Union Township Historical Society Presents History of Diners in NJ

The Union Township Historical Society will host Michael Gabriele for a program on his book, “The History of Diners in New Jersey,” at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 18, 2018. The event will be held at Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Church, 888 Stuyvesant Avenue, Union, and is free and open to the public.
New Jersey is universally recognized as the “Diner Capital of the World.” Gabriele’s book, published by The History Press, tells the story of New Jersey’s diner business and the evolution of the American diner phenomenon.
Friendly, familiar beacons on the Garden State’s highways and byways and in downtown business districts, diners play an important role in New Jersey’s culture and community life and serve as the ultimate egalitarian dining experience.
The book pays tribute to New Jersey as the diner manufacturing capital of the world during the 20th century. This was the period when prefabricated, modular diners were designed and built in factories as engineered products, much like cars and planes. These Garden State companies had built thousands of diners during the 20th century; the streamlined, stainless steel gems that are admired around the world and recognized as iconic examples of American industrial design. Nearly all the major U. S. diner builders were based in New Jersey: O’Mahony, Kullman, Paramount, Silk City, Fodero, Mountain View, Master, Swingle, Manno, and others. Unfortunately, the state’s diner manufacturing sector is extinct; a forgotten chapter of New Jersey’s history. Today, virtually all current diners in the Garden State and beyond are site-built structures.
More than just roadside attractions that serve coffee, pie, hamburgers, and French fries, diners are a vibrant part of the state’s culture, history, commerce, and mythology. Many classic, factory-built, stainless steel diners have survived and continue to operate throughout New Jersey as landmarks and architecturally significant structures in the state’s “built landscape.”
Gabriele has written three books on New Jersey history, all published by The History Press. A lifelong New Jersey resident, he has been a journalist for more than 40 years. He is a 1975 graduate of Montclair State University; a member of the executive board of the Nutley Historical Society; and serves on the advisory board of the Clifton Arts Center.