Those of you who consider yourselves Boothies are very familiar with the ground-breaking work done by Richard and Kelly Gutman on identifying every known Booth photograph. How many of you know that they turned their sights on the history and documentation of Great American Diners after the bulk of the Booth material was completed?

One of the coolest things about diners are the staff. Some of them have been at those places for years and are funny! When I was a newspaper editor many years ago, I had breakfast every day in a Tampa diner, and the waitress would always say, "You want the same damned thing you had yesterday?" And I'd always say, "Yep!"

Some brick-and-mortar restaurants aren't really diners, but have similar food and you can watch the short-order cooks with their amazing economy of movement. The old Ranch House chain was like that, and the Waffle Houses are, too. One of my favorites, back when I had our offices down in the Silver Hill, Maryland, area, was a place called "Steak in a Sack."

Great breakfasts any time of day or night. And grits. I have to have cheese grits, no matter what.

--Jim

(11-19-2015 03:42 PM)Jim Page Wrote:  One of the coolest things about diners are the staff.
--Jim

I couldn't agree more with Jim. Mel's Diner here in Ft. Myers has the coolest staff imaginable. Eva, it's worth a trip to Florida!

What is the name of the first painting Lincoln sat for and where is the painting located today?

Roger, Mel's is beautiful. Have you eaten in a sandwich shop in Naples called Pastrami Dan's? It is excellent if you like pastrami, and who doesn't?!?!? Another great place called Mel's is Mel's Red Hots in Tampa, if it's still there. Hot dogs deluxe.

I think diners have been making a comeback in the last ten years or so. We have three on Route One between Beltsville and Hyattsville, and the Silver Diner chain, which is a little trendy and upscale for my taste, seems to be doing well.

I had breakfast in a diner called the Mountain View in Frederick, Maryland, a month or so ago and it was fantastic. It was a Sunday morning and the place was packed, but the food and service was first-class. Diners usually serve delicious coffee with constant refills and that is another thing in their favor.

Sorry to go on a food tangent, but this info is mainly for Eva's benefit and, of course, Lincoln would have loved these places.

--Jim

Jim, we shall try Pastrami Dan's! (have not been there)

(11-19-2015 04:04 PM)Anita Wrote:  What is the name of the first painting Lincoln sat for and where is the painting located today?

Anita, I will say the artist was Charles A. Barry, and his work is in the Library of Congress.

(11-19-2015 03:42 PM)Jim Page Wrote:  One of the coolest things about diners are the staff. Some of them have been at those places for years and are funny! When I was a newspaper editor many years ago, I had breakfast every day in a Tampa diner, and the waitress would always say, "You want the same damned thing you had yesterday?" And I'd always say, "Yep!"

Some brick-and-mortar restaurants aren't really diners, but have similar food and you can watch the short-order cooks with their amazing economy of movement. The old Ranch House chain was like that, and the Waffle Houses are, too. One of my favorites, back when I had our offices down in the Silver Hill, Maryland, area, was a place called "Steak in a Sack."

Great breakfasts any time of day or night. And grits. I have to have cheese grits, no matter what.

--Jim

Steak in a Sack that you mention is/was part of my teenage and semi-adult years! And right nearby was a Hot Shoppes Cafeteria. Great food. Ranch House was in nearby Oxon Hill. Both it and Hot Shoppes closed about 20 years ago, but Steak in a Sack might still be there.

(11-19-2015 03:52 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 03:42 PM)Jim Page Wrote:  One of the coolest things about diners are the staff.
--Jim

I couldn't agree more with Jim. Mel's Diner here in Ft. Myers has the coolest staff imaginable. Eva, it's worth a trip to Florida!

Florida is always worth a trip!!!! I need to win one!!!
I like grits, Jim (without cheese)!

(11-19-2015 04:13 PM)RJNorton Wrote:  

(11-19-2015 04:04 PM)Anita Wrote:  What is the name of the first painting Lincoln sat for and where is the painting located today?

Anita, I will say the artist was Charles A. Barry, and his work is in the Library of Congress.

Love Barry's portrait. I didn't know it, but it's not the one I'm looking for.

Here's a hint. It's a watercolor.

The artist was Cornelia Adele Fassett, and the painting now resides in the Chicago Public Library?

Winslow Homer?

Bravo Roger! It is indeed Cornelia Fassett. Your prize is two pieces of pumpkin pie from Horn & Hardart.

Eva For trying you win one piece of pumpkin pie from Horn & Hardart. Google them and you will read about this famous automat where I enjoyed "comfort Food" many a time.

   
Paintings of Abraham Lincoln were sometimes made “from life”—which means that the artist made them while Lincoln posed. But other paintings were entirely based on portrait photographs. This early painting by Cornelia Fassett may have been based on both, and it shows Lincoln before he grew a beard.
Fassett and her husband, photographer Samuel Montague Fassett, were prominent in the art community of Chicago. According to records of the Grand Army of the Republic, Lincoln posed for Cornelia Fassett in 1860. Her portrait, though, is quite similar to an 1859 photograph taken by her husband. She may have worked from watching Lincoln as he sat for the photograph and from the photograph itself. In 1863 she donated this watercolor portrait to the Northwestern Sanitary Fair held in Chicago’s Bryan Hall. The fair organizers raffled it “for the benefit of the sick and wounded soldiers.”
- See more at: http://www.civilwarinart.org/items/show/...UwqoZ.dpuf

(11-20-2015 03:27 PM)Anita Wrote:  Bravo Roger! Your prize is two pieces of pumpkin pie from Horn & Hardart.

Eva For trying you win one piece of pumpkin pie from Horn & Hardart.

Anita, rumor had it that the delicious H&H pumpkin pie actually used hubbard squash instead of pumpkins.

Whatever they used, it worked.

--Jim

(11-20-2015 03:27 PM)Anita Wrote:  Eva For trying you win one piece of pumpkin pie from Horn & Hardart. Google them and you will read about this famous automat where I enjoyed "comfort Food" many a time.

Thanks, Anita - love all things pumpkin! And I enjoyed learning of and about the portrait as well as the food automat! Thanks!