Diners as Dots

Connecting dots is a way of structuring peripatetic perambulations. Sometimes it forms the basis for a hike, as in the Brooklyn Patrick Keely hikes of years past, or my IND electrical substations hike planned for June.  The range of possibilities is endless.  Jean Arrington leads great hikes connecting NYC schools built by the visionary architect C.B.J. Snyder. Connecting dots of a particular sort works best when there are enough of them spread over a walkable distance and when there are plenty of dots of other sorts to maintain interest between those which form the main theme. Rarely a problem in NYC but elsewhere, it depends.  In a sense all good urban hikes can be thought of as "connect the dots" hikes. 

The Summit Diner (Union County).  A 1938 O'Mahony Diner, this is one of the most historic in the state.  Right by the Summit train station, it is easy to connect on various hikes.

So what about a New Jersey diner connect-the-dots hike?  It is a good thought and I keep notes just in case.   I've done Texas Wiener restaurant hikes in Clifton and Paterson which were generally well received (even by participants who actually consumed hot dogs at each site).  Diners are an iconic part of the NJ landscape and NJ was a major center for their manufacture - some say the Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company of Elizabeth made the first diners, although Wikipedia cites earlier examples.  Depends in part on how a diner is defined. 

Harris Diner - a 1952 O'Mahony in East Orange (Essex County).  Less than a half mile off the route of  Walk Across NJ No. 10.  But given distance constraints we will give it a miss.

There are serious diner enthusiasts out there.  Some focus on New Jersey diners and all of them, if they are really serious, have to make a pilgrimage to the Garden State at some point.  They organize tours (invariably by car) and have useful websites (one of the best can be found here) and fight for landmarking and preservation of historic diners, for which they are occasionally successful.  Michael Gabriele has written perhaps the definitive history of New Jersey diners (click here).  So there is plenty of source material to draw upon.  

The Arlington Diner in North Arlington (Bergen County) dates to 1966 (Kullman). Easily connected when bridgebagging the lower Passaic River.

I am not one of those serious diner enthusiasts. Although I do really like the old ones.  I find the food fine and generally good value - at least when ordering the right things - but I can't say I am extremely enthusiastic about it. I go inside as much to admire the often retro interiors as to have a meal or cup of coffee.  My interest in diners here is simply as dots to connect on hikes.

The Colonial Diner  in Lyndhurst (Bergen County) is a ca. 1948 Mountain View Co. diner.  Right across the street from the graves of William Carlos Williams and Joey Ramone (among others).

But I am unlikely to organize a diner themed connect-the-dots hike. For one thing, diners came into existence and grew up with the automobile and are largely tied to the automobile dependent parts of the NJ landscape.  Spread out, often on major highways.   Even in the more densely populated northeastern part of the state, a route to connect the requisite numbers of diners (I'd say at least five or six) is likely to mean more highway walking than even I am up for.

The old Short Stop Diner (Kullman/Manno, 1953) in Bloomfield (Essex County) masquerading as a Dunkin' Donuts.  Possible restroom stop on Walk Across NJ No. 10.  

So I think of diners more as adventitious dots to connect on hikes with other things in mind.  Some, like the Summit Diner are right by the train station and easy.  We get great views of the wonderful Arlington diner consequently to crossing the Route 7 bridge across the Passaic River.  I'm confident an excuse could be found to pass by almost every interesting and historic diner in the northern part of the state on some hike or other. Not that I have any intention of actually trying to do that, although it is a nice thought.  

Another New Jersey Diner pretending to be something else - in this case a New York Diner as if that were something to take pride in.   In Woodside, Queens and built ca. 1949 by the Mountain View Co.  The phony canopy thing in front is unfortunate.  Connected on Long Island Railroad bridgebagging hike in February, 2014. 

So here are examples of diners throughout megalopolis, all manufactured in NJ, which I have passed by on a hike of some sort. I could easily drive around and take pictures of lots more diners, but that would be cheating.  It would suggest, quite wrongly, that I am serious about diners.