Miss Toy Town Diner
| Miss Toy Town Diner | |||
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| National Register of Historic Places | |||
_-_Gardner,_MA_-_DSC00907.JPG) The Blue Moon Diner in 2012 |
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| location | Gardner , Massachusetts , United States | ||
| Coordinates | 42 ° 34 '26.9 " N , 71 ° 59' 40" W | ||
| Built | 1949 | ||
| architect | Worcester Lunch Car Company | ||
| Architectural style | Barrel Roof Diner | ||
| NRHP number | 03001242 | ||
| The NRHP added | December 4, 2003 | ||
The Blue Moon Diner (formerly. Miss Toy Town Diner ) is a 1949-built Diner in Gardner in the state of Massachusetts of the United States . It is one of the so-called "barrel roof diners" because it has a barrel roof and was listed on December 4, 2003 as part of the Multiple Property Submission Diners of Massachusetts MPS under the designation Miss Toy Town Diner in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
description
Today's Blue Moon Diner was built by the Worcester Lunch Car Company in 1949 under construction number # 815 as Miss Toy Town Diner and shipped to Winchendon before being moved to its current location in 1954. It is located in the city's commercial center just off Massachusetts Route 88 near City Hall. It stands on a small plot of land and the narrow side faces the street. It was built in timber frame and has the typical manufacturer barrel roof, which in this case with asphalt - shingles is covered and on an illuminated sign indicating the diner. It is clad on the outside with yellow enamel , which has accents and lettering in blue color.
The main entrance on the west side facing the street has a canopy. The free-standing sign on the long side of the diner dates from the 1970s and was classified as not contributing to its historical significance ( noncontributing object ). The exterior walls were restored in the mid-1980s under the supervision of diner historian Richard Gutman. At the rear of the diner to the east there is a one-story extension with a flat roof , which can be reached via a passage and in which there are additional seats and toilets.
Inside, a marble counter extends over the entire length of the car, on which 14 PVC -covered bar stools are set up. Along the long side, seats are lined up with wooden tables, the surface of which is made of cream-colored laminate with blue edges and steel edges. The color scheme inside consists of blue and cream with black tiles and steel accents, as can be seen on the counter, on the floor and on the walls below the windows.
Historical meaning
The Blue Moon Diner is a well-preserved example of the typical handcrafted barrel-roof diner of the Worcester Lunch Cart Company after World War II . It was initially operated as the Miss Toy Town Diner in Winchendon before Arthur L. Bernier bought the diner in 1954 for $ 22,000 (around $ 209,000 today) and had it moved to its new location in Gardner. There, as Bernier's Diner , it replaced the Blue Moon Diner that had stood there until then and was operated by Bernier until 1960, who had to give it up that year due to his wife's health problems. It then stood empty for years and changed hands three times between 1976 and 1983.
In 1984, Fitchburg Police Department veteran Dennis "Skip" Scipione bought the diner, changed the name to Skip's Blue Moon Diner, and restored the restaurant cart with the assistance and guidance of diner expert Richard Gutman. Writer Will Anderson included the diner in his 1989 book New England Roadside Delights , and in 1992 it was used as the setting in The Outsider . In 2000 the current owner bought the diner and changed the name back to Blue Moon Diner.
The Blue Moon Diner is now the last diner in Gardner with a diner history dating back to 1909 and where five diners were still operating in the 1920s. When the diner opened in 1954, it was one of three diners left in town. Architecturally it is very similar to the Miss Worcester Diner (construction number # 812).
literature
- Kathleen Kelly Broomer, Betsy Friedberg: National Register of Historic Places Registration Form. (PDF) National Park Service , October 30, 2003, accessed on July 25, 2016 (English, accessible via the "NR" button).
- Richard Gutman: American diner then and now . Harper Perennial, New York 1993, ISBN 978-0-06-096956-1 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ National Register Information System . In: National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service . Retrieved November 2, 2013.
- ↑ a b c cf. Broomer / Friedberg, p. 5.
- ↑ a b cf. Broomer / Friedberg, p. 6.
- ^ Will Anderson: New England Roadside Delights . a fond look at a wonderfully refreshing aspect of our six states' architectural heritage. W. Anderson, Portland, WE 1989, ISBN 978-0-9601056-3-2 .
- ↑ cf. Broomer / Friedberg, p. 7.