What Vintage Boston Diner Is This? The Friends Of Eddie Coyle

I had always wanted to see the movie The Friends of Eddie Coyle again because I remember there being a scene filmed in a diner, but I wasn’t sure what diner it was? My geographic brain thought it might be the Apple Tree Diner because that was still in Dedham when many of the scenes were filmed there. But I now know that could not be, because the entrance to the Apple Tree was in the middle and this diner has an entrance at the end.

OK diner fans- who knows what diner this was/is? I’m stumped!

Diner From Outside

Diner Barrel Roof

Diner Counter

Diner Interior Table Jukebox

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  • wendyvee
    July 28, 2010 at 8:42 pm

    Wow, I Googled the heck out of it (which you probably did before I did) … can’t find the answer!

  • Larry Cultrera
    July 29, 2010 at 2:34 am

    Beth, I just got a message from Paul Sherman who asked me if I had seen it yet. (He wrote “Big Screen Boston”). I told him I had not, But seeing those photos you posted I am going to make a guess and say it was possibly the Garden Diner which was on Nashua Street near Boston Garden. It was a Worcester barrel-roof diner that would have been still there at the time of the movie shoot. The porcelain panels look right.

    • Mod Betty / RetroRoadmap.com
      July 29, 2010 at 6:48 am

      Larry – I was hoping you’d chime in, glad to know I’m not the only diner fan from Mass who is puzzled by this place.

      Good luck on your diner talk tonight!

  • Mod Betty / RetroRoadmap.com
    July 29, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    Joyce Linehan of Ashmont Records was one swell gal to repost a link to this entry, and some cool folks chimed in on Facebook to add some info. In order to keep all the interesting stuff on one thread, I’m going to repost some of what I found out right here!

    Tom K writes: “It was a no-longer existent cafeteria on Boyleston, near Tremont and the bar, “Dillon’s,” was a place called the Kentucky Tavern at the corner of Newbury and Mass Ave. Love that movie”

    Garen D notes: “Not sure about the diner. Like Paul said there were a bunch around then that no longer exist. I do know that the bar was The Old Kentucky Tavern that was on the corner of Mass Ave & Newbury. Later it became Franks N Steins where they served beer, upscale hot dogs & showed movies.”

    And Boston Film Historian Paul Sherman was kind enough to link to a writeup of his own on the movie, http://www.bigscreenboston.com/2008/05/book-excerpt-the-friends-of-eddie-coyle.html from his book Big Screen Boston – you can buy it from his site, like I just did!

    Also looks like the Boston Bowl is the bowling alley.

    Thanks to everyone who chimed in!

  • Larry Cultrera
    July 30, 2010 at 3:14 am

    Ok Beth, I emailed a link to your blog to Richard Gutman, the foremost authority on the history of diners. I mentioned that thru the stills of the diner you posted that I thought it was possibly the old Garden Diner that was located on Nashua Street near the Boston Garden. He answered back that he agreed that it could well be the Garden Diner.

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