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DINING IN DINERS
Four Sisters Owl Diner
A historic diner in an old mill town
You might find its location off-putting, on a street lined with dingy buildings and the diner appearing dilapidated. Parking is difficult but not impossible. But do not let this deter you; ignore the setting and diner’s exterior condition, pull open the metal door on the left, and step into history.
This diner is a year older than I am. It was built in 1940, using a design that deviated from the classic diners of the ‘30s by slanting the end walls and curving the roof — a half-barrel shape.
This diner traveled from its manufacture in Worcester, Massachusetts, by the Worcester Lunch Car company (I love the name), to Waltham, Massachusetts, where it was known as the Monarch Diner, and to its current location in Lowell in 1951, where it became the Owl Diner.
Officially, the diner is now The Four Sisters, but locally, it will always be known as the Owl Diner; the large sign in front displays an owl, and inside the window curtains are owl-themed.
Many restaurants serve breakfast in Lowell, but they are not served in a place that boasts of a bygone design called the semi-streamliner that gives the Owl Diner an entry in the National Register of Historic Places.
