Dinor Bleu: The Vanishing American Diner

Like all great photo essays, “Dinor Bleu: The Vanishing American Diner” is more than a collection of interesting snapshots; it’s also a cultural survey and a history lesson. The images are filled with small but significant touches of pathos and humor: evocative early-morning exteriors, handwritten signs and white-board menus, vintage photos tacked to walls, ubiquitous ketchup bottles, and even one reflected glimpse of the photographer himself. In one of my favorite photos, a waitress stands stoically beneath a sign that reads, “SMILE. It confuses people.” She holds a handful of forks. Another image shows a young waitress on the phone, pen in hand and notebook at the ready, presumably jotting a takeout order. Her light pink lipstick *almost* matches the formica countertop. In yet another shot, a setting seemingly frozen in some bygone time is punctuated by an anachronistic Red Bull cooler. Details like these make the photographs worth revisiting.Represented here are the many aspects of diner life: proprietors, staff, and patrons; food prepared, served, and eaten; design and decor both inside and out. The text accompanying the photos provides background not only as to the age and location of each diner, but also about their construction and history as well as the people in the photos, often the owners who keep these slices of Americana alive. The attentive eye that Chuck brings to each image demonstrates his deep concern for this disappearing milieu.As Anne Dyer Walker notes in her introduction to the book, food is a tie that binds. This very moment, as I type this review from the shelter-in-place safety of my home, the diner right up the road is turning out comfort food to go and providing familiar stability in the midst of a global pandemic. Across the nation, countless family owned and operated restaurants are doing the same. The service industry never sleeps and receives far less recognition than it deserves. The same can be said for independent photographers like Chuck Fong. Purchasing “Dinor Bleu” is one meaningful way to celebrate local eateries’ and local artists’ invaluable contributions to our communities. Buy a copy for yourself and one for a friend.

Two of my favorite hangouts as a teenager growing up in a small coal town were diners (the bars would come later). Then I grew up and moved on and it wasn’t until 55 years later that I started thinking of diners—and that’s because I was aware of Chuck Fong’s photography project that has now become a book.And so everywhere we traveled in the Northeast, we’d record the location of diners and report back to Chuck. He already knew about them and you can too in his book Dinor Blue: The Vanishing American Diner.This is not just a book filled with pretty photographs; you can also read it for the history of the diners in the photos. And it’s not just a book filled with external photographs of diners. Chuck went inside, ate the food, photographed the customers, the cooks, the dishwashers, the waitresses.If you’re a photographer, you’ll want to get this book for the photographs. If you’re a diner aficionado, you’ll not only love the photography but also the history.(Disclosure: I’ve known Chuck for many years and we served on a board together. We run into each other frequently at different art events in our county.)

I've been a passionate "diner" person for decades and I really appreciate the (many) photos in this book. I patronized one of the diners (the Highland Park in Rochester, NY) many times during the years we lived in Rochester, and I also visited the Penn Yan Diner. The colors of the photos are great and the book was obviously "a labor of love".

I've loved these images ever since I saw them in Chuck Fong's one-man show Dinor Bleu: The Vanishing American Diner at the Bellefonte Art Museum. The book is almost better because of the text accompanying the images. Of course seeing the images large in an art museum is the best viewing experience but the text contributes more context that enhance the images of which there are more than in the show. This is an important documentary art work and even though there is considerable work here, I would hope that the artist continue his process of recording this vanishing part of the American scene. I recommend this book to anyone interested in art photography.

An interesting dive into diner culture

I was thrilled to discover Chuck Fong's book. I knew that he was a very talented photographer, but I had no idea that he also had a passionate interest in a part of American culture that deserves a photo-essay. Sure, everyone knows that chain restaurants (McDonalds, Burger King, Arby's) brought standardization of restaurants -- in appearance as well as in menu choices. With their relentless advertising ("Have it Your Way"; "It takes two hands"; "Where's the beef?"), these chains drove local, uniquely American restaurants out of business.But before they disappeared from our landscape, Chuck capture in imagine and words the distinct "feel" of the all-American diner. His focus was on diners in the Northeastern states, but his general theme extends across our country. These tiny, family-run restaurants celebrated their localness by their menus and visual style. Thanks to his pictures, you can almost smell the bacon cooking or here the burgers sizzling. Even more touching are the photos of the staff and customers. Truly, these are precious moments as America moves from the local menus to the factory-produced and managed meals.If you want to see America before this momentous change, buy Chuck's book and read it carefully. You will be glad that you did.

The most amazing photography book ive seen yet!