When thinking of a location to focus my field research on, I was stumped. My goal was to think of a place that was off campus but college students could also relate to. The day after the assignment was given, my friend and I went to a diner in Yonkers, NY to grab lunch and catch up. After we sat down I noticed all the people and interactions that were taking place around me and knew that this would be the perfect place to observe. My friend looked at me curiously as I started typing what I observed on my iPhone.
When I got home, I looked over all my notes and observations but was unsure if I had enough information to write an entire blog and an ethnography on diner’s alone. Calling it quit’s for the night I opened my laptop to Netflix and began watching the show “Riverdale.” Then it hit me. In Riverdale, the main characters are always hanging out at “Pops” which is the local diner in the show. I realized that Pops was portrayed as a fun and bright place were all the young high-school kids went to hang out. Before beginning my research I wanted to do some background research on diner’s.
After choosing my focus, I researched the cultural significance of diner’s in America. In 1872 the first diner, created by Walter Scott, opened in Rhode Island. Walter Scott inspired what would become one of the most recognized icons in America. Movies and shows such as Gilmore Girls, Riverdale and the film, Diner, all portray what is thought to be the typical American diner. There is even an American Diner Museum located in Rhode Island where people can go and see the “cultural significance of the American diner, a unique American institution.” (ADM) My goal is to take my observations and compare them to how diner’s are portrayed in television and movies.
Before I could start thinking about the portrayal of dinner’s in the media I needed to predict what I would observe. When thinking about what I would see, I wanted to get a wide range of different data. The best way to achieve this would depend on the day of the week and time I went to the diner. Having already written down observations on a Wednesday afternoon, I wanted to see the difference on an early Sunday morning and a Friday night at 10 pm. On Sunday morning, I expect to see a lot of families with young children and older couples and not a-lot of people my age. Also I predict the diner will be very crowded. While on Friday, I expect to see groups of teenagers and young adults at the dinner and will most likely be less crowded than Sunday morning.
Leighanne's Diner Blog 