Woman determined to save New Jersey's diners, beginning with relic in her hometown

LITTLE FALLS, New Jersey -- The shuttered Little Falls Diner in New Jersey is a special part of Dana Schaeffer's past. Now she's on a mission to give it a future.

The historic diner never reopened after a fire broke out in the basement back in March 1995. Schaeffer remembers walking past the shuttered diner as a child with her parents -- and being intrigued with the scene inside, visible but inaccessible, so close yet a world away.

"I'd peer into the window thinking about how I can open this diner and what I could do with it," she said.

A generation later, Schaeffer is still holding onto that childlike wonder and now has a chance to do something with it.

"The owners reached out to me and said, 'We're probably going to demolish this building,'" said Schaeffer, who hit them with a request - the gift of time for her to figure out how to save it.

"They said, 'Yeah, but good luck,'" explained Schaeffer.

She'll need more than luck, though that wouldn't hurt. Schaeffer discovered that saving the diner will likely require moving the building to a better location -- and raising a lot of money.

The Little Falls community and owners of nearby diners have been supportive of Schaeffer's endeavors. But she would learn those diners could use a little help, too, facing a myriad of struggles. That's why she created savenjdiners.com, a website generating awareness and support for the state's diner legacy and preservation.

"It's about the structures ... because once they're gone, they're gone," Schaeffer explains.

New Jersey was once home to diner manufacturers that have long since gone out of business, and the Jersey diner is a staple of the Garden State's identity, a source of pride and a place of comfort.

Repairing the buildings requires ingenuity and money. Outdated infrastructure forced one of Schaeffer's new diner friends, John Diakakis, to shut down his iconic Bendix Diner in Hasbrouck Heights.

"As beautiful as the old, authentic diner looks, there are obviously things that are falling apart from the seams," Diakakis explains, referring to a noticeable gap in the building's siding. Diakikis hopes the diner will reopen once he can raise some funds and make needed upgrades. His diner needs saving too, a familiar theme.

Still, Schaeffer remains inspired and determined to resurrect The Little Falls Diner, with a modern twist.

"I want this to be, ya know, a lunch-brunch spot, maybe 6 a.m, - 3 p.m. and then afterwards I want to make it a podcast studio," continues Schaeffer, who has a background in news and audio production. "Because, for me, where do people go after celebrations, after funerals, after proms, after whatever? They go to a diner. They'd meet there. They'd be open late. They'd talk. They share their stories. They share their memories."