An American tradition: Diner Porn captures the classic eatery

Posted 8/21/12

SAUGERTIES, NY — One thing that makes diners so special is you know what to expect from them—breakfast foods and standard American favorites, old school or art deco décor, coffee—and yet the …

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An American tradition: Diner Porn captures the classic eatery

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SAUGERTIES, NY — One thing that makes diners so special is you know what to expect from them—breakfast foods and standard American favorites, old school or art deco décor, coffee—and yet the beauty is that each is different in its own way. That’s what Alecia Eberhardt and Tom Smith capture: the beauty of diners. They feature diners in the Catskills and other areas on their photo project Diner Porn.

Alecia and Tom, who are engaged, live in Saugerties and run the creative company Eberhardt Smith, where Alecia is a writer and Tom a photographer. Tom started Diner Porn in February 2013. “It wasn’t so much that I was interested in photographing [diners],” Tom explained. “It’s just that I was always at them, and I was also a photographer.” And what about the name? “My friends and I, whenever we were at [diners], would try to get the best Instagram photo and we would hashtag them ‘diner porn.’ So we started calling it diner porn, and the rest is history,” Tom explained.

The project started out small. Their Tumblr, where they post the photos, started out with 40 followers. Then, last July, Tumblr chose them for the Top Blogs for 2013, and their following skyrocketed to 45,000. After that, Tom said he started doing things differently. He meets with the owners and lets them show off what is special about their diners. “I went to one two weeks ago that serves pizza, and they were like, ‘Well, we serve pizza,’ and I was like, ‘OK, let’s do it!’” Tom said. Alecia became more involved when they began writing longer descriptions about the diners they feature.

So far they have photographed diners in Catskills places like Kingston, Phoenicia, Saugerties and Poughkeepsie, as well as New York City, Long Island and New Jersey. The photos are stunning depictions of diners: the food and the people. There are tantalizing close-ups of syrup dripping down pancakes, smiling waitresses, steaming coffee and diner staples like booths, soda fountains, paper placemats, large menus, eggs and burgers.

But Tom said, “It’s not about the food really, even though the food is there; it’s about the story behind the food.” To get the story, they talk to the people. “One of our favorite things to do is talk to the regulars. Which in a lot of places are the old guys at the counter,” Alecia said. Tom said this is his favorite part; he’s been doing it since he was young. “My friends and I would go and we always thought the best times at diners were when you met random people and you talked to people across the booth from you, in the other booth. We called it inter-booth communication,” he said. Tom grew up in New Jersey, the “land of diners” (in fact, the state is home to the most diners in the world) and Alicia on Long Island. “Even though Long Island and New Jersey have their fair share of differences, that sort of diner culture is definitely strong in both places. So we really just connect on that,” Alecia said, adding, “Actually, some of our first dates happened at diners.”

For lots of Americans, going to a diner is just a part of life, something that becomes a tradition. It’s a place where people become regulars, and where everyone knows your name, where you can pick up on the town gossip or meet new people, all while enjoying a good meal and cup of coffee. “I can tell you what my friends would still order today,” Tom said. “There was a certain fluency: going to the diner, experiencing the décor, meeting the manager, saying hello, having the waitress know your name and know what you like. It was very comforting.”

Diners are also popular places for passersby, often located along major roads and highways and open 24 hours. Tom and Alecia are making plans to do a cross-country trip and make a book of diners they go to along the way. On their journey they want to find the diners with a good story. Soon they will launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise money, as right now the website doesn’t have any profit.

The slogan for Diner Porn is “Everything will always stay beautiful here,” which is a Charles Bukowski quote. Diners have been around since the late 1800s and gained popularity in the 1950s. They found their way into American popular culture and are now a fixture of American life, and are often copied overseas. “We believe that it’s an American tradition,” Tom said. “In this time with all the corporate and chain restaurants rising up, we want to show the universality across the nation of what diners and their communities offer.” At a time when fast food has become the norm, diners stand out as a unique experience. While places like Denny’s try to capture the essence of a diner, there’s nothing like the original: the classic American diner.

“There’s a nostalgia that comes with diners. There’s a feeling of never wanting to leave,” Tom said. “The photos that we post, we want to make sure they convey that message.”

Visit www.dinerporn.com.

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