Diners have been around since the first one, a horse-drawn wagon with windows on both sides, was established in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1872.
In the 1920s and 1930s diners grew in popularity and were known as “lunch cars.” In 1939 the Sterling Streamliner designed in the shape of a streamlined train with a long counter, a casual atmosphere and fast but filling American food made its debut. Interstate highways and a rising car culture put diners in a decline in the 1960s.
As time progressed diners were few and far apart, but it took a young lady in 2011 to prove they were not lost. Amber Stephens opened Eggheads Diner at Gloucester Point that year; it’s not a Streamliner but a restaurant seating 130 in comfort and a moderately priced menu for breakfast or lunch.
Amber comes from a family that has been associated with restaurants for years. “Dad was Navy but was a cook at Nick’s Seafood Pavilion in Yorktown. My mom was a waitress there. That’s how they met. On their first date they ...