Witch way to the kitsch

Magnet #460 - Salem, MA

Love this superbien magnet, though I have slight issues with it.

On this day in 1647, the first execution of a "known witch" took place - this chick named Achsah Young was hanged. Fifty years later, the infamous Salem witch trials took place, where in the space of four months in 1692, 19 men and women were brought to Gallows Hill and hung - a mass hysteria that dissipated as quickly as it started. Freaky.

So the reason I have issues is because once again, we've managed to make a profit off of a horrible dark time in our history. Walk around Salem, and you see various museums (some serious, some not), a ton of gift shops with witchy memorabilia and several sites of witchy interest. I mean, I get it. We all need to make a buck. I just wonder how those executed witches feel about it. Obviously, that didn't stop me from buying this magnet, or a supercute sweatshirt with a pudgy bear in a witch outfit, sitting on a broom.

But all was not evil there. Out of my slightly freaked out about witches haze, there was a bright, shiny thing about that trip:

Pilgrim Diner, one of the original Worcester Lunch Car Company diners from last century. It's really called Deb's Diner, we just know it as Pilgrim Diner because that's what was on the outside - it's been written there since 1936.

This lunch car diner was the best piece of local color and local Americana, ever. In fact, I may have to retitle my post, because it was so authentic, you can't really call it kitsch.

Picture it - the quintessential movie scene, where our heroines walk in the creaky door, looking around shyly. And the entire diner - made up of the guy in the coroner jacket at the counter, the old guys drinking their coffee at their regular table, the cooks in the back, and the sassy waitress behind the counter - the entire diner looking right back at them, staring at the three little Asian girls who just walked in.

Two seconds of quiet pass, and poof! everyone goes back to their business, and the diner soundtrack comes back on.

We sat down - at this spot in the corner - and proceeded to have The. Best. Breakfast. Ever.

The scrambled eggs and bacon? Fantastic.

The toast? Perfect.

The diner coffee? C'mon.

The giantest, most giantest pancakes ever? They were the size of the whole entire plate, practically hanging off the sides. And? They. Were. Amazing.

Jeepers. Talk about a food epiphany.

(Thanks andyi for the flickr slide show down memory lane, and to Elizabeth Thomsen for the fun diner set.)

eta:
So that I remember, a note to myself. I bought my own domain name today. What? My sister just bought a condo, and I thought I should own something, too. Yay for joymagnetism.com!!!