The Route 66 Valentine Diners for "Picture Day"

I can't believe it will soon be FIVE years since hubby and I went on our Route 66 road trip on Labor Day weekend in 2010.  One of the interesting things I learned while on that trip was info about the Route 66 Valentine Diners.

For many decades  the Valentine Manufacturing Company (they are no longer in business) built these little pre-fab diners.   This one  was found,  completely restored and moved to the property of the Route 66 Museum in Clinton, Oklahoma.

People ordered these diners  from the Valentine Company’s catalog.   The selling price was around $5,000.    Now back then, even though it sounds cheap to us today, $5,000 could be hard to come by.  So the company sold them on credit with the agreement that you would set aside 10% of your sales and put it in a metal drop box outside of the diner door.  Once a month a representative from the company would come by and pick up the money until you’d paid it off in full.  The diners were all pre-fab and made to fit on railroad flat cars for easy shipping and were  self-contained, completely ready to be set on a slab and opened for business– in just a few hours!

Inside the diner were a counter, 4 stools for customers, a grill and everything you needed to cook up hot dogs, fries, burgers and even serve ice cream!  I took this photo of the inside by placing my lens right up against the glass window pane.  (You can’t actually go inside the diner.)  I really like the ceiling fan with the Coca-Cola blades.  I wonder if that’s an original look of the diners–probably not.

Supposedly, when Route 66 was buzzing with traffic  and travelers,  many of the small towns had these diners.  I didn’t see any tucked away but that doesn’t mean that some aren’t still there serving as storage buildings or hidden from view.  One thing is certain, if you look for them along the interstate you won’t find any–they are a thing of the past and were only on the two-lane highways like Route 66.

Here’s a photo of hubby, looking through one of the windows of the diner.  Maybe he was hoping for a slice of pie or a chocolate malt!

I have a lot more Route 66 photos that I will be sharing over the next months or year as I transfer them from my old photo blog to this blog for "Picture Day."  What is a fun but different trip that you've been on that you would like to do again?

Until next time...

Happy Crafting and of course, Picture Taking!