In 1974, a short-order chef named Sonny Monroe and his wife Mary Lou bought a small, scrappy diner in Bennington. The couple (pictured below) transformed the Blue Benn Diner into a local landmark, a place where their community could come together over good food and hot coffee.
The story of the Blue Benn is now preserved in a richly illustrated book by Caitlin Randall and Peter Crabtree, Sonny’s Blue Benn – Feeding the Soul of a Vermont Town. They’re the co-founders of the Story Project, a North Bennington-based business that creates books on commission.
Our guests are:
- Peter Crabtree, co-author of Sonny’s Blue Benn
- Caitlin Randall, co-author of Sonny’s Blue Benn
Broadcast at noon on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022.
![The well-worn counter of the Blue Benn Diner bears the evidence of supporting years of elbows, plates and coffee mugs.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5a76af8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/792x634+0+0/resize/880x704!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F36%2F8d%2F1e0012fe4031ae099755c005c23c%2Fcounter.jpg)
Courtesy of Peter Crabtree
Peter Crabtree
![Sonny and Mary Lou Monroe, the owners of the Blue Benn, in 1977.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0049136/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2294x3000+0+0/resize/880x1151!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F6c%2F6d%2F01ecc5a84d7b99ed390594641be5%2Fsonny-and-mary-lou-monroe-1977-by-julie-snow.jpg)
Photo by Julie Snow for "The Rock Ribs of Bennington Town"
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Courtesy of Peter Crabtree
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