‘Not Just a Burger and a Soda Pop’: Inside America’s Last Remaining Woolworth’s Diner

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In the 1970s, five-and-dime stores abounded. While department store prices have soared since then, in the corner of the Five & Dime Antique Mall in Bakersfield, California, there remains a relic from the past.

A former Woolworth’s luncheonette, fitted with 22 original vinyl seats on a 74-foot lunch counter, is still open for business. Renamed “Woolworth’s Diner,” this retro eatery is a bonafide blast from the past.

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The diner has tailored its menu in homage to the luncheonette’s original fare. Customers can order classic burgers, chilli dogs, fries, potato salad, soda, and milkshakes, and as of 2018, the most expensive item on the menu was only US$8.65.

“We want the whole time that [customers are] here to be an experience,” co-owner Jeremy Trammell told KGET News in 2018. “Not just a burger and not just a soda pop, but an experience of maybe the way things used to be.

Woolworth's in its heyday in the shopping precinct of Kirkby New Town in Lancashire, England, 1967 (©Getty Images | George W. Hales/Fox Photos)

“It’s simple, it’s good, it’s fresh,” Joseph Trammell added, “that’s what people love about it.” Loyal customer Marsha McKinney agreed. “People need to know what enjoyable places these were,” she told the KGET news station.

The Trammell brothers took over the premises in the year 2010 to help rescue the diner from imminent extinction. Its days, they decided, deserved to continue on. Today, the diner is proud of its fresh produce, and staff make almost everything on the menu fresh and in-house.

One thing has changed, however. Many America lunch counters remained segregated well into the 1950s. It wasn’t until a series of non-violent protests by young African-American students occurred in 1960, at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, that the store removed its policy of racial segregation, says History.com.

But from that moment on, the Woolworth’s luncheonette was more than just a lunch counter; it became a willing icon of the civil rights movement.

The F. W. Woolworth company eventually went out of business in 1997 and changed its focus to sporting goods. Today, the franchise lives on as shopping mall staple Foot Locker—you probably didn’t know that!

Woolworth’s Diner in Bakersfield, in honor of its heritage, retains much of its original features and charm. With the exception of some modifications to allow for ease of food service, the signage, decor, vinyl stools, and even recipes remain unchanged.

“That’s one of the biggest compliments of our food,” Trammell said, “when people will refer to it as, ‘This tastes like when I was a kid.’” The co-owner claimed that the hospitality staff of the good old days were “thinking about somebody, not something.” It’s a philosophy the Trammell brothers hope to emulate.

The diner is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., except Sunday, when staff open the doors at midday.

Roadtrippers magazine visited the diner at opening time on July 25, 2019, and stumbled upon co-owner Trammell hand-pressing burger patties in the kitchen. The diner hand-presses approximately 200 patties every single day.

“We’re among so much history in this place, but we knew we needed to stand out in some other way,” Trammell told the magazine. “We’re one of the only places around that makes almost everything from scratch,” he added. “It’s our thing.”