Architect Breaks Down Why All American Diners Look Like That | Architectural Digest

Today Michael Wyetzner of Michielli + Wyetzner Architects returns to Architectural Digest to explore the design evolution of American diners. A cornerstone of American dining culture, their distinctive style has been emulated around the world making them a popular salute to the USA. Michael provides an expert look into the history behind their design evolution from the 1920s through to the 1960s and explains why all diners came to look like that.

Director: Hiatt Woods
Producer: Skylar Economy
Field Producer: Alyssa Marino
Associate Producer: Landrie Hatcher
Director of Photography: Charlie Jordan
Audio: Gabe Quiroga
Camera Operator: Cloud Corredor
Production Assistant: Patrick Sargent
Editor: Ron Douglas
Post Production Supervisor: Andrew Montague
Post Production Coordinator: Holly Frew
Supervising Editor: Christina Mankellow
Assistant Editor: Andy Morell


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[matthewona]

You can never fully appreciate / understand art of any kind if you don’t understand its history. This guy is not just an architect he is also a historian/curator

[andriys]

Mr. Wyetzner is one of those rare people who have the passion, energy and knowledge to give great insights and capture the attention. Terrific videos.

[IvanDeMarino]

This is why I love this channel. An amalgam of history and architecture, with a sprinkle of post-classical romanticism on it.

[RCAvhstape]

He should've mentioned Edward Hopper's painting "Night Hawks", which seems to encapsulate why we love diners. A handful of patrons sitting in a corner diner in some dark neighborhood, the place is an island of warm comfortable light. Anyone who's ever been out late at night and looked for a place to eat wants to sit in that diner talking to those people.

[pacldawson]

I was waiting for him to reference The Jetsons... and he didn't disappoint.

I love this series, incidentally.

[MrGabblit]

I'm European and have never been to America, yet I've had a strange fascination with diners for the longest time.
One of my bucket list items is to visit the Blue Moon diner located in Beaverton, Oregon. It's a completely unremarkable diner, except for the fact that it served as the inspiration for the diner in the video game Life is Strange, which is important to me.

[jj-ifit]

As an Australian, getting to see a diner in real life is so exciting. We grow up watching them in movies and tv shows. It's weirdly nostaglic

[leokimvideo]

Sadly in Australia we never saw the American Diner idea take off here because we had Pubs. You may find restaurants (shop style) with an Americana theme and that's about it. In the 1960's there was an attempt by a company to do a American Diner in Sydney but it's now a car dealership. I think it was called Henry's Diner.

[roundninja]

Wyetzner is one of my favorite guys on Youtube. Most architects are terrible at explaining things to the public, but he knows what he's doing

[vincentlussier]

I wish diners would come back. They are so nostalgic and movie style classic. I love the stairs at the entrance and the long narrowness inside and the boothes, the round stools at the long counters and red and white checkered floor tiles!

[JerseyDevilJerseyGirl]

AD hit gold with Wyetzner-he makes topics so accessible & interesting. He’s unpretentious but you know he has a wealth of knowledge

[brianferry]

Fun fact: The diner he uses as an example of the classic diner is the 11th St Diner in Miami. It was originally built in 1948 in Wilkes-Barre, PA and was bought by a Miami Investor in 1992 and shipped down there.

[BlueSaphire]

I love diners! It is absolutely comforting to know that they will serve the usual, especially scrumptious chocolate milk shakes. I love the way Mr. Wyetzner traces the history of everything and gives examples to make it even clearer. He's my favorite, I never miss one of his videos!

[joegordon]

It is such an iconic bit of Americana, the classic diner look. Hard to look at it and not have 50s rock'n'roll music in your head.

[davidschwager]

On the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, the circles could be seen as planets. Looking closer, each circle is a 1922 silver dollar. Silver dollars didn't circulate in most of America but were used as gaming tokens in Nevada until the mid-1960s.

[raneylee]

So profound- eating at a diner is an experience of an expression of the best parts of our shared history and it skips over the low lights.

[SamAronow]

So glad he's back. Mr. Wyetzner's video on tenements and other New York apartment types has been invaluable to the research for my next video.

[Captain-lnvh]

Our family restaurant in Downey CA. is a googie style. It’s been in so many movies, commercials and videos it’s hard to keep track. We have owned it since the early 60s and to this day we still own it. My Father-in-Law has made a giant impact on history and into the future.

[martinhare]

Beautifully explained. He explained it both technical and artistic. Now I understand the context of Diners

[lauraramos]

I used to look forward to AD's Open House, but the celebrity houses are starting to all look similar and soo curated at times. Glad there are segments like this that are insightful and informative.