"I want people to feel like they have stepped into the 1940s," said Keith Walker, the Oakley business owner who bought the yellow-and-green diner last year from the American Diner Museum. He moved it across the cross country to its new home on the corner of Weber Canyon Road and State Road 32.
The Road Island Diner - named because its longtime home was in Middleton, R.I. - is the first dining establishment in Oakley, a rural, horse-friendly town in Utah's Wasatch Back. It also is one of the few true diners in the West.
While many restaurants carry the "diner" name, experts say a true diner is a prefabricated structure built and assembled at a plant and moved to its permanent location. Usually built in the shape of railroad cars, diners are sleek and futuristic looking.
They also are a dying breed. Once there were about 6,000 of these free-standing buildings serving hamburgers, fried chicken and apple pie. Today, only about 1,200 remain, the majority located in the East.
On Friday, as the employees put the finishing touches on the diner, Jan Little and her mother Connie Greenwood stopped by for lunch and Little was disappointed she would have to wait.
"It's been really fun to watch and see it come about," said Little, who has a cabin nearby.
Craftspeople in Utah and around the country have spent the past year helping restore the diner, which has 18 bar stools and 13 booths. No historical detail was overlooked, from finding a company to replicate the original floor tile to creating brass leg caps that say "eat" and grace the legs of the booth benches.
"I decided if I was going to do it, I wanted everything to be dead on," Walker said. In all the project - which includes an attached outbuilding as well as a banquet facility - has cost about $1 million.
The menu has the same nostalgic flavor, with classic comfort food favorites such as burgers, pot roast, meatloaf, macaroni and cheese and, of course, ice cream and fountain desserts. Breakfast is available all day.
"We looked back at the old diner menus and selected meals like mom used to make," said general manager Sarah Duffin, whose family will operate the restaurant. Jeremy Duffin, her brother-in-law, is the executive chef.
Many of the menu items have names that tie to the Oakley community and geography, including the Smith and Morehouse Burger, Swift's Canyon Fried Chicken Sandwich and the Gristmill salad.
Even the employee uniforms are from the era. Waitresses wear the classic dresses with aprons while waiters wear white shirts, black bow ties and paper hats. The employees even get new "diner names" such as Alice, Dottie, Woody and Elvis.
The only modern embellishments are the flat-screen televisions, the air conditioning and the tabletop jukeboxes, which work like remote controls to activate iPods in the back.
Tyler Galovich, aka "Floyd," watched the diner take shape over the past year and when he saw the Help Wanted sign a few months ago, he wanted to be part of the experience. He even was willing to cut his long hair for the job.
"Everything today is about technology and going faster," the Woodland resident said. "It will be nice to have a place where people can take a step back."
kathys@sltrib.com
* The Road Island Diner is at 981 W. Weber Canyon Road, Oakley; 435-783-3467.
* Hours: 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday through Thursday ; 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday
* History: Built in 1939. Originally known as McDermott's Diner in Fall River, Mass., Later moved to Middletown, R.I., where it was renamed Tommy's Diner after its Greek-American owner. It remained a family-owned operation for more than 50 years.
* Fun fact: The Road Island Diner has a yellow-and-green color scheme, unusual because most of its counterparts are red, white and blue.
