MollieTheMare
No bio...
User ID: 875
MollieTheMare
22d ago
Re:
diners in movies
Maybe @BahRam You can chime in with what he meant more specifically.
As some general US-based commentary, it is true that the charming, cheap, accessible, "everyone knows your name" movie diner is virtually gone now.
That's not to say there is no residual of the 24-hour diner left. Notably, Waffle House continued this tradition well into the 90s and is still extremely common in the American South.
In that era it did serve as a third place sociologically. Describing the eponymous song:
... it's about coming together with the people you love and making your dreams come true.
Dreams don't come true anymore.
Through a combination of prices rising, penny-pinching degraded service, and more widespread public drug use, it has now developed a reputation as a place for vagrants, not a place to hang out.
... promising cheap affordable food at all hours of the day. [B]ecause of this it attracts homeless people, drug users, drug dealers, gangsters, and generally drunk people
Being open 24 hours a day is part of the draw. They are often on the side of the expressway. And if you need a cheap(ish), filling place for food, you can be assured they will be open. Even after a hurricane.
Waffle House manages to survive because of highly highly optimized supply chains, and dirt-cheap wages. An independent diner with highly competent, friendly staff would have much higher overhead. Particularly a problem is that classic American diner staples have seen a dramatic increase in input costs. Eggs, chicken fried steak, coffee, etc. have all seen price increases that vastly outpace broader inflation. You still find some small diners limping along, but it's often more of a boutique, higher-priced thing.
MollieTheMare
26d ago
For incline it should be easy to set up where the safeties don't get in the way. For flat bench you should also be able to set up with a modest arch and find a decent spot to put the safeties, if you have Westside hole spacing. If you don't have tight hole spacing or dislike hard stops, I like safety straps or soft safeties. They feel better if you make a soft accidental touch while moving.
It's also easy to customize a DIY solution if you are too cheap or they do not sell safeties for your rack. Make sure to set them where you will never get a finger or hand caught. I misracked 405# once. Those $20 Harbor Freight recovery straps saved my life, or at least prevented getting seriously maimed.
Yeah, I have the mental defect of thinking things that are slightly grungy are charming. The fact that purpose-built as nostalgia versions are not grungy is partially why I don't like them. In addition to not cheap.
More options
Context Copy link