Silk City Diners was a division of the Paterson Wagon Company, later known at Paterson Vehicle Company, established by Everett Abbott Cooper and based in Paterson, New Jersey, which produced about 1,500 diners from 1926 until 1966. Each was tagged with the year and order in which it was built; for example, 5607 would be the seventh diner manufactured in 1957. Several have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
The Gilmore Car Museum, near Kalamazoo, MI owns and operates a fully restored 1941 Silk City Diner now called George and Sally's Blue Moon Diner. The diner was part of the “Silk City” model line (much like Chevrolet “Bel Air” or “Impala”) built by the Paterson Vehicle Company of Paterson, NJ. Options were selected and it was ordered in 1941 and delivered pre-assembled to Meriden, CT.
It operated as “Joe’s Diner” on Center Street in Meriden for several years before Joe turned the diner over to his daughter and it became known as “Gina’s Diner.” We believe it was known as “The Blue Moon Diner” when it closed its doors sometime around 1997. It remained empty for several years before we purchased, had it restored and moved it to the Gilmore Car Museum in 2004.