The Forest Diner in Ellicott City
is closing this month. After sixty six years, this venerable HoCo institution
will serve its last meals on May 28th as the building makes way for
a new mixed use development.
This is truly the end of an era. The Forest Diner may be the
only true diner in HoCo. By true diner I mean real diner. Diners were originally manufactured elsewhere and then trucked to their
locations. In very short order they could open for business.
Though it was modified and expanded over the years, the original stainless steel dining car is still intact. On Saturday morning I asked our server, Lisa, what
was to become of the dining car when the place closes. This is a rare piece of roadside Americana after all.
“I don’t know,” she said sadly.
A note in the diner did say that the Forest Diner kitchen staff and
servers will still be around. They are moving across the street
to Jilly’s restaurant which will begin serving breakfast after the Forest Diner
closes.
