This local landmark was celebrating its anniversary with hamburgers at old time prices (70 cents).  It got a good write-up in the paper too, with lots of positive comments. 

 

 

I have no idea if this was a chain, but it has a lot in common with other 1930s fast food places, namely the white porcelain enamel panels and the streamlined design.  It would have served the big industrial concentration just east of downtown Dayton....thousands of factory workers here every day (and night)

 

(you can see a guy grilling in the back)

 

The line waiting to get in.  The little tower over the entrance is a nice touch

 

 

Lets go inside

 

The interior was modified as they took out the long counter that ran the length and put in some booths.  Not sure when this happened.  The ceiling and window counter and stools are original, though

 

 

A close up of the overwhelmed counter lady.  She was really getting a workout as people were calling in orders of  bagsful of hamburgers.  You can imagine the wait was long (they do open at 6 for breakfast, even on Saturday, but the cheap hamburgers started at 8 today)

 

 

The crowd.  This place has a lot of regulars.  When I first went here I saw one guy walk behind the counter and help himself to a coffee refill.  The lady in the mauve blouse is running for state rep, but apparently is a regular or friends w. the people who work here.  This place claims to have had Hank Snow as a customer, which is believable as this used to be pretty honky-tonk (The original Hustler club was kitty-corner across the street). 

 

 

Not Wympee, but one of the two White Towers in Dayton, about a block a way (now a Thai place).  This was a Wisconsin chain that apparently copied White Castle.  There was also a Taste-e Boy on Wayne (another prefab panel hamburger place).  The idea behind these places…White Tower, White Castle, etc… was to provide a very clean bright place for factory workers, to contrast with their gritty factory work environment.  And the design had big windows so you could see inside, as part of the marketing concept I guess.  Late/early hours were kept for people coming off late shifts or starting early ones

 

 

Back to Wympee.  The line is still there, but some guy got is carryout.  Big Jeep SUV in the lot next door.

 

 

But wouldn’t you really rather have a Buick?

 

 

(incidentally, Wympee opened the same year, 1938, that Harley Earl designed the famous BuickY-Job)

 

 

Wympee is an icon from another era, and the Buick fits perfectly.

 

Fort Wayne has Cindy's Diner, moved several years ago from a location farther east on the edge of downtown:

 

Also there's Powers Hamburgers, next to the Federal Courthouse. It's a local that dates to the '40s, with tiny burgers fried with onions. I thought I had a photo uploaded to my site, but I can't find it now.

gotta love wympee! my father-in-law was a cop downtown for....ever and he used to talk about hanging out there on occasion. i love those kind of diner joints.

 

we lost an old diner in manhattan just last month -- the cheyenne diner on 9th ave & w33rd st. (used to be called the market diner). however, good news is some local people bought it and are moving it to red hook, brooklyn. yay!

 

http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/cheyenne/cheyenne.html

 

 

 

I love Wympee cityscape-wise, but I've never ventured inside.

Took my son down for some 70 cent Wimpee burgers prior to attending Riverblast, delicious.  Regarding the White Tower locations, I know Yummy Burger and Smokin Barbeque outside of the Oregon District were two of the locations, but additionally, the former Breakfast Club, current Brunch Club, south of downtown wedged between Main and Patterson was also a White Tower. (43 and a Dayton area resident since 78).  So all told, there were three White Tower locations within the downtown Dayton periphery.

 

Jeffrey, long time lurker of both Urban Ohio and your Daytonolgy blog...great stuff!

^

thx, I am winding down that blog and will be doing more posting here as this is a better place for urban affairs stuff.

 

@@@

 

The Cheyenne Diner...the lettering reminds me a bit of Choc-Ful-O-Nuts.. (actually the Market Diner typface too).but the early shot, with the colored vertical bits, looks like a larger Clown Alley (diner/fast food place in San Francisco ...Cow Hollow).

 

. 

 

 

Rob,

That pix of Cindys in the snow is fantastic.  It needs to be on postcard or blown up to poster size...it really catches the feel of these kinds of places...actually reminds me of some snowy nights of my own in the White Tower (when it still was a White Tower).

 

Thats a neat job with the neon and the verticle bit by the door.  I notice the green and white color scheme...maybe this was standard back then?

Thanks for the pics Jeffrey.  Looks like a great place.  The Daily News article was reprinted in the Dispatch and I loved reading about Wympee.  My favorite quote from the article was the following:

 

"The landscape around Wympee's — located at East Third Street and Wayne Avenue in the shadow of downtown Dayton — has changed dramatically since the burger joint/coffee shop/diner opened in 1938.  Auto-parts plants and factories have closed, a baseball stadium and condos have been built.  But Wympee's itself has remained frozen in time."

 

I went to Wympee once and that was a couple of days before I moved to Columbus (one of those "eh, might as well try it before I leave").  Not bad!

Rob,

That pix of Cindys in the snow is fantastic.  It needs to be on postcard or blown up to poster size...it really catches the feel of these kinds of places...actually reminds me of some snowy nights of my own in the White Tower (when it still was a White Tower).

 

Thats a neat job with the neon and the verticle bit by the door.  I notice the green and white color scheme...maybe this was standard back then?

 

There's some history on the diner here. The most popular menu item is Garbage.