This week’s Photos of the Week come from Wyoming resident Tom De Vette, owner of Tom De Vette Photography. Tom often can be seen taking pictures at many Wyoming and Kentwood events. On Aug. 27, he decided to go visit a favorite place from his past, Rosie’s Diner in Rockford. “I had some pretty good memories and good meals there. Today, it is empty and in poor shape as you can see,” Tom wrote on his Facebook page where he posted these photos.
Originally opened in Little Ferry, New Jersey in the 1940s, Rosie’s Diner became famous in the lat 1970s for a Bounty commercial featuring actress Nancy Walker who ran around the dinner cleaning up customer messes with the “quicker-picker-upper.” Other commercials for Sony, Pepsi, and Ethan Allen also were filmed in the dinner.
In 1991, artist Jerry Berta purchased Rosie’s Diner and brought the iconic dining car to Michigan, where he had one 1947 Jerry O’Mahoney Dining Car. In 1994, Berta would add a 1952 Silk City dining car and later would have a replica dining car added to the same site.
In 2006, Berta sold the entire diner site to another couple which had the location featured on several national TV programs including Food Network’s Diners, Drive-in and Dives. The restaurant closed in 2011.
While there have been efforts to revitalize the site, since 2011 — outside of a car show in 2014 — it has mostly been abandoned.
If you have a photo you would like considered for Photo of the Week, please send it to WKTV Journal Managing Editor Joanne Bailey-Boorsma at joanne@wktv.org.
