Atlantic Eye: A Gem of Americana Passes

---

By MARC S. ELLENBOGEN
UPI International Columnist

---

SYRACUSE, N.Y., April 6 (UPI) -- For 50 years she reigned supreme in Syracuse, New York. My fraternity brothers and I spent numerous nights there studying. She hosted the great and good of New York politics. Once she was open 24-7. Now she is gone. The Little Gem Diner has served her last meal.

I am witness to this sad passing only by sheer chance. I had come to upstate New York, the home of my alma mater, Syracuse, to spend time with my godfather Frank Heath. Frank, a former vice president of Crouse-Hinds Corp., adjunct professor and octogenarian, had open-heart surgery. He is fit as a fiddle. But I and the family were still worried. So we kids all took time off to come to stay with him.

The Little Gem Diner was a classic '50s diner. She sat 52. Housed in the typical glistening metal dining car that marked her kind, she was an institution in the land of Syracuse. I had first stepped into her in 1981. She would become the campaign headquarters for my run for student body comptroller in 1982 (I won, in a squeaker against Steven Epstein, by half a percent). She would also be the place where I crammed for exams. But she was really much more.

The Little Gem had been owned by Francis "Doc" Good, now 76, for the last 12 1/2 years. Doc was an engineer by trade. After leaving Lockheed Martin he bought the diner. In 2007 a fire closed the diner for 10 weeks. He had already had some tumultuous times when the anti-smoking laws came into effect in New York state. On this final night, however, smoking was permitted. Several weeks ago he had informed the 16 employees that he would be closing. In its heyday the Little Gem employed 32.

According to Dick Case, a columnist for the Syracuse Post Standard who highlighted the Little Gem in a 2009 column, the diner was built in 1957 in New Jersey by the Fodero Co. The first owner was Henry "Hank" McCall. A group of unnamed partners bought it next, followed by Mario Biasi -- who owned it for 16 years -- who would sell it to Goods in 1997. I had once met Mr. Biasi.

"Alright, I hope you guys intend to order a lot of food," the zaftig, intense waitress displaying a kind of savoir faire would say to us Lambda Chi Alphas when we entered. "And boys, I need good tips tonight," she said, a cigarette dangling from the side of her mouth. I do not remember her name, but she was institution in her own right. She liked us guys. And we always gave her big tips.

We spent nights in the Little Gem cramming for exams. We would spread out over two booths drinking copious amounts of coffee and smoking -- cigarettes that is. I don't remember if the Little Gem had a liquor license, but if she did, we certainly had a few stiff drinks there as well. As the morning sun began to shine, we would toddle off to our exams at Syracuse University. The diner became a "night home away from home." Of course our other home was the Lambda Chi Fraternity House on Walnut Park near the campus of the university.

I remember sitting with my fraternity brother Dan Romano of the prominent Mayer family of Boston. The Mayers founded Cole-Hersee in the 1920s, making it into one of the leading U.S. electronic switch-makers. Dan and I would talk about life and our future. The Little Gem was a regular part of our college life -- we sweated there, laughed there and cried there. Occasionally we would bring a date there. We were not the only ones; hordes of Syracuse students would have the same experiences even though the Little Gem was not within walking distance and most students did not venture far from campus.

The Little Gem was also the unofficial meeting place for the Student Government Executive Committee. There in the early '80s budgets were haggled over, compromises found, words -- some not so nice -- hurled back and forth. I can still see the faces of SGA President Denise Crafts, Executive Vice President Eric Leventhal -- who remain close friends -- and the ever lovely and brilliant Carla Freedman. Those were splendid days.

During his primary campaign for president, I had brought Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado to the diner. That would be followed by Gov. Mario Cuomo, the grand old man of New York and Democratic politics. It would be more than 25 years before I visited the diner again with Gen. Wesley Clark -- a Global Panel Foundation board member -- who had been in Syracuse in 2008 to support the candidacy of Dan Maffei, who now represents New York's 25th District. Towards the end of 2009 Frank Heath and I had paid a visit to the diner. It would be my last.

The Little Gem Diner nurtured me and a generation of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity brothers. Nearly 30 years ago she was an integral part of our college-life experience.

A piece of Americana has disappeared.

In the Little Gem a generation of boys turned into men.

--

(UPI International Columnist Marc S. Ellenbogen is chairman of the Berlin, Copenhagen and Sydney-based Global Panel Foundation and president of the Prague Society. He has advised political personalities and is a founding trustee of the Democratic Expat Leadership Council.)

--

(e-mail: ellenbogen@globalpanel.org)