Whats an “environmental” diner?
It’s a diner whose styling follows the “Environmental Look, ” as defined by Chester Liebs in his book Main Street to Miracle Mile. By the mid-1960s, social critics, including First Lady Lady Bird Johnson, were taking aim at roadside architecture, and flashy, neon-trimmed, stainless steel diners which were regarded as modern a mere decade earlier were suddenly out of date. The diner manufacturers responded with designs that reflected a new styling ethic thought to be more environmentally friendly: brick or stone facings, mansard roofs, and little or no stainless steel. Often, environmental diners follow a styling theme such as Colonial or Mediterranean.
