The Village Diner , sometimes called the Halfway Diner or the Historic Village Diner , is located on North Broadway ( U.S. Route 9 ) a block north of New York State Route 199 , in Red Hook, New York , United States. It is a 1951 diner that has been in two other area locations during its history.
31-562: Its design reflects the era when diners were modeled closely after railroad dining cars , with chrome exteriors and curved walls. In 1988 it became the first diner in New York, and the fourth in the nation, to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places . Frommer's called it "one of the best ... midcentury American diners". The diner is in the center of a 75 by 125 feet (23 by 38 m) lot in downtown Red Hook. To
62-484: A 3-foot-high barrier. The path is part of the Empire State Trail project. The path is on the south side of the bridge, next to eastbound traffic. It is for pedestrians only; bicyclists on the span will continue to be required to use the shoulders of the road. At midnight on December 1, 2021, the bridge was converted to all-electronic tolling in the eastbound direction and the toll plazas were dismantled. At
93-434: A back wall with ribbed metal covering for all the kitchen functions. These treatments are more utilitarian, more typical of a lunch counter than a lushly-furnished rail diner of the era. The rear wing has some open dining space with freestanding tables and chairs, plus restrooms with their original doors. The diner retains its original builder's plate upon which Paterson Vehicle stamped a serial number 5113 indicating that it
124-460: A local institution. Other historic diners in the same architectural style: Dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (English), also a diner , is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant . These cars provide the highest level of service of any railroad food service car, typically employing multiple servers and kitchen staff members. Consequently, they are
155-410: A single aisle between them. The ceiling is also vaulted. The rear is mostly given over to counter and cooking space; it has no windows as a result, a deviation from the model. A later rear addition expands the kitchen facilities to the east. Much of the interior trim is original, such as tiled floor and wainscoting in turquoise and black, cream enameled walls, a laminated counter with 16 stools and
186-405: A single entity, generally with one car containing a galley as well as table or booth seating and the other car containing table or booth seating only. In the dining cars of Amtrak 's modern bilevel Superliner trains, booth seating on either side of a center aisle occupies almost the entire upper level, with a galley below; food is sent to the upper level on a dumbwaiter . Dining cars enhance
217-584: Is a continuous under-deck truss toll bridge that carries NY 199 across the Hudson River in New York State north of the City of Kingston and the hamlet of Rhinecliff . It was opened to traffic on February 2, 1957, as a two-lane (one in each direction) bridge, although it was not actually complete. The formal opening was May 11, 1957. The original cost was $ 17.5 million. The bridge, owned by
248-651: The Great Northern Railway . He said that "on a dining car, three elements can be considered -- the equipment, the employee, then passenger." In other words, "the whole is constituted by two-thirds of human parts." As cross-country train travel became more commonplace, passengers began to expect high-quality food to be served at the meals on board. The level of meal service on trains in the 1920s and 1930s rivaled that of high-end restaurants and clubs. They were first introduced in England on 1 November 1879 by
279-552: The Great Northern Railway Company on services between Leeds and London. A Pullman car was attached to the train for the purpose. As of 2018, Great Western Railway is the only UK train company to provide a full dining Pullman service on selected trains to the West Country & Wales . Elegance is one of the main words used to describe the concept of dining on a train. Use of fresh ingredients
310-644: The Kingston–Rhinecliff Bridge having restored some of the lost through traffic to Red Hook, Coons moved the diner back to its present location. He rented it to others and then finally sold it in the 1960s, after adding onto it to make it more of a traditional restaurant. A new roadside sign announced its new name to travelers — the Village Restaurant. The current owners refer to it as the Historic Village Diner. It has become
341-613: The Mid-Hudson Bridge . When the site was relocated about 3 miles (4.8 km) northward, there was no stable bedrock for anchorages, so the design was changed to a continuous under-deck truss. Construction commenced in 1954. When the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge was proposed, provisions were inserted in the enabling legislation that construction on that bridge could not commence until the Kingston–Rhinecliff
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#1732782334697372-513: The New York State Bridge Authority (NYSBA), carries two lanes of traffic and approximately 17,000 vehicles per day. It was designed by David B. Steinman and the builders were Harris Structural Steel and Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation , and is the second northernmost, and second newest, of the five bridges that NYSBA owns and operates. The bridge has two main spans, since there is an east and west channel in
403-697: The Outerbridge Crossing in the south to the Rip Van Winkle Bridge in the north, were also changed to eastbound-only at that time. In 2000 the state ceremonially renamed the bridge after George Clinton , New York's first Governor , fourth Vice President of the United States and a resident of the Hudson Valley . In late 2019, a pedestrian path was added to the bridge. It is 4 feet wide, separated from traffic by
434-647: The Turquoise Room , promoted as "The only private dining room in the world on rails." The room accommodated 12 guests, and could be reserved anytime for private dinner or cocktail parties, or other special functions. The room was often used by celebrities and dignitaries traveling on the Super Chief . Edwin Kachel was a steward for more than twenty-five years in the Dining-Car Department of
465-481: The 1920s for intercity travel brought them into the countryside. Manufacturers offered prefabricated models with lessons in management, giving entrepreneurs the chance to get into the restaurant business with less capital than it usually took. In 1925, Lou Dubois of Kingston , across the Hudson River from Red Hook, bought a popular Silk City Diner from the Paterson Vehicle Company, one of
496-511: The Hudson River at this point. Planning for a bridge in this general area to replace the ferry service, which was viewed as sporadic and unreliable (there were no Hudson bridges for a half-hour or more drive time in either direction), began in the early 1940s. The site for the bridge, as originally proposed, was between Kingston Point and downtown Rhinebeck , and the design was initially a suspension bridge almost identical in appearance to
527-418: The counter are generally considered to be an "intermediate" type of dining car. Before dining cars in passenger trains were common in the United States, a rail passenger's option for meal service in transit was to patronize one of the roadhouses often located near the railroad's " water stops ". Fare typically consisted of rancid meat, cold beans, and old coffee. Such poor conditions discouraged some from making
558-475: The diner to Bert Coons. He moved it to its current location and continued to make a profit. When the Taconic State Parkway was completed through northern Dutchess County after World War II , he moved the diner east, to where Route 199 intersected with the new road, to take advantage of changed transportation patterns. It is not clear whether he changed the name at the same time. In 1957, with
589-454: The familiar restaurant experience with the unique visual entertainment of the ever-changing view. While dining cars are less common today than in the past (having been supplemented or in some cases replaced altogether by other types of food-service cars), they still play a significant role in passenger railroading, especially on medium- and long-distance trains. Today, a number of tourist-oriented railroads offer dinner excursions to capitalize on
620-533: The journey. Most railroads began offering meal service on trains even before the First transcontinental railroad . By the mid-1880s, dedicated dining cars were a normal part of long-distance trains from Chicago to points west, save those of the Santa Fe Railway , which relied on America's first interstate network of restaurants to feed passengers en route. The " Harvey Houses ", located strategically along
651-587: The leading diner manufacturers. He chose to install it first in an area along recently designated Route 9, the Albany Post Road , just north of nearby Rhinebeck called Astor Flats. They called it the Halfway Diner because he thought it was about halfway along Route 9 between New York City and Albany . Dubois's wife managed the diner while her husband continued to drive trucks for a beer distributor. Three years later he died, and his family sold
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#1732782334697682-461: The line, served top-quality meals to railroad patrons during water stops and other planned layovers and were favored over in-transit facilities for all trains operating west of Kansas City . As competition among railroads intensified, dining car service was taken to new levels. When the Santa Fe unveiled its new Pleasure Dome lounge cars in 1951, the railroad introduced the travelling public to
713-413: The most common dining car configurations, one end of the car contains a galley (with an aisle next to it so that passengers can pass through the car to the rest of the train), and the other end has table or booth seating on either side of a center aisle. Trains with high demand for dining car services sometimes feature "double-unit dining cars" consisting of two adjacent cars functioning to some extent as
744-401: The most expensive to operate. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that do not duplicate the full-service restaurant experience, such as buffet cars , cars in which one purchases food from a walk-up counter to be consumed either within the car or elsewhere in the train. Grill cars, in which customers sit on stools at a counter and purchase and consume food cooked on a grill behind
775-711: The public's fascination with the dining car experience. The U76/U70 tram line between the German cities of Düsseldorf and Krefeld offers a Bistrowagen ("dining car" in German), where passengers can order drinks and snacks. That practice comes from the early 20th century, when interurban trams conveyed a dining car. Despite the introduction of modern tram units, four trams still have a Bistrowagen and operate every weekday. [REDACTED] Trains portal [REDACTED] Food portal Kingston%E2%80%93Rhinecliff Bridge The George Clinton Kingston–Rhinecliff Bridge
806-584: The same time, the road heading towards the bridge was narrowed to two lanes, and a turn lane was added in the other direction. In 2019, the bridge authority announced that tolls on its Hudson River crossings would increase each year beginning in 2020 and ending in 2023. As of May 1, 2021, the current toll for passenger cars traveling eastbound on the Kingston–Rhinecliff Bridge was $ 1.75 in cash, $ 1.45 for E-ZPass users. In May 2022, tolls will rise to $ 1.55 for E-ZPass users and $ 2 for cash payers. In 2023,
837-543: The south is a Queen Anne Style house, to the north a small store and, across Cherry Street, the Elmendorph Inn . Across North Broadway are many 19th century residences. The front and rear of the lot are used as parking. The restaurant building itself is on a cement block foundation . Its exterior is stainless steel , curved at the corners fluted and painted with horizontal bands on a steel frame structural system. Windows are rectangular and retractable, high up
868-410: The wall. A screen door on the south side is centrally located. All these features mimic those of a rail dining car. Atop the roof is a red neon sign reading "DINER". The main entrance is off-center, towards the south, as a result of a later expansion. A rear wing, added later, is sided in vinyl . The interior further emulates its rail model, with tables in booths along the east and west walls with
899-435: Was completed. Like all NYSBA bridges, the Kingston–Rhinecliff is a toll bridge , with the toll collected only for eastbound vehicles. Originally, tolls were collected in both directions. In August 1970, the toll was abolished for westbound drivers, and at the same time, eastbound drivers saw their tolls doubled. The tolls of eleven other New York–New Jersey and Hudson River crossings along a 130-mile (210 km) stretch, from
930-1005: Was encouraged whenever possible. Some of the dishes prepared by chefs were: Braised Duck Cumberland, Hungarian Beef Goulash with Potato Dumplings, Lobster Americaine, Mountain Trout Au Bleu, Curry of Lamb Madras, Scalloped Brussels Sprouts, Pecan and Orange Sticks and Pennepicure Pie to name a few items. The Christmas menu for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway in 1882 listed the following items: Hunter's Soup, Salmon with Hollandaise Sauce, Boned Pheasant in Aspic Jelly, Chicken Salad, Salmis Prairie Chicken, Oyster Patties, Rice Croquette, Roast Beef, English Ribs of Beef, Turkey with Cranberry Sauce, Stuffed Suckling Pig with Applesauce, Antelope Steak with Currant Jelly, potatoes, green peas, tomatoes , sweet potatoes, Mince Pie, Plum Pudding, Cake, Ice Cream , Fruits and coffee. In one of
961-409: Was the thirteenth unit built in 1951. This was a typical practice employed by Paterson and is seen on many of its remaining Silk City structures still in existence. From their origins as horse-drawn hot lunch carts, diners had evolved during the early 20th century into stationary, yet movable, fixtures of the developed urban landscape of the urban Northeast . The increasing use of the automobile during