An awning and sign for a diner partially obscuring a brick chimney. On the chimney, the letters WO are visible.

Photo by Tim Athan

Q. The sign for Bell’s Diner on W. Stadium is mounted on a chimney. Old-fashioned lettering can be seen behind the sign. Only the first two (of the five) letters can be read: “Wo.” What is written there?

A. “Woods” That’s a trace of the Woods Manufacturing Company, which Beulah and Drell Woods operated at that location from 1942 to 1954. They made precision tools for the aircraft industry, and stainless-steel clothespins for homemakers.

Related: Ben Kwon: He made Bell’s a multicultural diner