2009 New England Diner Tour Online

The Wood Family's 2009 New England Diner Tour is now online!

Point your browser here: http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/2009dinertour

Habitat 67

During our 2009 trip to Montreal, we visited Habitat 67, a vision of modern housing featured at the world's expo held more that four decades ago. This habitat, designed by a then-young architecture student named Moshe Safdie (who has since forged a rich and storied career) reflects a radical rethinking of public life. It is hardly beautiful, but it is fascinating.

Habitat 67 sought to demonstrate how modular construction could balance the demand for increasing urban density with the human need for privacy and greenspace. The cantilevering of 354 prefab concrete units, akin to the construction of legos, was meant to be augmented with shops and a school, but high costs caused the project to be scaled back.

The Habitat's distance from downtown Montreal, along the Saint Lawrence River, complicates efforts to visit this spot. If you're taking the metro, you'll depart at Jean-Drapeau and then need to hoof it over the bridge to the Marc-Drouin Quay. Expect at least a 20 minute walk, and be careful to avoid altercations with fast-riding bicyclists who also use the bridge.

On site, there is little opportunity to tour the three pyramids of Habitat 67. The complex is owned by tenants, and private property signs abound. Still, it's worth the trip, even with the expectation that you'll likely just stand outside the place to shoot pictures. Visiting this place you can visualize a 1960s-vision of public space in which one person's roof becomes another person's garden.

(Photographs by Andrew Wood)

Montreal Murals

As I continue working on the website for the Wood Family Diner Tour I thought I'd share some images of Montreal murals. They're everywhere in this amazing city, telling tale of a complex social environment that is both redolent with pleasure and sometimes sick with despair.

As with all forms of Street Art the murals of Montreal live in a heterotopian between-space of authenticity and artifice, and certainly betwixt the spaces that mark rebellious utterance and authorized discourse.

When I return to Montreal (and that trip will be soon, I hope) I will spend much more time exploring its murals, noting the names of their artists and uncovering themes and motifs that are invisible to my now-uneducated eye.

(Photographs by Andrew Wood)

2009 New England Diner Tour - Itinerary

Initial plans for this summer's New England Diner Tour are complete. And right away you'll notice sacrilege: the absence of Jersey diners - and not even a stop in Maryland, which, as any fan of Barry Levinson's Baltimore-based movies knows, occupies a symbolic centrality in our collective geography of great diner locations.

That's the problem with our focus on New England. We've chosen to concentrate our attention further north and dedicate more time to New York, New Jersey, and Maryland next time.

One other thing: While the original theme of our family's 2009 adventures focused on diners, we've broadened our criteria to include swell drive-in theaters, fascinating historical sites, goofy roadside attractions, and even a jaunt to Montreal (presuming the feds return my renewed passport by mail on time). So where are we going?

The path starts in Philadelphia (where we got the best deal on flights), heads north through the Catskills and Adirondacks to Montreal, returns south for two-day U-turns in Vermont and New Hampshire, swings north and then south along the coast of Maine, drops into Massachusetts for a couple days, and then cruises through Rhode Island and Connecticut before returning to Philly.

Without providing too much exhaustive detail, here's a tentative list of highlights (including a handful of must-visit motels) for our two-week trip. See anything in the New England region that's obviously missing? Please post a comment.

Pennsylvania

Philadelphia: Geno's Steaks and Pat's King of Steaks (cheesesteak paradise)
Philadelphia: Independence Hall
Philadelphia: Reading Terminal Market
Orefield: Shankweiler's Drive-in (longest running drive-in theater in USA)

New York

New Paltz: "America's Oldest Street": Huguenot Street
Red Hook: "Fork in the Road" and Giant Prozac
Red Hook: Village Diner
Mt. Tremper: Kate's Lazy Meadow Motel
Massena: 56 Auto Drive-In
Massena: Blue Spruce Motel

Montreal

No specific plans yet. We'll park at the Grande Bibliotheque de Montreal, ride the metro, and see everything we can for about three days. Our only plan is lodging: two nights at Le Relais Lyonnais. Here's a trip back to '96 when we made our first trip to Montreal.

Vermont

Colchester: Libby's Blue Line Diner
Burlington: World's Largest Filing Cabinet
Castleton: Birdseye Diner
Covered bridges tour of southwestern Vermont
Brattleboro: Chelsea Royal Diner
Bellows Falls: Santa's Land (well... maybe)
Bellows Falls: Miss Bellows Falls Diner
St. Johnsbury: Dog Chapel

New Hampshire

Washington: Town Green
Claremont: Daddypops Tumble Inn Diner
Keene: Lindy's Diner
Keene: Rocky Brook Motel & Cottages
Hinsdale: License Plate House
Hinsdale: Northfield Drive-In
Manchester: Red Arrow Diner
Tilton: Tilt'n Diner
Lincoln: Clark's Trading Post
Mount Washington Auto Road

Maine

Bethel international sign
Gardiner: A-I Diner
Brooksville: Bagaduce Lunch
Waldoboro: Moody's Diner
Wiscasset: Red's Eats
Freeport: Maine Idyll Motor Court (where they don't take credit cards, but they do take personal checks - Cottage 5)

Massachusetts

Salem: Salem Diner
Salem: Bewitched statue
Somerville: Rosebud Diner
Wellesley: Babson Globe
Concord: Walden Pond
Worcester: Edgemere Diner (supposedly reopened as "The Edge" - hmmm....)
Worcester: Kenmore Diner
Worcester: Miss Worcester Diner
Worcester: Boulevard Diner
Middleboro: Sisson's Diner
Plymouth: Plymouth Rock
New Bedford: Shawmut Diner
Fall River: Al Mac's Diner

Rhode Island

East Greenwich: Jigger's Diner (famous for Johnnycakes!)
Pawtucket: Modern Diner
Providence: Haven Brothers
North Smithfield: Rustic Drive-in
North Attleboro: Arns Park Motel

Connecticut

Newington: Olympia Diner
Middletown: O'Rourke's Diner
Noank: Abbot's Lobster in the Rough
Guilford: Town Green
Fairfield: Super Duper Weenie World

No, we probably won't visit all of these sites. But we'll sure try! Once more, any suggestions? Let me know...

Shameless Media Plug - Saskatoon (Canada) Star Phoenix

In an article entitled Landmark 'theme' motel in Montreal closes doors for good, published on November 10, I was asked to provide a brief history of the American motel. It's a tiny clip of a lengthy interview, but it's nice to share...