Our Story

Manufactured by the short-lived Galion Dining Car company of Galion, Ohio, The Penn Yan Diner arrived at its current location in 1925

Now approaching its 100th birthday, the Penn Yan Diner is a classic example of the post WWI prefabricated eateries designed to resemble railroad dining cars. Once a fixture in nearly every American town, the trolley-shaped diners are rare today.

Byron and Lena Legters brought the dining car to Penn Yan by rail in 1925, placing it on a concrete pad over the original kitchen, which was built below the diner. A fire damaged the diner in 1932, and the Legters moved on shortly after that.

In 1938, after interim owners Carroll P. Bond (1932) and a Mrs. Williamson and her son Douglas King (1932–1938), the diner was purchased by Odell Jones, who added the dining area, kitchen, and glass-block vestibule. He sold the diner in 1949, but took it back when the owners couldn’t make a go of it.

In 1955, the diner was bought by John and Inez Quenan, who sold it to Lyman “Lyman the Pieman” Beecher in 1980. The next owner, Dean Smith of Conesus, NY, closed the diner briefly for equipment renovation, keeping only summer hours after the repairs were complete. In March of 2012, Carrie and Sean Ahearn purchased the diner with the aim to keep it a quaint small-town eatery. In 2014, Yates county received more than 9 inches of rain within an hour, flooding the basement with more than 9 feet of water and six inches of mud. They re-opened the diner a mere 11 days later.

For an excellent article about the diner, read this 1993 article by Herbert A. Wisbey in the Crooked Lake Review. For more information about the history of dining cars, read Richard S. Gutman’s American Diner Then and Now.

Current owners

The diner is currently owned by Anna Sweet, Nate Salpeter, Alicia Avellaneda and Cameron Mills. Anna, Alicia and Cameron grew up in Penn Yan. Nate grew up in Florida, but fell in love with Penn Yan after marrying Anna and spending time at the lake. When the diner went up for sale, the group decided to go into business together as friends and partners, to ensure the diner continued its long tradition of being an important part of the community.