If someone says "classic American diner", a lot of us instantly form a shared mental image. Why? What goes into this motif? In this video from Architectural Digest, architect Michael Wyetzner traces the history of the American diner.
It begins with railroad dining cars, from which the "diner" gets its name. Many of the common design elements of the diner, such as the open kitchen, booth seating, and steel construction, originate from the necessities of rail travel. Some of these dining cars were parked offtrack, becoming the first proper diners.
After World War II, car travel overtook rail travel and diners adapted to the needs of people on the road. Many new diners were built with circular designs to maximize parking space. These geometric patterns matched up with images from the Space Race in a style that came to be called "Googie" after one particular diner.
Googie architecture culminated in the 1964 World's Fair in New York City. But the late 60s saw increased pessimism in American life and the end of this stylistic development. Buildings constructed in the Googie diner style thereafter were intended to have retro rather than futuristic aesthetics.
-via Kottke