Time and the wrecking ball have not always been kind to New Jersey's world-renowned diners. This week, the clock ran out on the Freeway Diner in Deptford Township.

The owners' desire to retire and the lure of redeveloping the sought-after site at Route 41 near the North-South Freeway, now a heavily traveled gateway to the Depftord Mall, made continuing the business an option that was no longer viable after 37 years.

Customers don't shed tears when a Bob Evans closes or a Denny's bites the dust. But whenever a local diner has its last day, there is crying, along with sweet memories and a sense of loss. So it was in Deptford on Memorial Day, with the news that the Freeway would likely be demolished to be replaced by a strip center with a Starbucks.

Say what you will about any diner's food quality, each has a distinct identity and fiercely loyal "regulars." How ironic, some said, that a cooked-to-order icon like the Freeway would give way to a millenials' hangout serving standardized coffee drinks and baked-elsewhere pastries.

Don't play that sad Joni Mitchell song about paving paradise and putting up a parking lot just yet. Most of the everything-for-everyone diners that dot our region keep on going. As McDonald's cuts items from its already short menus, diners keep adding to their extensive culinary choices.

We still have Ponzio's in Cherry Hill, PB's and Angelo's in Glassboro, the Metro in Brooklawn, the Whitman in Washington Township, Geets' (with or without the extra "S," as in "Geets's") in Monroe Township, the Salem Oak, the Harrison House in Harrison Township, and the Elmer on U.S. Route 40, none of which appear to be going away anytime soon. We're fortunate to live where food of every ethnicity, authentically prepared, is right around the corner. In parts of this country, Applebee's is as close as you'll get to a diner, Subway prepares the only "hoagies" and Pizza Hut is the go-to place for Italian food.

There aren't as many diners as there used to be. The Diamond in Cherry Hill is now a Walgreen's. Olga's at the Marlton Circle sits seemingly abandoned. The Country Club in Voorhees, idled for three years, now sports a mysterious "under option" sign on the property.

Will today's twentysomethings get all nostalgic 37 years from now if their favorite Panera Bread or Chipotle location goes dark? That's doubtful, and it shows why diners stay so close to our South Jersey hearts. Long may they thrive.

Send a letter to the editor of South Jersey Times at letters@southjerseymedia.com