A1 DINER
The Isolation Blues;
reflections during covid-19
Last week a friend sent me an article from the Bangor Daily News featuring an interview with Aaron Harris, the owner of the A1 Diner in downtown Gardiner. My friend is a long-time patron of the A1, as am I, and this classic 1946 Worcester Lunch Car is on “Dave’s Top 10 Favorite Places to Eat.” When you walk in the front door you know this is not your average diner; the smell of garlic, jazz music on the sound system and a full selection of artisan beers lined up on the counter. The menu is a funky combo of world ethnic, vegetarian and classic diner fare. (You can’t beat the meat loaf and mashed potatoes!) The newspaper article discusses the challenges associated with lifting coronavirus restrictions put in place by Gov. Janet Mills back in March. A compact design like the A1 Diner is especially tricky to implement proper social distancing practices. Under normal conditions the cozy diner can seat a total of 45 people at six booths and 16 counter stools. Harris says under the reopening guidelines the seating numbers will be reduced by more than 50 percent. Along with continued curbside pickup he is optimistic that revenue will increase, but not to pre COVID-19 levels. This is the new restaurant-patron reality for the foreseeable future. The A1 re-opened its shiny doors for business on Monday, May 18.
Houlton also had a 1940s Worcester Lunch Car named the “Miss Aroostook” Diner located on Bangor Street next to the Houlton Water Company. This was where my Dad would take me when just the two of us went out to eat. My Dad always sat at the counter so this left me balancing on the diner stool with my feet dangling. He’d let me spin a couple of times, but not too many times. By the time my legs were long enough so my feet could touch the floor the old diner car had closed and was moved to a different location where it became a bar. So back in the 1990s when I heard there was a Worcester Lunch Car still open in Gardiner, Maine I had to go check it out. I talked a baker friend of mine into joining me and we left Houlton on a Saturday morning at 5AM and headed to the A1 for breakfast. One of the diner’s amazing features is that it is attached to the side of a bridge and sits on top of steel stilts 25 feet (or so) in the air. The Cobbosseecontee Stream runs along below and beside it just before emptying into the Kennebec River. I ordered pancakes and sausage for breakfast and lots of coffee. We told our waitress it was our first time at the A1 and we had driven all the way from Houlton just for breakfast. (We were heading right back afterwards.) She gave us a quizzical look and let us get back to our pancakes. This was the first of numerous excursions to the A1. For the occasion I composed a poem…
A1 Diner
Gardiner, Maine
old forgotten diner car
hanging to the side of a concrete bridge
river and traffic move under
and alongside
the limited parking and potholes
of a hungry town
neons flash to drivers by
a plastic clock on the wet metal roof
deco lettering says
booth service inside
holy old diner car
shelter from the cold and rain
cozy thermos bottle
of cuisine
metal and smoky wood panels wrap around
early morning conversations and
strong coffee
in chipped white mugs
morning papers lie stacked
with news
eyes glance at weekend waitresses
and strangers eating their breakfast in public
I look outside
rain beats on pavement through
cracked window
with duck tape in the corner
hunger drives me
hunger drives us all
to the same place
time is here
going nowhere
reality of the moment
caught in a fifty
year old diner car
of greasy eggs
and clatter
long marble-top counter
well-worn stools
that have spun
a million turns
booths are small
for economy of size
miniture toy diner
no expansion plans
old diner plates with
thick rounded edges
hold hot steamy food
pancakes
bacon
homefires
short orders
of years gone by
over
and
over
re-appearing each day
in a shiny
diner car
hanging to the side of a concrete bridge
As I leave, I walk down the outside stairway and relieve
myself by one of the steel legs under the belly of the diner.
Calloused years of exposed plumbing
and drainage don’t matter anymore.
Just another stranger from out of town.
Just another stranger in a hungry town.
for brian
02/24/96
I send my best to Aaron Harris, his dedicated staff and the stalwart patrons of the A1 Diner. We’ll get through this. Thanks for keeping the coffee machine on…
Still in the woods,
Dave
May 28, 2020