FX Toole, who wrote the collection of short stories Million Dollar Baby is based on, writes incredibly lyrically about the joy of diners and pie. I remember it being one of the most exciting things about my first time in small-town America.
These places are a dying breed here in Chicago, alas. The waitresses were fantastic. a wholly original type. A history of diners in the words of their workers would be one of the greatest works ever written. It was a job for life, working at the diner, another thing vanishing. Your little tribute is really lovely.
This year is the centennial anniversary of Route 66. I highly recommend a cross country road trip along the Mother Road. There are many wonderful diners along the way and celebratory activities through August.
Loved this. These places and things get to America's roots, precious depositories of staying power like eternal verities, offering respites from fleeting fads and passing fancies with which the contemporary world is absurdly overwhelmed. Usually isolated within more modern confines, I recently found a whole town that filled the role of the "ordinary sublime," Mt. Airy, North Carolina. While Disney World's Main Street is a recreation, a fantasy, Mt. Airy's Main Street is the real thing that somehow, despite the present-day onslaught of national chains, remains frozen in time dating to the 1950s. Independent, family-owned hardware, furniture and drug stores, along with restaurants and diners, usually showing decades of wear, carry on as they long have, with aging clerks often still ringing up sales on ancient cash registers. The form of your purchase is secondary to the lovely intangibles that accompany it.
Thanks for this love letter to the quintessentially American diner. The diners I love map out my life. My meagre pilgrimage. Dot's in Wilmington, the Blue Benn in Bennington, the Sycamore in Bethel, South Street & Charlie's in Boston. These days closure is often looming. In this way they embody our grit too.
I get a big kick when you wax poetic about the USA, it does come across that you genuinely love this place. I am trying to channel that love back to myself, as the last 10 years, and especially the past couple, have caused me to fall decidedly out of love with it. Trying to get back to a place where I am just riding this out and appreciating what is still good and great about America.
As a fan of pecan pie, this warms my heart and whets my appetite. Your Tocquevillian observations about America are delightful to read. For me, familiarity breeds more neglect than contempt. I often overlook these sorts of little graces, but American food culture is astonishing when you stop and pay attention. Tacos! Pizza! Falafel! Sub sandwiches! Sushi! Fried chicken! Pad Thai! Gyros! Dim sum! Poke! There’s wild diversity, and if you’re in anything bigger than a tiny town, it’s all available a quick drive from pretty much wherever you are. Thanks for bringing a new set of eyes to the stuff I see every day.
FX Toole, who wrote the collection of short stories Million Dollar Baby is based on, writes incredibly lyrically about the joy of diners and pie. I remember it being one of the most exciting things about my first time in small-town America.
These places are a dying breed here in Chicago, alas. The waitresses were fantastic. a wholly original type. A history of diners in the words of their workers would be one of the greatest works ever written. It was a job for life, working at the diner, another thing vanishing. Your little tribute is really lovely.
This year is the centennial anniversary of Route 66. I highly recommend a cross country road trip along the Mother Road. There are many wonderful diners along the way and celebratory activities through August.
https://route66centennial.org
Loved this. These places and things get to America's roots, precious depositories of staying power like eternal verities, offering respites from fleeting fads and passing fancies with which the contemporary world is absurdly overwhelmed. Usually isolated within more modern confines, I recently found a whole town that filled the role of the "ordinary sublime," Mt. Airy, North Carolina. While Disney World's Main Street is a recreation, a fantasy, Mt. Airy's Main Street is the real thing that somehow, despite the present-day onslaught of national chains, remains frozen in time dating to the 1950s. Independent, family-owned hardware, furniture and drug stores, along with restaurants and diners, usually showing decades of wear, carry on as they long have, with aging clerks often still ringing up sales on ancient cash registers. The form of your purchase is secondary to the lovely intangibles that accompany it.
Thanks for this love letter to the quintessentially American diner. The diners I love map out my life. My meagre pilgrimage. Dot's in Wilmington, the Blue Benn in Bennington, the Sycamore in Bethel, South Street & Charlie's in Boston. These days closure is often looming. In this way they embody our grit too.
I get a big kick when you wax poetic about the USA, it does come across that you genuinely love this place. I am trying to channel that love back to myself, as the last 10 years, and especially the past couple, have caused me to fall decidedly out of love with it. Trying to get back to a place where I am just riding this out and appreciating what is still good and great about America.
As a fan of pecan pie, this warms my heart and whets my appetite. Your Tocquevillian observations about America are delightful to read. For me, familiarity breeds more neglect than contempt. I often overlook these sorts of little graces, but American food culture is astonishing when you stop and pay attention. Tacos! Pizza! Falafel! Sub sandwiches! Sushi! Fried chicken! Pad Thai! Gyros! Dim sum! Poke! There’s wild diversity, and if you’re in anything bigger than a tiny town, it’s all available a quick drive from pretty much wherever you are. Thanks for bringing a new set of eyes to the stuff I see every day.
Aww. Makes me feel ok for a bit about being American 😂 Pecan pie is a family favorite which I can make on demand, if I have to!!
https://youtu.be/o8rsq6lYrwU?si=sdXn4R1wIZNA9d0j
Real guns too…