Posted on 01/12/2009 8:54:12 PM PST by Coleus
Tums and Pepcid AC commercials were shot there. Noxema and Bank of America, too. So was part of Ang Lee's film "Ice Storm." Nickelodeon and TV Land have been there. The diner is a must-stop for location scouts who want an all-American (circa 1950s) small-town atmosphere, and artist John Baeder painted it lifelike, with a red Jeep Wagoneer and a vintage sky-blue Caddy parked outside, a full mast Stars & Stripes flapping above.
Among diner aficionados, the Harris remains a stainless steel fixture. It is on every diner-nut tour, like Diner-rama, and every list of must-sees by diner societies and clubs worldwide. It made USA Today's 50 Great Plates of America, and is a perennial favorite of The Star-Ledger's Munchmobile. Since 1951, it has stood at the corner of Washington Street and North Park Place in East Orange, a shining example, literally, of America's post-war, drive-up culture of chrome, fins and good times.
After good times became tough times, the Harris stayed, 24 hours a day, for decades. It became a time capsule, a slice of coconut custard American nostalgia. It was also a pretty good place to eat. "Fifty years is enough, don't you think?" said Bill Nicholas. Those are the 50 years Nicholas has owned it with the other Bill, his brother-in-law, Bill Marmaras. The two Bills married the daughters of Thomas Karayianis, the owner after Charles Harris.
Mary Karayianis was a cashier and Bill Nicholas was a cook when they met there in 1955, back in the days when the 125-seat diner could keep 15 waitresses hopping. Sunday night, at dinner time, Bill Marmaras was alone with one waitress and six customers at the counter. The booths, with their turquoise benches and flip-card jukeboxes, were empty.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.nj.com ...
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LOL!
Thanks potlatch!
They have updated the "Big Boy" figures they now use - the one I posted was a bit Asian influenced by the artist - the eyebrows and eyes are now 100% USA and he has black shoes -
The Bob*s Big Boy bank is about 8-1/2" tall by 5" wide and perfect for 1:18 dioramas of classic 50s & 60s cars, hotrods, customs
The red Corvette in your graphic is either a 1958 with fake hood louvers and 2 chrome "bull*s horn" trim pieces running down the trunk - or the 1959 red Vette without the fakeroo hood louvers and truck chrome - which was first seen on "Route 66" on TV - each year Chevrolet provided a new red Corvette for the TV show -
- Al Kohler (of toilet fame) bought the first red 1958 Vette they received at Slaton Chevrolet in Fort Lauderdale (on the North Federal Highway - East side) while World Heavyweight Champion Ingamar Johannson sputtered and complained "Don*t you know who I am?"
The other car appears to be a black Ford Model B "Deuce Coupe" - a "Highboy" (not lowered or channeled over the frame) - Possible a 1929-1931 Model A body on a 1932 frame -
A yellow Ford "Deuce Coupe" Highboy was used in "American Graffiti" and The Beach Boys wrote and performed this song:
Little Deuce Coupe
Most had Chevy small block V8 engines swapped in as the Ford V8s have the oil pickup at front of the engine and the oilpan interferes with the frame and steering
Chevy engines were also plentiful (cheap as dirt in boneyards) and easy to rebuild and modify/soup-up with either/or optional Corvette factory racing parts (cheap then!) or aftermarket parts from Edelbrock, Crane, Weiand, Offenhauser, etc -
Good post! And thank you for the auto rundown, lol.
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Thanks potlatch!
Just had to swap 4 new AAs into my keyboard -
Many old Ford purists would have rather swapped in the new thinwall lightweight smallblock Ford V8 of 221, 260, 289, 302, 351 cubic inches - but Chevy’s smallblock V8 that came out in 1955 was more practical and available and easier to drop in
The older Ford Roadsters usually had updated or modified Ford flathead V8s - in the early 50s when Caddy and Dr. Oldsmobile came out with overhead valve head V8s that kicked out good power - may hotrodders used those out of wrecks in their local boneyard
I swapped the Bob’s Big Boy graphic for the latest version - a slight watermark shows there - but it is not the one with the discarded Asian facial features
Marilyn Monroe is up on the roof of the burger drive-in now
Cannot seem to find a sample of the round “Bob’s Big Boy” round sign that you posted anywhere
Just finished my own fried onions, tomato, mayo, mustard, ketchup Angus Bubba Burger, hold the cheese - cause I’m out!
Hi, 9pm and you are eating dinner.
[Marilyn Monroe is up on the roof of the burger drive-in now]
I don’t see Marilyn here, even refreshed, maybe you meant on your webpage?
I found this on a Google image search;
http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e223/ariesgirl326/full_T09.gif
I am hardly able to get around here today, keep getting Proxy errors. I went to every other forum that ‘hosts’ Freepers and only saw one comment.
Did have two replies on the Yahoo site.
I’m at my wits end here.
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This post: (MM)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2163597/posts?page=5#5
I’m doing OK on FR tonight - so far
The “PROXY” errors ?? Photobucket ??
Incompatibility ??
Something new or hacked on FR software now?
My WebTV Plus/MSN is immune to most bugs - except I sometimes have a freeze-up when I try to type on “Post Preview” - I can “Paste” in text or tags - but I cannot simply type in the window then - then I have to shut down my WebTV receiver’s power, run 2 short codes on my keyboard, power back up
Then I can type in “Post Preview” again
Yes, I had seen your MM on post 5. You had mentioned her being on top of the diner and that’s what I was looking for here.
You explained in FR about that.
I have no trouble at Photobucket, why would you think that?
Don’t know why I’m having trouble here when I can get to other sites fine??
I had two Proxy errors and it took several minutes to finally get here.
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It is taking a bit longer than usual to connect on FR tonight
It’s difficult for me understand exactly what you are experiencing with the “PROXY” errors - I’m trying!
I know, you would have to do a Google on Proxy errors.
Lol, that is one Biiiiiiigggg Big Boy!!
I’ll have to cut him out and make him smaller - when I get to it.
Cute graphic.
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One of our favorite ‘oldie’ cars!! So pretty, and you found a wonderful old thread. I see the Marilyn gif up above.
Thanks devolve, brought back memories!
The original story is three years old. I wonder how it turned out ?
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