Autumn Years Fall 2024

and Information Systems Division as an electronics engineer on highly top secret electronic equipment. Trailed by FBI agents, Butenko was observed with the Russian spy at the hamburger stand. When the FBI agent grabbed the Rus sian, they found Butenko’s attaché case containing performance and specifica tion manuals for a Strategic Air Com mand communications system. The FBI also found, on the Russian, a map drawn by Butenko showing how to get to the Paramus Golden Key restaurant. Butenko was imprisoned 30 years for his treason. The Paramus Golden Key restaurant was taken down in 1965, when the Lin wood Avenue overpass was built. The Bergenfield location was demolished in 1967 to make way for Matthew’s Diner. A serial killer Harry’s Corner , located at the corner of Route 46 and Philips Avenue, South Hackensack, was a beloved luncheon ette on a used-car lot. It was popular with all types, including a serial killer. Harry’s Corner first opened in 1967, and the eatery operated 24 hours a day. The little building was situated in a corner of the Tack Motors used-car lot. Known by fans to have “the greatest egg sand wiches of all time,” this nondescript, roadside location is iconic to those who remember it.

Like McDon ald’s, the chain of fered 15-cent burg ers, and Golden Key offered “fish burgers” a full year before McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish was available nation wide. The chain was also known for its 5-cent cup of coffee. The Paramus location was where convicted traitor/spy John W. Butenko met with his Russian handlers in the transfer of national defense secrets in 1963. Butenko, of Orange, New Jer sey, worked in Paramus for ITT Data

connections, the family was harassed for years. By 1980, Joseph rebuilt the building and operated the restaurant until 1984. The Esposito family from Amalfi, Italy, bought the restaurant and renamed it Villa Amalfi. The only thing that gets whacked here these days are the lobsters. Treason Bergen County has been home to nu merous fast-food restaurants, but only one is the site where a Russian spy met his American traitor. Golden Key , a short-lived chain known as “the drive in restaurant with the gold roof,” had two locations. The first was on Route 17 north at Linwood Avenue in Paramus. That location received borough approv al in January 1962 and was described as a “paper-plate operation” (needing no dishwashing machine) that could seat 30 people. The second location was in Bergenfield (where Matthew’s Diner would later be built).

44 AUTUMN YEARS I FALL 2024