Until Starbucks and Subway supplant them all, the corner diner is the backbone of breakfast and lunch not only in Maspeth but in Woodlawn, Bayside, Midwood, Castleton Corners, Throg(g)s Neck, Homecrest and any other neighborhood the guidebooks and websites ignore, except this one.
3/19/14
10 comments
What’s the addy? I’m always looking for a good diner.
Where is that ?
I fondly remember patronizing diners with my family, while growing up in northeastern Queens and western Nassau County in the ’60s and ’70s. Although I can’t remember all the names of these wonderful establishments, with their great “comfort food”, I do remember where they were located, and that all of them were built in the typical diner architecture of the era; single story buildings typically with partial stone veneers, and with lots of off street parking. There was a diner on Northern Boulevard in Douglaston where the Mizumi Restaurant now stands. Another diner was on Northern Boulevard and Lakeville Road in Great Neck where the Seven Seas diner is, but I’m pretty sure it had a different name back then. Another diner was on Union Turnpike and Hewlett Street near Lakeville Road in New Hyde Park which is and was the Skyline Diner, having been in existence for over 50 years. It is a stainless steel diner, something you don’t see very much today. Unfortunately, few of these wonderful type of establishments with their great food and reasonable prices can be found in Southern California, where I have resided for the past 35 years. There are somethings I really miss about New York and this is one of them.
Queens diner RIP list: Scobee, Palace, Seville, Hilltop Coach, Marshal’s, et al. The closest thing to them is the Mt. Athos Diner in Florence, AZ, which I’ve referenced here before. The family that owns it had a place in Whitestone; George, the patriarch, was a visionary; Queens loss is AZ’s gain. The NY diaspora continues.
http://mountathoscafe.com/
58-16 59th St, Maspeth 11378
(Btwn 58th Pl & 59th St)
There’s still the Triple Crown Diner at 248-27 Jericho Turnpike. I assume that at one time, the street signs on the south side (Nassau County) said Jericho Tpke and those on the north side (NYC) said Jamaica Av. Anyway, my wife and I occasionally go there with her aunt and uncle and, not only is the food still great but, if they ever feel it necessary to advertise, they could well adopt the slogan “Nobody leaves here hungry”.
Giving away my age, but to me a diner is a free-standing building on a highway.
This place is relatively new, less than 3 years old I’d say. It used to be a auto parts store for a very long time.
This place is still there, Grand Ave and 59th Street