The Frazer Diner, in

Chester County, Pennsylvania Chester County (Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Tscheschter Kaundi''), colloquially known as Chesco, is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the Delaware Valley region of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5 ...

, was built by the

Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company The Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was a manufacturer of roadside diners from 1917 to 1952. The company produced some 2,000 of the long, narrow, primarily metal buildings, perhaps more than any other firm. Prefabricated ...

and is now the only remaining example of an unaltered mid-1930s streamline modern O'Mahoney diner. Its original features include the

monitor roof A monitor in architecture is a raised structure running along the ridge of a double-pitched roof, with its own roof running parallel with the main roof. The long sides of monitors usually contain clerestory windows or louvers to light or ventila ...

, half-moon windows, and porcelian-enameled base. The diner was split lengthwise and originally shipped to Paoli, Pennsylvania and operated as the Paoli Diner. Originally manufactured in 1935 (though some sites reference 1929), it was purchased by Frances and Sylvester Cavalati in 1957 and moved to its present location at 189 Lancaster Avenue, Frazer, Pennsylvania in

East Whiteland Township East Whiteland Township is a township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 10,650 at the 2010 census. Mailing addresses associated with East Whiteland include Malvern, Frazer, and a small area of Exton. History Fo ...

. In 1972, while retaining ownership, they leased it to others to operate and the name was changed to the Frazer Diner. Around 1983, the diner was leased to Tam Nguyen and his wife Hao (law school graduate and nurse, respectively) who had fled communism in Vietnam and moved to the Main Line in 1980. They operated it as the Linh Diner, specializing in Vietnamese-Chinese food, and it became a regular lunch stop for nearby high-tech companies in the Great Valley. After five years building a successful business, they were running out of space and looking to move to a new location that was to be built as part of a new shopping center nearby. Before that happened, the Cavalati's served the Nguyens an eviction notice, and noted there was a buyer who wanted to move the diner to Hollywood. The Nguyens did eventually open the Linh Restaurant nearby, but the diner was not moved to California, and eventually re-opened, once again as the Frazer Diner.

References

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See also

References