The Dragon Inside
What Do You Think You're Looking At? #89
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This is Jake’s, a now-closed restaurant just outside my hometown of Flemington, New Jersey.
For many years it was one of the only (maybe the only) independent restaurants in the area with a liquor license. It was a typical, somewhat stuffy, somewhat old-fashioned American bar and grill; I wrote about it here, with some long thoughts on why that category of restaurants doesn’t do much for me and a lot of people my age, despite having a lot of fond memories of the place. But anyway.
If I remember correctly, those shuttered windows were always closed, making the interior dim and sort of separate from the outside world, almost like an old urban church where you can feel the silence. The building looks kind of odd—like maybe it was once more open/more lit.
Certainly, it looks like it probably used to be something else.
And, of course it was. Jake’s was at least three restaurants in its previous life. One of which was Hot’n Cold Shop, shown in this November 1957 newspaper clipping I found on a Facebook group:
The article, of which an excerpt was also shared, details a major remodeling of the existing building that was there in 1957; the image above is actually a rendering. So the building predates 1957, but from this point on up to today it kept its basic look. I have never seen an image of the building before this big remodel.
The Hot’n Cold Shop also had a walk-up ice cream window, which I’ve seen mentioned before. People debated whether it was on the Jake’s site or not, and it definitely was. And not only were the windows open, much of the front was glass!
The next incarnation, for which I can’t find a photo, was called the Flemington Inn. I saw a photo once, but I think it was deleted from the Facebook group. The building had a bit of a colonial theme, and it had windows, but not the big glass front.
But the coolest point in this building’s history was when it was the Dragon Inn, a sit-down Chinese restaurant that opened, as far as I can tell, in the early 1970s. One commenter remembers it being Flemington’s first Chinese restaurant.
Look how dark it was. It looks like Jake’s reintroduced windows, unless those windows don’t open and are just exterior decoration!
Unfortunately, the property record I was able to find online has a blank for the build year, so I don’t know how far back this building goes. I’m not sure even the four restaurants mentioned here constitute the building’s full history.
I hope, however, it will be another restaurant one day. I just wish they’d kept the pagoda and the green tile roof.
Related Reading:
What Do You Think You’re Looking At? #8
What Do You Think You’re Looking At? #15
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