I actually grew up in Morris County, a bit farther west and north, in a little town called Denville.

There’s a diner on South Columbus and Fulton here in Money-Earnin I should check out; seems like it’s always crowded. Meanwhile there’s a diner-like establishment (more of a luncheonette) also in town called The Sugar Bowl that I heard was a favorite spot of some past musical talents. I do know it’s expensive and looks kinda greasy; nothing I couldn’t make at home cheaper, but I guess it’s the name that counts.

Then there was this hole-in-the-wall cheesesteak joint on Sandford Blvd that made surprisingly great steak and cheese heroes among other things; there was originally a direct link to a place in Philly, but when new owners took it over a few years ago the quality went down immediately and they went out of business a little over a year later. That was an outrage I still haven’t completely gotten over (the sinking of the quality leading to the shutdown, I mean).

I don’t go to diners much anymore. Emily and I went a few weeks ago. The food was lousy but it still sort of nice to be in that environment.

What I like about walking past diners, at least in Manhattan, is that they are no-frills establishments and you see regular, working class and middle class folks in there.

Now I’m jonesin’ for diners…Gah!

we went to diner’s all the time in high school and college. i still dig them, but down here they’re actually kinda expensive…

But I remember in high school and college that it was a real treat and almost every weekend of high school was spent eating fries with gravy after a night of drinking with pals.

In college at New Paltz, I lived in walking distance to one my junior year and it was amazing when I could come up with the scratch to afford it. I used to get “Mexiskins” They were potato skins with cheddar cheese, meat loaf cut up and bacon bits, and it had salsa and sour cream too. My mouth waters just thinking of them.

The diner was always the late night thing or early morning, and those aren’t my hours anymore.

For breakfast, I always thought (and still do) that nobody can really screw up eggs, bacon and toast. Some might do it a little fancier, but most are quite the same. But for $10, I will make a breakfast for my whole family now, and have double the bacon.

I miss the leisurely meal of the diner (or anywhere now that we have kids) and the connection that you talk about in your post Alex. It is a little piece of Americana that is fading away, and that is sad. It is tough for diners, even the ones in good locations to compete with franchises that get their wares cheaper.

I was on a film set for a movie starring a well-known English actor several years ago; it was at the Cheyenne Diner on W.33 and 9th Ave. It was one of the few original diners left in the city that resembled a train car, but it was already shut down. Unfortunately it smelled of long-dead rodents when opened up, but after much set dressing and rewiring it was spic-n-span clean. I don’t know how long they actually shot there, but only a few weeks later the whole place was carted off to the Midwest and all that remains is a vacant corner lot.

I also was at the Moonstruck Diner way downtown a day or two before that too was carted off to Wisconsin; I didn’t know that was happening until I saw it being loaded on the truck. The only one that I know of that still has the train car design is the Empire Restaurant on 10th Ave and W.22nd (technically no longer a diner). Would not be surprised to see others in the outer boros, but I can’t recall where they are.