A Tastee slice of history

by Bruce Johansen

Although the forecast called for heat, humidity, and rain--a typical D.C. area summer day--crowds gathered early on Saturday morning, June 17, 2000. After over fifty years at the intersection of Georgia and Wayne, this was moving day for the Tastee Diner, and people were eager to witness history in the making.

COURTESY SILVER SPRING HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Purchased by Eddie Warner from the Jerry O'Mahoney Company in Elizabeth, New Jersey, the 25-foot, prefabricated art deco/moderne structure was installed at its original site in August 1946. Long-time staff and patrons remember the hustle and bustle of those post-War years. The Silver Spring Shopping Center, and then major department stores, including Hecht's and J.C. Penney, drew customers to the area. So did Covington Buick, Hawn's Jewelry, and the Buzz Inn, businesses surrounding the diner. But things would change beginning in the 1960s as retail in the central business district struggled to compete with more modern shopping options elsewhere. Tastee's and neighboring shops' futures were threatened, including by proposals for redevelopment.

Displayed at Tastee's original location were newspaper clippings, letters, and other memorabilia, most from the 1980s, illustrating the ensuing clash of ideas and emotions. In one article, developer Lloyd Moore described the 80-seat diner as "a disgrace" and "not a nice place," an impediment to the "Silver Triangle" project he intended to build on that and an adjoining site. An editorial cartoon featured a salivating Moore biting into his sandwich, which consisted of two slices of bread surrounding Tastee. By contrast, patrons' words reflected sadness over the diner's impending closure. One regular told a reporter, "This shouldn't be perceived as a museum but as a social and communal gathering spot...if it closes, it will be like a close friend died. I will suffer a loss." Another wrote to the Montgomery Planning Board: "Nothing about Tastee seems fancy, or franchised, or fake. It is wonderful because it is real. Please save it for us."  

Bob Traynor, a cook and manager who had purchased Tastee from Eddie Warner in 1968, chose not to fight. This prompted Dee Payne, Eva May Tomack, and Eunice Ramsey to mobilize their co-workers and patrons. The political novices gathered nearly 9,000 signatures on petitions, packed public hearings, and approached current owner Gene Wilkes about purchasing the diner, which he did in 1988. Under pressure, Moore agreed to seek a solution allowing Tastee to remain in downtown Silver Spring, and in 1994 it was designated an historic site by Montgomery County. Three years later former Governor Parris Glendening presented the county with a grant to assist with its relocation.

While many residents have a soft spot for Tastee, affection hasn't been universal. As with most diners, working-class white men have historically been Tastee's primary clientele. Over time the diner has welcomed the homeless and others who might be turned away elsewhere. As it aged, some white-collar residents came to view Tastee as "seedy" and unsuitable for children. When its new location was announced, at least one future neighbor voiced concern about its patrons.

PHOTO COURTESY SILVER SPRING HISTORICAL SOCIETY The Tastee Diner moves into Silver Spring in the summer of 1946.

Also, like most of downtown Silver Spring, the diner was segregated until a public accommodations ordinance was instituted in Montgomery County in 1962. Previously, employees were instructed to tell black patrons that they could pick up orders from the back door, but would not be served inside, a legacy remembered by many African Americans. When asked about Tastee, one septuagenarian, who prefers to remain anonymous, responded: "Yeah, yeah. You'd go around back. You'd put your order in around back and then you didn't get it until everybody up front was served...that was routine." Similarly, with Little Tavern he says: "We had a joke. The guys (behind the counter) would say, 'We don't serve colored people.' And the answer was, 'Good, we don't eat them. Give me a hotdog." Having witnessed Tastee's transformation into an integrated place it has become one of this man's favorite local hangouts.

Others, including Jerry McCoy, have long-standing affection for Tastee. McCoy says that the idea of living within walking distance of a 24-hour diner was one of Silver Spring's initial attractions. Before Tastee moved, he remarked: "I look at the step when you come in here, how it's worn off, and that just amazes me. That's half a century of people coming into this building, twenty-four hours a day."

Sujewa Ekanayake, a young regular who commuted daily by Metro to the old site, developed a 'zine and film based on encounters there. "Time slows down," he told me, and there are other qualities harder to name, "its strange mix of Kerouac, punk rock, ice cream and apple pie."

That Tastee's former site has been filled by the international headquarters of media conglomerate Discovery Communications is one of the more dramatic signs of how downtown Silver Spring is changing. Once so visible at Georgia and Wayne, the diner has moved to the edge of the central business district, while chain restaurants and stores fill the core.

Unique to prefabricated diners is that they are built to be transported, and in turn can be relocated. Five years ago, the curious and Tastee's diehard fans gathered to watch as the humble structure was lifted from its moorings. In the morning there were performances by a Dixieland band comprised of older white men, and by a multiracial group of tap dancing teens. Politicians offered brief remarks, while reporters sought quotes from employees and patrons.

As two hours stretched into three, four, six, and finally eight hours, and as sunny skies turned cloudy and rain hit, the crowds dwindled, but they reappeared that evening as the local landmark slowly and carefully wound its way up Georgia. With cameras and umbrellas, a brigade followed Tastee to its new home at Cameron and Ramsey. The move inspired a "Zippy the Pinhead" comic strip.  

See www.zippythepinhead.com/pages/aadinerarticle2.html.

Today the original dining car serves primarily as a lobby for a 5,500 square foot space accommodating close to 300 patrons. The counter remains, but the original wooden booths disappeared. Now a hostess greets customers, ushering them to larger, more private seating options. No longer are rubbing elbows at the counter, eavesdropping and joining in on conversations so commonplace.

Looking around, though, it's clear that staff and customers mirror a new, more multicultural Silver Spring, one that has gone from being majority to minority white since 1990. And as the diner has become more polished, it is now a place regularly patronized by women, professionals, and families, along with much of its old clientele. In that way and others, Tastee Diner is a reflection of Silver Spring's unfolding history.