Vintage photos show what it was like to eat at a diner in the 1950s

Erin McDowellMar 27, 2024, 19:52 IST

Teenagers sitting at a diner counter circa 1950.H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images

Nothing is more quintessentially American than a '50s-style diner.
Diners, which were originally referred to as "lunch cars," first emerged in the 1920s.

Once the go-to hangout spot for American teens and a symbol of opportunity for small business owners, diners are one of the most beloved remnants of mid-century America.

Scattered across the country, diners come in many shapes and forms, from roadside railcar-style establishments to tiny hole-in-the-wall restaurants in the country's biggest cities.

However, diners face an uncertain future. While there were reportedly over 1,000 diners in New York City around 30 years ago, just 398 remained in 2015, Crain's New York Business reported, citing the city's Department of Health records at the time.

Here's what diners looked like during their heyday, and why they are still such a strong symbol of American life.

The first railcar-style diners popped up in New Jersey in the early 1900s.

The interior of a railcar-style diner in the 1950s.Debrocke/ClassicStock/Getty Images

Railcar-style diners were modeled after dining cars or sometimes converted from the original train cars into stand-alone eateries, the Telegraph reported.

Diners, which were relatively affordable to purchase at just $1,000, were constructed in factories and then shipped to their destinations, much like mobile homes. Since they had to be transported using a truck or railcar, they were purposefully designed to be narrow, the Telegraph reported.

Once they arrived, the utilities simply had to be connected.

Railcar-style diners were modeled after dining cars or sometimes converted from the original train cars into stand-alone eateries, the Telegraph reported.

Once they arrived, the utilities simply had to be connected.

New Jersey essentially became "ground zero" for diners.

Short-order cook cooking food at the Sunset Diner, United States.Ralph Morse/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Nearly 95% of the shippable restaurants were once manufactured in New Jersey, Curbed reported. The state was well-positioned for the task because of its "working-class population and transportation network," Curbed wrote.

New Jersey's oldest diner, the Summit Diner, opened in 1928, was rebuilt in 1939, and is still open today.

Nearly 95% of the shippable restaurants were once manufactured in New Jersey, Curbed reported. The state was well-positioned for the task because of its working-class population and transportation network, Curbed wrote.

New Jersey's oldest diner, the Summit Diner, opened in 1928, was rebuilt in 1939, and is still open today.

Until the Great Depression, most diners could be found in the Northeast.

Teenagers eating at a diner circa 1950.H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images

However, after World War II ended and the suburbs began to boom, more and more people began opening diners nationwide.

The small businesses could prove extremely profitable for owners.

Men eating at a diner in January 1955.Graphic House/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Since the restaurants themselves were so small, and the kitchens so narrow, not many employees were required, which kept costs down and profits up, Curbed reported.

With the implementation of cross-country highways in the 1960s, diners continued to grow in popularity.

Interior view of an empty roadside diner in Wendover, Utah, circa 1950.Bettman/Getty Images

Travelers along the new highways could stop off and grab a quick bite at the roadside establishments.

Many diners featured a row of bar stools along a counter, allowing many people to be served without much effort from the diner's staff.

A view of people eating at a lunch counter circa 1950 in downtown Nashville, Tennessee.Bob Grannis/Getty Images

Diners typically operate around the clock, allowing patrons to stop by at any time for a meal.

Diners became popular due to their large menus featuring American food staples like hamburgers, fries, and club sandwiches.

A waitress serves customers at a diner in the 1950s.H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images

Most diners had galley kitchens that made it easier for cooks to move from one dish to another, making service quicker than in a traditional restaurant, the Telegraph reported.

As well as being quicker to make, dishes served at diners were cheaper, too.

A waitress at Roy Yates Drug Store.Carl Iwasaki/The LIFE Images Collection/Getty Images

Items like pancakes, sausages, meatloaf, burgers, and sandwiches were standard on diner menus, and still are today.

The meals were priced low, making diners popular even before their rise in the 1950s. During the Great Depression, diners provided an inexpensive way for families to go out to eat, the Telegraph reported.

Items like pancakes, sausages, meatloaf, burgers, and sandwiches were standard on diner menus, and still are today.

Since they are open all night, many pop-culture depictions of diners involve a feeling of loneliness and isolation.

Teenaged girl sitting in drugstore eating a hamburger.Hank Walker/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Edward Hopper's 1942 painting "Nighthawks" shows a diner and its few occupants late at night. The painting is based on a diner in New York City's Greenwich Village.

Edward Hopper's 1942 painting Nighthawks shows a diner and its few occupants late at night. The painting is based on a diner in New York City's Greenwich Village.

However, diners were also a romantic, affordable date spot for young people.

Two couples sit at a table in a diner in 1955.Ed Feingersh/Pix/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Young couples could stop into a diner for a couple of burgers, hang around the jukebox, and meet up with friends in a casual, public setting.

Diners have appeared in pop-culture favorites like "Grease," "Seinfeld," "Gilmore Girls," and "Twin Peaks."

Truck drivers eating dinner in diner.Nat Farbman/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

"In the movies, the diner is a special kind of space, a mythic place, a zone of escape," film critic John Patterson told the BBC in a 2011 interview.

Suzanne Vega, who wrote the '80s hit song "Tom's Diner," added, "The attraction of the diner is that it's a sort of a midway point between the street and home."

In the movies, the diner is a special kind of space, a mythic place, a zone of escape, film critic John Patterson told the BBC in a 2011 interview.

Suzanne Vega, who wrote the '80s hit song Tom's Diner, added, The attraction of the diner is that it's a sort of a midway point between the street and home.

Diners brought together people from different economic levels but remained segregated by race until the 1960s.

A waitress taking customers' orders in a diner.Francis Miller/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Michael C. Gabriele, who wrote "The History of Diners in New Jersey," told the Telegraph that "diners are the state's ultimate gathering places — at any moment, high school students, CEOs, construction workers, and tourists might be found at a counter chatting with the waitresses and line cooks."

During the civil rights movement, NPR reported, diners became a popular place for activists to hold "sit-ins" in restaurants that refused to seat Black people, despite many of them employing Black people to work there.

In 1964, Congress outlawed segregation in businesses such as theaters, restaurants, and hotels through the Civil Rights Act, but many diners in the South continued to segregate their establishments, afraid that seating Black people "would drive away white patrons," NPR reported.

Michael C. Gabriele, who wrote The History of Diners in New Jersey, told the Telegraph that diners are the state's ultimate gathering places — at any moment, high school students, CEOs, construction workers, and tourists might be found at a counter chatting with the waitresses and line cooks.

During the civil rights movement, NPR reported, diners became a popular place for activists to hold sit-ins in restaurants that refused to seat Black people, despite many of them employing Black people to work there.

Railcar-style diners are still manufactured in factories today, but they're much more expensive to purchase and ship.

Outside view of the Sunset Diner.Ralph Morse/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images

Curbed reported in 2017 that new diners can cost more than $1 million to produce, and restoring or renovating old ones can be extremely pricey as well. Many '50s-style diners in operation today are built on-site to cut shipping costs.

By the 1970s, the rise in fast-food restaurants led to a decline in the popularity of traditional diners.

Customers visit a late night cafeteria and post office, circa 1950.Paul George Schutzer/FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

As McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King restaurants continued to pop up nationwide, it became difficult for small business owners to compete with the huge corporations also selling cheap, convenient food.

Diners today face an uncertain future.

Customers seen through the window of a diner, New York, June 1951.Ernst Haas/Getty Images

In 2022, Time Out reported that two notable New York diners, Good Stuff Diner in Chelsea and Meme's Diner in Crown Heights, had closed their doors in the previous two years. The New York Times also reported that between 2014 and 2019, 15 diners were sold across four of New York City's five boroughs: six sales in Queens, six in Brooklyn, two in the Bronx, and one in Staten Island.

However, a recent embracing of nostalgia — think, the increased popularity of speakeasies, as reported by USA Today — has also revitalized the typical American diner.

A recent addition to New York's Soho neighborhood is the trendy '50s-style Soho Diner, part of the Soho Grand Hotel. Other New York diners, like the Waverly Diner and the Empire Diner, have managed to keep their doors open despite changing tastes.