The End of a Legacy?
Conclusions
Beginning
with the humble lunch wagon in the late 19th century, to 1920's dining
cars, to the slick
aluminum and glass diners that had their
heyday in the 1950's and 1960's, diners have been a part of American
life for nearly a hundred years. But deindustrialization, suburbanization,
and the phenomenal success of fast food restaurants in the succeeding
decades all contributed to the loss of diners as a common sight on
the American landscape. Ironically, the success of diners paved the
way for
fast food restaurants – a place where you could get an even more
unpretentious meal at an even cheaper price – and led to its near
demise. Today, you're much more likely to find a "retro style" restaurant
than the real thing. But design (or even food) is not what made diners
the unique American phenomenon that they were. Diners are about relationships:
owner to customer, customer to waitress, community member to community
member. They were a place where anyone and everyone could meet, could
hang out, and could get a decent meal or a cup of coffee at a good
price. While fast food restaurants may serve some of the purposes that
community
diners once filled, the relationship aspect of diners has not been
replicated. And, it is this loss of community interaction within the
unique informal
atmosphere that was the diner that mirrors similar changes in American
society as a whole. |
Offitzer 8