Village Diner

Last updated
Halfway Diner
Village Diner, Red Hook, NY.jpg
East elevation and south profile, 2008
USA New York location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location Red Hook, New York
Nearest city Kingston
Coordinates 41°59′48″N73°52′27″W / 41.99667°N 73.87417°W / 41.99667; -73.87417
Area9,375 square feet (871.0 m2) [1]
Built1925 [1]
ArchitectPaterson Vehicle Company
NRHP reference No. 87002297
Added to NRHPJanuary 7, 1988

The Village Diner, sometimes called the Halfway Diner or the Historic Village Diner, is located on North Broadway (U.S. Route 9) a block north of New York State Route 199, in Red Hook, New York, United States. [2] It is a 1951 diner that has been in two other area locations during its history.

Contents

Its design reflects the era when diners were modeled closely after railroad dining cars, with chrome exteriors and curved walls. In 1988 it became the first diner in New York, and the fourth in the nation, to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [3] Frommer's called it "one of the best ... midcentury American diners". [4]

Building

The diner is in the center of a 75 by 125 feet (23 by 38 m) lot in downtown Red Hook. To the south is a Queen Anne Style house, to the north a small store and, across Cherry Street, the Elmendorph Inn. Across North Broadway are many 19th century residences. The front and rear of the lot are used as parking. [1]

The restaurant building itself is on a cement block foundation. Its exterior is stainless steel, curved at the corners fluted and painted with horizontal bands on a steel frame structural system. Windows are rectangular and retractable, high up the wall. A screen door on the south side is centrally located. All these features mimic those of a rail dining car. [1]

Atop the roof is a red neon sign reading "DINER". The main entrance is off-center, towards the south, as a result of a later expansion. A rear wing, added later, is sided in vinyl. [1]

Diner interior Village Diner interior, Red Hook, NY.jpg
Diner interior

The interior further emulates its rail model, with tables in booths along the east and west walls with a single aisle between them. The ceiling is also vaulted. The rear is mostly given over to counter and cooking space; it has no windows as a result, a deviation from the model. A later rear addition expands the kitchen facilities to the east. [1]

Much of the interior trim is original, such as tiled floor and wainscoting in turquoise and black, cream enameled walls, a laminated counter with 16 stools and a back wall with ribbed metal covering for all the kitchen functions. These treatments are more utilitarian, more typical of a lunch counter than a lushly-furnished rail diner of the era. The rear wing has some open dining space with freestanding tables and chairs, plus restrooms with their original doors. [1]

The diner retains its original builder's plate upon which Paterson Vehicle stamped a serial number 5113 indicating that it was the thirteenth unit built in 1951. This was a typical practice employed by Paterson and is seen on many of its remaining Silk City structures still in existence.

History

From their origins as horse-drawn hot lunch carts, diners had evolved during the early 20th century into stationary, yet movable, fixtures of the developed urban landscape of the urban Northeast. The increasing use of the automobile during the 1920s for intercity travel brought them into the countryside. Manufacturers offered prefabricated models with lessons in management, giving entrepreneurs the chance to get into the restaurant business with less capital than it usually took. [1]

Original Art Deco wall clock Wall clock at Village Diner, Red Hook, NY.jpg
Original Art Deco wall clock

In 1925, Lou Dubois of Kingston, across the Hudson River from Red Hook, bought a popular Silk City Diner from the Paterson Vehicle Company, one of the leading diner manufacturers. He chose to install it first in an area along recently designated Route 9, the Albany Post Road, just north of nearby Rhinebeck called Astor Flats. They called it the Halfway Diner because he thought it was about halfway along Route 9 between New York City and Albany. [1] [5] [6] Dubois's wife managed the diner while her husband continued to drive trucks for a beer distributor. [1]

Three years later he died, and his family sold the diner to Bert Coons. He moved it to its current location and continued to make a profit. When the Taconic State Parkway was completed through northern Dutchess County after World War II, he moved the diner east, to where Route 199 intersected with the new road, to take advantage of changed transportation patterns. It is not clear whether he changed the name at the same time. [1]

In 1957, with the Kingston–Rhinecliff Bridge having restored some of the lost through traffic to Red Hook, Coons moved the diner back to its present location. He rented it to others and then finally sold it in the 1960s, after adding onto it to make it more of a traditional restaurant. A new roadside sign announced its new name to travelers — the Village Restaurant. [1] The current owners refer to it as the Historic Village Diner. It has become a local institution.

See also

Other historic diners in the same architectural style:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dutchess County, New York</span> County in New York, United States

Dutchess County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 295,911. The county seat is the city of Poughkeepsie. The county was created in 1683, one of New York's first twelve counties, and later organized in 1713. The county is part of the Hudson Valley region of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milan, New York</span> Town in New York, United States

Milan is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The town is in the northern part of the county and is very rural. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 2,245, slightly down from 2,370 in 2010. Milan is located approximately 90 miles (140 km) north of New York City, 60 miles (97 km) south of Albany, and 150 miles (240 km) west of Boston. It is bordered by Rhinebeck and Red Hook to the west, Pine Plains to the east, Stanford to the southeast, Clinton to the south, and Gallatin to the north by Columbia County. The only major route in the town is the historic Taconic State Parkway, though NY 199 serves as the main local thoroughfare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tivoli, New York</span> Village in New York, United States

Tivoli is a village in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population is 1,012, according to the 2020 census. The village, which was incorporated in 1872 from parts of Upper Red Hook Landing and Madalin, is the northernmost settlement in the county, located in the northwestern part of the town of Red Hook. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY-NJ-CT-PA Combined Statistical Area. It is entirely within the Hudson River Historic District, a National Historic Landmark. The village is accessible via New York State Route 9G at an intersection with Dutchess County Route 78.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Hook, New York</span> Town in New York, United States

Red Hook is a town in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 9,953 at the time of the 2020 census, down from 11,319 in 2010. The name is supposedly derived from the red foliage on trees on a small strip of land on the Hudson River The town contains two villages, Red Hook and Tivoli. The town is in the northwest part of Dutchess County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhinebeck (village), New York</span> Village in New York, United States

Rhinebeck is a village in the town of Rhinebeck in Dutchess County, New York, United States. The population was 2,657 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown, NY Metropolitan Statistical Area as well as the larger New York–Newark–Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diner</span> Type of casual restaurant

A diner is a type of restaurant found across the United States and Canada, as well as parts of Western Europe and Australia. Diners offer a wide range of cuisine, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a combination of booths served by a waitstaff and a long sit-down counter with direct service, in the smallest simply by a cook. Many diners have extended hours, and some along highways and areas with significant shift work stay open for 24 hours.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York State Route 199</span> New York state highway in Ulster and Dutchess counties

New York State Route 199 is a 30.91-mile-long (49.74 km) state highway located in the Hudson Valley of the U.S. state of New York. Its western end is in Ulster County, where it begins as the continuation of the short U.S. Route 209 freeway east of its interchange with U.S. Route 9W; after crossing the Kingston–Rhinecliff Bridge over the Hudson River the rest of the highway crosses northern Dutchess County. As it does it passes through downtown Red Hook and Pine Plains, reaching its eastern end at U.S. Route 44 and State Route 22 southwest of Millerton in the upper Harlem Valley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York State Route 308</span> State highway in Dutchess County, New York, US

New York State Route 308 (NY 308) is a short state highway, 6.19 miles (9.96 km) in length, located entirely in northern Dutchess County, in the U.S. state of New York. It is a major collector road through a mostly rural area, serving primarily as a shortcut for traffic from the two main north–south routes in the area, U.S. Route 9 (US 9) and NY 9G, to get to NY 199 and the Taconic State Parkway. The western end of NY 308 is located within Rhinebeck's historic district, a 2.6-square-mile (6.7 km2) historic district comprising 272 historical structures. The highway passes near the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, several historical landmarks, and briefly parallels the Landsman Kill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">U.S. Route 9 in New York</span> Longest north–south U.S. Highway in New York

U.S. Route 9 (US 9) is a part of the United States Numbered Highway System that runs from Laurel, Delaware, to Champlain, New York. In New York, US 9 extends 324.72 miles (522.59 km) from the George Washington Bridge in Manhattan to an interchange with Interstate 87 (I-87) just south of the Canadian border in the town of Champlain. US 9 is the longest north–south U.S. Highway in New York. The portion of US 9 in New York accounts for more than half of the highway's total length.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agawam Diner</span> United States historic place

The Agawam Diner is an historic diner at 166 Newburyport Turnpike in Rowley, Massachusetts. It was manufactured in 1954 and moved to this location in 1970 after first being in Ipswich. It is the town's only diner and one of only six in the state manufactured by the Fodero Dining Car Company. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corner Lunch</span> United States historic place

The Corner Lunch Diner is a historic diner at 133 Lamartine Street in Worcester, Massachusetts. Built c. 1955 and moved to Worcester in 1968, it is the largest diner in the city, and a rare example in New England of remodeling work done by the Musi Dining Car Company of Carteret, New Jersey. It was built by DeRaffele Diners of New Rochelle, New York, and first installed in Babylon, New York. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Road Island Diner</span> United States historic place

The Road Island Diner is a rare classic Streamline Moderne 60' x 16' Art Deco diner car restaurant located in the remote mountain city of Oakley, Utah, in the United States. It was prefabricated as diner # 1107 in 1939 at the Elizabeth, New Jersey, factory of the Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bergh–Stoutenburgh House</span> Historic house in New York, United States

The Bergh–Stoutenburgh House is located on U.S. Route 9 opposite Mansion Drive in Hyde Park, New York. It is currently used as a district office by state senator Sue Serino.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Paul's (Zion's) Evangelical Lutheran Church</span> Historic church in New York, United States

St. Paul's (Zion's) Evangelical Lutheran Church is the official name of what is usually referred to as St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Red Hook, New York, United States. Its six buildings and cemetery are on a 15-acre (6.1 ha) lot on South Broadway just south of the village center. The current church is the third building on a spot that has been home to what was originally a Reformed congregation since 1796.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elmendorph Inn</span> United States historic place

The Elmendorph Inn, is the oldest building in the village of Red Hook, New York, United States. It is located at the north corner of North Broadway and Cherry Street, a block north of the junction of Route 9 and NY 199.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tastee Diner</span> Franchise of diners in suburban Washington, D.C.

Tastee Diner is a small franchise of diners in the suburban Washington, D.C. area established in 1935. There are two Tastee Diner locations in the US state of Maryland: Bethesda, and Laurel. Tastee Diner serves a wide variety of authentic American food, with a heavy emphasis on breakfast, and pie. Their restaurants are all open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miss Albany Diner</span> Historic commercial building in New York, United States

Tanpopo Ramen and Sake Bar is a historic diner in Albany, New York, built in 1941 and located at 893 Broadway, one of the oldest streets in Albany. Used as a set for the 1987 film Ironweed, which starred Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silk City Diners</span>

Silk City Diners was a division of the Paterson Wagon Company, later known at Paterson Vehicle Company, established by Everett Abbott Cooper and based in Paterson, New Jersey, which produced about 1,500 diners from 1926 until 1966. Each was tagged with the year and order in which it was built; for example, 5607 would be the seventh diner manufactured in 1956. Several have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saw Kill (Hudson River tributary)</span> River in New York, United States

The Saw Kill is a 14.3-mile-long (23.0 km) tributary of the Hudson River, called the Metambesem by the Algonquin people of the area and sometimes called Sawkill Creek today. It rises in the town of Milan and drains a 22-square-mile (57 km2) area of northwestern Dutchess County, New York, that includes most of the town of Red Hook to the west and part of Rhinebeck to Red Hook's south.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Larson, Neil (October 1987). "National Register of Historic Places nomination, Halfway Diner". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . Retrieved June 7, 2009.
  2. Gray, Michael (April 6, 2002). "USA: Ain't nothin' finer than a diner". The Daily Telegraph . Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  3. New York State historical marker at roadside near diner, see picture.
  4. Schlect, Neil; Beattie, Rich; Silverman, Brian; Quarles, Karen (2003). Frommer's New York State. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. p. 227. ISBN   978-0-7645-3929-9 . Retrieved June 19, 2009.
  5. Rice, Bill (October 10, 1997). "Diner fans will hold convention: Participants to tour 15 upstate eateries". The Daily Gazette . Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  6. Per mileages given at "2007 Traffic Data Report for New York State" (PDF). New York State Department of Transportation. 2008-07-25. pp. 91–100, 350. Retrieved 2009-06-17., the actual halfway point along US 9 between the two cities is in Hyde Park, 10 miles (16 km) to the south of that location.