New Jersey’s Oldest Diner Has Been Around For Nearly 100 Years
I always wondered who had the title of New Jersey’s Oldest Diner.
Most people are aware that New Jersey is the diner capital of the world, and literally everyone I know in the Garden State loves diner food.
I’ve lived here for nearly 28 years and have visited maybe 24 or 25 New Jersey diners. That’s not a lot. I really need to up my game. I really love diner burgers and a good hearty diner breakfast with those fat greasy sausages. Lipitor, here I come.
I have come across a few people in my travels who go to different diners several times a year.
Have you heard about Jon and Karri Ricklin?
I don’t know them personally, but I do follow their diner stops on Instagram.
The Bergen County couple who have been married for about 40 years, started a journey in 2015 to visit every diner in the state of New Jersey.
So far they’ve made it to well over 200 of the 500 plus diners in the state.
On their 40th diner stop, Jon and Karri made their way to the Dumont Crystal Diner, New Jersey’s oldest diner.
The Dumont Crystal Diner is on my diner bucket list. I will never eat at as many diners as Jon and Karri in my lifetime, but I will cross off the dozen or so places I am dying to try.
The Dumont Crystal Diner is as old school as it gets. You’ll feel the time machine kick in the minute you walk into the place.
When it comes to the year it was built, I get different answers from a variety of sources.
According to an article in Northjersey.com, the Dumont Crystal was built by Jerry O’Mahony Inc. in Elizabeth, “no earlier than 1928 and possibly around 1932,” according to Richard J. S. Gutman, author of American Diner Then and Now and the leading expert on diner history and architecture, who is based in the Boston area. “The diner is of great interest for the very fact that it’s a survivor, renovated and resurfaced, while keeping the same footprint,” he said.
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I will eventually make my way to New Jersey’s Oldest diner, perhaps with a few friends.
The Dumont Crystal Diner is located at 45 W Madison Ave, Dumont, NJ 07628
