A Landmark South Jersey Diner Comes Crashing Down
A diner in Atlantic County that has been standing for decades has come crashing down -- but this isn't a sad story.
If you have traveled the Black Horse Pike out in western Atlantic County, you know there's not much between Routes 50 and 54 -- a couple custard stands, a couple gas stations, some produce places, and a handful of businesses that didn't make it. But at the Black Horse Pike near Eighth Street in the Penny Pot section of Folsom, where Mays Landing Road shoots off of 322, stands (or stood) the Harley Dawn Diner.
As someone who grew up in Collings Lakes, that diner has been there longer than I've been alive. At least until today. The Harley Dawn Diner was demolished today -- on purpose.
According to their website, the diner's mission is to offer, "simply delicious, authentic and freshly prepared food using high quality ingredients, including local produce when in season." They also believe in being green -- so much so that a few years ago, they installed a huge solar panel array behind their building which powered everything. And that's where today's demolition comes into play: to really be green, they decided to tear-down their existing building and build an environmentally sustainable diner. They even invited people to stop by today to watch the demolition and had a live YouTube feed of it, too.
Now, to be perfectly honest, I don't recall ever eating there. I've driven by it a zillion times and thought about stopping in just as many. However, once it's back, it'll be on my to-do list of places to check out!