Two weeks ago in this space, we looked at where you can find octagon houses within a comfortable day’s drive from the Corning-Bath area.

Last week, using the same compass, we looked at where you can find Quonset huts and geodesic domes.

And this week we look at another quirky feature of American architecture – the diner.

Anyplace can call itself a diner, usually meaning that they specialize in simple, filling fare, concentrating on breakfast and lunch; they eschew elegance and privacy for comfortable functionality; and, in many cases, they don’t serve liquor.

But what we’re looking at here is the traditional MANUFACTURED diner… long and narrow, delivered on wheels, and emphasizing a long counter with stools for the customers.

Diners got their starts with horse-drawn lunch wagons, which pulled up to busy locations, frequently outside factories, and served out sandwiches or meals to walk-up traffic. We have a marvelous photo of one such wagon at Cedar and Market Streets in Corning, outside of what was then the Y.M.C.A.

If business got good enough at one location, you might make arrangements to park there, and then might dream of sit-down customers, who would keep coming in even if it rained or snowed. By World War I lunch-car manufacturing was being superseded by manufacturing and shipping (by rail and by road) the first diners. These often had vaulted roofs, which slid the snow off while suggesting the railroad dining car, in which millions of Americans had already chowed down.

Since these were portable, they often came and went – here in the 21st century, new owners hauled the Avoca Diner off to a new name and a new life in Washington D.C. Often, though, owners added on, sometimes making larger diners and sometimes becoming full-service restaurants, though usually with the original diner still discernible.

So, where can you find them? One of the closest to Bath-Corning is the Penn Yan Diner on 13 East Elm… small and easy to miss, which would be a shame. They actually used the trolley tracks to deliver it in 1925 (centennial coming up!), and it’s been busy ever since. PYD has an extra interest to us, having been built not too far away, by the Richardson Company in Chautauqua County. Our son likes the pickle soup, but I haven’t tried it personally.

Then there’s The Diner, which bills itself as a “newly renovated railcar diner.” This one is NOT so easy to miss, sitting gloriously and uncompromisingly on its own space at 59 Old Ithaca Road in Horseheads.

Modern Diner, on Main Street in Wellsville, is said to be a 1946 Ward & Dickinson, made in Chautauqua County like the Penn Yan Diner. It’s been altered, expanded, and modernized, but very much emphasizes that original vaulted roof structure.

The State Diner (428 West State Street) has been going strong in Ithaca since 1936. Like many others it’s been expanded and rebuilt, and has even survived a major fire, but you can still discern the original construction.

Although it’s a little outside our stated Western New York focus, let’s mention the nearby Wellsboro Diner, on Main Street in that delightful Pennsylvania borough. It’s a 1938 diner, on the spot since 1939. There’s an added dining-gift shop-rest room space, but the original diner is deliciously intact with counter, tiny booths, vaulted ceiling, cooking-in-the-open, and all.

This is a fun-with-architecture feature, but suppose you want to do more than just look? I can’t make any dining recommendations (let alone guarantees), though I will say that I have eaten at the State, at the Wellsboro, and at the Penn Yan, and enjoyed them all. All eateries are restricted by the pandemic, but I’m sure they’d appreciate takeout orders, if nothing else! Give ’em a hand, and think about at least a cup of coffee. Stay tuned – more next week!