I have since found out the diner was formerly the Rosedale Diner, operated for years at the corner o

I know a lot of "Diner People" were familiar with a similar image that dates back to 1973 and was the inspiration for my 1982 photo. So now I am finally going to keep my promise to my faithful readers and tell the story in its complete form, with the help of my friend Matt Simmons!
Back in 1991, I was asked by Randy Garbin of Roadside Magazine (now RoadsideOnline) to contribute a "Diner Hunting" story for the fourth issue of his fledgling economy car rental st maarten publication (Roadside, economy car rental st maarten Summer, 1991). economy car rental st maarten At first I thought, which of the hundreds of diners I had documented up to that point in time would make a compelling enough tale for Randy's faithful readers? Then it came to me in a New York minute (OK, a Pennsylvania minute) that it had to be the story of how I found the ABANDONED LUNCHEONETTE !!! The next part is basically what I wrote for Roadside, with a few new tweaks……
For those of you readers not familiar with it, Abandoned Luncheonette is the title song of an LP record album by recording artists Daryl Hall John Oates, released in 1973 on the Atlantic Records label. The album cover featured a photograph of an abandoned diner. This cover had always intrigued me whenever I came across it in music stores. I used to say to myself, Wow what a great idea for an album cover. Every so often, I would even hear the song on the radio, but I never paid much attention to the lyrics.
It wasn't until November 1980, the same weekend I had taken my first photograph of a diner in Harrisburg , PA , that I actually came closer to finding the Abandoned Luncheonette. I was driving through New York City and had the radio tuned to an FM station. Between tunes, the DJ mentioned how he liked diners, which definitely got my attention, and then he played the Abandoned Luncheonette song. For the first time, I really listened to the lyrics. I couldn t believe it what a great tune! The words spoke to me and stirred something economy car rental st maarten within me. I had to have this record. Needless to say, I bought this album the first of around economy car rental st maarten 15 albums in my collection economy car rental st maarten with images of diners featured on the covers.
A year later while I was again visiting Harrisburg , I was sitting in my friend Steve Repucci s living room, looking at a map of Pennsylvania and trying to locate a small road in the Philadelphia area. You see, there is a clue to the Abandoned economy car rental st maarten Luncheonette s location on the inner sleeve that mentions the man on Route 724. I knew that Daryl Hall John Oates both were raised in the Philly area and figured that the diner may be located near there. I couldn t find Route 724 anywhere on the map. There were just too many small roads with~3 digit designations to see it. But wouldn t you know, the next morning while driving economy car rental st maarten home on Route 222 through Reading , PA at around 4:30 a.m. , I came upon the junction of Route 724. I couldn t believe it! I pulled over and checked out the map. The road went only a few miles to the west, but went 30 or so miles to the east, towards Philadelphia . I knew this had to be the right road and decided that on my next trip, I would go exploring.
On February 26, 1982 , I returned to Pennsylvania with Steve s brother Scott to help get Steve moved back to Boston . Since we had some time to kill on the trip down, we bypassed through Reading and headed down Route 724. We had traveled about 20 miles or so to the east into the outskirts of Pottstown (actually Kenilworth , PA ) when there it was the Abandoned Luncheonette sitting about 25 feet off the side of the road. This was really exciting, almost like finding the Holy Grail. It was still recognizable and looked very similar to the album cover, albeit with nine years worth of over-grown foliage. Luckily, it was the middle of winter, and I was able to duplicate the album cover photo without the bushes and trees getting in the way.
I have since found out the diner was formerly the Rosedale Diner, operated for years at the corner of High Street and Rosedale Drive in Pottstown . The diner was probably moved sometime in the early 1970 s to Route 724, but was never put back into service. It was certainly in sad shape when I found it and on a subsequent visit April 3, 1983, it was completely unrecognizable having had all of its stainless steel exterior stripped away. In fact, The Man on Rte. 724 himself (Bill Faulk) asked us to leave the premises.
Although it s a shame this diner met with an untimely death, I feel lucky that I was able to find it with the slimmest of clues and document it prior to it becoming almost economy car rental st maarten completely unrecognizable. Now if I could only get the original Rosedale Diner linen postcard into my collection!
Well, since I wrote that story in 1991, I was able to obtain a copy of the Rosedale Diner postcard for the collection (thanks Art Goody!). Also, within the last 5 years or so, I have become acquainted with some key people who were able to impart economy car rental st maarten some more facts and info on the Abandoned Luncheonette. One of the facts I had wrong in the earlier story was when I guessed the time period the diner got moved to its final resting place. Not sometime in the early 1970's as I surmised, but actually in 1965.
One of the people that I have managed to make contact with was Susan Norman of the Pottstown, economy car rental st maarten PA area. She was able to give me some first-hand info on the diner and its history. Susan is good friends with Cindy Faulk Baker. In fact they have known each other most of their lives. Cindy is the daughter of Bill Faulk who was the owner and operator of the Rosedale Diner. In my correspondence with Susan, she was able to fill me in on some of the facts about the diner and also put me in touch with Cindy. In fact, Susan sent a nice little "care" package to me with some photos as well as an old menu cover from the Rosedale Diner, which I greatly appreciated!
Ironically, not too long after I started corresponding with Susan, Brian Butko put me in touch with Matt Simmons, around the time I started this blog in 2007. Matt was himself trying to find info on The Abandoned Luncheonette. Matt is from the Detroit, MI area and is a big fan of  Daryl Hall John Oates early music. He was trying to piece together info on his favorite album cover from H O and Brian knew that had been a passion of mine for a while. So thus began a trading of info back and forth between Matt and myself.
In the mean time, it was brought to my attention by Susan Norman that Bill Faulk passed away on November 6, 2007, (I wrote about it in the blog) and within the same week a drinking glass with the Rosedale Diner logo silk screened on it went up for auction on ebay. What a coincidence! I immediately bid on it and was determined to get it for the collection. I watched over the auction for the last hour or so of bidding and managed to squeak by in the last 2 minutes for the winning bid!
Since then, I have continued to post all sorts of "Diner related" posts as well as other roadside topics in the almost 3 intervening years. In the back of my mind, the story of the Abandoned Luncheonette/Rosedale Diner was always lurking. Also, Matt Simmons was making inroads in gaining more info and insights while making friends with Cindy Baker and her sister, Marla LaBelle as well as their friend Susan Norman.
Recently, when I did a post on Abandoned Diners, I renewed economy car rental st maarten my promise to finally do something with the story of the Rosedale. Matt contacted me at this point and said he was making another trip to Pennsylvania and after the trip, would document everything he'd learned and send it to me. Well, the middle of July came and with it an email from Matt with the promised story. I read it over and got back to him to let him know that it was a fantastic piece! I told him he was getting co-authorship of this post. (In fact, his text makes up most of it)! So here is Matt's part of the post……
economy car rental st maarten It was a summer day in 1973, and Bill Faulk was musing to his 26 year-old daughter, Cindy, about a peculiar economy car rental st maarten recent event. Two young men, or "hippie boys", as Bill described them, had walked into his restaurant, Toggs, with an unusual request.
According to Bill, the hippie boys informed economy car rental st maarten him that if they won this contest, they would get to record an album of their music. A photo of the dormant diner across the street, which Bill also owned, would be perfect for the cover.
Fifty-two summers earlier, long before hippie economy car rental st maarten boys and girls came to prominence, Talmadge William economy car rental st maarten Faulk's introduction to the world came in Prattville, Alabama. The simplicity of southern farm life was shaken at the age of seven, when his beloved mother, Annie Pearl, passed economy car rental st maarten away. Formal economy car rental st maarten education was forsaken shortly thereafter, economy car rental st maarten stalling short of the fourth grade. Following a laborious youth and adolescence, the twenty-one year old known as "Toggs" to some and "Bill" to most, enlisted in the army at Fort McClellan. While serving in World War II, he earned promotions to the level of Sergeant economy car rental st maarten and often fulfilled cooking duties for his fellow soldiers.
While on furlough in Atlantic City in the autumn of 1944, Bill became acquainted with Nancy Scheeler—a lovely twenty year-old from Pottstown, PA. Their relationship quickly blossomed, driven by a flurry of love letters penned by Bill. Having recently discovered and read the letters, Cindy declares, "My Dad was very, should I say—suave."
Following the Allies' victory, the newlyweds settled in Nancy's hometown. Situated forty miles northwest of the Liberty Bell, the borough served as residence for roughly 22,000 others. In August of 1946, Nancy gave birth to Cindy. When Bill's daughter was three and a half, he took a symbolic step toward fulfilling a longtime dream. Registering as a business owner with the State of Pennsylvania, Bill secured the name "Rosedale Diner" for his new venture. He opened his restaurant at the corner of East High and Rosedale streets. High Street, a.k.a. Route 422 at the time, was the bustling main drag in Pottstown. In addition to the cross-street namesake, the surrounding collection of homes was known as the "Rosedale neighborhood"—th