I stopped by on Saturday.  It looked like they were just getting started
--the had the range hood removed and were ripping into the floor (they
looked to have several layers of vinyl tile to go to expose the bolts that
held the stool posts down...I wondered to myself how many of the layers
contained asbestos).

They were labeling the wood parts with notes made on masking tape as they
were taken off the structure.  It looked like it was going to take a while
to get the whole thing taken apart.  I think the place measures 36 or 40 by
12 or 16 feet.

The threshold was cast iron and said "Sterling Diner" at one time (it just
says "Diner" now).

The diner is modular, being made up of four foot sections.  The porcelain
side panels are a light yellow color and are trimmed with a ribbon of green.
The roof is curved.

Interesting concepts to take away: The museum is one of twelve historical
and cultural museum organizations comprising the Heritage Harbor Museum and
Library in Providence, RI that will be located in a building donated by the
Narragansett Electric Company.  The building used to house a power plant.
Nice use of an old industrial building (the old power plants were usually
classic structures, like railroad stations once were--understand this comes
from an engineer not an artichoke).

Visit the diner museum at:

http://www.dinermuseum.org/

Someone was there from the paper (see the article below) and at least one
local radio station picked up the story.

This save probably wouldn't happened if it hadn't been for one individual,
Kathy Stribley--this brings to heart how important a single person's
efforts, particularly one who has their eyes open to what is going on around
them, can be.


From the Sunday Syracuse Herald-American:


Order of the day: classic eatery to go
Syracuse's Liberty Diner is being dismantled for a move to a Rhode Island
museum.

By Jonathan J. Todd


A 52-year-old Syracuse diner is moving to Providence, R.I.

But it will be three to four years before you'll be able to buy a cup of
coffee there.

Staff from the American Diner Museum in Providence began dismantling the
porcelain-paneled, wood structure Saturday, so it can be shipped to Rhode
Island, said Daniel Zilka, the museum's director.

The Liberty Diner, which used to operate across from Valley Plaza on South
Salina Street in Syracuse, closed in March because the owners of the eatery
could no longer afford the building's rising rent and insurance costs,
former diner co-owner Sherrill Picarel said.

Zilka worked with the landowner - Kmetz Enterprises of Cazenovia - to have
the diner donated to the museum. It's historically valuable because it's one
of the country's few remaining Sterling diners, which are wooden buildings
with porcelain panels designed to look like rail cars.

Sterling diners were designed by Berton Harley, a cousin of the maker of
Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Zilka said. The diners were manufactured by the
J.B. Judkins Co. from 1935 to 1941.

The Liberty Diner opened in the Valley section of Syracuse in 1947, after
operating a few years in downtown Syracuse, said Kathy Stribley, a landscape
architecture professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and
Forestry in Syracuse. She tipped off Zilka a year ago that the diner was in
danger of being demolished.

Saturday, staff from the museum and others began removing the porcelain
wall, ceiling panels, diner countertop, window frames and stools. By the end
of the month, the diner museum plans to have the bare structure lifted in
sections and trucked to Providence.

Once in the museum's workshop, the diner will be reassembled and refurbished
with recreations of its original booths and tables, Zilka said. The Liberty
is the seventh diner the museum has obtained from around the country, Zilka
said.

Zilka envisions that the restored structures will become functioning diners
at the museum or part of a diner walking tour in Providence.

Susan Germain of Syracuse, who used to be an editor of a diner magazine in
Massachusetts, said people are often saddened when diners close.

"They feel like it's a part of their memory," Germain said. "But nobody's
ever sad when they see a Burger King close, a Dunkin' Donuts close."



Sunday, August 22, 1999

Back



-----Original Message-----
From: David west [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Tuesday, August 24, 1999 4:10 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Diner Salvage


Bruce

How did the diner salvage project go?  Any interesting finds that B-Pers
could take to their hearts (the finds will have gone to the museum I
suppose)?

Cheers

david west