The Nation’s Longest Running Food Truck
19:39 Share

Hey there, it's Ryan Seacrest for Safeway. Now through June 26, score hot summer savings and earn four times the points. Look for in-store tags on items like Kinder Bueno, Cheez-It Crackers, Oscar Mayer Lunchables, and Just Bear Chicken Bites. Then clip the offer in the app for automatic event-long savings. Enjoy savings on top of savings when you shop in-store or online for easy drive-up-and-go pickup or delivery. Subject to availability restrictions apply. Visit Safeway.com for more details.

Oh, man, I don't think I could have another drink. Me neither. I think I'm ready to just about float out of here. I could really use some food to soak up some of this beer. Me too. We need something like good and greasy. What's open at this hour in downtown Providence? I know just the place, Ray. Let's head this way toward Doran Street.

Okay, our destination is just up ahead. Illegally parked, by the way, right next to City Hall by Kennedy Plaza. Yes, a food truck. That's perfect. And it's not just any food truck. This is Haven Brothers. This isn't just the longest operating food truck in Rhode Island. It's the longest running in the nation. This place has been a Providence, Rhode Island icon since the year 1893. ♪

Hey, I'm Jeff Blander and welcome to episode 401 of the New England Legends podcast. 401, that's perfect. I know, right? Well, 401 is the area code for all of Rhode Island and has been since 1947. That's right. That is the area code here.

Thank you for joining us on our mission to chronicle every legend in New England one story at a time. We're always on the lookout for roadside oddities, wicked strange history, ghosts, monsters, and the just plain weird. Most of our story leads come from you, so please reach out to us anytime through our website. We'll explore the Haven Brothers Mobile Diner right after this word from our sponsor. Turn fire! Jiggers! Cut!

The world has never seen war like this before. I can use your face to call for genocide. New weapons. I think the new age of conflict is definitely going to be across ones and zeros. And it's not necessarily going to just impact warriors on the battleground. New conflicts. Nowadays, we receive nearly 3,000 patients on a daily basis. And new challenges.

A freeze on foreign aid continues to cause confusion and spread fear among humanitarian workers. Go to the front lines, behind closed doors, and explore the conflicts tearing the world apart and the projects keeping us together. Because you never know when war may reach your own borders. Only on Intercross, a podcast from the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Hungry, Ray? Yes, I am. All right. It's a good thing we're here then. So we're standing in front of a truck that's parked on the corner of Dorrance and Fulton Street right next to Providence City Hall. And it's parked illegally, by the way. Really? Yeah, and it has been for years and years. They've received countless parking tickets and plenty of people have tried to get them shut down or at least moved from this location.

But they obviously have some friends in the building next door because they're still here. So there's a white truck with kind of a tow truck cab and a flatbed behind it. The diner on the flatbed is maybe 30 feet long, stainless steel, like old-time diners, and a set of stairs that folds down to the sidewalk so you can walk inside. On the side of the diner, it reads, A Providence Tradition, Haven Brothers Diner. Yeah. Should we go inside? Absolutely. I'm starving.

Ooh, it's cozy in here. It is. There's a couple of stools, very cramped. Yep. And there's a sign that says, Welcome to Haven Brothers Diner, the oldest operating diner on wheels. Established 1893. Yeah, this food truck on wheels goes back a long way. Back before there was an automobile to pull it. Now, I'm looking at the menu. They have a ton of milkshake flavors. 150 flavors, if you're counting. Yeah, there's a ton. And the rest of the menu has the kinds of items you'd expect. Fries, sandwiches, burgers, and hot dogs.

They also have an item called the garbage plate. It's a bed of French fries topped with mozzarella sticks, chicken tenders, and nacho cheese. Yes, we're getting that. Oh, and maybe we pair it with their triple murder burger. My God, I hope there's a defibrillator around here somewhere. There has to be. Okay, to find out how this icon got here in downtown Providence, let's head back to the year 1893.

It's June of 1893 here in Providence, Rhode Island. Back in March, Grover Cleveland became the first president of the United States to serve a second non-consecutive term. He was president from 1885 to 1889. Then there was President Benjamin Harrison, and now Cleveland is back. Locally, the people in Providence are buzzing about the trial of Lizzie Borden, which just began nearby in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

Yeah, there's a lot happening politically in the news, but the biggest concern for most people is the economy. America's in an economic depression that started back in February. Unemployment is skyrocketing. The banks are in crisis, but still, profitability.

Providence is building and working where it can. Construction projects from bridges to buildings are keeping Providence working. And all of those workers are getting hungry. Enter Anne Philomena Haven. Anne is an immigrant whose husband Patrick has recently passed away. Now fortunately for Anne, her husband left her with a life insurance policy, so she's come into some money. Now she could go and try and live on the payout, but she'd rather get herself busy.

Anne likes to cook. She likes being busy. And that's when she gets an idea. Anne gets herself a horse-drawn wagon. She paints the sides of the wooden wagon with country scenes so it stands out. And her plan is to sell lunch foods like sandwiches, soups, and pies to workers from her cart.

Ann brings her wagon around to various factory and construction sites and quickly becomes a success. Hungry people flock to her wagon to fuel up before getting back to an afternoon of work. The more Ann continues to show up at the same places at the same time each day, the more local workers count on her food.

Some stopped packing their own lunches and figured they'll just buy food from Ann. The grub is good. Her prices are reasonable. And Ann loves the work. She feels useful. She's feeding others and she's making a pretty good living for herself in a time when not

not too many women are out there in the workforce. Considering women aren't even allowed to vote, this job makes her feel seen, too. Ann's family refers to the wagon as the lunch cart. No matter what you call it, as months pass, the food wagon is quickly becoming a rolling Providence landmark.

A few years pass, and the reputation of Anne Haven's food wagon is still growing. Now in her 60s, Anne finds herself needing more help to keep up with the demand. So her daughter Catherine and Catherine's husband Dennis Gannon take over the operation of the mobile diner.

And pretty soon, Catherine and Dennis bring on their two sons, William and John. And then one food wagon becomes two. It's a new century, and Providence is growing. They call their food wagons Haven Brothers as a nod to founder Ann and the two brothers who helped run the business. By 1930, Haven Brothers has a fleet of mobile dining cars that are popping up all over the city in various neighborhoods. Everyone knows these wagons for good food and fair prices. And that brings us back to today.

So there's a lot more to say about this one. Yeah, there is. Now, some signs claim the mobile diner was established in 1888. Others say 1893. I guess we won't argue too much about a few years. Either way, it was long ago. That's fair. In the 1950s, the company purchased a vintage 1946 silver diner trailer that was converted into the 30 foot by 10 foot trailer that we still see today.

Back then, most of the other Haven Brothers wagons were taken out of service so they could focus on the main one. There have only been three owners of the business. There was Ann Haven, who started it. In 1953, the family sold the business to the Molocone family. And in 1986, the current owner, Sal Gusty, purchased the business. Today, his kids mostly run it.

As Providence continued to grow, as second and third shifts began to pop up at various factories and businesses, people needed late night food, and few restaurants were open for that. Haven Brothers was ready to fill a need. They switched from providing lunch to dinner and late night food. In the 1990s, the nightlife was also heating up in Providence. There was an opportunity to hit the bar crowd as they filed out of local watering holes.

Eventually, Haven Brothers settled on this spot right here next to Providence City Hall. The hall closes by 5 and the food truck pulls into its usual spot soon after and it stays open until the wee hours of the morning.

Over the years, there have been parking tickets, there have been people trying to get them to move. But at the end of the day, when something hangs in there this long, it becomes part of the city's identity. City officials let them stay. The Haven Brothers Mobile Diner has been a fixture in Providence since at least 1893. Almost everyone in town has eaten here at some point, as have their parents and grandparents. So it would make sense that they've got some friends in city government who dined here as a kid or even as an adult.

Sometimes doing the right thing means to look the other way, especially when it comes to a legendary icon. Though Haven Brothers wasn't the first nor the last food truck, they are the only food truck to remain in operation for more than 130 years so far. This mobile diner has made its way down to New York City to park outside of Rockefeller Center for a spot on the Today Show. This was back in 2008. Hosts Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer used to work at NBC in Providence, so for them this was a familiar sight.

The truck's also been featured on the travel channel show Man vs. Food Nation and even had a documentary film made about it. I love that this place endures. To make it this long, they've obviously been doing something right. What do you think, Jeff? You ready to try the food? I'm ready.

And that takes us to After the Legend, where we take a deeper dive into this week's story and sometimes veer off course. After the Legend is brought to you by the best people we know, our Patreon patrons. They help us financially with our hosting, production, travel, and marketing costs. It takes a lot to bring you two shows each week, and our patrons keep us on track.

For just three bucks per month, you can get early ad-free access to new episodes, plus bonus episodes and content no one else gets to hear, and our whole archive of shows. Please sign up today at patreon.com slash newenglandlegends. And to see some pictures related to this week's story, click on the link in our episode description below.

or go to our website and click on episode 401. Rhode Island area code. Rhode Island area code, which just worked out that way. Get it? Yeah. If those who haven't been paying attention, every sixth episode is the same state. So we tend to go in an order. Once in a while, we'll deviate if there's like a timely story or like a holiday or something like that. But this just happened to work out to 401. Crazy. I think that means we have to go down there and eat. Yeah, we have to. For real. We have to go back. It's...

I mean, the food is like the triple murder burger. Like, no joke. Sounds amazing. There better be a defibrillator. When you order it, I bet they just sort of rest it on the counter and say like, just let us know. We're just going to leave this here. Yeah, yeah. Just in case. But at two in the morning when the bars are closed, oh, it's heaven on earth. I love the fact that they...

They stuck to their grounds and stayed in front of City Hall. Yeah. They didn't waiver when they were told to leave. They said, no, this is our home. Yeah. We're going to stay. We'll pay that parking ticket. Yeah. And then eventually it was like, whatever, we can't fight with you guys anymore. Yeah. So they're open basically from like 5 p.m. to 3 a.m. daily. Wow. Yeah.

Daily? Daily. So like on a Tuesday night at 2 a.m., you could get... There's third shifters. There's people who work late who go there. And I mean, the reality is the restaurants are closed, right? There might be a couple 24-hour fast food places, but...

But this is, you know, this is like a real diner, like right there. Which I think most people would opt for that than McDonald's or Burger King. Oh, yeah, any day. When you have to, like a Biggie Bag at Wendy's is the place to go at 2 a.m. around here at least. Sure. But if there was a food truck open, I would definitely go there instead. And I think it's brilliant that this woman started this thing saying like, I want to be busy, I want to be useful, and started providing food at a reasonable price. Not the first food truck we covered. Remember, I don't remember this.

specific episode, but Louie's Lunch in New Haven. Oh, yes. Yeah. You know, he's credited with starting the hamburger. Right. As like someone was in a rush and said, hey, I want meat and I want bread. Just put them together and I'll run for it. And they went, huh. You know, and so I love that, you know, they were sort of, she was filling a need. And she was not the first, by the way. There were food truck, food carts, horse-drawn food carts around before her. And she said, well, I could do that. I wonder how many lasted, though.

Not like this. Right. So the whole world, or even just the United States, how many have lasted as long as she has? None. They are the oldest. They are the oldest. Continuously running in the United States. Not just in New England. No one has made the claim that we've been in business more than 130 years. Now, maybe as a stationary place, like a building. There could have been a restaurant that was there for more than... Sure, there's taverns. Yeah, but we're talking mobile. Mobile, as in it rolls. It's a whole other animal, by the way.

by the way, the way it's not a restaurant at all. Well, it's, it's so serving food. Sure. But it's not the same. Do you ever get sucked into food shows? Oh, absolutely. All the time. Yeah. So I was reading about how, um, like the food truck is, is having such a Renaissance right now. Oh, the great American food truck race. Have you seen that? It was like seven or eight seasons. It's fantastic. That's amazing. They all have like, there's like eight food trucks and they're already established. Um,

and they hit the road and they have to go to different cities on the way to one specific location. I pictured them doing 90 on a racetrack and making sandwiches. It's kind of like that, but they're timed. They have to do all these challenges and then one gets like a new food truck or $100,000 at the end. Yeah. It's a fun show. Yeah.

So what I was watching was young chefs that have great ideas for food. You need many hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy a decent building because it's got to be in a good spot. You can't just get a restaurant out in the woods. You need good location, right? So good locations cost more. So you need hundreds of thousands of dollars to bite off a restaurant building.

your cost to entry in a food truck is way less. Right? So it's significantly less. And then you focus on a couple of core things. Like we're going to do payables or we're going to do sandwiches or we're going to do whatever. You have to have a theme too. Yeah. Whatever the thing is, you want to do it. And that's what people come to you for. Like, oh my gosh, I've seen seafood food trucks, right? Like all kinds. And so suddenly if you start parking in the same spots for lunch or dinner,

These chefs are making a good living. They're clearing a good amount, you know, instead of having all that real estate that they have to pay for. Right. And taxes and all the other stuff. Yeah. That goes with it. You know, water leaks and air conditioning. Oh, yeah. It's just a food truck. It's sort of like what I did with radio. Yeah. You know, because a terrestrial radio station costs so much money. So much. And the building itself and the rent and everything. So I'm internet-based. It was a lot less money. Sure. And easier to manage and running.

And I can be a little bit more specific about what I do. I love it. No. And I think that, and so, so the food, I'm a fan of food trucks. Oh, me too. Like in general. When I see one, I'm like, ooh. You know, like if there's like a restaurant over there or a food truck over here, I don't know. I'm more inclined to try the food truck. Absolutely. So image is everything when it comes to a food truck. Oh,

Totally. I mean, you got to have the right pictures on the front or the right color schemes to draw people in. I'm actually putting on a food truck festival at the Doubletree. Stop it. At the end of September. Plug it. Shameless. It is the best little food truck festival in Milford. I think that's great. Yeah. So it's the 28th.

or whatever that Saturday is. I think it's September, which is going to come up soon. I'm only having about 11 or 12. Here's my concern. Yeah. I would want to try all 11 or 12. I know. Are they going to have like little sampler plates? Can they do like teeny tiny? Well, that's up to them. I don't know. I could always ask to see if they would do that. Because, because I would, I would,

be bummed if I'm like oh I only made it to six of them you know what I mean well I mean when a sandwich is like 15 20 bucks sure yeah you can't really buy sample everything of course not that's why you need more numbers there no more people that was gonna have like 20 trucks and somebody said oh you would need a hundred thousand people for everybody to benefit from that sure that makes sense so 10 trucks for the first one seems enough

I'm looking at your hat you're wearing right now. Treehouse Brewing. Oh, they have some great food trucks in Charlton. Not a sponsor. No. But we've both been to Charlton, and they don't serve food, but they have food trucks parked outside. And I can only imagine those food trucks probably pay them

a pretty good fee to be able to pull up because like, you know. That's the other thing about food trucks. Sometimes you have to pay them to be a part of something. That's right. One food truck wanted $1,000 an hour guarantee and if they didn't make it, we'd have to cover that. Yep. Others just...

Pretty much invited themselves. Oh, we want to be there. Yeah. Okay. So I have 11 that costs us nothing. Right. But that makes sense because they know I can go park on this corner and I can make $1,000 an hour. Right. Right. And so if you want to pull me from that corner, you got to guarantee me that. And I actually understand it. I hit one.

I think it was near Roanoke, Virginia. And it was all like Maryland crab cakes and like, and macaroni and cheese and brisket. Wow. And I had the sampler of all and all was great. Yeah. You know what I mean? I was like, oh, the mac and cheese is amazing. Oh, the brisket's amazing. Oh, the crab cakes are amazing. Everything was amazing. Food truck, you know, just, you know, didn't do,

they put the ingredients together at home, they cook it right there and hand it to you. And when you can focus on your specialty and not have to worry about the kids menu, the chicken nuggets, and you can just focus on what you make. Yeah. This is what we do. Yeah. The, the, the, the movie with John Favreau. Oh, right. Chef. Yeah. I love it. I've seen, I watch it every few months. Yeah. Food truck. Yeah. But he's a chef that decided to make Cubans. Yeah. Out of his food truck. And he just focused on that. They were amazing. And that's a great movie. It is a great movie.

Um, um, everything. We don't have enough movies about food trucks. Clearly. I can't think of another one. Everything he does is great. Uh, but yeah, no, I love the idea of the food truck festival. I love the idea that this has become like a Providence icon that Haven brothers. Oh yeah. Like, like think about that. If they've been around since the 1890s, some say 1888, whatever, we're not going to split hairs over a couple of years.

Maybe even your great grandparents ate there at some point. Like, oh, I remember working at the factory and grabbing a sandwich from one of their carts. And then your grandparents did and your parents did. And then you bring your kids. And that's how businesses endure, right? When there's a family place that you've been to for generations.

And then when you're old enough, you bring your kids and then they bring their kids because it becomes, like you said, tradition. It's a thing. It's a thing. And but yeah. And who doesn't like the garbage plate? Oh, my God. That sounds so amazing. Sounds so good. And I love that they call it the garbage plate. Because it's going to hurt. You know what I mean? Like it's going to hurt, but it's going to be so good going down. So I love that.

Yeah, no, this is definitely a Providence tradition and a Providence icon. And I don't know why, but the fact that it's parked illegally makes me so happy. You know what I mean? It gives a character. It gives it a story. A little defiance. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, parking tickets are like 15 bucks, by the way. So I'm just saying. Gotta sell a couple sandwiches. It's not a huge thing to bite off. And I think their crime, quote crime, is that I think they're taking up multiple parking spots. Yeah.

But it's after hours. And staying too late. Well, right. They are always there after City Hall closes. Sure. Right? So City Hall closes and then they pull in. That's how it's been. So yeah, they're not messing anything up. And so yeah, it's a great spot right there in the heart of downtown and can't miss it. And when you're coming out of the bar at 2 a.m., yeah. What a sight. Head right to it.

Please click that subscribe button because our podcast is free wherever you get your podcasts. We don't want you to miss a thing. We also appreciate it when you reach out to us anytime through our website with your feedback and story ideas. And do us a favor and post a review for us. Those reviews go a long way in helping us grow. We'd like to thank our sponsors. Thank you so very much to our Patreon patrons. And our theme music is by John Judd. Until next time, remember, the bizarre is closer than you think.