LOCATION:
4500 14 Mile Rd
Rockford, Mi 49341
North of Grand Rapids on 131; Exit 101; Head east on Hwy 57 less than a mile; south side of the road.
Growing up in the 70's and 80's, a person will probably remember the old Bounty Paper towel commercials with Nancy Walker (1922-1992) as Rosie the waitress, in a New Jersey metal dining car, boasting about how Bounty is the "quicker picker upper" for spills. This is the story of how the diner came to Michigan and how it is now in a state of ruins.
Notice the background in the video.
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| A look through the window at Rosie's Diner Photo by J. Moyer May 10, 2020 |
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| A peek through the window at Rosie's Diner. Photo by J. Moyer May 10, 2020 |
Notice it is the same backdrop. But how did a diner like this make its way to a town north of Grand Rapids, Michigan?
THE STORY
The diner, owned by Raphael Corrado was originally known as Silver Dollar Diner, located in Little Ferry, New Jersey, opened for businesses in the 1940's. After the Bounty commercials became a hit with viewers, the owner's decided to change its name of the diner to the fictional waitress Rosie, hence becoming Rosie's Diner.
In the meantime, in 1987, Jerry Berta, loved the once popular metallic dining cars and purchased a dining car out of Flint, Michigan and moved it to Rockford, Michigan as a place to sell his artwork called the Diner Store. Fate stepped in shortly after that in New Jersey. Corrado was cleaning up when he seen Berta taking pictures of the dining car. They talked for a moment and Berta mentioned he had one in Rockford, Michigan. Corrado had already sold the land the dining car was on and he needed to sell the dining car itself. He offered it to the Smithsonian Institute but they turned down the offer. Corrado knew time was running out and he couldn't think of a better person to sell it to than Berta. In 1990, for a purchase of $10,000, the 24ft by 60ft building and a little over 700 miles later, the famous Rosie's Dining car was next to the other dining car in Michigan.
With pretty much no advertising, Berta tried his hands at the diner business, alongside his art business. On July 5, 1991, Rosie's was back open for business. He eventually added in a third dining car, from Fulton, New York, which would serve as the sports bar and banquet room. It only took 5 years to serve it's one millionth customer. Business was looking good for Berta.
Berta wanted to concentrate in his artwork again and in 2006, Berta sold his business to Randy Roest and Jonelle Woods where business was doing good for a little bit. Staff was told that on October 2nd and 3rd, 2011, the diner would be closed due to repairs. The doors never opened back up and the staff was left without an explanation or pay.
Aaron Koehn won the property with the dining cars on an online auction. He is not interested in going into the restaurant business and is not sure if he will sell the cars or keep them on the property. It is sad to see these historic dining cars just become a roadside stop for abandoned places.
Pictures of Rosie's Diner from May 10, 2020 by J. Moyer
MINI-GOLF
The story doesn't end at the dining cars. In 1993, Berta wanted to provide entertainment to the community and opened up an 18 hold mini-golf course where customers would have hit the ball around large pieces of food and artwork to land in the hole. The mini-golf was abandoned in 2002, but then restored in 2007 and permanently abandoned when the diners closed in 2011.
The following images are after 9 years of neglect. Photos taken May 10, 202 by J. Moyer.
Sources:
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