A piece of Cambridge's past lives on in England
By Sarah Andrews Cambridge Chronicle Massachusetts USA

On St. Patrick's Day 1952, a boxy, silver eatery opened for business in North Cambridge.

     The same diner is now open across the Atlantic in Swadlincote, England.

     Jeff Laight and Patricia Whitehouse are breathing new life into the eatery, which operated for nearly two decades as Murphy's Diner at 2525 Mass. Ave. The two found the abandoned, authentic American diner for sale on eBay last October. It was sitting in a neglected lot in Derby, England, about 24 miles north of their home.

     Though Jeff Laight admits he and his wife "must have been crazy," the longtime chefs decided to buy the 42-ton piece of history and haul it through several traffic-calming roundabouts to a piece of land on the outskirts of town.

     They've named it The 50s American Diner and plan to open in a few weeks at john street church gresley swadlincote. Once they got it home, however, they became curious of its lineage and began making some calls.

     The Cambridge restaurant, founded originally by a Joseph F. Murphy, was one of a dozen Cambridge diners to thrive through the 1960s, said one local diner expert.

     But according to Charles M. Sullivan, the executive director of the Cambridge Historical Society, the story of Murphy's Diner "such as it is, is complicated."

     Information pieced together from Sullivan and diner expert Richard Gutman of West Roxbury show that a Joseph F. Murphy founded the original diner in 1939. In 1941, the city directory listed a Joseph J. Murphy of Richard Avenue as owner.

     By 1944, an Arthur Kaufman, then a resident of Brighton, took over and remained officially on the books until 1965, said Sullivan. A new structure, built by the Jerry O'Mahony Company in Elizabeth, N.J., was brought to the lot in 1952, though it kept the Murphy name.

     In 1968, the diner closed and was moved a year or so later to a field in Haverhill, where it sat vacant until the early 1990s. According to Lawrence Cultrera, a Medford-based diner photographer, it was then owned by a man named William Conte, who never reopened it.

     Gutman is the author of three books on diner history and saw Murphy's during its 20-year tenure in Haverhill. He nicknamed it "the rabbit hutch" because those creatures had holed up inside. "It was filled with mattresses and other debris," said Gutman. "By 1991, it was a real wreck."

     In 1993, the diner moved to Peabody, but again did not reopen. Two years later, Pendragon Limited, a car company in England, shipped it overseas to install on their car lot in Derby, donning it the Motown Diner. That company closed in 1997, and the diner once again became defunct.

     American diners exist in other countries such as Germany, Russia and France, and Gutman said people are often willing to pay the high shipping costs to have the "real thing." While Gutman said Pendragon paid a little over £20,000 to purchase and move the frame, the company ended up spending about £200,000 to restore it, a reality with which Laight is now very familiar.

     "After I paid for it, then I realized how much it was going to cost," he said, adding moving expenses totaled 10,000 pounds and refurbishing costs increased to over 100,000 pounds. "You can't just hook it on the back of your car."

     The story of Murphy's admittedly has its holes. Neither Sullivan nor Gutman have any information about the previous owners or their families. Cultrera described Conte as "very defensive" when approached about the diner.

     However, he did hear one story from a North Cambridge friend of his mother's in 1981. Right before the diner was moved from Cambridge, a young man's body was found at the diner. The story was confirmed by Daniel Zilka, the president of the American Diner Museum in Providence, R.I

     Fixing up the place proved to be a bigger chore than expected for Laight and Whitehouse. They had to rebuild the back kitchen area and restore the outside walls. The work has resulted in at least one significant injury.

     Six months ago, Laight decided to pour some concrete outside, wearing only jeans and sneakers. Later, when pulling down his socks, the skin from his calves came off with them and he suffered third-degree burns from the chemicals.

     Laight acknowledged the unfortunate incident with good humor and counts himself lucky the scars weren't worse. Now, he and Whitehouse are focusing on their grand opening party next month. Local reporters and England's American Car Club are expected to attend.

    

      Contact Sarah Andrews at sandrews@cnc.com.