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New England Photos

A photo essay of life,sights and history in New England. Including some of the lesser known things and some of the down-right obscure. A new photo added every one to two days. Click on the photos to see a larger picture. There are more pictures in the archive.

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Wednesday, September 07, 2005

KATHY'S DINER


Northampton, MA - I received this information on Kathy's Diner from the back of their menus. The diner has quite a history, please read:

In 1923 a man named Corbett began a lunch room at this address. After a year, ownership passed to a man name Alexander Welcome. One of Welcome's employees, in 1927, was William A. Maginnis. In 1930, Maginnis made the jump from employee to proprietor. He called the place the Amos Diner for about a year. From 1932 on it was known as Mac's Diner. It remained this until William Maginnis' passing in 1940.
After sitting vacant the diner reopened as Jim's Diner with James J. Pesienski as its owner. This diner saw yet another change of ownership in 1945; Francis J. Durant took over. He changed the name to the Miss Northampton Diner. This is the one that lasted the longest. Kathy Brodeur-Tefft (the current owner) worked here under the ownership of Durant in 1956 as a teenager. Although ownership changed many times the name of Miss Northampton Diner remained for almost three decades.
In 1973 a new proprietor changed things again. Richard Redmond bought the veteran eating establishment and transformed it into the White Castle Diner.
Later, in 1973, Jessie Benoit bought the diner and renamed it the Red Lion Diner until Kathy Brodeur-Tefft purchased the diner in 1989 and changed the name to Kathy's Diner
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KATHY'S DINER

1 Comments:

At 9:58 PM, Blogger tmp00 said...

I used to go to this place a lot when I was in College and it was the Red Lion. It was considered kind of a dive, and we'd go after a late night out clubbing (or what passed for it in Western Mass. Jesse was an absolutely wonderful woman: she didn't take guff from anybody, could toss an obstreperous drunk out like a used tissue, but had a heart of pure gold. I read later that she went on to start a shelter for homeless families in Hampshire County. She was a truly beautiful woman, and I am proud to have known her, if only slightly.

 

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