OAKLEY, Utah — Just off Weber Canyon Road in Oakley sits a diner that's not just a place to grab biscuits and gravy — it's a piece of American History.
Originally built in 1939 by the O'Mahoney Diner Company, the streamline diner cart that's now home to the Oakley Diner made its debut at the 1939 World's Fair in New York. After that, the diner cart served many guests on the East Coast before making its way to Utah.
The diner is said to be one of only four pre-war Art Deco-style diners still in operation.
"It's pretty special, where else can you find something like this, especially in Utah?" said Oakley Diner waiter Jeffrey Kammack.
Everything around it is just nostalgic," said one guest, "takes me back to my youth."
The location opened as the Road Island Diner in 2008, before new owners renamed it the Oakley Diner in 2023 — adding a bakery downstairs and an expansion on the backside to host more guests. This month, the Oakley Diner is celebrating its second birthday and hosting a fall bash later this month.
"My parents have lived up here for a long time, so I would come by before it got all redone like it is now," Kammack said. "It was still fun to come here because it was still a diner car, but I think it's much better now."
For Kammack, it's the nostalgia, not just the improvements, that keep him coming back to work, because sometimes the only thing better than a comfort meal and coffee is enjoying it in a classic diner car that's part of American history.
"To have this here in Oakley, little Oakley, who could ask for something like this?" Kammack said.
If you'd like to visit the Oakley Diner, it is located at 981 W Weber Canyon Road and is open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday.
