Big Spring Cafe, Historic diner in Huntsville, Alabama
Big Spring Cafe is a classic diner in Huntsville, Alabama, with counter stools and long communal tables where customers sit close together. The menu focuses on traditional American diner food such as hamburgers, hot dogs, and Southern specialties.
The cafe opened in 1928 inside a converted railroad boxcar near the Big Spring Canal on Jefferson Street in Huntsville. Over the decades, ownership and location changed more than once, but the business never closed.
The Big Spring Cafe has its own ordering language, where a hamburger with cheese on a square bun goes by a different name than a cheeseburger on a round bun. First-time visitors often need a moment to get the hang of it, but regulars use these terms without thinking.
The diner serves breakfast and lunch and is open six days a week. Getting there early in the morning usually means shorter waits and more room at the counter or tables.
The Big Spring Cafe is the oldest restaurant in Huntsville that has never stopped operating. It started life in a railroad boxcar and has kept the same name through every move and change of ownership.
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