THE "GONNA BALL" DINER: MYSTERY SOLVED

On 19 November 1981, Stray Cats released their second LP.
Called "Gonna Ball", the album was recorded in the unusual
location of Monseratt and featured guest appearances by
Rolling Stones keyboardist, Ian Stewart and Little Richard's
saxophone player, R&B legend, Lee Allen.

As evidenced below, the LP's sleeve continued the Cats' tradition
of great photography and striking graphics.

What has long puzzled Stray Cats fans is the location of
the brilliant diner featured on the album's packaging.
As you can see below, the location of the Airline Diner is
stated to be "Jackson Heights, New Jersey".
Well (imagine this!) Arista Records U.K. did it again.
Continuing their fan-frustrating habit of mislabeling
song titles and misspelling people's names, (poor tattoo
artist Dennis Cockell was called "Cockerell" and
"Cockadoo" before they finally got his surname correct!)
the folks who did the design layout for "Gonna Ball" not
only got the diner's location wrong, but they also moved
Jackson Heights, New York to New Jersey in the process.
Well, we're here to solve the mystery for you.

The famous Airline Diner is located in the Elmhurst section
of Queens, New York. That area of Queens also happens
to be the hometown of "All In The Family" star Carroll
O'Connor. The diner is still open for business and in
recent years has appeared in more than a few films. If
you've seen "Goodfellas" with Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci,
you may recall seeing the "Airline" in one of the movie's
more memorable scenes.

The diner changed it's name to "The Jackson Hole"
sometime in the early 1990's. It's located in the shadow
of New York's La Guardia Airport and as shown in
the photos below (that were taken last week) the
place still looks brilliant! Check out the little bush
on the cover of "Gonna Ball", the one one between the
wall and the front tire of one of the Harley's. Now look
at the photos below. Time marches on, but they're still
serving burgers at the Airline Diner!

Massive thanks to Kew Garden's own John "Budgie" Ritchie for visiting
the Airline Diner, taking the photos and NOT ruining his diet! Thanks JR!

UPDATED: OCTOBER 15, 2006
HERE ARE 2 PHOTOS TAKEN AT THE JACKSON HOLE AIRLINE DINER
ON OCTOBER 10, 2006 BY OUR GERMAN FRIENDS MARTINA & GEORGE.

Other Stray Cats' releases that feature photos
taken at the Elmhurst Airline Diner-

From 1983, a French EP that contains the tracks:
-Built For Speed
-Stray Cat Strut
-Sweet Love On My Mind (live)
-Drink That Bottle Down (live)