Mr. Local History Researchers have yet to find a contract, a photo, or a map showcasing what some claim was the “Diner of the Future” at the 1939 World’s Fair. Nothing on the walls, nothing digital. And we’re not the first to say so.If you find ANYTHING – POST A COMMENT at the end of this story.
As with all Mr. Local History retrospectives, we often update the post when we learn stories and are sent photos from our community. We will continue to expand this piece as information becomes available. If you have any stories to share, please post in the comments section at the end of the piece.
Here’s what we’re still looking for:For Jersey City White Mana
• Photo of the diner at the 1939-1940 World’s Fair in Flushing Queens, NY.
• Photo of the Paramount Diner Car Company manufacturer plate
• Photo of the diner AT the 1939 World’s Fair
Mr. Local History Project – Contact Us
The Mr. Local History researchers purchased an official 1939 World’s Fair Guide Book with over 250 pages of information. There was nothing listed about this claim that the structure was at the World’s Fair, so is it a rose? Pure Marketing? Or are we just missing something? We’ll continue to dig.
Jersey City’s White Mana – Some Claim a World’s Fair Journey
Our curiosity began when we were preparing a story about the New Jersey White Diamond hamburger chain, which we heard had turned 75 in 2022. So we started researching that event. Then, that story took a twist when we found a contradiction. What were we missing? As history students, once that thread was pulled, there was no turning back.
We’ve located a contract folder from the 1939 World’s Fair that mentions the hamburger chain White Tower as a concessionaire, and we’ll keep digging.
Burger Background
Our story begins with a 1937 advertisement in New Jersey’s The Record Newspaper. The ad was for a “White Diamond” restaurant with one establishment in Hackensack and another in Elizabeth, selling a novel hamburger nicknamed “the Slider.” However, what was inconsistent was that these White Diamond diners were there 9 years earlier than the Clark, New Jersey, anniversary. We thought, “Wait, wouldn’t that make the White Diamond 84 years old?” Hmmmmm…………
The first New Jersey White Castle opened on August 16, 1935, at 9271 John F. Kennedy Blvd, North Bergen, NJ, and was the overall ninth location opened by White Castle founder E.W. Ingram. The first White Castle opened in Wichita, Kansas, in March 1921. Nungesser’s is where several roads converge: JFK Boulevard, Boulevard East, Bergenline Avenue, Fairview Avenue, Anderson Avenue, and Woodcliff Avenue.
Many references have noted “the slider” as originating with the White Castle burger chain; others believe it also belongs to a person we’ve come to refer to as “Burger Royalty in New Jersey”. Louis Bridges and the Bridges family, farm boys from Cordele, Georgia (150 miles south of Atlanta), who moved to northern New Jersey and created three of New Jersey’s most iconic burger chains: the White Diamond, White Manna, and, yes, the one ‘N’ removed White Mana.
Hamburgers at the 1939 World’s Fair – What About the White Mana?
While our White Diamond ad hails from 1937, our research led us to the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing, Queens, New York. Anyone who has experienced a World Fair can compare the 1939 fair to something from Walt Disney’s Land of the Future. One of the futuristic attractions at the fair was the “diner of the future,” an exhibit showcasing a dining experience unlike any other.
The 1939 World’s Fair was the second-most expensive American world fair, exceeded only by St. Louis’s Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. The opening slogan, “Dawn of a New Day,” invited visitors to look at “the world of tomorrow”. Television was demonstrated for the first time. To convince skeptical visitors that television sets were not a trick, one set was made with a transparent case so that the internal components could be seen. As part of the exhibit at the RCA pavilion, television sets became available for public purchase at various stores in New York City during the fair’s formal introduction.
The “Hamburg” at the World’s Fair
Americans were ready for what the World’s Fair coined “fast food,” synonymous with hamburgers and hot dogs. The December 19, 1939, article “Betty Grable’s 5 Cent Hamburger at the World’s Fair” shows actress Betty Grable preparing hamburgers, wearing a chef’s cap and apron. The article reported that high food prices at the New York World’s Fair kept thousands of people away.
Most damaging was the rumor that Fair hamburgers were $1.25 each (actually, they were $0.05). This article suggested that the Fair publicity department should have distributed pictures, such as Grable eating 5-cent hamburgers, to counteract the damage caused by the rumor. Betty Grable is remembered for starring in the 1939 film “Million Dollar Legs.”
When World War II began four months into the 1939 World’s Fair, many exhibits were affected, especially those displayed in the pavilions of countries under Axis occupation. There were seven fair zones: Amusement Zone (80 acres), Communications and Business Systems Zone, Community Interests Zone, Food Zone, Government Zone, Production and Distribution Zone, and Transportation Zone. The Food Zone showcased American companies’ latest technology and products, featuring many brands on store shelves today. Taylor Pork Roll was exhibited for the first time as part of the “Taste of Tomorrow” exhibits, noted by acclaimed food, design, and travel writer Mimi Sheraton. Another new marvel of food innovation that caught her eye was the Nabisco Icebox Cake (one of my favorite desserts).
1939 World’s Fair Paramount Diner Car World of Tomorrow Pavilion Exhibit Claim
Here’s where history gets a little sketchy. If you’ve seen photos of Jersey City’s White Mana, there is a clear statement that this was the diner at the 1939 Flushing Meadows World’s Fair. The visionaries of the New York World’s Fair believed that the exhibits of the thematic zones would have lasting social consequences on national life. If this were to prove true, however, the exhibits would need to be seen not only but also be personally impactful. In E. L. Doctorow’s and Heinz’s exhibits, the best impression was made. The Food Focal Exhibit sought to convey the impact of science and technology on the human diet by making production methods more efficient,
That White Mana World’s Fair Claim
Planning for the 1939 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York, started in 1935. Over the next four years, the World’s Fair Committee planned, built, and organized the fair and its exhibits. The eyes of the Fair were focused “on the future,” not in the sense of peering toward the unknown nor attempting to foretell the events of tomorrow and the shape of things to come, but in the sense of presenting a new and clearer view of today in preparation for tomorrow; a view of the forces and ideas that prevail as well as the machines. The exhibit was called “Building The World of Tomorrow.” Diners and fast food were part of that vision.
The Food Focal Exhibit was designed by Russel Wright & Associates and built by Modern Art Crafts, Inc. It was housed in Food Building #3 in 1939, which became the Coca-Cola Pavilion during the 1940 season. Situated on the main esplanade between the theme center and U.S. Government Building, the Food buildings held prime real estate in the fair’s spatial arrangement, likely boosting its foot traffic. Tony Sarg’s souvenir map illustrates the central position of the food buildings. But AGAIN, no documented proof of the structure has been found at the 1939 World’s Fair.
1946 -The Spaceship-Looking Diner Lands in Jersey City
While the “drive-in” hamburger stands in other areas had already taken off, designs like the White Mana faltered. After the fair closed in 1940, many exhibits were demolished or removed, including the alleged “Diner of Tomorrow” in the “food zone.” But what we do know is that a Paramount Diner ended up in the hands of Louis Bridges.
“Our White Mana sign originally had two Ns. Coca Cola used to service our signs, and one day they bought it back with one N. They misspelled it and it stuck.” Regardless of its spelling, the name has both biblical and historical references to the affordable food “mana” [sic] in a sanitary “white” establishment during the Depression. The single “n” would stick with future Bridges family diners.
Mario Costa, White Mana owner since 1979 on the “one N” mana in Jersey City
Louis Bridges – New Jersey Burger Royalty
Here’s where we finally introduce you to Louis Bridges. Supposedly, Louis attended the 1939 World’s Fair and saw something that changed his approach to restaurants forever. After seeing the Paramount Diner Experience and the “Dining of the Future” experience, he negotiated with the World’s Fair and the Paramount Diner Car, Inc. of Haledon, New Jersey, just North of Paterson, and purchased the exhibit.
The diner designed by Arthur Sieber supposedly debuted at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Filed in 1937 and issued in 1938, the patented portable diner structure was promoted as the “diner of the future” and an “Introduction to Fast Food.” Arthur E. Sieber founded Paramount Dining Cars, Inc. in Haledon, NJ, during the Depression, after years of work at the nearby Silk City Diner Company. Paramount Diners adopted stainless steel and Formica, a laminate brand invented in 1913, as insulating materials for its diner surfaces, such as countertops, tabletops, and ceilings. Since 1963, the Paramount Diner Car Inc. has been under the helm of Herbert Y. Enyart, who, like Sieber, had previously worked at Silk City Diners (formerly Paterson Vehicle Company).
From Warehouse to the Street
Rumor has it that this Paramount diner was most likely dismantled in 1940 and stored in two pieces until after WWII. It wasn’t until 1944 that Louis Bridges purchased the diner. Finally, in 1946, Bridges started opening more diners, and a final location was selected for the “spaceship diner” at 440 Tonnelle Avenue in Jersey City, where the two pieces were assembled. As they say, the rest is pure Jersey history that not only continues today but honors the legacy of burgers at a diner; a state with more diners than anywhere else in the country; New Jersey – the World capital of diners!
This “Diner of the Future” futuristic design centered around a large grill and circular counter, meaning the server could cook a burger and hand it to the customer in three steps. It wasn’t just one of the earliest examples of fast food, but also, according to White Mana’s current Mana’s, Mario Cost, of the slider, so named because the cooks would slide the burgers across the large grill.
White Manna – White stands for purity, Manna is, according to the Bible, an edible substance which God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert during the 40-year period following the Exodus and prior to the conquest of Canaan.
Definition of a White Manna – See video below.
The Paramount Diner Car Company manufactured the walk-up diner for Louis Bridges in nearby Haledon, NJ. It opened in 1946 in Hackensack, New Jersey. (I am still looking for a photo of the diner plaque typically riveted inside each diner.)
