Miss Portland Diner, 1949

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Creator

Collection

Portland Press Herald Still-Film Negatives Collection

Document Type

Still Image

Call number of Original

55389 and 55276

Contributing Institution

Portland Public Library Special Collections & Archives

Location

Portland, Cumberland, Maine, USA

Creation Date

2-26-1949

Format of Original

4 x 5" gelatin silver negatives

Description

Views of Miss Portland Diner, 175 Forest Avenue, at the opening of the business.

Top image: Full exterior view of the diner, from west. Century Tire (185 Kennebec Street) in right background.
Photo published in the Portland Press Herald, on 10 March 1949.

Bottom image: Diner owners Frank Venuti (left), and James Crowder (right), standing near the building.
Photo published in the Evening Express, on 26 February 1949.

Venuti (of Congress Street) and Crowder (of Oak Street), both Navy veterans, pooled together $50,000.00 to create the diner. They were out of touch with each other until Venuti read in a newspaper that Crowder was injured in an explosion aboard the tanker Diamond Island, in Portland harbor on 17 August 1946. Venuti visited his friend at the Marine Hospital (in Portland), and they later decided on the restaurant venture.

When it opened, Miss Portland diner had 18 counter stools and 7 booths to seat customers. The chef was Joseph J. Riley, of Noyes Street, formerly of State Drug Store.

(The Miss Portland Diner, has moved twice since its opening in 1949: first to 49 Marginal Way, and later to 140 Marginal Way (in 2008).
A photo from 1960 (the diner is at the center-right of the image) can be seen at this link.

A photo from 1988 of owner Randy Chassé can be seen at this link.

A photo from 1993 of owner Randy Chassé can be seen at this link.

Recommended Citation

"Miss Portland Diner, 1949" (1949). Businesses & Buildings - Portland Press Herald Still Film Negatives. 509.
https://digitalcommons.portlandlibrary.com/pphnegs_images_business/509