05/23/2026
Vintage Stateline ✨💫
Wow a post card from Mahwah’s State Line Diner with all its old architectural flourish! The diner pictured has a flash of chrome, and stone that looks like it is trying to give a look from Greece. The curved greenhouse glass entryway is classic from the 1970s well into the early 1990s. The insets show a well-stocked bar, and a large greenhouse dining area. This diner first appears in the newspaper archive in 1976.
The ‘Ridgewood News’ in a 1979 article on local diners stated that the State Line Diner, 375 Route 17, northbound “is one of the more formal, ‘resturanty’ diners, but the many families there one morning, all with remarkably well-behaved, yet smiling children, testified to its relaxed and friendly atmosphere. In 1979, Monday through Thursday, one could get full dinners for $3.75 at the diner.
Now diners are always full of stories, and the State Line Diner has some. In 1976, two-armed men held up the diner when full of customers at 8:30 pm. The men, one in a ski mask, entered with guns drawn and demanded the money from the cash register. None of the patrons were molested. In 1985 a man from Jersey City was arrested for “theft of services” when he left the diner without paying his bill. Then in 1986 a Paramus man was arrested for “harassment and causing a disturbance” at the diner. No other detail was given. Then later in 1986, three men got into a fight at the diner, all were arrested for assault against each other. Finally in 1996, two males, ages 18 and 17 were arrested for stealing a glass ornament from the diner. The arresting officer returned the ornament back to the diner.
In 1990, John Nissirios, owner of the diner, applied for a variance to enlarge the restaurant (which stood on a non-conforming lot). Then in 2011, the façade of the diner was modernized to its current look. Do you remember the State Line Diner? – Tim Adriance