A Jewel of a Diner - Transcript
Segment
in QT | Segment in Real
[NARRATOR]
Is there anything more American than classic cars at a drive-inn? Hamburgers –
shakes – and fries. Everyone hanging out on a Saturday night.
Welcome to a window in time. This is Barb’s Diner. A gift of memories from Evert Falkena to his favorite carhop, his wife – Barb.
[Evert Falkena]
“she always said I was the best customer...because I gave the biggest tips.”
[Barb Falkena]
“we’re gonna be on TV (laugh)."
[NARRATOR]
Love under the neon lights blossomed for Evert and Barb. So, years later, when Barb discovered a rusted out diner - she couldn’t help herself.
[Barb Falkena]
“And I said, you better stop this truck and let’s see what that is it looks like a diner and he did reluctantly am sure, backed it up, and shined the lights on it. And it was indeed in a form of a diner we weren’t sure it was pretty run down and dilapidated wasn’t it?”
[Evert Falkena]
“Quite a bit.”
[NARRATOR]
In its heyday the diner was known as the Jewel Diner. It served the community of Mullen from 1949 to 1973. For Ethel and John Arrants, the memories are still fresh.
[Ethel Arrants]
“we just served a lots of hamburgers and we washed lots of dishes.”
[NARRATOR]
Then came thirty years of abandonment.
[Ila Arrants]
“It was all rusty...”
[Mike Rumery]
“and I saw when it was a derelict.”
[Ila Arrants]
“The add on building had no paint or nothing like that.”
[Mike Rumery]
“It was sitting out in the middle of a lot.”
[Ila Arrants]
“It sat empty for years, there were weeds growing all around it.”
[NARRATOR]
Then the Falkenas saw it. To Barb it was a diamond in the rough.
[Barb Falkena]
“I thought oh that be cool if someone would just save it, and preserve it in some manner, but I didn’t think it would have to be me.”
[NARRATOR]
But Evert, a building contractor, thought the diner would be the perfect surprise birthday gift for his wife. So he bought the old diner and moved it to their farm in rural Sutherland. That turned out to be the easy part.
[Evert Falkena]
“I thought I could do it in 5 or 6 weeks...and it ended up being a 5 or 6 months deal.”
[NARRATOR]
And that’s when the perfect gift became a perfect labor of love.
[Evert Falkena]
“Yeah, that was a long hard winter. That’s all I all can say about that. There were times that I would work in here till 10:30, 11 o’clock at night and then the guy doing the painting would say well you guys have to clear out of here so then I would wake up, look out the house window about 3 in the morning and think I wonder if the guy is alright, so I’d get up to see what he was doing. So there was few sleepless nights.”
“And one time I got real disgusted with what was going on, I walked away from it for two weeks, said I never go back there but finally my wife persuaded me to go back after a two week lay-off.”
[NARRATOR]
Two years later, the restored diner resides indoors away from the elements and the public eye. It’s now a place where two people share their memories of another time.
As many things as possible are original, from the stove to the menu on the wall.
[Evert Falkena]
“I’m glad you could make it.”
[NARRATOR]
On this occasion, they’ve opened their private diner to friends. Inviting them for a trip down memory lane.
[Guest]
“Makes you feel young again”
[Guest]
”because that was where you socialized. That was where you met your friends.”
[Guest]
”I think this is fantastic it’s out of sight.”
[Guest]
”Those were good times and this is wonderful.”
[NARRATOR]
Because of Evert’s love for Barb, this diner is once again making memories. And, for two young lovers, it’s still the place to hang out on a Saturday night.
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