The Backside is Coming! The Backside is Coming - to Revere! (Part II)

From Dave Brigham:

I hit a trifecta just north of Boston, and I wasn't anywhere near Suffolk Downs (outdated reference, I know). I checked out a diner, the remnants of a trailer park and a rusty old Quonset hut all within a few minutes of each other. Welcome to the second installment in a series of quick-hit posts about Revere, Mass. In the first, I wrote about one of the small city's main thoroughfares, Broadway (see July 27, 2024, "The Backside is Coming! The Backside is Coming - to Revere! (Part I)").

Whenever I'm checking out a new town or city, I do a Google search for bowling alleys, old theaters, neon signs, ghost signs and diners. I found a really good example of the latter on Furlong Drive, just off Route 1A.

La Suegra's Airport Diner claims its mission is to "meticulously curate the finest ingredients for our breakfast and craft Colombian-style fast food with a touch of home," per the web site. The eatery is open 7 days a week. Previously, this place was known as just the Airport Diner; prior to that it was Frank's Suffolk Diner and, before that, Jonquille's Diner starting in 2002, according to this Diner Hotline Weblog article.

The article continues: "The diners (sic) original name was the Suffolk Diner and was built on-site in the style of a barrel roof (sic) Worcester Lunch Car from the 1930’s. Originally operated by Frank V. Scigliano, his son Fran was the last family member to operate it until sometime in the 1990s."

Here's a Flickr photo from 2008 of this place when it was Jonquille's.

Directly behind the diner, between Pratt Court, Green Street and First Street, I found what little was left of Lee's Trailer Park.

The park is fenced off, although I'm sure I could've found a way in. Earlier this year, a developer announced a plan to building an apartment complex on the site. "The six-story building will have 36 studio, 106 one-bedroom, and 106 two-bedroom apartments," per the article. "While the project is in walking distance of the Beachmont MBTA Station, there will still be parking spaces for 179 vehicles. The mixed-use development will have retail space on the first floor of the building."

Below is a Google Street View photo of the trailer park before it fell under the wrecking ball.

About 75 yards due east of the diner, and just south of the old trailer park site, is a Quonset hut occupied by Sullivan Tire.

The Revere assessor's office says this building dates to 1965. I always keep an eye out for Quonset huts because of their unique shape and their history as utilitarian buildngs for U.S. Navy. I've written about one other Quonset hut on the blog, one located in Newton, Mass. (see December 18, 2021, "I Seek Newton, Part XI: Newton Corner (Section 2)").