NASHUA – Set up inside of an old train car permanently parked at 219 Main Street, Joanne’s Kitchen and Coffee Shoppe is a place that never closes, where everybody knows your name.

"I come here for the people. I mean, eggs are eggs, you know?" said Ed Whyte, one of the kitchen’s regular customers, who said he began dining at Joanne’s 40-50 years ago.

"I come here too much, sometimes twice a day," he said Wednesday morning while sitting at the diner counter with a coffee and copy of Rolling Stone.

Cook and proprietor Ron Cote has run the diner for the past 36 years, and said if nothing else, the time has been "interesting."

"I like the people; we all like the people, that’s the main thing" Cote said of his staff and customers. "You win and you lose people, some pass away, but they become your family," he said.

Open seven days a week for breakfast, including on holidays and during blizzards, Cote said they see a lot of people day after day.

"We have lots of regulars, we take care of each other," he said.

In fact, the diner almost never closes.

"If there’s a way to make it in, we do it," Cote said. In the face of extreme weather last winter, including the Jan. 27 storm that ranked among the largest in Nashua’s history, Joanne’s stayed open.

However, the October 2011 snowstorm that knocked power out across the state caused the restaurant to temporarily close its doors.

"That was our first time closing in years," he said, adding they stay open every holiday, including Thanksgiving.

"It’s usually quite busy. The kids and fathers take their mothers out to give her a break, because she’s usually doing the cooking," he said, adding the same goes for the Christmas holiday week.

Whyte said he expected to be in on Thanksgiving as well.

The restaurant itself is a 1920s Worcester Lunch Car, slightly expanded to accommodate booths running the length of the dining area.

"It’s been here since 1927. They pulled it in between the two buildings," Cote said. At one point, Cote said, the building’s landlord considered tearing it down, but the historical society intervened.

"They stepped in and saved us; that was 22 years ago," he said.

While the history makes the diner unique, Cote said what really draws regulars in are his staff members.

"They come in to see the girls. It’s all a family," he said, naming his longtime staff, Kathy Flis, Sue Geoffrey and her daughter Lori Geoffrey, and Wendy McDonough, as well as Dave Brown.

Pictures of employees, customers and their families cover the walls behind the counter. "We see the little kids come in, and next thing you know, they’re coming in with their boyfriends, husbands, and kids of their own," Cote said.

"It’s like a family – a dysfunctional family, but aren’t most families like that?" Whyte quipped, adding, "You make long-term friendships."

Flis, a server for the past 10 years, agreed. "There are a lot of interesting conversations," she said.

Cote said he has had offers for the diner over the year, but he was not interested. "We still love it, and we have no intention of going anywhere," he said.

Tina Forbes can be reached at 594-6402, tforbes@nashuatelegraph. com or @Telegraph_TinaF.