A little information about me:

 

I was born in mid-central Missouri but raised in Hannibal, Mark Twain's claim to fame alongside the West bank of the mighty Mississippi River.  Hannibal is where I had my schooling and began early adulthood.  I graduated High School in the mid-1980s and, in 1987 I met the woman who would become my wife.

 

In October 1988 I joined hands in matrimony with my lovely wife, to whom I am still married and, in 1990 we broke free from the chains of Missouri and ventured off to Oklahoma City, where we remained throughout the decade of the 1990s, even living there during that fateful Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995.  We had many great times in Oklahoma City, which is where I found my other true love interest — Route 66.  I traveled several Oklahoma portions of Historic US Route 66 many times and fell in love instantly, daydreaming about the lives of yesteryear and imagining myself stopping and eating at its many roadside diners.

 

However, Oklahoma wasn't to stay in the game for us though and, by the decade's end, we found ourselves back in Hannibal, Missouri.  Our families had beckoned and begged for us to come back, and it just seemed the appropriate thing to do at the time.  So here I remain in Hannibal, still dreaming of owning my own little diner on Route 66, where people travel from all around to get a greasy hamburger and crinkle-cut French Fries, served in a red basket on a red & white checkered tablecloth with a tall glass of refreshing ice cold Coca-Cola.

 

 

 

 

 

The Origin of Larry's 66 Diner

 

Where did it all begin?

 

I'd long been a fan of the Roadside Diner — a place where the usual clientele stopped in for breakfast and a hot cup of coffee, or the Daily Blue Plate Special, or that greasy hamburger and crinkle-cut French fries served in a basket on a red & white checkered table cloth, mentioned above.  Combined with my fascination and love of Route 66, I thought it would be great to have such a cozy little place, where the waitress knows each customer by name, knows where they sit, and chats with them and has a general interest in their lives and daily routines.

 

In 2004, I joined two different nostalgic message board sites, using the name "Larry's 66 Cafe", and published under that name for a while (and for a brief time, publishing under both interchangeably).  When I launched my own website on March 2, 2006 I realized I needed to give it its own unique flavor and identity.  I toyed back and forth with the notion of whether to stick with using the name "Cafe" or the name "Diner".  ("Hmmm, which image am I trying to convey here?")

 

I think the general consensus is that "cafe" conjures up the image of the early French coffee houses, where one could sit for an afternoon, sipping coffee and eating a croissant, while carrying on idle chatter over the newspaper; oftentimes, these could seem to be more of an upscale atmosphere.  "Diner" conjured up the "greasy spoon" diner cars in my mind, along with the lunch counter where one could sit and watch the food being grilled, hearing the loud clattering of dishes in bus tubs, and maybe even hearing a little music from a jukebox — I knew this was the image I wanted to convey.

 

I chose the latter and, on March 2, 2006, Larry's 66 Diner was born and has grown into a multitude of social media sites and, in 2008, I purchased the domain name larrys66diner.com, publishing as Larry's 66 Diner (or Larrys66Diner) ever since.

 

Welcome to Larry's 66 Diner!