Chapter 31B

Scrape delays exodus of diner

Hauler grazes car as historic eatery starts journey to Texas

By KENNETH C. CROWE II, Staff writer

First published: Saturday, October 23, 2004

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- A 50-seat diner collided with a car just west of Broadway on Friday afternoon as the historic aluminum eatery was being hauled toward its new home, city police said.

Diners usually aren't on the move, but Wolff's Diner was sold last weekend for $5,000 on eBay to Eric Schulte of College Station, Texas, and was beginning its journey from Stillwater to its future home in the Southwest.

The silver and blue diner didn't make it past Saratoga Springs when the truck transporting it grazed a car at 1:34 p.m., police said. There were no injuries and just minor cosmetic damage to the car. But there were plenty of looks of disbelief.

"There are times when you drive up on certain things, you do a double take," said Officer Robert Dennis about arriving to find Wolff's Diner blocking Church Street.

"Get me traffic," Dennis radioed to headquarters.

The diner was escorted to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center parking lot off Route 50 in the Saratoga Spa State Park.

"I've never taken a diner off the road before," said Officer Greg Santos of the Traffic Safety Unit. Santos issued 10 citations for various safety violations.

The diner has taken up temporary residence in the parking lot until truck driver Melvin Brandt, 56, of M and M Leasing of Lancaster, Pa., can get the truck repaired and a new permit.

The diner was originally The Palace Diner in Albany before being moved to Route 4 in Stillwater in the late 1960s. That's when the Wolff family renamed it. Beyond that, its history is anything but clear.

According to the hauling permit, the diner is a Kolemar Diner built in 1940 with a serial number of 0001. The American Diner Museum lists it as a Fodero Diner built in the late 1940s. But then the Times Union was told in 1999 by the former owners that it was built in 1942 by The O'Mahoney Co. of New Jersey.

The American Diner Museum on its Web site said, "This beautiful and rare diner is very intact with the original tile floor and tile walls. The original end Naugahyde booths are still in the diner, but other booths have been replaced with chairs."

The diner was just barely in the town of Stillwater, leading many people to believe it was in neighboring Saratoga.

"I ate there many times. A lot of the farmers went down there to eat," said Bob Hall, a farmer and ex-Saratoga town supervisor.

Kathryn Guilianelle used to help her sister, Jean Wolff, at the diner. "You'd go up there at 6 a.m. and stay all day," Guilianelle said. "Clam chowder, bean soup. She was a good cook."

Doug Dyer bought the closed diner and a neighboring motel from David Wolff in 1999 with plans to reopen. Dyer passed away before he could do that, leaving the property to his wife, Jacklyn Dyer.

"It just sat there for several years. I wanted it demolished," said Dyer. She listened to Michael Cristo instead.

"I tell people all the time what I'm doing is making something out of nothing. We preserved something of historical relevance," said Cristo, of M. Cristo Inc. of East Greenbush.

Hired to tear down Wolff's Diner, Cristo listed it on eBay after talking to Daniel Zilka of the American Diner Museum. Zilka contacted Schulte, who had hunted for a diner for three years.

Schulte plans to refurbish the diner and reopen it as part of his Hullabaloo's restaurant, which is a restored 1940s creamery, pie shop and soda fountain.

It will cost about $25,000 to get the diner to Texas.

"You always fear stuff like that happening. It could have been worse," Schulte said of the accident. "I just hope it gets here in one piece."

Kenneth C. Crowe II can be reached at 581-8438 or by e-mail at kcrowe@timesunion.com.

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