After the iconic Summit Inn diner burned to the ground this week, the restaurant's longest-serving waitress said she is devastated.
Joanie Blackburn started working at the Summit Inn in 1972 right after high school, working graveyard and swing shifts, she said. She worked at the diner in the 70s and had worked at the diner off-and-on ever since.
The historic Route 66 diner, located in Oak Hills along the Cajon Pass, first opened in 1952. It was a popular roadside destination for people traveling from Los Angeles to Las Vegas since the 1950s, and was frequented by Elvis, John Wayne, and more of Hollywood's elite. Blackburn said she saw several celebrities while she worked there including David Carradine and George Strait.
"It's been a big part of my life," Blackburn said. "This is an icon, it's part of our history. The old route."
A fast-moving wildfire, dubbed the Blue Cut Fire, burned the diner to the ground Tuesday. A half-dozen employees and 10 tables of customers fled around 3:30 p.m., and the restaurant burned hours later.
Blackburn says the loss breaks her and her family's hearts. Their lives have been centered around the diner, and it was a part of their lives while they raised their children.
"It feels like a death," Blackburn said. "It feels like it's just gloom and doom right now and all the happiness that was inside the walls, all the people that came for so many years, now there's nothing it just seems like it's all gone."
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She walked through piles of burnt rubble on Friday pointing out where everything from the ice cream machine to the old horseshoe bar once stood.
"It was old fashioned and a lot people like that," she said. "The feeling of ... antiquities and the history behind the route. "
Blackburn added that there are lots of things she will miss. "The people I'm going to miss the most," she said. "Serving the happiness, coming to work everyday like you're at home..."
She said she hopes the new owners will be able to rebuild the diner, and that she would love to work there again one day if she is able to.
"Hopefully they will rebuild and it will all become a family again," Blackburn said.
The Blue Cut Fire had burned 105 homes as of Saturday morning, officials said. The blaze was 68 percent contained.
