[342 Third Avenue, Gowanus, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]
Just one more Gowanus corner, taking its place in these pages with Ralph Bozzo’s restaurant, Nick’s Diner, and an empty building clad in scaffolding.
A list of Brooklyn diners of the past has a diner at 344 Third Avenue from 1938 to 1950. In 1936 a liquor license was granted to an establishment at 342. In 1959 a license was granted to the Transit Diner at this address. Was 342 the Transit Diner all along? Reply hazy, try again, says the Magic 8 Ball.
[Brooklyn Times-Union, July 6, 1933. Click for a larger view.]
[Brooklyn Daily, April 6, 1959. Click for a larger view.]
The name Michael Tolopka appears in a 1941 news item:
[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 11, 1941.]
I think that’s our man: a Daily News article from the same date, partially visible behind a paywall, identifies Tolopka as “lunch wagon proprietor” and identifies Russo as “his old [something-]hood pal.” If the Michael Tolopka in this news item is the one found here (1897–1944), I think neighborhood is the better fit. But child- would appear to better fit the column of newsprint.
I can imagine someone asking Mr. Russo, “How could you rob an old pal like that?” The only possible answer, no Magic 8 Ball needed: “It was easy!” But it’s not easy to imagine $1240 as a day’s receipts from this diner.
One last detail: I like the way the Pepsi-Cola sign on the truck and the Coca-Cola sign signs on the diner become one harmonious celebration of soda. A reader got it right: the Pepsi-Cola sign just looks as if it’s on the truck. Both signs are on the diner. The truck carries rock salt.
Google Maps shows something under construction at this address in June 2022. Before that it appears to have been a parking lot for Verizon employees and trucks.
Related reading
More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives (Pinboard)
Sunday, August 27, 2023
Transit Diner (?)
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comments: 11
Great. I thought the same thing about the truck, but I noticed it says "road salt " in that snowy setting, i"think" the Pepsi sign might actually be part of the diner, and the truck might have been delivering salt ?
Eh, I think you're right. I'll fix when I'm at the Mac.
If the robber were 23 in 1941, and the robbee was his boyhood pal, he couldn't have been born in 1897 or whatever, unless I'm missing something, Maybe his dad (who would have died mid-40s if him)? I'm not reading carefully.
No, you’re right. The puzzling thing is that child- is a better fit for the column of newsprint. The only way to solve this one is with a subscription to newspapers.com, which I just can’t bring myself to pay for.
I have one!
Here's one that mentions the mugger lived in Brooklyn, while the victim was living in Manhattan. Different social strata even then, I bet.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news/130839096/
A Michael Tolopka of NYC is mentioned in this obit, along with a brother.
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-oneonta-star/130839373/
Oh, never mind. That Michael became a rural dairy farmer . . .
Thanks, Diane. That’s the Daily News article I couldn’t see in full.
The Michael Tolopka that goes with this diner must be the one born in 1898. I get uneasy about going into census records — I feel like I’m prying — but there he is, on this page, a restaurant manager living on E. 7th Street.
The corner of Union and 4th is less than half a mile from the Transit Diner, and the Carroll Street address is a fifth of a mile from the Transit Diner. Everything fits!
1945 to 1951 phone books show a listing for a "transient diner"??
Strange! A miscommunication? But that sad name seems to fit the Gowanus atmosphere.
Oops — here’s the correct link for the census page.
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