The Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was a manufacturer of roadside diners from 1917 to 1952. The company produced some 2,000 of the long, narrow, primarily metal buildings, perhaps more than any other firm. [1] Prefabricated in a factory and trucked to their locations, the diners resemble and are often confused with railroad rolling stock. The company's motto was "In our line, we lead the world".
Jerry O'Mahony (1890–1969) of Bayonne, New Jersey, is credited by some[ by whom? ] to have made the first "diner". [2] In 1912, the first lunch wagon built by Jerry and Daniel O'Mahoney and John Hanf was bought for $800 by restaurant entrepreneur Michael Griffin and operated at Transfer Station in Hudson County, New Jersey. The wagon helped spark New Jersey's golden age of diner manufacturing. [3]
It is estimated that about 20 remain in the United States as of 2022. [4]
Overseas examples include:
At least 26 pre-war Streamline Moderne-style O'Mahony diners (built between 1932 and 1941) still existed as of 2015. [18] These include the smaller 50' × 10' Mickey's Diner serial number 1067 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, which is one of several listed on the National Register of Historic Places; the 40' × 16' Collin's Diner [19] serial number 1103 in North Canaan, Connecticut; and the 1938 Summit Diner in Summit, N.J. The Road Island Diner (O'Mahony Dining Car #1107) was added to the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service on August 21, 2009. [20]
Portsmouth is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 17,871 at the 2020 U.S. census. Portsmouth is the second-oldest municipality in Rhode Island, after Providence; it was one of the four colonies which merged to form the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, the others being Providence, Newport, and Warwick.
Tiverton is a town in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States. The population was 16,359 at the 2020 census.
A diner is a type of restaurant found across the United States and Canada, as well as parts of Western Europe. Diners offer a wide range of foods, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a combination of booths served by a waitstaff and a long sit-down counter with direct service, in the smallest simply by a cook. Many diners have extended hours, and some along highways and areas with significant shift work stay open for 24 hours.
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The Fodero Dining Car Company (1933–1981) was a diner manufacturer located in Newark and later Bloomfield, New Jersey. It was founded by Italian immigrant Joseph Fodero, who formed the company after constructing diners with P. J. Tierney Sons and Kullman Industries.
West Side Diner, formerly Poirier's Diner, is a historic restaurant at 1380 Westminster Street in Providence, Rhode Island. The diner was built in 1947 by Kullman Dining Car Company, and is a typical Art Deco streamlined stainless steel structure. It is one of two surviving Kullman diners in the state. The diner was originally located at 579-581 Atwells Avenue, an industrial area, where it operated for many years. The diner closed in 1999.
The Modern Diner is a historic diner in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States.
The Road Island Diner is a rare classic Streamline Moderne 60' x 16' Art Deco diner car restaurant located in the remote mountain city of Oakley, Utah, in the United States. It was prefabricated as diner # 1107 in 1939 at the Elizabeth, New Jersey, factory of the Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company.
Worcester Lunch Car Company was a manufacturer of diners based in Worcester, Massachusetts, from 1906 to 1957.
The Central Diner, also called Paula's Kitchen and formerly known as The Elmwood Diner, Liberty Elm Diner, Jenn's Elmwood Diner, Ole Elmwood Diner, or Worcester Lunch Car Company Diner #806, is a historic Worcester Lunch Car Company diner at 777 Elmwood Avenue in Providence, Rhode Island.
The Triangle Diner is an American diner in Winchester, Virginia. It was built in 1948 by the Jerry O'Mahony Diner Company of Elizabeth, New Jersey.
Kullman Dining Car Company, established in Newark, New Jersey in 1927, originally manufactured diners. The company expanded and later became the Kullman Building Corporation. It relocated to Avenel and finally to Clinton Township and over the years production grew to include prefabricated housing, dormitories, prisons, schools, banks, equipment buildings of cellular communications towers. It also built the first pre-fabricated United States Embassy in Guinea-Bissau in West Africa. The company is known for incorporating the use of new materials, such as stainless steel and formica, as they were developed and applying technologies developed through construction of diners to other buildings and is credited with introducing the term accelerated construction The company re-organized in bankruptcy and Kullman Industries went out of business in 2011. XSite Modular, a company formed by the management team that left prior to Kullman going out of business, now owns all the Kullman Intellectual Property purchased at auction.
The Colonial Coast Rugby Conference is a New England–based college rugby conference founded in 2012. The conference provides a pathway to the National Small College Rugby Organization National Championship for Division 3 college rugby programs.
The COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. state of Rhode Island is part of an ongoing worldwide viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019, a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. As of August 18, 2022, there has been 414,931 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Rhode Island, 89 of which are currently hospitalized, and 3,636 reported deaths. Rhode Island's COVID-19 case rate and death rate per capita are the highest and twentieth highest, respectively, of the fifty states since the start of the pandemic.
The 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Rhode Island were held on November 8, 2022, to elect the two U.S. representatives from the state of Rhode Island, one from each of the state's 2 congressional districts. The elections coincided with other elections to the House of Representatives, elections to the United States Senate and various state and local elections. It followed a primary election on September 13, 2022.
Sabina Matos is an American politician serving as the 70th lieutenant governor of Rhode Island. Sabina Matos is the first Dominican American elected to statewide office in the United States. Matos also holds the distinction of being the first Black statewide officeholder in Rhode Island.
The Donwell's Diner-Worcester Lunch Car Company Diner No. 774 or Miss Lorraine Diner is a historic dining car located at 560 Mineral Springs Avenue in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, although much of the diner's existence has been in Connecticut. Through various new locations and owners, it has also been known as Squeak's Diner, as Drake's Diner, as Donovan's Diner, and as The Hotel Diner.
Rhode Island FC is an American professional soccer club headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. The team plays in the Eastern Conference of the USL Championship.
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