Is there anyplace more inviting than a classic railroad-car diner? It’s a matter of taste of course, in more ways than one. I’d eat in one every day, but my cholesterol is high enough as is. In future centuries, we’ll have figured out a way to make eating vegetables and incessant exercise unnecessary, but until that day comes, diners will have to remain an infrequent destination for me.
Classic standalone diners are nearly extinct in Manhattan, and out my way, we continue to lose them along Northern Boulevard. The Scobee in Little Neck succumbed in 2010 and this year alone, the Bayside Diner at the Clearview Expressway and the Seven Seas at Middle Neck Road have gone the way of the dodo. (We still have the North Shore at Francis Lewis Boulevard and the Landmark at Route 101.)
The Moondance Diner, originally the Holland Tunnel Diner, was on 6th Avenue and Grand Street in Soho. In the photo above it is shown in 1940; it opened in 1933, making it the oldest freestanding diner in the city by the 2000s. There wasn’t even a 6th Avenue here until 1928 when it was rammed through as a conduit under which the 6th Avenue IND subway would run. The railway car-inspired diner retained several original and/or distinctive elements; chrome detailing, a barrel roof ceiling, wrap-around windows, counter & stools, as well as a famed retro revolving moon sign by the late architect/designer Alan Buchsbaum and designer/signmaker Jim Rogers.
After decades as a somewhat humble greasy spoon, restaurateur Larry Panish upgraded the decor and menu in the 1990s without sacrificing a classic diner feel before selling in 2001. Diner owners The Extell Group decided to build the James Hotel in its place. Photos: Laura Goggin and American Diner Museum
Extell donated the diner structure to the American Diner Museum, which, in turn, sold it to Vince and Cheryl Pierce of LaBarge, Wyoming, where it served the tourist industry. It opened there in 2008, but was severely damaged by weathering, but reopened until it closed in 2012. I have not read about its fate since.
Note: the diner is still standing, albeit unoccupied, in LaBarge; see Comments.
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7/21/23