After a bit of mental ping-pong (should I do it? should I not do it?) I do believe we're gonna start another series here at Toys & Stuff - Diner's. And we're gonna feature them on Tuesday's and call it "Diner Dienstag" cuz it sounds neat. ["Dienstag" (pronounced: DEANS - tahg) is German for Tuesday, but 'Diner Tuesday' doesn't have the same ring to it does it?] . It might be a good idea to take a look at what diner's are s'posed to be so let's see what Wikipedia says about it:
"A diner is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout the United States, Canada and parts of Western Europe. Some people apply the term not only to the prefabricated structures, but also to restaurants that serve cuisine similar to traditional diner cuisine even if they are located in more traditional types of buildings. Diners are characterized by offering a wide range of foods, mostly American, a casual atmosphere, a counter, and late operating hours. "Classic American Diners" are often characterized by an exterior layer of stainless steel—a feature unique to diner architecture."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diner
A little more reading on the subject pretty much bears this out. Diners have always fascinated me and one of my favorite shows on TV is "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" hosted by Guy Fieri on the Food Network. But where I grew up in Milwaukee I simply don't recall any diners in the traditional sense. Burger joints like George Webbs, Bob's Big Boy, White Castle, and A&W are what I remember but they aren't considered diners - they are fast food burger eateries. The one thing I've always wanted to see in person was an actual vintage diner made from an old railroad car as many of them were. The converted railroad car theme was so popular that many diners were built from the ground up to look as if they were once old cars.
Now folks, let me tell ya, there are a million diners out there in the toy and collectible world in all shapes and sizes, plastic, ceramic, metal, ad infinitum - not to mention, postcards, photos, signs, etc, etc. You can bet I DON'T have a million diners!! But I think we can still squeeze a bunch of posts out of this subject. As a fatter-of-mact, a couple of diner's have already shown up on these pages:
This appeared on 20 Jan, 2011 AND 30 Jul, 2012 (I screwed up and double-posted)
This appeared on 2 Dec, 2010
Let's start off Diner Dienstag with a nice tin-litho diner from 2002 and made by the Tin Toy Box Company of China: the Coca-Cola Sunset Diner. It measures 8 1/2" (21.59cm) L x 2 1/2" (6.35cm) W x 4" (10.16cm) H and is perfect for 3-rail O-gauge train layouts. The graphics are the same on both sides and on both ends. Enjoy! Bettina my Wife Likes them very much and I do Like them :)
