newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ERIC MODEL

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

JOURNEYS INTO NEW JERSEY

It’s a quite a different scene at the Little Ferry Circle these days than from how I remember it years ago.

Yes, traffic is heavy in the area. The used car lots are still there too.

But the traffic circle is long gone. Route 46 now cuts through the center of what used to be the circle. There is a traffic light at either side. Remnants of the original circle lie along the parameter.

As importantly, though it’s more than 20 years since Rosie’s Diner left as a fixture on the circle, it is still missed.

Rosie’s dates back to 1946 when it started out as The Silver Dollar Diner - there at the Little Ferry Circle. Soon a fixture for travelers on the east coast, The Silver Dollar Diner gained new notoriety when it was chosen to be featured in a series of classic Bounty television commercials featuring Nancy Walker as Rosie the waitress. In honor of the advertisements, The Silver Dollar Diner was renamed Rosie’s Diner in the 1970’s.

I best recall it as Rosie’s Farmland Diner. Early on it was just another roadside landmark along the ride of the Public Service bus route 165 on the way to or back from the city. In later years it became a late night eating destination for a burger or tuna melt.

Rosie’s Dinner, a 1946 Paramount Deluxe Dining Car, remained in New Jersey until 1990. At that time, Rosie’s owner sold the land under the diner to the auto glass repair shop next door. The business did not want the diner, leaving Carrado to sell the building. His offer to place "the most famous diner in America" in the Smithsonian Institution was rejected.

In Jerry Berta, a willing buyer was found. Berta was an artist producing ceramic replicas of classic diners, with the original Rosie's as one of his inspirations. He already owned a diner, a 1947 dining car located on the site when he found out that Rosie’s was for sale. Berta bought Rosie's and moved it to Rockford, Michigan at its current location next to another diner (eventually a third diner was added to the spot). The purchase price at the time was $10,000 for the 24-by-60-foot (7.3 by 18 m) building.

In 1990, when they closed the place here in New Jersey, it was reported that some folks drove more than 250 miles for one last meal there along the Little Ferry Circle.

Once it closed, work crews sawed the diner in half the next week to load it on flatbed trucks for the move to Michigan. The restaurant opened in its new location on July 5, 1991.

Its passing from New Jersey was mourned by aficionados of road-food and American popular culture alike. But we were comforted by the notion it was being adopted by folks who cared for it and would treat it well.

And for a while it was given some TLC – first by Berta and then starting in 2006 by its most recent owner Jonelle Woods.

And over the years, the place remained known and liked by locals for its good food, In between it was featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives and 2006, and on Travel Channel’s Diner Paradise. It was a destination for those in the area and those from beyond.