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MY TINMAN DINER

Address: 70 County Road, North Falmouth
Years Active: 1941–2000; 2008–2011

The diner has been a part of American history for more than 140 years. It is a slice of a simpler time, filling the mind with images of the bustling counter and quickly prepared but delicious comfort foods served in a small, cozy environment. The first diner was created in 1872 in Providence, Rhode Island. Established by Walter Scott, it was a horse-drawn wagon with walk-up windows on either side. The first patent for a diner, then called a “nightlunch wagon,” came in 1893. However, diners did not truly take off until the introduction of the Sterling Streamliners, inspired by streamlined trains, in 1939.

One such Sterling Streamliner became a staple in New Bedford. The Jimmie Evans Flyer was a Sterling built in 1940 and opened in 1941 on the southeast corner of the intersection at Pleasant and Middle Streets. The diner was purchased by Jimmie Evans, a former vaudeville entertainer. Evans became one of vaudeville’s most well-known promoters, and at one point, he managed five groups of actors that toured the country. These included Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr and Jack Haley, who were the original Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, respectively.

After retiring from show business, Evans became postmaster in the neighboring town of Fairhaven. Though he lent his name to the diner, it was his wife, Kitty, who truly ran the establishment. It was successfully run in its first location for nearly two decades before it made its first move, coming across the Cape Cod Canal.

In 1960, Sandwich resident Norman Welch, president of the Cape Oil Corporation, purchased the Jimmie Evans Flyer. It was moved across the canal to a location at the Otis Rotary in the Pocasset village of Bourne. The pine-paneled Sterling Streamliner was enlarged so it could seat fifty people inside, with Welch turning the kitchen over to his chef, known only as “Smiling Charlie.”

The diner had a stable home and served up classic fare to its customers. However, despite the home being stable, the name of the establishment itself changed several times over the next two decades. In the twenty-five years under the ownership of Norman Welch, the Jimmie Evans Flyer became the Otis Rotary Diner in the 1970s and Mary’s Muffins after that. Welch sold the business to Claire Bergeron of Wareham in 1985. In 1989, Bergeron leased the business to Barbara Lind, who had visited the diner as a child, and the Sterling Streamliner began its next chapter.

Upon leasing the diner, Lind changed its name to My Tinman Diner. This was in honor of her grandfather, who was a tinsmith and made toys for her. Tinman became Lind’s life’s work, as she spent all of her money to restore the diner. Piggybacking on the Tinman name, there was one of the largest collections of Wizard of Oz memorabilia in the world inside the walls. There was also a collection of POW and veterans’ memorabilia inside. It made the décor of the diner second to none. As the 1990s began, many soldiers went off to fight in the Gulf War in Iraq. Some of the local men and women who went into battle hung their patches on the wall, hoping that they would be prayed for by the patrons of My Tinman. Each and every one of those soldiers did come home safely. Barbara’s love of those in the service was apparent by the way she would get up before sunrise to enter the diner and prepare meals to be delivered to those at Otis Air Force Base. She did not have customers; she had a very large extended family.

Along with her daughter Susan Kettell-Lind, Barbara’s dedication to giving customers the best possible experience at Tinman from food to atmosphere led to the diner being featured in several publications and books on popular eateries. All were welcome inside and treated like family no matter who they were or where they came from. The former Jimmie Evans Flyer was having its best years yet as My Tinman. Sadly, the good times did not last.

In November 2000, the diner was lost to a fire. The blaze, set by the jealous husband of a waitress who worked there, spelled the end of the wildly popular establishment. The loss was devastating to the regular customers, who spent the next few weeks gathering to drink their morning coffee in the parking lot where the charred shell of the diner remained. The loss was even more devastating to Barbara, who felt the Sterling Streamliner was more than a restaurant—to her it was almost human. She had contemplated having a wake for the business in the aftermath. Eventually, Barbara Lind and Susan Kettell-Lind moved on with their lives. Barbara worked in the kitchen at the Riverview School in Sandwich and the Plymouth Bay House, while Susan went back to college.

It seemed as though My Tinman would remain in the past until a stroke of luck brought it back to life in 2008. The North Falmouth Diner, located at 70 County Road, was up for sale, with the possibility of it being bought and simply torn down. Susan leased the diner from the owner, and thanks to more than $50,000 in donations, the structure was renovated. It was renamed the Tinman Diner, and the Wizard of Oz motif was re-created inside.

The revival of the diner would last for three years, until an amicable parting of ways with their landlord spelled the end of the Tinman Diner for Barbara and Susan in April 2011. The diner briefly reopened as Boxcar’s Diner in 2012. Seven decades after the Jimmie Evans Flyer first opened in New Bedford, the legacy of the diner was laid to rest. Multiple locations, multiple names and countless satisfied customers—both regular and onetimers—made the Tinman Diner a spot not soon to be forgotten. Even today, years after its final closing, Barbara Lind thinks back on those great times and misses her horde of loyal regulars. “Every reunion was a happy one,” Lind remarked, “and each parting was a silver tear. Only because they knew the Tinman would always be there.”

The Tinman Diner site in North Falmouth as it appears today. Christopher Setterlund.

It still is, in all of their hearts.

As of 2016, the location at 70 County Road, diner and all, is vacant.