A Shot of Incilin

Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" was painted in 1942.

“Sometimes I get this Whitmanesque vision of America. But instead of wheat fields and mighty cities and deep lakes stretching from sea to sea, I imagine a vast number of coffee shops. And in these coffee shops, urgent conversations are taking place. Here’s Mickey Rourke in Baltimore, talking Kevin Bacon in “Diner.” And Quentin Tarantino, on Santa Monica Boulevard, writing down ideas for “Pulp Fiction.” And Andy Garcia, in Denver, rehearsing for “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead.” And Pacino and De Niro, out near the LA airport, acting in their first scene together in “Heat.”

The new American frontier is the all-night diner, with Formica tops and ketchup and sugar on every table, and a waitress who writes down your order on a green and white Guest Check. And in these coffee shops, which reach out like an endless progression of stops on the highway to fame, there are countless young men…” – Roger Ebert, adapted from his 1996 review of Swingers.