Welcome to the RoadsideFans Get-TogetherMini-tour of area roadside delights - Saturday, March 22, 2003
Miss Troy Diner, 626 Pawling Avenue, Troy
The Miss Troy Diner is a Brill diner dating to approximately 1930. It is one of only 2 Brill diners known to exist that is still operating as a diner (the other one is the Capitol Diner in Lynn, MA.) The diner was renovated by Swingle in the 1960s, but the interior still retains much of its original small diner charm, including cooking behind the counter. The Miss Troy is currently operated by Tess, who recently celebrated her first year in business at this Troy landmark.Leaving the Miss Troy, turn right and continue following Pawling Avenue (NY Route 66) just over the Troy city line into Wyantskill (town of North Greenbush.) There you’ll find...
Jack’s Drive-In, 24 Main Avenue, Wyantskill
Jack’s is a roadside eatery with a long history. Jack’s original building was little more than a shack: a small wooden structure with panels covering the windows which were propped up when the stand was open and then dropped down at night. Jack’s served only hamburgers and hot dogs, and bottled soda served from bins of ice outdoors. As with many drive-ins of the day, Jack’s featured car hop service. In the 1970s, Rensselaer County enacted more stringent regulations prohibiting food service from open buildings, so the shack was demolished and the present structure was built.Continue driving out NY Route 66, past the junction of NY Route 355, until you reach...
Hollywood Drive-In Theatre, 9270 Route 66, Averill Park
The Hollywood Drive-In opened in 1953 during the heyday of drive-in movies, but unlike most, has continued to operate each summer until the present. The design of this drive-in is somewhat unusual: cars are parked in rows facing uphill toward the screen. The ground slopes just enough so that even ordinary car seats feel like reclining seats. Visit their Web site at http://www.hollywooddrivein.comGetting your kicks on NY Route 66: Some roadside history
If you continue to drive further out on Route 66, you will encounter a cluster of four small lakes: Crystal Lake, Glass Lake, Crooked Lake, and Burden Lake. Their nearness to Troy and Albany made them a popular day trip destination. Public facilities at Crystal Lake once included a vintage carousel, and Tifft’s Beach on Glass Lake, now closed, offered public bathing facilities. Perhaps the most lavish establishment in the area was the Crooked Lake Hotel, a sprawling complex offering a beach during the daytime and a ballroom which hosted many notables of the Big Band era at night. A restaurant, the Crooked Lake House, operated for a while in the 1990s, but the complex is presently for sale. (Visit http://www.thecrookedlakehouse.com for details.) Today, the lakes are enjoyed mostly by private residents, and facilities open to the public are nearly nonexistent.To continue on the tour, head back on Route 66 and turn right onto Snyder’s Corner Road and then take the second left onto Weatherwax Road. At the end of Weatherwax Road, turn right onto Route 355 and then the next left onto Spring Avenue. There you’ll find...
Moxie’s Ice Cream, Spring Avenue Extension, Troy
This building dates to the 1930s and was originally Wagar’s Dairy, a small dairy which delivered milk by truck to homes in the surrounding communities. Like many dairies of the time, Wagar’s used ice cream as an image-builder and added an ice cream stand with Streamline Moderne rounded corners onto the front of their building. It’s been Moxie’s since 1969, and the building is all original except for the paint: the ice cream stand sports a red diamond motif on walls that were originally all white, and there’s an unusual Southwestern-themed mural on one wall of the building.Follow Spring Avenue back into Troy and turn left at the stop sign. This takes you back to Pawling Avenue and the Miss Troy Diner. To continue on the tour, turn right onto Winter Street and proceed for approximately 2 miles. There you’ll find...
Alexis Diner, 294 North Greenbush Road, Troy
The Alexis Diner is a DeRaffele which was installed in 1999. This diner is large when compared against diners of the 1950s and before, but actually it is quite small compared to other recent DeRaffeles such as the Metro 20 Diner on Route 20 just west of I-87 or the gigantic I-84 Diner near Newburgh, NY. Web site: http://www.alexisdiner.comFollow US Route 4 south approximately 2 miles, then take the on ramp onto Interstate 90 west. Then, take Interstate 787 south and take the first exit off I-787. Follow Colonie Street to Broadway and turn right. On the right side of Broadway you’ll find...
Miss Albany Diner, 893 Broadway, Albany
The Miss Albany is a 1941 Silk City diner, still in its original location, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Formerly known as Lil’s, the diner was restored in the 1980s and appeared in the movie Ironweed. The Miss Albany is operated by Cliff and Jane Brown, and inside you will find New England small diner ambiance in New York’s state capital.Just north of the Miss Albany on Broadway is...
Nipper, the RCA Dog, atop the Arnoff Moving and Storage Building
Francis Barraud’s 1895 painting “His Master’s Voice,” of a dog staring intently into a gramophone horn, became the trademark of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later acquired by RCA. The building on which Nipper sits formerly housed an RCA distributor. Many RCA buildings featured Nipper on top (one in Baltimore, Maryland included the gramophone horn) but the Albany Nipper is said to have been the largest. This Nipper survived when RCA scrapped the Nipper logo in the late 1960s in favor of modernistic “RCA” lettering. Present building occupant Arnoff Moving and Storage, while totally unrelated to RCA, nonetheless recognizes Nipper’s landmark value and is committed to keeping him in place.Return to I-787 and head south. Follow the highway to the end (the highway curves sharply to the right.) Then, turn right at the traffic light which puts you on Route 9W south. On the left, there’s...
Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge, 416 Southern Boulevard, Albany
This Howard Johnson’s restaurant and motor lodge complex dates to approximately 1960, is in largely original condition, and the motor lodge still operates although the Howard Johnson’s restaurant has been closed for the last two years. A noteworthy detail is the Simple Simon sign, based on the original Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge logo where Simple Simon is approaching an innkeeper next to a lamp post. Some rooms in the motor lodge still have original bathtubs with this logo embossed on the tub bottom. (UPDATE: The lodge is no longer part of the Howard Johnson chain and is being remodeled, and all Howard Johnson's details will undoubtedly be removed or obliterated in the process.)Continue south on Route 9W another mile or so until you reach...
Uncle Milty’s Glenmont Diner, 21 Frontage Road, Glenmont
Originally the Miss Glenmont Diner, this is a 1961 Silk City diner, serial number 3671 (using the post-1960 numbering scheme where the serial numbers end in 71.) It is representative of the style of diner Silk City built in this era, with larger windows but still using the familiar stainless steel with color bands that typified diners in the 1950s. This diner would have been considered very modern a mere decade earlier, but in the early 1960s it seemed old-fashioned compared to the Space Age creations of other manufacturers such as DeRaffele and Kullman. Silk City ceased business in 1964.Head north on Route 9W, past the Thruway interchange. The road curves to the left. Then, go straight through the next two traffic lights and turn left at the third, onto Delaware Avenue. Then, continue south, crossing a bridge over the Normans Kill Creek. On the left, you’ll find...
Tastee Freez, 58 Delaware Avenue, Elsmere
This small Tastee Freez ice cream stand is definitely a roadside treat. Whereas many 1950s ice cream stands have been demolished, enlarged, or remodeled with mansard roofs and such, this one is virtually all original, including the rooftop sign with ice cream cone tilted toward the road.Continue back into Albany on Delaware Avenue. On the right, you’ll drive by Spectrum 7 Theatre, which was originally the Delaware Theatre, a single-screen neighborhood movie house. The original auditorium was divided in two, then two more cinemas were added at one end of the building, and later three more at the other to create the present complex of seven screens. Featuring the best Hollywood and independent films and popcorn with real butter, it’s a great place to see a movie. Then, turn left onto Madison Avenue (Route 20,) then left onto New Scotland Avenue. You’ll come to...
Quintessence, 11 New Scotland Avenue, Albany
Quintessence is a Fodero diner from the 1940s. Some have referred to Quintessence as the “Psychedelic Diner.” When you see this diner’s unusual paint scheme, you’ll understand why.To return to the starting point, go back to Route 20, take it east to Interstate 787 north, then Interstate 90 east to Exit 8. Then, north on Route 4 two miles, right on Winter Street (at the Alexis Diner) two miles, then left on Pawling Avenue to the Miss Troy.