Diners. They're a Jersey Thing.

I remember a conversation I had some years back with an acquaintance from out of state. He asked me about Perkins, my job at the time. I told him it was a good enough place to work, but as a place to eat, I’d always pick a real diner over Perkins. He was confused by the distinction. “Why isn’t Perkins a real diner?” he asked. Well, for starters, it’s not silver.

Guaranteed you’ve eaten at multiple diners in your life (unless you’re a hobbit, and even then, you probably have). There’s no escaping them; they’re part of New Jersey’s landscape. In fact, there are 525 diners in this state. To give you some perspective, there are 566 municipalities. If diners were spread evenly, 92% of NJ towns would have one. The town where I grew up had three: one with great food and terrible hours, one with passable food and great hours, and one that completely sucked. Now, I have two diners near me: a good one and an overrated one.

But what, exactly, makes a diner, well, a diner? How are they different from your standard-issue breakfast joint? Is it the seven page menu that contains pretty much everything except pizza? The display case full of all different cakes, pies and pastries that seem to shout “buy me and eat me!”? The 24/7 operating schedule? The dinner specials that come with four meals’ worth of food, all for ten dollars? Not every diner has all of these elements. But each has at least one.

The first diner was a horse-drawn lunch wagon in Providence, Rhode Island. It began operation in 1872. Its owner, Walter Scott, sold coffee and sandwiches from his wagon to people of all walks of life, all hours of the day. It was a huge hit with police officers, night guards, and others who worked through the overnight hours. Charles Palmer patented the concept in 1891, beginning the tradition of Fancy Night Cafes, as they were known, in New England.

The modern diner is credited to Jerry O’Mahony of Bayonne, NJ. His company, the creatively-named Jerry O’Mahony Diner Company, churned out around 2,000 diners between 1917 and 1952. This is where the stainless steel railcar look originated. The structures were put together at O’Mahony’s factory in Elizabeth and trucked to their intended destinations. A few of these diners are still standing today in their original form. The Summit Diner in Summit, New Jersey is one of them.

The other kind of diner, the bigger kind with beveled ceilings and chandeliers, is a product of the mid-twentieth century. Some of these were built around smaller, older diners like the ones O’Mahony produced. Others were custom built on location. In the 1960s and 70s, these diners flourished amid the rapid McDonaldsization of the US. Fast food restaurants popped up everywhere, making diners, which once set the standard for quick and cheap food service, seem terribly slow and outdated. Throughout the nation, diners folded left and right. But not in New Jersey. Here, there was still a demand for round-the-clock sit-down service. And so diners grew larger and fancier to accommodate that clientele. Many of these newer, larger diners include full-service bars. This presence led to the impression of diners as a New Jersey thing. The All-American diner was gone. It was survived by the Jersey diner.

And we make no secret that diners are one of “our things.” They’ve wiggled their way into our collective consciousness. TV shows set in New Jersey frequently show characters eating at them – I’ve counted at least four diner visits on Jerseylicious alone. The iconic final scene of The Sopranos takes place in sort-of a diner (some will argue Holsten’s is a diner, others will argue against that.) What Would You Do frequently challenges moral compasses at the Colonial Diner in Lyndhurst. They’re part of who we are. This New England invention has become a symbol of our state, one we’re proud to have stolen and improved.