Haven Brothers Concessions Food Truck will handle the on-site concessions at the Newport Skating Center this season.
The Rhode Island icon has been serving Rhode Islanders from it downtown Providence location since 1893, making it the oldest diner on wheels.
Dates and hours that Haven Brothers will be on hand at the Newport Skating Center will soon be announced.
On November 16th, Newport Waterfront Events told What’sUpNewp that although the Newport Skating Center fundraising campaign has yet to completely meet its goal there is enough confidence that additional funds will be received over the next few weeks to move forward with the return of the rink to its former downtown location at the Newport Yachting Center this upcoming winter season.
READ MORE: Newport Skating Center Will Return to Downtown Newport This Year
Wikipedia History For Haven Brothers
In 1888, Anne Philomena Haven (1842—1912), a widowed immigrant, founded the diner business with the proceeds from her husband Patrick’s life insurance policy. The “lunch cart” (as the family called it) was purchased in Worcester, Massachusetts. It was originally a horse-drawn wagon. Anne’s daughter, Catherine Gannon, and Catherine’s husband Dennis Gannon continued to run the diner with the help of their young sons William Gannon and John Gannon. Dennis continued to run the business until he sold it to his daughters, Catherine, Anne, Tibertus, and Marian.
The Haven family finally sold the business in 1953 to the Mollicone family, and later owners included Jack Ferry, and currently, the Giusti family. Every evening at 4:30 p.m., the proprietor wheels the 1949 Fred W. Morse diner car (the third wagon in the diner’s history) to the corner of Dorrance and Fulton streets next to the Providence City Hall and Kennedy Plaza. After it closes, the diner is wheeled away to Federal Hill.
Once in its history, Haven Brothers set up shop in a location far from Providence. On April 9, 2008 the diner was brought to Mid-town Manhattan and parked outside the NBC Studios at 30 Rockefeller Plaza for the Today Show. Hosts Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer (both of whom had worked at the NBC10 studios in Providence two blocks from Havens Brothers time-honored location beside Providence City Hall) had each—independently—chosen it as their favorite “old-time” diner.
It was also featured in a Providence-themed episode of Man v. Food Nation.
Fictionally, it was featured in the animated television show Family Guy during the famous “I Have James Woods” song and in 2014 the film Dumb and Dumber to .
