Once-classic diner may be moved to ballfield
Sunday, March 04, 2007
BY LAURA JOHNSTON
Star-Ledger Staff
The Chatham Diner arrived in 1949, manufactured in nearby Paterson, set sideways on the town's main drag.
It thrived, until 1990, serving up thousands of omelets, burgers and other staples before it was made over as a string of Mexican restaurants. Now, with a maroon awning, blond wood floors and nary a counter stool in sight, the current Colombian Cafe bears little resemblance to the shining-steel-and-neon classic diner.
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And if a
developer succeeds, it will be replaced all together. If and when a three-story, retail-and-residential structure is built in its stead, the diner may be moved again, to a ballfield in town. But the fate of Chatham's once-classic diner is far from decided. "It's one of those icons," Mayor Richard Plambeck said. "It would be nice to preserve that part of our history somewhere. The key is finding a location that makes sense." Chatham's is one of about 600 diners -- that is, a prefabricated restaurant building, not usually a renovated train car and not just any old dive serving meatloaf at a reasonable price -- remaining in New Jersey, experts estimate. And one of about 2,000 left nationwide. Some are hardly recognizable, with brick or concrete additions. Some have been made over, such as the former Rose City Diner in nearby Madison, which sells sandwiches. But, clearly, Jersey is diner-infatuated, with more diners than any other state, according to experts. More diners were manufactured here, at factories such as the Silk City/Paterson Vehicle Co. in Paterson and Jerry O'Mahony Inc. in Elizabeth, than anywhere else. |
"Jersey was probably the hotbed of diner building," said Ron Dylewski, the publisher of www.TheAmericanRoadside.com , which covers happenings in the diner industry. "It was the heart, for whatever reason."
It's not likely the Chatham diner, a Silk City box-of-a-building with enameled exterior panels, will be thrown away. Few New Jersey diners are demolished today.
The owner, 221 Main Street LLC, has casually offered the structure to local recreational organizations and the school district, which could use it as a snack bar at a ball field, said Janet Siegel, the architect of the new project. But neither the borough nor the School District of the Chathams has been formally approached, they say.
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"Usually, there's a few people around that are crazy enough to salvage and rescue the most dilapidated place that other people wouldn't touch," said Richard Gutman, a diner expert at the Culinary Archives & Museum at Johnson & Wales University in Rhode Island. "They're places that have a certain allure to them. ... There's no question that they come with stories in the wall and the booths and that they ooze character." In downtown Summit, one town over from Chatham, the Summit Diner has been in Jim Greberis' family since 1964. He's been running it since 1980, and he knows his customers so well that when he sees them coming, he pours a cup of coffee for them. "What's nice with us, it's in the middle of the town," said Greberis, 47. "The way I run it, it's like a neighborhood store, the way it used to be. It's a gathering place."
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But Greberis has kids heading off to college, and he's not pushing them toward the grilling-and-frying life of the diner. It's labor-intensive, he said. It's tough to keep the 1938 O'Mahony up to code. The idea of the diners grew from lunch wagons, setting up shop in busy downtowns in the late 19th century. The wagons gave way to the prefabricated diner building, long and narrow, with counter, stools and cozy booths. And the diners thrived in the post-World War II boom.
Quintessentially American, they became pop-culture icons, a late-night rite of teen-hood and emblem of the optimistic 1950s.
In the'70s, though, diners suffered as fast food chains grew more popular.
Except perhaps in New Jersey.
At least a half-dozen Jersey companies built diners, beginning in the 1910s. Paramount Diners in Oakland and Kullman Building Corp. in Lebanon are still producing them, putting them together like building blocks at their final destinations, representatives said.
"It just solidified its hold on people as the place to go," Gutman said. "Everybody feels comfortable in a diner. That hold has never been relaxed in New Jersey."
In Chatham, before the old diner is removed and construction on a new building starts, the developer needs the borough council's approval to eliminate three public parking spots in the borough-owned lot behind the diner, so that cars could reach the three underground parking spaces for residents, Siegel said.
The plan also needs variances from the zoning board of adjustment for its lack of a loading dock and parking.
Possibly, the diner could be moved to the Chatham Middle School field, which is covered in turf and home to plenty of women's varsity soccer, field hockey and lacrosse games. The field is currently without a snack bar.
The Chatham Historical Society considers the old diner a "uniquely American building type," which "merits preservation for the significant 20th century associative and architectural history it contributes to Main Street," according to society records.
"We treasure this building," said member Liz Holler. "We hope for the best."
Laura Johnston may be reached at ljohnston@starledger.com or (973) 539-7910.
