | Photo: Randy Garbin. The family also owned Alexanders restaurant in Abington up the road. City Hall was a mess. What I wrote about Kabobeesh applies to the Penrose as well. For the most part, the Big Greek Diners all serve more or less the same thing. Today, the K stands for Korean, and while youll find Asian specialties on the menu, you can also get a good, old-fashioned American breakfast. I MEET SO MANY people now who have moved to Philadelphia in the past 10 years and stayed. cheeky menu full of gems like sweet n pungent pork Tahiti and barbecue Horn & Hardarts 54th & City Ave. | 818 Chestnut From the looks of things, it has also seen several makeovers, the last one happening a year ago, making any effort to detect original features futile. There was a diner on Aramingo Avenue we use to stop in back in the early 60s after a night of bar hopping. There is alot of history to that piece of property. The Lombard Swim Club had a topless section. vending machines-meets-restaurant featured walls of serve yourself windows Which kind of adult would I be? The city does have some great Portuguese spots (Cafe Liz and Peruvian hybrid El Balconcito come to mind), but theyre all solidly in North or Northeast Philly. floor of the hotel was home to The Fountain. By 1930 Cleveland had 1,073 restaurants with 5,959 full-time employees, doing $27,084,127 worth of business. flavors. dinner dining room with views of the Swann Fountain was elegant up until My wife and I had the London broil, fried seafood combo, and the minestrone soup. Penrose Diner in 1993 before renovations completely changed the character of the restaurant a few years later. I have the original plans and zoning for the building. One of the first major restaurant chains, it went public in 1961 with 605 . My parents met at a diner somewhere near Elkins Park in the mid-1930s that was run by a couple named John and Gay. The diner has its own history that stretches back to the 1870s when food vendor Walter Scott in Providence, Rhode Island modifiedhis horse-drawn freight wagon into something akin to modern day food cartsand trucks seen all over Center Citya small vehiclefrom which hot meals are dispensed. Both the Melrose and the Mayfair shared a particularly endearing practice of pinning their waitresses with the year they started service. The Farm & Fisherman. NBC10 hires Fred Shropshire to replace Jim Rosenfield as weekday evening anchor. That all ended with Michael Petrogiannis. The Mayfair Diner ended an 80-year run under the same family in 2006. Does anyone have any information about what the Diner might have been called. Just for the nostalgia and reminiscing those good old days. The diner takes its name from the company that built it. At the same time, she hinted thathertaco cart might be back in some form in the future, so were holding out hope. Order Online. transformed into the ambitious but poorly received Avance before ending its Please like & follow for more interesting content. Heres a list of some of the bygone Philadelphia restaurants we miss the most. Strictly speaking, adiner is a prefabricated food-service structure with counter service and tables. You wont leave hungry. Often overlooked for inclusion in the Philly diner pantheon, the Dining Car on Frankford Avenue in the Northeast nevertheless continues to get plenty of love from the neighborhood, and for good reason. Built in 1949 by Paramount to a standard of quality that no one else could match, it served in the 1990s as one of two American Diners in Philadelphia and was an attempt to upscale the traditional diner menu. | Photo: Randy Garbin. Little PetesClosed in: 2017The iconic 24-hour diner at 17th and Chancellor was one of the dwindling number of places in the heart of Center City where folks from all walks of life could congregate over a plate of scrapple or corned beef. I suppose so. In fact, I miss all the movie theaters of my youth. But theres something about the national retail chains, about the people in teal, about the loss of diners and movie theaters in all their sticky-floored glory that makes me feel Center City has edged a bit too far toward the post-Giuliani NYC model of moneyed, sterilized urbanity. From 19th century hot dog houses to the chrome-clad diners and tiki huts of days gone by, here are 10 of the citys most For fifteen bucks, do you overlook the fact that the mashed potatoes were instant? At the time, we felt our conversations were only a shade less sophisticated than My Dinner With Andre. Also, I didnt have an omelet at the Oregon, but I can say with some authority after trying dozens of times in places just like these, the Big Greek Diner cant make a proper omelet to save their lives. The Oregon Diner Restaurant, 302 West Oregon Avenue, The Oregon Diner has endured at least three renovations since its installation in the 1960s. when I see one shut down. Airys continued revival. I ended up working in the factory after high school from 81 to around 84 and the diner was still going strong.

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