Video grab of NBC's Today Show
Haven Bros. owners Sal and Ivan Giusti are behind the counter as Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer broadcast a segment of The Today Show from the landmark Providence diner, relocated to NYC for the day.

The Today Show brought Haven Bros. Diner to NYC for a segment today that ran just over four minutes. Here's the clip, which will play after a commercial.

Meredith Vieira grew up in East Providence and was a reporter at Ch. 10; Matt Lauer only copped to being on a TV show here -- it was the nightly entertainment show PM Magazine, from 1981-85.

Both independently picked Haven Bros. as their favorite old diner for a new feature, "A Taste From Our Past."

The link comes from Greenville photographer Linda Hawkins' blog. Some of her photos of the diner were included in the segment.

My images are at 1.48, but watch the whole clip because it’s actually really fun! Ivan and Sal actually hauled the diner all the way to NYC for the show! It’s the first time the Haven Bros. has actually been out of RI! VERY COOL guys! What a fun segment! Ivan and Sal, what I really want to know is did Matt and Meredith actually eat those dogs so early in the morning?

Linda Hawkins photo

When I emailed Linda to ask how NBC knew about her work, she replied,

The NBC Today Show contacted me after they had done some research on the net for the Haven Bros. segment. They had stumbled upon my blog with images of the place (as well as other peoples' blogs) and they loved the style of the images so they sent me an email. It was fun and I'm glad I got to do it!

Linda Hawkins photo

Co-owners Ivan and Sal Giusti behind the counter at Haven Bros. Diner.