The Nickel Diner's 1940s Doppelgänger
USC Digital Archives / blogdowntown
Then and Now: The Big Nickel Restaurant at 639 S. Main, left, and the Nickel Diner at 524 S. Main, right.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Main Street's Nickel Diner is about to celebrate its third birthday, having opened its doors on August 27, 2008,, but look back through old photos in the USC Digital Library's archives and you may just find the eatery's doppelgänger in the 1940's.
The Big Nickel Restaurant was located at 639 S. Main, just a block down from the present-day diner.
The menu—at least as reflected in the signage out front—sounds not all that different from the food that Monica May and Kristen Trattner offer today. Coffee, donuts and "delicious pies" get a prominent placement.
It doesn't appear that the Big Nickel was as good at publicity as the Nickel Diner, which has appeared on the Food Network, Column One of the L.A. Times, and gotten numerous other mentions. The only time the restaurant got its name in the paper was on October 2, 1943, when it was one of four companies to admit guilt in violating War Manpower Committee rules.
Bert Green (@bgfa) on August 11, 2011, at 09:22AM – #1
Monica and Kristin had a photo of the "Big Nickel" in the restaurant when they first opened.
Eric Richardson (@blogdowntown) on August 11, 2011, at 11:25AM – #2
Yeah, I asked Kristin about it yesterday and she said they hadn't been aware of it when they came up with the idea, but that someone had found these photos and given them a print.
Robert Solow DDS on October 29, 2011, at 01:14PM – #3
I know this isnt a review of the Dinner but I love it there, I love the decor and the service.
Where else can you get an amazing donut called the Irish Car Bomb :)Smac and Cheese is great as well.
William Crandell on October 30, 2011, at 10:14AM – #4
That building.... Yes, the one behind the original Diner. A strange perspective! The photo is at a right angle to the street/building frontage, yet the building to the left/rear, it's north facade, runs at such an odd angle to the street grid. How did that happen?
Yes, there is the kink in South Main, due to the old river bed. But how did that building get built at such an odd angle? Libeskind's grandfather must have been the architect.
William Crandell on October 30, 2011, at 08:44PM – #5
Those trains simply need to have more style. The picture reminds me of the gawd-awful light rail trains that run thru downtown San Jose. The vehicles need to look either hyper sleek and futuristic or else something like the charm of the choo choo that runs thru The Grove shopping center.
'Downtown Commuter' raises an important point. If we're going to impose support posts and overhead wires upon the streetscape, we ought to make sure that vehicles are eye catching, not an embarrassment.