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Diners - Various, 1920s & 1930s There are many diners in the Garden State. The examples shown below were selected both for their visual appeal and historical significance.
Many thanks to Debra Seltzer at RoadsideArchitecture.com for the images and much of the information provided here. (KNO, Spring 2007)
 Maxs Grill, 1927, Harrison, NJ (closed). Made by OMahony. Photograph courtesy RoadsideArchitecture.com (see agilitynut links, below).  Toms Diner, 1930, Ledgewood. Made by Silk City. Photograph courtesy RoadsideArchitecture.com (see agilitynut links, below).  White Mana, 1939/1946, Jersey City. Made by Paramount Diners, Oakland, NJ. Photograph courtesy RoadsideArchitecture.com (see agilitynut links, below). Maxs Grill, made by OMahony is 1927, is the oldest diner in New Jersey. Toms Diner in Ledgewood is a Silk City from 1930, making it the oldest Silk City diner still in existence. It was featured in the Cyndi Lauper music video Time After Time.
Our third example, the White Mana Diner in Jersey City, was built by Paramount Diners of Oakland, New Jersey for the 1939 Worlds Fair in Flushing Meadows, Queens, where it was called the diner of the future. The White Mana was moved to Jersey City, where it opened in 1946. There were originally five White Manna diners in New Jersey. The one shown below was declared a local landmark in 1997 by the Jersey City Historic Preservation Committee. (The second n in Manna was dropped at some point.) There is a second White Manna in Hackensack.
References:
RoadsideArchitecture.com (see links below).
New Jersey City University website (see link below). http://www.agilitynut.com/diners/5.html http://www.agilitynut.com/diners/5a.html http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/Pages/W_Pages/White_Mana_Diner.htm |
