the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Paramus NJ, well it’s finally gone , the Route 17 icon the Fireplace restaurant was demolished on Tuesday. The Fireplace closed in 2021 after 65 years in business, the property is slated to become home to a Chick-fil-A. Some viewed the closing as a symptom of the struggle of small businesses ,others said that times have just changed.
The Fireplace was originally opened in 1956 by World War II veteran Frank Reilly. It was somewhere between a diner and a burger joint, the landmark Route 17 restaurant was known for its thin-sliced steak sandwiches, juicy burgers and nostalgic ’50s atmosphere.
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Are the events the 2021 already forgotten? The Fireplace was a victim of the Covid panic. They were forced to shut their doors for a while and the doors stayed closed. I don’t know what the books looked like before, but there were always cars in the parking lot.
Yep. Just like its close by wonderful neighbor L&T , The Fireplace was killed by the virus madness. So many other great places were eliminated during covid.
Covid killed a million Americans, including two of my best friends who were completely healthy before they caught it. It’s no joke.
Most of those COVID deaths were Infulenza deaths.
Unfortunately another landmark bites the dust.
It sucks when we lose a long time favorite business .. Whether its the fireplace, al and harrys, winchells, bobby knapp, sealfons, drapkns, mc Hughes etc.
All the new residents from NYC prefer the malls and chain stores and the long time business owners suffer the financial loss.
All of those stores, with the exception of the Fireplace, were gone LITERALLY decades ago.
Yes, I remember the Ridgewood of old. All the stores you mentioned, plus more.(Remember when Ridgewood had a hardware store? And two sporting goods stores? And a pet shop? And two record/music stores? And a bookshop that wasn’t a reality-show autograph store?) All were long gone before the turn of the century.
And you think all the NYC transplants are going to the *mall*?! The dying, moribund, half-empty MALLS? Lol.
The “long-time business owners suffering the financial loss” have been screwed over, but not by people moving here.
Loved my fries with gravy there…!
Yes, it’s a shame. All these small towns are changing. Look at Midlandpark used to be a nice small, quiet town, no more it has become one big melting pot beard is Silva traffic deckles Internet, that down nonstop on Godwin Avenue goffleroad, downtown has become very busy. The stores seem to be doing pretty fine, a lot of parking. Much easier to do Shopping in midlandpark than in ridgewood. And it’s free.
It’s Rubble..sadly a route 17 landmark
From the 60’s or 1970 ‘s
I thought the place sucked. Should have been torn down decades ago.
Realistically how many times have you been there in the last 5 years?
I went occasionally for the onion rings, but the burgers were no big deal.
I’ve been going to Shake Shack and East Coast Burger the last few years.
It’s sad to see some of the above negative comments. This was a truly treasured place in our area for decades that was affected by COVID. Wish they could have made it. It was tradition for so many of us. Such a shame
I guess every is entitled to their opinion, but I agree with your comment and feel the same way.
Place was going downhill for years. I ate there once or twice a month and the place was NEVER busy. (Sunday mornings they got a good crowd, usually.)Heck, I remember when the fried chicken and pizza counters were a thing.
Covid just was the final nail in the coffin. Shame, but time marches on.
if it was as you described then why would you eat there twice a month you fool
He/she didn’t say it was bad, just not busy, you fool.