Saving the Gateway: How to help

Category: Latest News

Published on Wednesday, 19 December 2012 12:37

Written by Randy Garbin

Gateway Diner in 2007

Anyone who gets involved with preservation to some degree faces this exact fight. Having covered this issue for so long, I have more than a little experience trying to save a diner or twenty. With that in mind, I can offer up these bits of advice for this particular effort:

1. Odds are, the diner will be demolished. If you don't pony up the cash to actually buy the property or the diner, rarely does the developer actually have to abide by the wishes of wailing preservationists — especially in matters of saving diners. 

2. Opposition to an existing plan requires a viable alternative plan. Don't leave it up the to developer to figure this out. A case needs to be made that either little money will be expended and maybe some can be made from saving the diner. 

3. Sometimes, all you really need to do is show up. And yes, numbers do matter. If enough voices speak out, the politicians and bureaucrats responsible for stewarding this process will take notice and demand the developer consider any alternative proposal brought forth. 

To this end, here are the people that need to hear from you right now: 

Jeff Bobst
Town Manager, West Norriton Township, Pennsylvania
(610) 631-0450

Bruce Goodman
Goodman Properties
636 Old York Road, 2nd Floor
Jenkintown, PA 19046
Phone: (215) 885.8383
Fax: (215) 885.4789

Here's what needs to be said: 

The Gateway Diner is a 1949 Fodero Diner, built in Bloomfield, New Jersey. At that time, the Fodero Company was considered to be one of the best manufactures of diners in America. The industry of building diners is a uniquely American enterprise, that had its origins in a Providence, Rhode Island lunch wagon back in 1872. Over 6,000 diners were built, primarily as high-quality, durable, stylish structures that catered to a broad section of the American public. 

The Gateway itself is remarkably preserved. Of its particular type and vintage, only a handful still survive. No one is building such structures today, and if someone set up shop to do it tomorrow, they would not be able to duplicate the craftsmanship in evidence in the Gateway. People all around the world recognize the classic diner as a symbol of American style, ingenuity and manufacturing capability. 

There are currently fewer than 2,000 diners structures still extant, with roughly 60% of those still in operation. Of that number, a fraction display the degree of originality as the Gateway. 

Numerous examples exist of diners that were saved and moved to new locations and turned into successful businesses. While operating a diner is no guarantee of success, especially in a business as competitive as restaurants, public response to a restored diner is often overwhelmingly positive. Never does one save these things and later wish they hadn't.