28 Bar & Grill (Gone)
Salem, NH
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

There's more hiding beneath the signs at the 28 Bar & Grill than you might expect. This Route 28 watering hole was actually a rare 1940 Sterling Streamliner, with that great rounded Art Deco nose still showing off its diner roots. 02-07

Built by the J.B. Judkins Company, it started life as the Hesperus Diner in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The diner was moved to Salem in the late 1980s, became Ralph's Place and later the 28 Bar & Grill. You could even still make out some of the old Hesperus lettering along the side.

The 28 closed in 2003, and the diner was moved again in 2005, this time to Granby, Connecticut.

UPDATE: Plans to reopen the old Streamliner as June's Diner never materialized. The rare diner has reportedly remained in storage, waiting for another shot at the roadside. 08-26

Yankee Diner (Rem.)
Charlton, MA
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

Here's the Yankee Diner, an old Worcester Lunch Car that had already traveled quite a few miles before landing in Quechee, Vermont. With its stainless trim, curved semi-streamliner shape and big YANKEE lettering across the side, it was a great old diner to stumble across near Quechee Gorge. 02-07

Built in 1946 as Worcester Lunch Car No. 787, the diner originally operated as the Ross Diner in South Holyoke, Massachusetts. It was a busy neighborhood breakfast stop, especially around shift changes when factory workers would fill the counter early in the morning.

The old lunch car eventually left Massachusetts and made its way to Quechee, where the names started changing. The Yankee Diner closed in 2006 and reopened soon afterward as the Farmers Diner, so these 2007 photos caught the building right around that transition.

More names followed. It became the Quechee Diner, then housed the Public House Diner beginning in 2017.

UPDATE: The old Worcester diner survives at 106 Quechee Gorge Village Drive and now houses the Foley Brothers Beer Garden. The side panels have been painted white, but underneath it all is still Worcester Lunch Car No. 787, serving customers nearly 80 years after leaving the factory. 08-26

Flying Saucer Restaurant
Niagara Falls, Ontario Canada
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss

Keep your eyes open along Lundy's Lane and you may spot a couple of UFOs beside the highway. The Flying Saucer Restaurant has been serving hungry earthlings in Niagara Falls since 1972. 03-07

Henry and Lillian Di Cienzo started with a single flying saucer, then added a second when business took off. The space theme continues inside with curved ceilings, starfields and UFOs. Henry even offered a $1 million reward to anyone who could prove they had a genuine piece of an alien spacecraft. Apparently nobody collected.

The restaurant also appeared in the 2019 film Disappearance at Clifton Hill.

UPDATE: After a major renovation, the Flying Saucer reopened in March 2026. The twin saucers and great roadside signs are still there, serving hungry earthlings along Lundy's Lane. 08-26

Olympia Diner
Newington, CT
Photo courtesy Rick Ibsen

Stretching along the Berlin Turnpike, the Olympia Diner is one long slab of stainless steel that's been catching the eyes of Connecticut travelers for decades. This old O'Mahony diner was moved here in three sections in 1954 and is often called the longest stainless-steel diner in the country. 04-07

The Gavrilis family has been behind the counter since 1974, although Emmanuel Gavrilis started cooking here back in the 1960s. With all that stainless steel and a wonderfully preserved diner interior, Hollywood eventually came calling. The Olympia appeared in Promises in the Dark and later in Jacknife with Robert De Niro.

For a while it looked like the old diner might disappear. A redevelopment plan called for replacing it with a fast-food drive-thru, but that deal fell apart in 2025.

UPDATE: The Olympia Diner remains open along the Berlin Turnpike, although the longtime owners have put the property up for sale as they look toward retirement. For now, the big stainless-steel landmark is still serving travelers just as it has since 1954. 08-26

Rosebud Diner (Closed)
Somerville, MA
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

Sitting along Summer Street in Somerville, the Rosebud Diner is a great old Worcester Lunch Car built in 1941. Even the name has a little Hollywood behind it. Rosebud was reportedly named after the famous sled in Citizen Kane, released that same year. 07-07

Worcester Lunch Car #773 went through plenty of changes over the years, including time as a cocktail lounge and later the Rosebud American Kitchen & Bar. The original diner interior was heavily remodeled, but that unmistakable semi-streamliner exterior survived. The Rosebud was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.

UPDATE: The Rosebud closed in July 2026 during property and lease negotiations. The old 1941 diner and its sign are still there, but for now the griddle is cold. 08-26

Pilgrim Diner (Closed)
Salem, MA
Photo courtesy Paul Bauke

Tucked along Boston Street in Salem, the Pilgrim Diner is a tiny Worcester Lunch Car with just 14 stools and plenty of old New England diner character. Worcester Lunch Car #725 has been sitting here since the 1930s, right along the edge of Salem's historic McIntire District. 07-07

For years it was known as Deb's Pilgrim Diner after longtime waitress Deborah Dentremont took over the place. It's the kind of little diner where there isn't much distance between the front door, the counter and whatever is sizzling on the grill.

There is some disagreement over exactly when the car was built and moved here, with various histories dating it to either the late 1920s or 1930s. Either way, this little lunch car has been part of the Salem streetscape for a very long time.

UPDATE: Deb's Pilgrim Diner is gone, but the old Worcester Lunch Car survives. The space later reopened as the Black Cat Diner, with the historic Pilgrim Diner exterior still hanging around. 08-26

Miss Bellows Falls Diner (Closed)
Bellows Falls, VT
Photo courtesy Richard Weiss / 2007

Just north of the Square in Bellows Falls sits the Miss Bellows Falls Diner, a little Worcester Lunch Car that looks like it has been parked beside the road forever. 07-07

Worcester Lunch Car #771 was actually built in 1941 and originally served customers in Lowell, Massachusetts as Frankie and Johnnie's Diner. It was moved to Bellows Falls in 1944, where its barrel roof, marble counter, 12 stools and old oak booths became part of the local scenery.

The diner made a little roadside history of its own in 1983 when it became only the second diner in the country listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

UPDATE: Miss Bellows Falls closed in 2020 and remains vacant. A local nonprofit purchased the diner in 2023 and is working toward restoring the old lunch car and eventually getting the griddle hot again. 08-26

Harris Diner
Owego, NY
Photo courtesy Alan Culley / 2007

There’s no mistaking which New York baseball team gets the cheers inside the Harris Diner in Owego. Mets photos and memorabilia cover the walls, while the griddle keeps turning out the kind of breakfast and lunch that has kept this North Avenue stop going for generations. 10-07

The diner’s roots go all the way back to 1924, when the first lunch car was delivered by rail and pulled into place. Bill Conway originally ran it as Conway’s Club Diner before the Harris family took over in 1982. Sam Harris and his mother Louise became familiar faces here, with Louise baking the homemade pies well into her later years.

Tropical Storm Lee brought devastating flooding to Owego in 2011 and the diner’s interior had to be gutted and rebuilt, but Harris Diner came back.

UPDATE: A century after that first lunch car arrived, the diner is still open for business. And yes, the Mets still have home-field advantage here. 08-26