by Ken Lahmers, Aurora Advocate Editor
Starting in the 1920s and continuing through the 1950s, small one-story manufactured steel buildings sprouted up around the country -- particularly in the Northeast United States.
Their purpose was to serve simple meals at cheap prices. They were diners, whose specialties were breakfast, hamburgers, french fries, hot dogs and homemade pie.
In tiny rural towns and big cities, the little buildings sprung up. Several books have been written about them and movies have been filmed in them. They are pure Americana, and fewer than 2,000 remain.
According to some estimates, more than 6,000 steel diners have been built, but nowhere near that number still exist. Just before World War II, about 20 manufacturers made the buildings.
Some of those were O'Mahony, Worcester, Mountain View, Silk City, Sterling and Kullman. The latter still makes them, as does Modular, Dinermite and Diner Concepts.
An organization called the American Diner Museum in Providence, R.I., has played a role in saving many vintage diners. It someday hopes to find a permanent space to display some classic diners.
A few months ago I learned that a classic diner -- one of fewer than 20 left in Ohio -- was not far away in Lisbon (Columbiana County). It's called Earle and Jacki's Steel Trolley.
Since Aurora resident Dick Scroggs grew up in Lisbon and still owns a farm outside of town, I asked him about the Steel Trolley, and that resulted in a June 7 trip to check it out.
Scroggs and his wife, Lois, planned to do some work on his 1838 farmhouse, which he rents out, so they invited me to drive down and meet them for lunch at the Steel Trolley.
I'VE HEARD so much about it that I couldn't wait to visit. The diner has been in Lisbon since 1979. When new in 1955, the O'Mahony model was a popular gathering spot in Salem, just 10 miles up Route 45.
The Steel Trolley was one of the last diners built by the Jerry O'Mahony Co. in Elizabeth, N.J. It sets on Route 30 -- the historic Lincoln Highway -- just a block east of the courthouse square. Since 1992, it's been operated by Earle and Jacki Hersman.
At 11:15 a.m. the day we were there, the 40- to 50-seat diner was about 80 percent occupied. A few booths line the wall with windows looking out on South Jefferson Street. About 15 stools are at the counter.
We grabbed the last booth in the back and were greeted by whom we later found out was Jacki herself. Our waitress showed up a couple of minutes later donning a 1950s-style poodle skirt.
Scroggs told me although he visits Lisbon frequently, he hadn't been to the Steel Trolley for a while.
Oddly enough, he said he ate more often in Crosser's Dinette, a Sterling steel diner which is only 2 1/2 blocks from the Steel Trolley. Crosser's opened in 1944, but has been closed for about five years.
Our waitress said she had worked there a dozen years ago.
Figuring I could set aside healthy eating habits for one day, I ordered a regular burger and french fries -- probably one of the most popular meals served at an old-fashioned diner. And later I enjoyed a piece of apple pie, which Jacki said she makes daily.
TWO WOMEN other than Jacki and our waitress were working that day, and there also was a middle-aged man cooking behind the counter.
Literature I had read about the Steel Trolley said an old-fashioned gas pump once graced its interior, but Jacki told us it was taken out a few years ago.
On the windows of the diner are painted various things -- a hamburger beside the words "hamburgers, hot dogs and steaks," pair of saddle shoes, pink Cadillac, gumball machine and a picture of a basket of french fries with the words "home of the basket of real fries."
On the roof of the diner right over the front entrance is a round clock with the words "time to eat good food" circled around the top. A jukebox sets in the back of the diner, but no tunes played while we were there.
It was certainly a nostalgic experience for me, and as far as I can remember it was the first time I've eaten in an authentic steel diner.
There are a handful of other old diners in this part of Ohio, including a 1946 Worcester now known as the Harley Diner inside Southeast Harley Davidson in Bedford.
Ruthie and Moe's, which operated for years in the 4000 block of Prospect Avenue in Cleveland, is a combination of a 1938 O'Mahony and 1960s Kullman. It has been closed for the last couple of years.
Other old-fashioned diners still operating, according to information I culled from Web sites, are Chris & Jimmy's in Cleveland Heights, Annabelle's in Mentor, John's in Lakewood, the Emerald in Hubbard and B & Mary's in Canton.
Hudson Hub-Times editor Bill Hammerstrom, a former reporter for the Advocate, said he and his dad used to eat breakfast frequently at Annabelle's when he was growing up.
Lisbon is a charming town -- the second oldest incorporated village in Ohio (1803) -- and in the future I'll talk more about it and some other places I visited on my Columbiana County journey.
E-mail:
klahmers@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3155