Autumn Years Fall 2024

The menu was jokingly said to have offered three things: egg sandwich; sau sage sandwich; and sausage and egg sandwich. Harry’s is also remembered for great chili dogs with cheese sauce. The sign for Harry’s Corner said, “Bring the children” . . . but it was locat ed on the very gritty section of Route 46, long known as “Sin Strip,” and was ab solutely not a good place for kids. Har ry’s Corner saw its share of sin on the strip. When a gunman held three people hostage at the nearby Jade East Motel, a police standoff took place, and Harry’s Corner was busy as police officers bus tled in and out for food and coffee. In 1977, a car outside was broken into, and an 8-track stereo was stolen (remember those?). Later, a South Hackensack cop tried to pass a bad check at Harry’s. Serial killer Richard Kuklinski, aka “The Iceman” (convicted of five mur ders), was a breakfast regular at Harry’s Corner. Kuklinski lived in Dumont and led a double life. To everyone, including his wife and children, he was a typical suburban father and husband. In 1986, he was arrested in a dramatic roadblock on his street in Dumont. After his con viction, in a series of media interviews, he confessed to having killed at least 100 people and to having worked as a hit man for the Mafia.

In an HBO interview, Kuklinski spoke of how he dumped the body of his victim Paul Hoffman: “I took him, and put him in a 50-gallon drum, put it on the side of a motel. It was behind Harry’s Corner.” (This was the Horizon Motel on Route 46.) Kuklinski then said, “I went in Harry’s every morning,” and there he would observe whether people were talking about the drum with the body in it. “The thing was there for a long time,” Kuklinski noted. “I looked at it every day, it was there. I went to Harry’s every day, and one day it was just missing. I continued to go into Harry’s to see if anything was said about it, nothing was said. I don’t know what happened to the drum.”

The owner, Harry Sakas, later opened Harry’s Corner II in Lake Hi awatha. The former Harry’s Corner became Bubba’s Place in 1998, but that was short-lived. Today, the used car lot is still there, but Harry’s Cor ner is just a fond memory for its many devoted fans. a

CHECK, PLEASE We conclude our journey through Bergen County’s more colorful restaurant history. Hopefully, this “cook’s tour” has given you a new perspective on some iconic local eateries. And by the way, the check is on us here at Autumn Years .