Perhaps it was only a matter of time, but one of the last classic railcar diners — the Harris Diner in East Orange — will soon be demolished to make way for a four-story apartment building.
The 1950s-era railcar diner never recovered from a fire a decade ago and with New Jersey real estate being what it is, a plan to build a four-story apartment on the abandoned lot was approved last month. The building includes two ground-floor commercial spaces.
The developer behind the project is a local eye doctor, Dr. Kimberly Brown, who has offices in Irvington and Orange. Brown told the Planning Board in May that the proposed project is an opportunity to own the building where her practice is located for the first time in her career and redevelop a blighted property.
“I’ve been renting for years so one of the things I wanted to do was own my own building. I started to look at neighborhoods that would be convenient for my patients,” Brown told the Planning Board in May. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I could move my location here and make it beautiful for the neighborhood and bring something good here?’”
Brown, who has an office at 200 Central Avenue in Orange, said it was important that the new building was within walking distance to her longstanding patients. “So many of my patients walk to me,” she said. “It’s important to stay local. Going from Orange to East Orange is not a hardship for my patients.
Brown hired a local architectural firm ECG Architects for the project. Principal architect Edmund Gbanite, said he hopes to create a new landmark on a prominent street in town. “We wanted to create a presence,” he said. “We wanted to create something that defines what the future of East Orange will be.”
The stainless steel diner was assembled in Elizabeth at the Jerry O’Mahoney Company and arrived prefabricated on a flatbed truck in 1951. The Harris Diner was named after its eponymous owner Charles Harris. In 1957, Harris sold the business to Athanasios Karayianis. Bill Nicholas, the last owner, married Karayianis’s daughter, Mary, and bought into the business in 1959. For Nicholas, this was a homecoming of sorts as he worked at the diner under its original owner Harris, the Star-Ledger reported.
In 2015, the year the diner closed after a fire, Nicholas told the Star-Ledger that he hoped the diner would be salvaged somehow. Fortunately, he will partially get his wish when the iconic Harris Diner sign becomes part of the Historical Society of East Orange’s collection. The Harris Diner was open 24 hours until the last few years of its life. Since West Orange’s Americana Diner closed last year, there are only an estimated 15 around-the-clock diners left in New Jersey.
Those who want to relive the Harris Diner experience still have the opportunity to do so at the Summit Diner. The same company, the Jerry O’Mahoney Company, assembled both classic stainless steel railcar structures.
