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This old diner
By Benjamin Witte
Along an old country road
Tucked away in the green hills of Vermont is a small, quaint town called Hartland, population 3,223. There’s not much to Hartland – a road leading into town, another leading out. Where they intersect is Damon Hall, a 1915 brick construction that now houses the town offices. From Damon Hall, a country road, Route 12, snakes its way through a typical rural New England landscape; past a collection of cottages, farmhouses, a couple of demolition yards. Eventually the old highway crosses with another road, and there, next to a small antique shop, is an eye-catching, odd little structure with a mysterious past and an even more uncertain future.
Propped up on blocks, the rectangular unit, measuring approximately 15 feet by 30 feet, looks something like a funny little house. It’s yellow, with green trim. Around one corner hangs a drooping strand of Christmas lights. The roof of the structure is slightly rounded and, showing clearly on the front, left-hand side is a sign that reads “Famous for Food.” The odd-looking structure, it turns out, is a diner – quite an old one in fact. On its right-hand face is another sign, this one made of paper and attached by a few well-weathered strips of duct tape. The second sign offers a brief though somewhat hazy picture of the diner’s six-decade history.
“This is the 1939 Worchester Lunch Car Company diner #747. Formerly Mindy’s Diner of Somerville, MA. Moved to Auburn, MA. Moved to Bolton, MA. Moved to Hartland, VT,” the sign reads.
A murky history
That, at least, is the history of the 67-year-old diner as understood by its current owner, a Hartland resident named Si Lupton, who bought the old lunch car earlier this year from a campground in Bolton.
Last September, Bolton’s Crystal Springs Campground closed down after 25 years in operation. By no means a major event, the closure nevertheless attracted a brief mention in the Boston Globe, which in an article that ran Sept. 29 also made passing reference to the campground owner’s “office-home, a 1939 diner, formerly Mindy’s of Somerville and Auburn, and now up for sale.” Several months later, after failing to find a buyer for the diner, its then-owner decided to demolish the former Somerville eatery. That’s when Lupton stepped in. He bought the old structure, then had it transported to Vermont, where it’s currently for sale. “I’m trying to find a good home for it,” Lupton recently told the Somerville News. “We’re trying to find a good home to relocate the diner. It’s easy to move. The diner’s moved five times already.”
But beyond Lupton’s thumbnail sketch of the diner’s past, details about its history – how and when Mindy’s made those various moves – are decidedly murky, even among people who, like Lupton, consider themselves diner experts.
One of those experts is Larry Cultrera, a Medford native who over the past 25 years has photographed over 800 diners. Among his collection of photographs is one he took (at the campground) of Mindy’s, snapped on July 24, 1982. In the photograph, the diner appears much as it does now – the same green and yellow color scheme, the same trademark “Famous for Food” sign adorning its front. “It was more like a snack bar, because the interior was missing booths. Also some of the stools were missing,” said Cultrera. The diner, he was told, had at that point been at the Crystal Springs Campground for five years – since 1977.
Two years earlier Richard Gutman of West Roxbury – arguably the area’s foremost expert on diners – also visited Mindy’s. It was at that time sitting in a field out near Worchester, said Gutman, author of the book “American Diner, Then and Now.” But as for how it arrived there, the diner aficionado is basically in the dark. In fact, neither he nor Cultrera have a precise idea about the diner’s pre-1975 background. “That diner,” said Gutman, “is a real mystery.”
What is clear is that the diner was indeed built in 1939. Before its closure in 1961, the now defunct Worcester Lunch Car Company built approximately 650 diners. The company numbered each of its diners, starting, oddly enough, with the number 200. Mindy’s was # 747, meaning it was really the 547th diner manufactured by the company. Both Cultrera and Gutman have copies of the Worchester Lunch Car Company’s original diner designs, including one for # 747. On that document, in the top right-hand corner, is the handwritten word “Somerville,” leading both diner experts to believe that Somerville was in fact the diner’s first home. Cultrera and Gutman also agree that the diner’s original name was Porter’s.
Documents on file at the Middlesex County Registry of Deeds, however, suggest a slightly different story. In 1939, according to the documents, a Porter’s Diner did open up, though in Cambridge, not Somerville. From 1939 to 1947 the diner was owned by a corporation of the same name – Porter’s Diner Inc., which operated the eatery on a double lot (285 and 286 Broadway). In 1947 the corporation sold the property to another group called the Kendall Square Diner, Inc. One of the shareholders, a man named John G. Meoli, assumed sole control of the corporation in 1952. Six years later, the property changed hands yet again, sold to the Chamallas Brothers, Inc.
But what the Middlesex Country records don’t indicate is whether or not the diner was eventually moved to Somerville. Cultrera, for one, is convinced that Mindy’s, as the diner was apparently renamed at some point, was in Somerville, at least during the mid 1960s. And, Cultrera believes, the diner was located on Mystic Avenue, close to what is now a Home Depot. “I would assume,” he said,” that it disappeared in the late 60s, when they were building the stretch of I-93 through Somerville.”
Unfortunately, confirming Cultrera’s assertion has proven easier said than done. The Middlesex Country Registry of Deeds has no records for a Mindy’s Diner. Nor is there any reference to a diner of that name in the Somerville City Hall archives. In the mid 1960s, the City did issue food licenses to several Mystic Avenue restaurants, but none that bore the name Mindy’s. Maybe while in Somerville the diner wasn’t actually called Mindy’s. It’s also possible that the Mystic Avenue diner Cultrera recalls from his childhood was not the same diner that now sits on blocks in Hartland, VT. As Richard Gutman said, that diner really is a mystery.
An uncertain future
While it’s proven quite difficult to gain a clear picture of Mindy’s past, trying to predict its future is more elusive still. There’s something a bit forlorn about the old diner in its current state. Certainly, after such a varied past, the old lunch car deserves a good home. But who, if anyone, will purchase it?
A fascinating relic of yesteryear, the 67-year-old structure retains elements of what must have once been an altogether charming place to dine. Despite it’s age, the diner’s vibrant red interior still gleams with an improbable shine. Original stained glass still adorns the tops of the diner’s small windows. Inside there are brass light fixtures, a few old ceiling fans and chrome highlighted bar stools, faded a bit, but all in place. Gone, though, are the customers, at least for now. A large hole in the side of the structure is now covered in ragged-edged plywood. No doubt a few critters have moved in as temporary summer occupants.
Si Lupton won’t sell the diner to someone who’s planning on tearing it apart. And, he said, “I’m sure we’ll find a good home for it.” In the meantime, though, time and weather continue to take its toll on old Mindy’s. “My landlord would love to have it out of there,” Lupton admitted. “He’s not too happy with the way it looks. We’re working with a couple different groups, families who are interested in the diner.”
Lupton’s asking price is $24,000. Interested parties can reach him at (802) 457-6149. The Somerville News is also hoping that anyone who might have more detailed information about the diner’s past – particularly as it relates to Somerville – will call us at (617) 666-4010. Information can also be sent to somervillenews@aol.com.
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