Old diners are cool, especially the ones that were around during the golden age of the automobile. It’s cool to think that decades ago locals were hanging out in the same spot. The James Dean of Canada could have eaten here, his Porsche ‘boulevard parked’ outside. It’s like a living connection to history.
But the Donlands Diner is a weird one. It is both an original diner established since 1955, yet also a complete fabrication. It’s a modern interpretation of what people think an old diner looked like. Black and white checkerboard floors, lipstick-red vinyl booths, black and white photos and Warhol-esque prints of Campbell’s Soup cans on the walls.
An online search finds pictures of the Donlands Diner as it was through the ’80s and ’90s. Dim lighting, dark wood-veneer panels, old-fashioned stools and massive stainless steel appliances behind the counter. You can just see decades worth of cigarette smoke baked into the paint, like an old Greek diner in New Jersey, and that’s not a compliment.
Maybe it’s cruel to call the place ‘phony’ because it’s more like an acknowledgment of the diner’s old-school past. The place could have looked like this in the ’50s, before that dark wood look became all the rage in the ’70s. This month, the Donlands Diner celebrated 70 years in business, which is amazing for a fickle city like Toronto. So if the owner wanted to dress the place up like the old days, God bless him.
Donlands Diner has been a viable business that’s had several different owners over the decades. Sometimes those family-run restaurants are in business almost as a hobby for the older generation, while the younger generation waits for the land value to spike. The current boss has only owned the place for seven years, even though some of the waitresses have worked there for 20 and 35 years.
Maybe one of those ladies waited on the James Dean of Canada back in the day.
Happy 70 years in business. They have done a great job of revisioning the past and keeping the old diner going.
I agree.
When I see those pics of the place in the 80s, I would say that was modern back then.
But to go back to an old school look is a smart marketing move.
And they make good corned beef hash, too.