Salem Diner at risk of shutdown

SALEM — For nearly 80 years, the Salem Diner has been an institution on Loring Avenue — a breakfast and lunch draw for politicians, celebrities and generations of North Shore residents looking to dine in a relic of the past.

But soon, it may be no more.

Salem State University is in the process of consolidating its on-campus food options after a comprehensive survey done last fall highlighted ways officials could make today's dining choices more efficient and effective for students, according to university President John Keenan. After the survey, a consultant combed through the data.

"One of the things they had suggested is we may not want to continue to deliver dining options in the diner," Keenan said.

Salem Diner, launched in 1941, fills out a Sterling Streamliner car sandwiched between Canal Street and Loring Avenue. It was bought by Salem State in 2013 as part of an ongoing effort to consolidate properties along Loring Avenue for future university use.

But after the university bought the diner, instead of doing what residents feared and bulldozing the property, Salem State re-launched it as part of its campus dining network and has continued to oversee it since.

Step inside Salem Diner today, and guests are greeted by an arched, reflective roof, blue leather booths and a bar of similarly colored stools that runs along the restaurant's open-area kitchen. Photos of Red Sox legends Johnny Pesky and Ted Williams hang on the walls, and antique-looking speakers softly play local radio at either end of the car's interior.

It's almost claustrophobic, but that's kind of the point.

"It isn't just about the food. It's about the location," said Karen Scalia, owner and founder of Salem Food Tours. "They bring you back in time, set the scene, set the environment and..."

Scalia paused, gathering her thoughts.

"The environment is as yummy and fun as the food is," she continued. "One plays into the other really nicely."

But the diner, along with a small cafe in the Bertolon School across the street, has been recommended for closure. Keenan said that's partly due to food service in the first floor of Marsh Hall, just a couple of buildings away. 

"The goal is to make that service there — and on the North Campus, the dining commons — more effective and efficient, and provide a broader depth of services throughout the course of the day," Keenan said. "It's really driven by our desire to assist our students on campus and make sure their dining needs are met most appropriately."

This news comes less than a month after Salem State announced plans to close a preschool on South Campus at the end of the school year, citing low attendance. That move is part of a broader plan to shutter South Campus entirely. 

But the story for Salem Diner doesn't end here. Unlike the preschool, the diner is on the National Register of Historic Places.

It's also a landmark that Keenan said he's particularly fond of.

"This isn't to say what they serve at the diner wasn't appropriate or lower quality," Keenan said. "I go there and enjoy it myself. It's just a more effective delivery of dining services on a couple major locations on our campus is what the consultant came up with."

That, and Salem State really wants to open the diner's site on Loring Avenue up for new development.

"We acquired the diner initially in order to consolidate several parcels of land down there," Keenan said. "At some point, I also hope to acquire Loring Liquors (next door)."

So if Salem Diner is a historic place, the question then becomes if it can be moved off the property and reopened elsewhere, perhaps under new ownership.

As time has passed, the Beatnik-era concept of Sterling Streamliners turned into diners has effectively vanished from the American landscape. Some — Scalia among them — would prefer one of the last vestiges of that type of American dining to survive as long as it can.

"These Airstreams are such a vital part of the American food history landscape, and there aren't many of them left," she said. "I'd hope that, at minimum, it is moved and not destroyed or taken apart."

Contact Salem reporter Dustin Luca at 978-338-2523 or DLuca@salemnews.com. Follow him on Facebook at facebook.com/dustinluca or on Twitter @DustinLucaSN.