American eating establishments like diner’s and Harvey Houses have played an important role in travel, community building, and helping to foster good manners.
In Eating Across America, Leigh recalls how her hometown diner played a role in community building. She shares the definition of a diner from the sounds of conversation, diner coffee culture, serveware, and interior decor.
In an effort to understand diner culture, she shares the evolution of the diner from a small lunch wagon in Rhode Island to pre-manufactured diners fabricated by the Worcester Lunch Car and Carriage Manufacturing Company.Â
These small mom-and-pop shops have weathered two World Wars and the Great Depression by skillfully adapting themselves to the wants and needs of their communities.
A location for politicians to meet constituents, scenes from popular movies, and even subjects for songs and pieces of art, the diner has become an American icon. A place where your food comes quickly, but the conversations are slow and easy.
To continue with the theme of eating in community, Kim dives into an establishment whose purpose was to provide an eating service to railway passengers.
After testing two locations along the Kansas Pacific Railway line, Fred Harvey determined that there was a market for a high quality food service for people on the railways. This led to the development of the Harvey Houses that would dot the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway line from Kansas to Arizona.Â
These eating houses offered a consistently high quality experience in a very short amount of time making it easy for passengers to enjoy a white table cloth experience in the time it took the train to take on necessary fuel and/or water. The service also helped to promote western bound rail travel and would ultimately result in dining cars being introduced to passenger trains.
If you’d like to visit one of the still-standing Harvey Houses, visit La Posada in Winslow, Arizona which is also a Harvey House museum.Â
Whether it’s an American diner or an iteration of the Harvey House, these eateries provide travelers with a sense of familiarity, comfort, and good eats.
So grab your headphones or turn on your wifi speaker and listen as we share all we learned about this dish and spice blend, some of its history, and some of our favorite curries.
Eating Across American Transcript
Kim Baker: Hi Leigh,Â
Leigh Olson: Hi, Kim, how are you?Â
Kim Baker: I'm hungry as always.Â
Leigh Olson: I know me too.Â
Kim Baker: But I'm so excited about our topic today. This is going to be delicious.
Leigh Olson: So delicious, you know, I think that I've always taken the American diner for granted. But on a recent visit to my hometown, I started to take a closer look at the diner. Specifically the one that was such an important part of my small town life. It was where we went after almost every social event in town, basketball games, football games, baseball games, a night on the town, which usually meant bar hopping or keggers.
If you were under age, those didn't generally take place in town. They were usually on a logging road done by the river somebody's house whose parents were gone. Anyway, I started to really think about what these comfort food establishments meant to the communities.
A Definition of the American Diner
Leigh Olson: And of course the next thought was, well, where did they come from? So I want to start by looking at what a modern American diner is. And you may disagree or agree with me, but this is generally what they look like today. They're typically open 24 hours a day. The menu is never precious. It's likely that it has staples that include meatloaf, steak and eggs, omelets, but regional flavors are often represented as well.
Salmon in the Pacific Northwest, grits in the south, crab cakes in the east. Always there's coffee, not the short latte, half-soy-half. Two-and-three-quarters-pumps-pumpkin-spice-203-degrees-extra-cup-no-foam- please coffee.Â
No, just drip coffee in a glass carafe carried by your wait staff to top up your coffee. Simple, easy, no fuss, just an always warm cup of coffee. Though you do have the option of creamer sugar, and that's typically on the table. The interior is inviting. It won't win any interior decor awards, typically. The tables are worn, but in good condition, you have your choice of either a banquette seating, tables in the center of the room or stools at the counter.
The silverware looks as though it may have gone through the garbage disposal one too many times. The plates and coffee mugs are substantial. And they need to be to survive the number of times that they go out to the tables, are unceremoniously shoved into bus bins, and put through the rigorous washing process dictated by the health department.
There's a specific sound to a diner as well. The conversations bounce back and forth off the walls, the ceilings, and the floors, kind of taking on a life of their own. The silverware rings out as it's scattered together. And the porcelain almost groans as plate meets mug meets soup bowl,Â
A Brief History of the American Diner
Leigh Olson: But the American diner didn't always start out as a community centric, family friendly gathering place that we know today. They actually had more in common with food trucks that we know today. The origins of the diner can be traced back to a young Rhode Island lad by the name of Walter Scott. Who in 1872 turned a horse, pulled wagon into what is called the night lunch wagon.Â
And these wagons became known as night owls, which was particularly interesting to me because that's the name of the diner in my home. Yeah. So Scott catered his low cost meals to late shift workers, newspaper men, some theater goers, anyone who was out after restaurants had closed and were looking for a hot meal at a good price. Service was simple. You'd purchase your meal at the window and enjoy your grub curbside. And as the popularity of the lunch wagon grew, they began to evolve from windows service wagons to rolling restaurants that included a few seats inside.
So think like a trolley car with some seats at a People started to refer to these as lunch cars and then dining cars, and then the final moniker of diner.Â
Now, strictly speaking to a purist,a diner is a prefabricated structure that's transported to its location. And this was the next iteration in the evolution of the diner in 1884, 12 years. After our young Walter Scott introduced the night lunch wagon, Samuel Messer Jones, also of Rhode Island, was inspired to take Scott's concept with him to Worcester, Massachusetts. After being laid off from the Corliss Steam Engine Works.Â
He opened up a night lunch wagon and then went on to found the Worcester Lunch Car and Carriage Manufacturing Company. Which pre-manufactured lunch wagons that were installed across New England with a couple of outliers in Michigan and Florida. And this company actually operated from 1906 to 1961. And some of their diners are still in existence and they're listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Â
The Success of the American Diner relied on the Ability of Adaptation
Leigh Olson: One of the things that really struck me is the longevity of the diner. The ability for the owners to adapt to the times was significant in the success of the diner. As I mentioned before, diners cater predominantly to a male crowd. Women actually saw them as coarse and dirty, but that would change during WWI.
When the men went off to war the owners of these diners needed to cater to these women that were left behind. And they did so by adding window boxes that were filled with colorful flowers and advertising their foods as home cooked. In the 1930s, another trend influenced the design of the dining. And it was about this new modern era, which we would also see in the 1950s, after the second world war, we wanted to look forward after both of these wars.
The Futuristic Look of the American Diner
Leigh Olson: So designs took on a futuristic look. And when the depression hit the low cost of the menus of the diners, help them to stay afloat. After WWII, the design of the diner experienced another evolution. Again, with this forward-looking more modern era, you start to see Formica countertops installed.
And this was really interesting because Formica was actually, introduced in 1913, but it really didn't come into its own until the 19 late 1940s, early 1950s. And it was because it was cheap, but even more importantly was because it was cheerful. The patterns were colorful and beautiful.
And even the names of the Formica patterns, exuded happiness. Mayflowers, Spindrift, soft glow. We also saw porcelain tiles, terrazzo floors, leather booths being installed into the diners at this time.Â
The American Diner as a Cultural Icon
Leigh Olson: The diner has become this icon of American culture. You have politicians who stop at local diners to meet their constituents.
It's been the setting in films like When Harry Met Sally, Pulp Fiction, Grease, Mildred Pierce. It appears in paintings by Norman Rockwell and Edward Hopper. It's been the topic of songs by artists like Woody Guthrie and Tom Waits. And even if your diner wasn't manufactured by the Worcester Lunch car and Carriage Company and was built on site, it's a place where you can share a comforting meal. Talk about that unforgettable play in the fourth quarter, catch up on the week's happenings, and be in community together. And one last thing about the diner. The food comes out fast, but it's always delivered with a salutation of recognition if you're a local or a term of endearment, if you're not. What it isn't is an anonymous experience.
Kim Baker: Very true. Even if you're a stranger, you're not a stranger.
I think for me, the American diner is synonymous with that romantic ideal of the open road. You know, it's a part of a network of roadways across the nation, connects cities and winds across deserts, over mountain passes and through woods to grandmother's house we go.
Kim Baker: But somewhere along the way, there would be a stop for hot meal. And that is the diner in my imagination. It is, as you say, the Edward Hopper, Nighthawks, even, you know, that the kind of that warm glow from the inside spilling out into the street that draws you inand even though you're a stranger, you're not cause you're in the company of others who are a lot like you.
Looking at America Through A Train WindowÂ
Kim Baker: Last year, my husband and I took an Amtrak train from Seattle to Portland for the long weekend. And it was a really interesting experience because I usually travel by air, So travel by train is kind of a little unusual for us. But the experience was just so cool.When I was on the train, I couldn't help it look out the window at the landscape flying by and enjoying the brief scenes of life as a train roll along. You know, the weather railroad side saloons, and sometimes the track side houses and tiny downtowns that you like just catch a glimpse and a moment. And while our country has matured and leaps and bounds, and the old railroad and highway routes have kind of given way to interstates and airplanes for long distance travel, they're gentle retirement has brought other chapters to conclusion. So my contribution today is about an institution that was once known deeply throughout the Southwest for its hospitality to rail travelers. And that's Harvey Houses.
A Brief History of Harvey Houses
To give some orientation in the later part of the 18th century, actually very much at the same time that the diner cars were being developed and conceptualized in the east coast, there's a simultaneous development with the Harvey house, which ultimately was a chain of restaurants and hotels, specifically serving rail passengers.
Kim Baker: The first locations started in the 1876 on the Kansas Pacific Railway with two eating houses developed in Kansas and one in Colorado. Now these cafes on this line really only operated for about a year, but it proved to Fred Harvey, a former freight agent and immigrant from England, that there was a market for high quality food and a really strong service oriented experience for people on the railways.
And he quickly found his big opportunity with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. with whom he establishes first eating house, adjacent to the line in Topeka, Kansas. That was followed by one in Florence, Kansas in 1878. And the Harvey House concept basically continued right on down the tracks to Lakin, Kansas in 1879 and all the way down into New Mexico, Arizona.
What was really relevant about the Harvey Houses was that they were the first to offer a very consistently high quality experience in a very short amount of time. The idea was that it was a spot that a railway passenger could pop into while a train was taking on fresh fuel and fresh water. Everything was down to a science. Even how the cup was positioned in its saucer was an indicator of what drink was supposed to go into it.
So a passenger could have an entire meal, a nice meal, in a very short amount of time.
 Up to that point, there were no real amenities meant for people traveling by rail to the, American west, to the wild west. And because there were few amenities, there were very few travelers.
Harvey Houses Help Promote Train Travel
Kim Baker: We have this sort of like catch 22 situation going on. And so ultimately the Hardy Houses were that innovation that brought restaurants and in a way, manners into this kind of, as I said, wild, wild American west. And Harvey had an unprecedented deal with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe line, which I'm just going to call it ATSF from here, that based on the success of his Topeka eating house, he was given unlimited funds to set up a series of ultimately the Harvey Houses, dubbed eating houses at all the fuel and water stops along the ATSF routes.Â
And at more prominent locations, these eating houses actually evolved into hotels where people could spend the night and some of which survived today, such as La Posada in Winslow, Arizona which I think is also a Harvey House museum.Â
By the late 1880s, there was a Fred Harvey dining facility located every 100 miles on the line. And the ATSF also agreed to convey fresh meat and produce free of charge to any Harvey House via its own private line of refrigerator cars known as the Santa Fe Refrigerator Dispatch. And that food was shipped in from every corner of the United States.Â
What's relevant is at this point in railroad history, there wasn't a dining car culture. There may be the ability to get a cup of coffee on a train, but there wasn't an actual car where there was table service and like a full-blown menu. So the fact that passengers could get off the train and go into Harvey House to get something to eat was a really big deal.
We're talking linen and china and so in a way, people had to learn how to eat at these establishments. We talked actually a little bit last year about how to be good host. A lot of those table manners came into play. You were supposed to eat with a fork and knife. and be a gentleman or a lady in this space.
The Legacy of The Fred Harvey Company
Kim Baker: So when dining cars began to appear on trains, ATSF contracted with the Fred Harvey Company to operate food service in the diners. And all the ATSF advertising proclaimed, "Fred Harvey meals all the way." When Mr. Harvey died in 1901, his family inherited 45 restaurants and 20 dining cars across 12 states. And the Harvey Houses were pressed into service in WWII when they opened up again to serve soldiers, as they traveled in troop trains across the United States. I wish I could go to a Harvey House. If I could travel in time, I would love to actually go in and experience that.
When I think about American diners, I think about that quintessential pre-chain restaurant experience.Â
Leigh Olson: I love that. It's one of those American icons. It is a place where you go to be in community together, whether that's within your own community or if you have become a community that's traveling across the country on a train.Â
Kim Baker: It's the place where you go along an unknown journey that brings a sense of comfort For me and travel, orients me. I actually find myself easier when I am on a journey than I do when I'm at home. And, and I think it's because of experiences like that, where you suspend your identity that you have at home. And you become actually a communal person. you greet people with politeness, you have conversations about the weather or sports,And of course the food is a big part of that. You know, it's stuff that's easily digestible, it's recognizable. When you order a pie, you know, you're going to geta slice of pie, and that it's gonna be the sweet and, and familiar and comforting.
And we've talked at length about comfort foods. That's kind of how we, how we kicked off As We Eat in general, That notion about what brings us comfort and joy.
Awesome! I'm taking an Amtrak trip next month, will definitely see if they have a dining car. Thank you for sharing the history of the word diner--so interesting!