For
Release 12 Noon, EDT May
18, 2010 Doo
Wop Preservation League advocates for
NJ Diners Wildwood
by-the-Sea, NJ (May 18, 2010) –Preservation New Jersey has named Historic Diners
to their annual 10 most endangered listing. The Doo Wop Preservation League is
advocating for the preservation of manufactured diners. The listing is intended
to be a catalyst for positive change, with the hope that creative solutions can
be found for their preservation.
The diner is a product of the automobile
age. As highways linked municipalities to one another, roadside eateries multiplied.
Prefabricated, often in exuberantly-patterned stainless steel, and having distinctive
signange, these highway restaurants aimed to entice the passing motorist from
the road.
In New Jersey, where diners were widespread, they are not only
emblems of consumerism, but of New Jersey's manufacturing prowess as well. Until
the 1980's the state was home to many fabricators of diners, including: Fodero
Dining Car Company in Bloomfield; Silk City Diners in Patterson; Jerry O'Mahony,
Inc. of Elizabeth; and Kullman Industries originally in Avenel. The threat to
diners is manifold. Although eating out is much more common today than in the
past, diners have lost patrons to the fastfood chains that have multiplied in
recent decades.
The Doo Wop Experience will be celebrating the manufactured
diner in June. There will be new exhibits and fun in our own re-purposed diner;
formerly the stand-alone Surfside Diner. The manufactured diner tells the story
of New Jersey's 20th century economic and social development.
The Doo
Wop Preservation League (www.doowopusa.org) is a non-profit membership organization
bringing people together to protect, enhance and celebrate the places that matter
to them. By saving the places where great moments from our history – and the important
moments of everyday life – took place, the Doo Wop Preservation League helps revitalize
neighborhoods, spark economic development and promote environmental sustainability.
Our headquarters (The Doo Wop Experience) are located directly across
from the Convention Center in Fox Park. |
