Information AboutDiner |
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| american cuisine | |
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A diner is a Prefabricated Restaurant building characteristic of North America , especially in New Jersey and other areas of the Northeastern United States . Diners are a favorite pop culture memory for many. HISTORY Diners developed from Mobile Catering wagons. Like the catering wagon, a diner allowed one to set up a food service business quickly using preassembled equipment. The first manufactured dining wagons with seating appeared in the late 19th Century , serving busy Downtown locations without the need to buy expensive real estate. Until the Great Depression , most diner manufacturers and their customers were located in the Northeast. With the rise of the Automobile , diner manufacturers produced more fixed-foundation buildings. Diner manufacturing suffered with other industries in the Depression. After World War II , as the economy returned to civilian production and the Suburb s boomed, diners were an attractive Small Business opportunity. During this period, diners spread beyond their original market to the Midwest . Diners were superseded in the 1970s by Fast Food restaurants such as McDonalds , Burger King , Wendy's , and Kentucky Fried Chicken . Some fast food restaurants, such as Dairy Queen are hybrids of old fashioned diners and modern fast food outlets. ARCHITECTURE Like a Mobile Home , a diner is narrow and elongated to allow roadway transport (in the case of a diner, to the Restaurant's ultimate location). A service counter dominates the interior, with a preparation area against the back wall and floor-mounted stools for the customers in front. Larger models may have a row of booths against the front wall and at the ends. The decor varied over time. Diners of the 1920s – 1940s feature Art Deco elements or copy the appearance of rail dining cars (Some are, in fact, refurbished rail cars). Those of the 1950s use Stainless Steel panels, glass blocks, and Neon Light trim. Diners built recently generally have a different architecture; they are laid out more like restaurants, retaining some aspects of traditional diner architecture (stainless steel and Art Deco elements, usually) while discarding others (the roadway car layout, for example). CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE In television and cinema (e.g. '' The Iron Giant '' and '' Diner ''), diners and Soda Fountain s symbolize the period of prosperity and optimism in the United States of the 1950s. They are shown as the place where Teenager s meet after school and as an essential part of a Date . The diner's cultural influence continues today. Many non-manufactured restaurants (including franchises like Denny's ) have copied the look of 1950s diners for Nostalgic appeal, while Waffle House uses an interior layout derived from the diner. Diners provide, in rather the same way that Fast Food Chains do, a nationwide, recognizable, fairly uniform place to eat and assemble. The types of food served are likely to be consistent, especially within a region (exceptions being districts with large immigrant populations, in which diners and Coffee Shop s will often cater their menus to those local cuisines), as are the prices charged. Diners frequently stay open 24 hours a day, especially in cities, making them an essential part of urban culture, alongside bars and nightclubs. , indicating the popularity of the diner.]] MANUFACTURERS
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