Freeway Diner in Deptford closes

After emptying the salt and pepper shakers, Anna Diamantis walked to each plum-colored booth in the main room of the Freeway Diner in Deptford on Tuesday and unloaded the sugar jars.

A son-in-law had claimed the custom silver wall clock, whose numbers are replaced with the eatery's name. Other area restaurants had agreed to buy the surplus food on hand. Longtime customer Lily Corbett, a retired bank manager, stopped in to see the restaurant owners and left with crab cakes for her husband, Charlie.

It seemed many people were taking something - if even just the memories - as workers began clearing the building on Route 41, one day after the diner officially closed Memorial Day.

"It's been a lifetime," said Diamantis, 56, the restaurant's bookkeeper, who began working at the diner at age 19 after marrying Nick Diamantis, who bought the diner with his brother, Jimmy, and two cousins.

After 37 years of maintaining what had become a community staple for some, the Diamantis brothers, now sole owners, say they are closing shop, citing retirement and an appealing offer from a company intending to develop the property. Anna Diamantis said the family had reached an agreement to offer the firm a 20-year lease with an option to buy the property. A small strip mall could be placed there, the family said, including a possible Starbucks.

"I was 31 years old coming in here, now I'm 69," said Nick Diamantis, who came to the United States from the Greek island Andros in 1972. "I can't no more."

Much changed over nearly four decades. Diamantis and his wife, of Brooklawn, had one child and were expecting another when they purchased the diner, which they estimated has been open more than six decades total.

Now with four grown daughters and 11 grandchildren, some living in Greece, the couple plan to spend more time in their native country and traveling. And they have no intention of watching the expected demolition of what had for so long been a home.

Daughter Maria Burutis said razing the 150-seat diner will likely be for the best.

"It [would be] so weird walking in here thinking this is no longer ours," said Burutis, 37, a senior fund-raising analyst for the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Foundation. She grew up on the diner's food - particularly hamburgers and her father's marinara sauce - and worked as a cashier and hostess as she attended high school and college.

Every Christmas, her family closed the business and hosted an annual holiday party there with family, friends, and customers. "I don't know what we're going to do this year," Burutis said.

Her two young sons, perhaps not fully understanding the building's fate, had already declared their plans to one day reclaim the diner, she added.

Deptford Mayor Paul Medany said the township had not yet received any applications for development at the site, which sits opposite a Friendly's.

"Diners are community gathering places," Medany said. "We're going to miss the Freeway," he added, saying "they had the best western omelets going."

The diner's studded cushion counter seats were empty Tuesday as the family cleaned the facility. Anna Diamantis said the diner had a current staff of about 14, some of whom have been hired at two diners in Brooklawn. Would-be customers, unaware of the closing, periodically arrived looking for a bite.

"You're about 24 hours too late," Anna Diamantis told two men who walked into the lobby about noon.

Vince Nestore, a former Gloucester County freeholder from Deptford, said he visited the diner with his wife nearly every Sunday for the last 20 years. They often ordered omelets, he said, and eagerly awaited the pumpkin pancakes the restaurant served each fall. "I'm going to miss it."

"We're seeing all these different icons, places disappear little by little," Nestore added. "New isn't always better."

Larry Hubert Sr. visited the diner in the early afternoon to wish luck to the Diamantis family. For two decades, the retired owner of a nearby pool company frequented the diner for breakfast.

"This place is a landmark," Hubert, 72, told Nick Diamantis inside the lobby.

"A landmark," Diamantis responded, as if questioning the label. He nodded his head.