The Green Arch Restaurant 41 West Main Street Brocton, NY 14716

If you've ever driven past the Green Arch Restaurant in Brocton or Steve's Diner, a restaurant-turned-museum in Silver Creek, you've seen a glimpse of the past. However, like bell bottoms and tie-dyed clothes, some might say that diners have made a comeback.

There are numerous Web sites devoted to diners, such as the American Diner Museum, which proclaims their purpose is "celebrating and preserving the cultural and historical significance of the American diner, a unique American institution." They have even set up a rescue fund to help with these efforts.

Though diner manufacturing is a thing of the past, diner restoration has become a new trade, with companies around the country making it their specialty.

Today's generation might think of Denny's or Johnny Rockets when the word "diner" is mentioned. However, its origin dates back to the early 1920s. In fact, manufacturing diners was big business locally.

Some of the early companies responsible for the creation of these icons included the Mulholland Company of Dunkirk, as well as Goodell Hardware and Ward & Dickinson Dining Car Manufacturing Company, both of Silver Creek.

True diners were not actual railroad cars, as many mistakenly think. Though the designs were borrowed from railroad dining cars, they were built in factories specifically for use as restaurants. Most had a counter, stools and a food preparation area.

Ward & Dickinson built its diners to withstand the stress of the move once the finished product was sold. Its slogan was "They're built to last." Today, one of the creations proves that slogan, as it is proudly displayed in front of the Silver Creek Fire Hall. Formerly operated under the name "Steve's Diner," the structure was donated to the village of Silver Creek and it serves as a dining car museum.

As fast-food became a way of life, scores of diners went out of business and many of these vintage structures faced demolition.

Michael Engle of Troy is a dining car enthusiast. Recently, he was instrumental in saving a locally manufactured dining car from demolition. The car he rescued was made by Goodell Dining Car Company, also known as Goodell Hardware, which is believed to have built around 20 diners.

By the time Engle stepped into the picture in 2000, the diner had found its home in Wellington, Ohio. Engle reported that the diner was quite authentic.

"The diner still had a mahogany wainscoting ceiling," he said. "It was a great diner experience, and after that I made it a point of stopping at the diner when I was driving to Michigan to visit my brother."

When Engle later learned that the diner was scheduled for demolition, he knew he had to take action. "The owners agreed to let me come in and take the diner out of Wellington."

Engle hired a mover and, with the help of some friends, the structure was safely moved to Gilbertsville. He started the restoration process, but unexpected changes led to a move which put him two hours away from the diner.

"It finally became impossible for me to continue the restoration," he said.

Fortunately, Engle knew someone else with "a soft spot for the old small diners built in Western New York" and with the help of his friend Gordon Tindall, the restoration was completed. Today that dining car is a long ways from its start in Silver Creek, at its new home in Lanesboro, Minn.

With bigger restaurants so readily available, one might wonder what made a diner so desirable. Former Ward & Dickinson employee Lyle Allen Myers was quoted in 1972 as saying, "A customer coming through the door of a diner would hang his hat on a hook, throw one leg over a stool and do it in fewer than three steps." Myers noted some endearing qualities that patrons seemed to appreciate, such as seeing "the counterman ladle out the chili from the steam table" and watching "while he flipped pancakes on the grill."

Patrons of the Green Arch Restaurant in Brocton, manufactured by the Mulholland Company, can still enjoy those qualities. Al and Cheryl Brumagin have owned and operated the restaurant since 1983, though it's been a fixture in Brocton for much longer than that.

"The restaurant was put here in 1931," Al Brumagin explained. "The Powell family owned it for 25 years from 1931."

Over the years, many improvements have been made in the areas of aesthetics and equipment. But structurally, much has remained the same.

"The actual dining car is still intact in the front," he said. "We still have our grill out front like it used to be."

Brumagin explained that he's seen many changes over the years.

"It's provided us a good living and we've tried to keep to a certain type of food here, and atmosphere and affordability," he said. "We've survived through the good and bad times."

To the best of Brumagin's knowledge, the Green Arch may be one of just two Mulholland Company diner cars remaining. "As far as I know, there's only one more in existence that's still operating, and I believe that's the Union City Diner in Pennsylvania."

Brumagin has felt the effects of today's recession, but he remains hopeful that this dining car has a bright future ahead. "Right now is not a great time for restaurants, but we've got a good reputation ... we've built up a good clientele, so we've been able to survive."