New Balance Draws a Red Line with Diner

From Dave Brigham:

I can't be expected to know everything about the backside of America, nor of Massachusetts or even of Boston. But I'm flabbergasted that I didn't learn for more than a dozen years about a longtime Hub diner that's been sitting in a parking lot roughly four miles from my house, converted to new use by a major footwear company.

Thanks to a video shared by one of my favorite Instagram accounts, Chris Tanaka of Boston's WBZ-TV, I found out that the former Englewood Diner, which had previously been located in Dorchester, among other locations, sits on private property in Brighton. Tanaka posts regularly about walks he takes around the city, offering up lesser-known facts about streets, architecture and the city's history. Definitely check him out.

"The Englewood Diner stood in Peabody Square from the 1940s until the 1970s, when it was replaced by the Englewood Apartment building in the point between Dorchester Avenue and Talbot Avenue," according to this Dorchester Atheneum 2 blog post.

The diner over the years has moved to several Bay State towns. Per an article in the Diner Hotline Weblog, the old eatery relocated from Dorchester to Cambridge, Somerville, Fitchburg, Holden and Salisbury over the years. The diner, however, never operated in those locations. It was either stored or sat waiting for a plan to come to fruition.

The diner even went on a road trip.

"While in [Dan] Johnston’s possession, the diner ended up taking its longest round trip to be in a big budget Hollywood movie!" per the Diner Hotline article. "Johnston was approached by Dreamworks Production Company in 2001. Dreamworks wanted to use the diner in a scene of the movie 'Road to Perdition' starring Tom Hanks and Paul Newman. According to [Randy] Garbin as quoted from his book Diners of New England, Dreamworks reportedly paid Johnston nearly $40,000 giving Johnston the first option to purchase it back after the scenes in the movie were completed. The diner was transported to the Chicago area for the film and Johnston bought it back for less than half his original sale price."

I highly recommend reading the entire article to understand the full breadth of the old diner's life.

In 2012, I believe, the owner of New Balance, or perhaps the shoe company itself, acquired the diner and moved it to a private lot behind Boston Volvo. I accessed the site via a parking lot behind 38 Everett Street. I believe you can also check it out by walking to the rear of the car dealer's property and winding your way around to the rear of a low-slung building that is perpendicular to 38 Everett Street.

New Balance uses the old Englewood for corporate events.