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Steve
Harwin's story is similar: Once an ardent
restorer of exotic cars, he got hooked on diners back in 1990 and never
quite shook the addiction. With an obsessive attention to the smallest
details and an endless patience for restoration work, he has
single-handedly rescued a long list of diner treasures from the oblivion
of the junk pile.
Today, he's the one to talk to if you are even thinking about buying and
restoring a diner. His work speaks for itself, and mere words don't
do justice to his list of retro-redux. The
best way to get a sense of his restoration art is to inspect them in
person and sit down in one of the booths. Recent diner accomplishments in
the renovation arena: reworking the Ono
Diner into the Big Dig in Boston; saving the Zephyr
Diner (reopened as the all-dessert Sweet
City in Cleveland); providing diners for Ruthie
and Moe's in Cleveland (same town); and
saving the diminutive Short Stop
diner (once located in Belleville, New Jersey, the hamburger bar is now
stored at Harwin 's
diner yard in Cleveland). "This is history" he declared in a Spirit
magazine interview. "You can’t throw away history".
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