October 20, 2023 Update:
At least one of the cars has been sold (one article said two cars were sold leaving the old art studio still waiting for a buyer). Chuck and Dawn Perry from Missouri will be moving the diner next spring and the "Rosie's" sign has already been moved. They plan on restoring the diner and reopening it as a restaurant. So you still have time to view the old wrecks if you want your last look.
July 6, 2023 Visit:
It's been two years since we last visited Rosie's Diner so today we went to see if anything had changed. It's just worse. Nature is slowly taking it over and there are additional no trespassing signs in the windows. But the deterioration has continued.
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The faded sign still stands. We'll check in again next year 😔
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March 17, 2021 Visit:
How far you have fallen 😔
Beginning life in 1946 as the Silver Dollar Diner in New Jersey, the diner came to national attention as the set of a series of commercials for Bounty paper towels featuring Nancy Walker as the waitress, Rosie. The commercials began in 1970, and sometime during that decade the diner was renamed in honor of its most famous waitress.
Purchased in 1991 by Michigan artist, Jerry Berta, the diner was brought to Rockford and opened for business. Two additional diner cars eventually joined Rosie's and a new owner took them all over in 2006. In 2011, the businesses were all closed and the neighboring Koehn Chevrolet bought the diners at auction. Now they sit abandoned and in ruins. Here are photos from yesterday.
All the diners have been vandalized.
Broken glass lies everywhere.
It's hard to believe there are really security cameras at work.
This side door was broken and wide open. We did not step inside but took photos through the broken windows.
Behind the diners, we found a hole bashed into one of the walls and an old miniature golf course.
The dinosaur looks forlorn.
Before the place was shut down, we visited several times and here are some photos from those better times.
Now it is just a sad and somewhat perilous place to be. The old charm is gone and the magic has disappeared.
This is but a symptom of a dying community.
ReplyDeleteNot really! Rockford is a dynamic community!
DeleteThen they should be able to preserve this small historical site.
DeleteHad some great burgers there when Jerry and Madeline owned the place.
ReplyDeleteTo bad the owner doesn't do something with it, or at least sell it for a reasonable price to someone who will.
ReplyDeleteI sure hope so
DeleteA friend and I would always go there for breakfast years ago on our way to a cowboy action shoot at Rockford Club . Rose’s had the best cobblestone French toast .Sad that nice things have to go away 😢
ReplyDeleteSure seems like the township, or whoever, would make the property owner clean it up! What a shame.
ReplyDeleteAgree.....
DeleteIt looks pretty sad just sitting there like that! At least clean it up and make it look presentable! It deserves better care! I sure miss it when it was open! Great food!
DeleteI have been there in the past and took my Son and then took my Grandsons there a few years later. I wanna say around 1995. As GSons were small. I loved the place and the nostalgia. Food was good. So sad to see it like this now.
ReplyDeleteI agree
DeleteSo sad to see such an iconic piece of histroy going to waste and no on wanting to band together to repair this and get it up to par and a working progress again
ReplyDeleteSeems like there are a number of anonymous folks with some great ideas. I hope some of them will put some money where their mouth is.
ReplyDeleteThe Chevy dealer will not sell the diner cars. He wants big dollars for them and now that they have been vandalized they are most likely beyond repairable
ReplyDeleteThey purchased those dirt cheap.
It was in fact sold a few months back.
DeleteA car dealer gouging? That's just hard to believe. 😉
DeleteMaybe people need to just show up and start doing some yard work.
ReplyDeleteWhen the show was on Diners drive-ins and dives my kids wanted to go there. So packed up the car and came over from midland. Great food and shakes& fries. Actually made several trips just to go out for dinner. Great times! Great road trips.
ReplyDeleteSad as when I lived in Rockford it was always busy
ReplyDelete