Gonna Ball diner

A while ago Tommy solved the mistery about the Gonna Ball diner.... gave us the location and details at bs.com





I´ve been playing over google maps, and with the fantastic tool "street view" that you all may know, you can do the search and virtually get yourself at the main door of that historical site for us Stray Cats fans:





Ariline Diner - now owned by "Jackson Hole burgers"

Now.... we need to solve the second mistery.... which is the exact table where the Cats were sitting while they had the inside picture taken:








69-35 Astoria Boulevard
Jackson Heights, NY 11370

http://www.jacksonholeburgers.com/location.php?id=7

Be aware that there's a mistake on the back cover, where the place is to be located in NJ and not in NY...

http://flickr.com/search/?w=87198465%40N00&q=airline+diner&m=text
I was there in October. The interior has been changed, I don't think it's laid out the same as it was when the photo was taken for the record. They make you sign a release to photograph the place (saying you won't sell the pics or anything) and they don't like you shooting a lot. There were two managers sitting right in front of me but I know I grabbed at least one interior shot- I'll see if I can find it.

Hmm, how comes they are that jealous about people taking pics of the inside??

I remember that in Candem Town in London... many places had an advert on the entrance "No pics allowed", maybe they were afraid of people copying ideas or whatsoever, but that restaurant, I mean, the Gonna Ball one, should be happy for having people going who visit it just because is the place where the Cats took that shot.

All I can say is... "OMG, Kenny's dead again!!"

This is the interior as it looks now.

Oh man... that place is JUST AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!


So, you said you have to sign a release paper to take pictures... but that´s if you take shots inside, I guess. You can take pics outside without asking for permission, right?

Did you ask the people who worked there if they had any clue about the Cats cover? I´m saying this cause it´s not the same owner, since it´s been bought by that burger franchise... even though I´m sure that from time to time some rockabilly pops up with the same story, taking pics of the place....


Thanks Andi!

Gonna eat, like i've never done before!!

Ooops, it was Gonna Ball like I've never done before ;-)

Andi,
Great pictures. Thanks for sharing. I love the way the old diners look, outside and inside. It's a shame that so many of them have disappeared over the years.

It's not really Setzer related, but if any of you are interested in a fun book on diners, here's one I got for Christmas a couple of years back. It's loaded with fun pictures and great gut-busting recipes. Retro Diner--Comfort Food from the American Roadside, by Linda Everett.

Happy Eating!
hrg

Spanishdavid wrote:

Now.... we need to solve the second mistery.... which is the exact table where the Cats were sitting while they had the inside picture taken:

If you look at the bottom picture that Andi took, the table where the Cats were at is in the back right corner. They've pretty much replaced all the tables & chairs since 1981 (which is probably a GOOD thing! LOL!!) but the basic layout of the diner is still the same. What someone needs to do is post the clip from the movie "Goodfellas" that was shot at the Airline Diner!!

How the f#*k am I funny? What the f#*k is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny,
Budgie DeVito

Are you talking to me??

Jon DeNiro

Hot Rod Girl wrote:

Andi,
Great pictures. Thanks for sharing. I love the way the old diners look, outside and inside. It's a shame that so many of them have disappeared over the years.

It's not really Setzer related, but if any of you are interested in a fun book on diners, here's one I got for Christmas a couple of years back. It's loaded with fun pictures and great gut-busting recipes. Retro Diner--Comfort Food from the American Roadside, by Linda Everett.

Happy Eating!
hrg

Thanks..I'll check it out. I am a geek about all things mid century modern, all the googie designs, tiki,etc.
We have a lot of the architecture here in so cal but not so much about the cool diners. So.. my kitchen is
a diner! I told mandi we need a section of the forum for all the space age/mid century stuff.

btw.. got that Album framed and on the wall. It'd be fun to pull it down and drag out the old technics turntable!

Budgie wrote:

Spanishdavid wrote:

Now.... we need to solve the second mistery.... which is the exact table where the Cats were sitting while they had the inside picture taken:

If you look at the bottom picture that Andi took, the table where the Cats were at is in the back right corner. They've pretty much replaced all the tables & chairs since 1981 (which is probably a GOOD thing! LOL!!) but the basic layout of the diner is still the same. What someone needs to do is post the clip from the movie "Goodfellas" that was shot at the Airline Diner!!

How the f#*k am I funny? What the f#*k is so funny about me? Tell me, tell me what's funny,
Budgie DeVito

Thanks for that! No Stray cats collection is complete without a original copy of Goodfellas.

Spanishdavid wrote:

So, you said you have to sign a release paper to take pictures... but that´s if you take shots inside, I guess. You can take pics outside without asking for permission, right?

I was told I had to sign the release for internal AND external photos. (The managers were pretty surly about it too. Not sure if that was because they appeared to be going over their finances or if they were just surly in general.) I suppose if I'd just driven up, shot a few pictures and left they wouldn't have been able to enforce the release thing, but we actually went in and had lunch. (I had a grilled cheese sandwich and a vanilla Coke. Not bad, typical diner fare!)

Spanishdavid wrote:

Did you ask the people who worked there if they had any clue about the Cats cover? I´m saying this cause it´s not the same owner, since it´s been bought by that burger franchise... even though I´m sure that from time to time some rockabilly pops up with the same story, taking pics of the place....

When I asked about photographing it, I was carrying my Nikon D70 which looks like a professional camera to the untrained eye. The manager guy said, "what are you, some kinda professional?" I said, "no, just a fan of the Stray Cats." He barely even acknowledged my response and told his manager guy partner to get me a release. I was wearing a sweater the whole time we were inside (it was New York in October, a little chilly) but I pulled it off for the photo outside, wearing my Euro tour t-shirt. As we went to get in our car and leave our waitress was outside having a smoke. She said "Oh I didn't see your Stray Cats t-shirt before! Did you know they did pictures here for one of their album covers?" I said, "yep, that's why we're here! Do you get many people coming through because of the Stray Cats?" She said, "only one other couple that I know of- I think they were from Norway."

And that was the end of it.

Budgie wrote:

If you look at the bottom picture that Andi took, the table where the Cats were at is in the back right corner.

Aw man! We sat on the complete OPPOSITE side of the diner!! Ah well. I was there.

andi wrote:

"only one other couple that I know of- I think they were from Norway."

Well I think I know who it wasn't!!!

Sorry Anders.

Jackson Heights, NJ Budge

Shit, this post of mine has been modified by someone unknown....
Dammit!

JonPascual wrote:

Hey Budge,
I like white men,who is the guy next to you in the pic??? ;-)

Thanks for the info on the table, Budgie.

Budgie wrote:

andi wrote:

"only one other couple that I know of- I think they were from Norway."

Well I think I know who it wasn't!!!

Sorry Anders.

Jackson Heights, NJ Budge

Surely, it must be embarrassing for the LaGuardia taxi drivers, walking distance and all...? My excuse: I'm not a local - I'll be back, though!

Anders