New Heritage Diner in Hackensack says goodbye

Who needs a diner out in Hackensack? We all do.

I’ve never been there. It’s not near wherever I’ve lived. That’s not the point. It’s that these touch stones of our lives do more than make you look elsewhere when they close down. They make you look back at your own life.

The New Heritage Diner has been in Hackensack for nearly 30 years. People who went there in college are now grandparents. According to NorthJersey.com it’s been an iconic part of the town where politicians and movers and shakers hammered out deals and everyone else from journalists to lawyers to moms and dads and their kids would chow down.

This sad farewell appears on their Facebook.

If you read through the hundreds of comments it seems The New Heritage was the ‘Cheers’ of the diner world. And it’s going away because of a buyout and a real estate deal that will see in part a 654 unit housing project.

And doesn’t that always seem to be the way? I’m a little sad and I never set foot in the place. Why? Because I can relate. The Super Diner in Rahway where my grandmother worked vanished many years ago and residential housing stands in its place. Bowcraft in Scotch Plains where us kids whose families who couldn’t afford Great Adventure got to go on rides and play mini-golf is replaced by condos.

None of this is to say things shouldn’t ever change. I suppose it’s just my mood today. When you find those rare things you truly love, it’s sad they can’t stay with us forever.

The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Jeff Deminski. Any opinions expressed are Jeff Deminski's own.