Things’ll be great when you’re downtown at sundown and step inside Haven Brothers Mobile Diner...

The lyrics to Petula Clark’s upbeat Sixties tune, “Downtown,” assured us there was no finer place to linger on the sidewalk where the neon signs are pretty. As shadows descend upon Providence, Rhode Island’s capital city, the Haven Brothers stainless steel diner on wheels rolls in next to City Hall. Step inside the “Aluminum Room” for greased good eats on the cheap.

Haven Brothers Diner is one of America’s oldest restaurants on wheels, established in 1893 as a horse-drawn lunch wagon. Anne Philomena Haven, a widowed immigrant, founded the diner with proceeds from her husband’s life insurance policy. Anne’s daughter Catherine and son-in-law Dennis continued to run the wagon with the help of their sons William and John. Dennis sold the biz to his daughters.

Somewhere along its grease-spattered historical evolution, Haven Brothers rolls to its destination as a 1949 Fred W. Morse diner car—the third wagon to hitch its name to. In 1953 the Havens sold the lunch cart to the Mollicones. Later owners were Jack Ferry and present proprietors, the Giusti family.

Every evening about 5 PM when noire shadows descend upon Providence, the mobile diner rolls to its traditional halt at the corner of Fulton and Dorrance Streets, next to City Hall where it stays until 5 AM until it’s wheeled away to Spruce St. in the Federal Hill neighborhood close by.

Haven Brothers offers the finest counter culture from dusk till dawn, a culminating epicurean experience after partaking in one of Providence’s artistic, aesthetic, or ennobling attractions: Water Fire, Trinity Repertory Company Theater, Museum of Art/Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island Philharmonic, or Benefit Street’s Mile of History.

The clientele who step up to the Aluminum Room to order and/or snag one of its five stools or spot at the counter, are a motley assortment of politicians, police officers, bikers, and street people. People from all walks of life seek haven for good food at Haven Brothers where most take their Rhode fill outside to savor while sitting on the steps of City Hall or curbside.

The full menu at Haven Brothers lists hot dogs, BLTs and several versions of hamburgers and cheeseburgers. Chicken salad, fried egg, ham & egg, bacon & egg, grilled cheese, and tenderloin steak make their bed inside a sandwich.

Sides to choose from include fries, cheese fries, chili beans, baked beans, and soup. Extras to pile on the main thoroughfare consist of mushrooms, cheese, lettuce & tomato, chili, and sautéed onions.

Having rested on its axles for 112 years, Haven Brothers has earned a rep for plumper than average hot dogs, the finest chili anywhere around, and no surprise—their most popular drink is coffee milk, the official state drink of RI.

Native Rhode Islanders and out-of-towners from all walks of life who step out of Haven Brothers’ Aluminum Room greased and on the go, depart savoring some of the tastiest Rhode fill this state has to offer. Enjoying a meal on the steps of City Hall or curbside are the finest places to linger when shadows descend upon the city of Providence and neon signs are pretty.

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