Empire Diner
Encyclopedia
The Empire Diner was a restaurant in New York City that launched a vogue for upscale retro diner
s, and whose Art Moderne
exterior became an iconic image in numerous films and television programs.
Constructed by the Fodero Dining Car Company
in 1946 and operating as a Manhattan
diner until being abandoned years later, it was refurbished in 1976, with additions including a stylized Empire State Building
outline on its roof. It became a city fixture and an artists' nexus from then until its closing on May 15, 2010.
dining car that served as the physical structure of the Empire Diner was constructed by the Fodero Dining Car Company
in 1946. Situated at 210 Tenth Avenue
, on the corner of West 22nd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan
, it was closed and nearly abandoned in 1976 when new owners Jack Doenias, Carl Laanes, and Richard Ruskay renovated "the former greasy spoon on then-grungy 10th Ave. and turned it into the landmark restaurant [that] ... became a major force in the Chelsea Renaissance that allowed art galleries, hotels, and other restaurants to replace the machine shops, gas stations and auto parts stores that then dominated the landscape."
The diner had previously had its original windows changed and its monitor roof hidden from the outside. The three partners painted a large "EAT" on a wall behind the diner, installed a miniature, stainless steel
, stylized outline of the Empire State Building
on a corner of the roof, and replaced the Formica
tabletops and counters with black glass. The partners also started the restaurant Ruskay's, on Columbus Avenue, that same year, and would open Rick's Lounge, in downtown Manhattan on Eighth Avenue, in 1981.
The Empire Diner became a popular success, appearing as a New York
magazine cover story, "The New Great-Looking Dining Places: Is the Food as Good as the Design?', the year that it opened. Diner historians credit it with sparking a movement toward similar upscale retro diners. Wrote author Richard J. S. Gutman, "The Empire pioneered the concept of the diner being something other than just a diner. With candlelight, live piano music, and an untraditional menu somewhat on the pricey side, this was a new tangent for diners." Author Randy Garbin, founder of Roadside Magazine, wrote that the new owners had taken "a run-down ... diner in a depressed neighborhood and introduced haute cuisine
. The irony struck chords in both the New York art and restaurant scenes, with repercussions throughout the country." Its menu included traditional American fare, but also such signature dishes as "Jack's chili sundae" and pigs-in-a-blanket made with Vienna sausages and biscuit dough. The 24-hour diner's "highbrow-lowbrow fusion ... built a steady clientele among the neighborhood’s culture vultures and its club-going nighthawks alike."
In late 2009, lease negotiations between the Empire Diner owners and Chuck Levinson, whose family had owned the property since the early 1930s, ended without a lease renewal. The physical structure was scheduled to be taken over under a new name by restaurateurs Carolyn Benitez, Charles Milite, and Eric Petterson of the Gotham City Restaurant Group, under a 15-year lease. The last day of business for the Empire Diner at this location was May 15, 2010. Woo and Gonzalez filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
, in Manhattan
, in late April 2010, alleging the landlord wanted to claim the name "Empire Diner" to pass along to the next proprietors. The judge in this trademark
lawsuit ruled on December 3, 2010, that the case could go to trial. By this time, the rooftop Empire State Building replica had gone missing.
By late July, Gotham City Restaurant Group, "without substantial renovation", had opened a new restaurant at the site, the Highliner. The New Yorker
opined, "The body remains, but the soul has vanished. The Highliner is representative, though, of the new Chelsea that is emerging on weekends, as visitors flood the elevated park the restaurant is named after: touristy, overpriced, and shiny. It is not uncommon to see guidebooks and maps spread out on the nascent eatery’s outdoor tables. Of course, tourists need to eat, too, but at the Highliner they do not get to eat particularly well."
, Minnie Driver
, Ethan Hawke
, Madonna
, Julia Roberts
with then-boyfriend Benjamin Bratt
, Steven Spielberg
, Barbra Streisand
, and Kate Winslet
. It was not universally loved, however: A Village Voice critic wrote near the end of the diner's run that, "The building itself is deservedly beloved, but the restaurant's surly service and way overpriced, completely unremarkable grub mean that the only thing we'll miss is the upright piano." Regardless, wrote The New Yorker
in 1998, "Every art scene gets the hangout it deserves. In the '50s, there was the Cedar Tavern
... [then] Max's Kansas City
, a steakhouse near Union Square
, catered to the '60s cool school.... In the '80s, the art world headed down to Tribeca
to toast itself at the Odeon. And in the '90s? The new spot is the Empire Diner, a glitz-free, gemutlich
place tucked among the warehouses of West Chelsea...."
It appears in the Woody Allen
movie Manhattan
, and in the films Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
, Men in Black II
, Igby Goes Down
, See You in the Morning
, and City Island
.
On television, it appeared on Law & Order
; in the opening credits of Saturday Night Live
; and in the closing credits of The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
after series creator Jay Tarses
and star Blair Brown
had "conceived the [title] character ... over long discussions at the Empire Diner."
It appeared in an H. J. Heinz company print advertisement for ketchup
, in Time
magazine. It was the subject of an oil painting
by the fine art
painter John Baeder
.
Diner
A diner, also spelled dinor in western Pennsylvania is a prefabricated restaurant building characteristic of North America, especially in the Midwest, in New York City, in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, and in other areas of the Northeastern United States, although examples can be found throughout...
s, and whose Art Moderne
Streamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...
exterior became an iconic image in numerous films and television programs.
Constructed by the Fodero Dining Car Company
Fodero Dining Car Company
The Fodero Dining Car Company was a diner manufacturer located in Newark and later Bloomfield, NJ. It was founded by Italian immigrant Joseph Fodero, who formed the company after constructing diners with P.J. Tierney & Sons and Kullman Industries....
in 1946 and operating as a Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
diner until being abandoned years later, it was refurbished in 1976, with additions including a stylized Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
outline on its roof. It became a city fixture and an artists' nexus from then until its closing on May 15, 2010.
Creation and rebirth
The Art ModerneStreamline Moderne
Streamline Moderne, sometimes referred to by either name alone or as Art Moderne, was a late type of the Art Deco design style which emerged during the 1930s...
dining car that served as the physical structure of the Empire Diner was constructed by the Fodero Dining Car Company
Fodero Dining Car Company
The Fodero Dining Car Company was a diner manufacturer located in Newark and later Bloomfield, NJ. It was founded by Italian immigrant Joseph Fodero, who formed the company after constructing diners with P.J. Tierney & Sons and Kullman Industries....
in 1946. Situated at 210 Tenth Avenue
Tenth Avenue (Manhattan)
Tenth Avenue, known as Amsterdam Avenue north of 59th Street, is a north-south thoroughfare on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It carries uptown traffic as far as West 110th Street, also known as Cathedral Parkway for the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine...
, on the corner of West 22nd Street in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, it was closed and nearly abandoned in 1976 when new owners Jack Doenias, Carl Laanes, and Richard Ruskay renovated "the former greasy spoon on then-grungy 10th Ave. and turned it into the landmark restaurant [that] ... became a major force in the Chelsea Renaissance that allowed art galleries, hotels, and other restaurants to replace the machine shops, gas stations and auto parts stores that then dominated the landscape."
The diner had previously had its original windows changed and its monitor roof hidden from the outside. The three partners painted a large "EAT" on a wall behind the diner, installed a miniature, stainless steel
Stainless steel
In metallurgy, stainless steel, also known as inox steel or inox from French "inoxydable", is defined as a steel alloy with a minimum of 10.5 or 11% chromium content by mass....
, stylized outline of the Empire State Building
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story landmark skyscraper and American cultural icon in New York City at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and West 34th Street. It has a roof height of 1,250 feet , and with its antenna spire included, it stands a total of 1,454 ft high. Its name is derived...
on a corner of the roof, and replaced the Formica
Formica
Formica is a genus of ants of the family Formicidae, commonly known as wood ants, mound ants, or field ants. Formica is the type genus of the Formicidae, and of the subfamily Formicinae...
tabletops and counters with black glass. The partners also started the restaurant Ruskay's, on Columbus Avenue, that same year, and would open Rick's Lounge, in downtown Manhattan on Eighth Avenue, in 1981.
The Empire Diner became a popular success, appearing as a New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine cover story, "The New Great-Looking Dining Places: Is the Food as Good as the Design?', the year that it opened. Diner historians credit it with sparking a movement toward similar upscale retro diners. Wrote author Richard J. S. Gutman, "The Empire pioneered the concept of the diner being something other than just a diner. With candlelight, live piano music, and an untraditional menu somewhat on the pricey side, this was a new tangent for diners." Author Randy Garbin, founder of Roadside Magazine, wrote that the new owners had taken "a run-down ... diner in a depressed neighborhood and introduced haute cuisine
Haute cuisine
Haute cuisine or grande cuisine was characterised by French cuisine in elaborate preparations and presentations served in small and numerous courses that were produced by large and hierarchical staffs at the grand restaurants and hotels of Europe.The 17th century chef and writer La Varenne...
. The irony struck chords in both the New York art and restaurant scenes, with repercussions throughout the country." Its menu included traditional American fare, but also such signature dishes as "Jack's chili sundae" and pigs-in-a-blanket made with Vienna sausages and biscuit dough. The 24-hour diner's "highbrow-lowbrow fusion ... built a steady clientele among the neighborhood’s culture vultures and its club-going nighthawks alike."
Successor owners
Following the deaths of Ruskay (d. March 16, 1992) and Doenias, Laanes sold the operation to executive chef Mitchell Woo, who had been with the diner since 1980, and general manager Renate Gonzalez, who joined in 1986.In late 2009, lease negotiations between the Empire Diner owners and Chuck Levinson, whose family had owned the property since the early 1930s, ended without a lease renewal. The physical structure was scheduled to be taken over under a new name by restaurateurs Carolyn Benitez, Charles Milite, and Eric Petterson of the Gotham City Restaurant Group, under a 15-year lease. The last day of business for the Empire Diner at this location was May 15, 2010. Woo and Gonzalez filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
, in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
, in late April 2010, alleging the landlord wanted to claim the name "Empire Diner" to pass along to the next proprietors. The judge in this trademark
Trademark
A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...
lawsuit ruled on December 3, 2010, that the case could go to trial. By this time, the rooftop Empire State Building replica had gone missing.
By late July, Gotham City Restaurant Group, "without substantial renovation", had opened a new restaurant at the site, the Highliner. The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
opined, "The body remains, but the soul has vanished. The Highliner is representative, though, of the new Chelsea that is emerging on weekends, as visitors flood the elevated park the restaurant is named after: touristy, overpriced, and shiny. It is not uncommon to see guidebooks and maps spread out on the nascent eatery’s outdoor tables. Of course, tourists need to eat, too, but at the Highliner they do not get to eat particularly well."
Impact
The Empire Diner was frequented by celebrities including Josh BrolinJosh Brolin
Josh James Brolin is an American actor. He has acted in theater, film and television roles since 1985, and won acting awards for his roles in the films W., No Country for Old Men, Milk and True Grit.-Early life:...
, Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver
Minnie Driver is an English actress and singer-songwriter. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting, as well as for an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe for her work in the television series The Riches.- Early life...
, Ethan Hawke
Ethan Hawke
Ethan Green Hawke is an American actor, writer and director. He made his feature film debut in 1985 with the science fiction movie Explorers, before making a supporting appearance in the 1989 drama Dead Poets Society which is considered his breakthrough role...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Julia Roberts
Julia Roberts
Julia Fiona Roberts is an American actress. She became a Hollywood star after headlining the romantic comedy Pretty Woman , which grossed $464 million worldwide...
with then-boyfriend Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is most famous for his role as Rey Curtis on the TV series Law & Order; and his appearances in the movies Blood in Blood Out, Miss Congeniality, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Traffic, and Piñero.-Early life:Bratt was born in San Francisco, California,...
, Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
, Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
, and Kate Winslet
Kate Winslet
Kate Elizabeth Winslet is an English actress and occasional singer. She has received multiple awards and nominations. She was the youngest person to accrue six Academy Award nominations, and won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Reader...
. It was not universally loved, however: A Village Voice critic wrote near the end of the diner's run that, "The building itself is deservedly beloved, but the restaurant's surly service and way overpriced, completely unremarkable grub mean that the only thing we'll miss is the upright piano." Regardless, wrote The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
in 1998, "Every art scene gets the hangout it deserves. In the '50s, there was the Cedar Tavern
Cedar Tavern
The Cedar Tavern was a bar and restaurant in New York City last at 82 University Place between 11th and 12th Streets. It was famous as a former hangout of many prominent Abstract Expressionist painters and beat writers...
... [then] Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City
Max's Kansas City was a nightclub and restaurant at 213 Park Avenue South, in New York City, which was a gathering spot for musicians, poets, artists and politicians in the 1960s and 1970s.-Origin of name:...
, a steakhouse near Union Square
Union Square
Union Square may refer to:Asia* Union Square * Union Square station on Dubai MetroCanada* Union Square, Nova ScotiaUnited States* Union Square, Baltimore, Maryland* Union Square * Union Square, San Francisco, California...
, catered to the '60s cool school.... In the '80s, the art world headed down to Tribeca
TriBeCa
Tribeca is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York in the United States. Its name is an acronym based on the words "Triangle below Canal Street", and is properly bounded by Canal Street, West Street, Broadway, and Vesey Street...
to toast itself at the Odeon. And in the '90s? The new spot is the Empire Diner, a glitz-free, gemutlich
Gemütlichkeit
Gemütlichkeit is a German abstract noun that has been adopted into English. Its closest equivalent is the word "coziness"; however, rather than merely describing a place that is compact, well-heated and nicely furnished , Gemütlichkeit connotes the notion of belonging, social acceptance,...
place tucked among the warehouses of West Chelsea...."
In popular culture
The Empire Diner has appeared in numerous films, television programs, and advertisements.It appears in the Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
movie Manhattan
Manhattan (film)
Manhattan is a 1979 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Woody Allen about a twice-divorced 42-year-old comedy writer who dates a 17-year-old girl before eventually falling in love with his best friend's mistress...
, and in the films Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York is a 1992 American Christmas comedy film written and produced by John Hughes and directed by Chris Columbus. It is the second film in the Home Alone series and the direct sequel to Home Alone. The film stars Macaulay Culkin in the lead role as Kevin McCallister, while...
, Men in Black II
Men in Black II
Men in Black II is a 2002 science fiction action comedy starring Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. The film also stars Lara Flynn Boyle, Johnny Knoxville, Rosario Dawson and Rip Torn...
, Igby Goes Down
Igby Goes Down
Igby Goes Down is a 2002 comedy-drama film that follows the life of Igby Slocumb, a rebellious and sardonic New York City teenager who attempts to break free of his familial ties and wealthy, overbearing mother...
, See You in the Morning
See You in the Morning (film)
See You in the Morning is a 1989 romantic comedy film written and directed by Alan J. Pakula, and starring Jeff Bridges, Alice Krige and Farrah Fawcett. It features music by Nat "King" Cole and Cherri Red. The original music score was composed by Michael Small.-Plot:Larry Livingstone falls in love...
, and City Island
City Island (film)
City Island is a 2009 American comedy-drama film directed and written by Raymond De Felitta and starring Andy García, Julianna Margulies and Alan Arkin. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City on April 26, 2009...
.
On television, it appeared on Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
; in the opening credits of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
; and in the closing credits of The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:...
after series creator Jay Tarses
Jay Tarses
Jay Tarses is an American television comedy writer and producer. He created and produced The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd and The Slap Maxwell Story, co-created Buffalo Bill , and was an executive producer for The Bob Newhart Show...
and star Blair Brown
Blair Brown
Bonnie Blair Brown is an American theater, film, and television actress. She has had a number of high profile roles, including a Tony Award-winning turn in the play Copenhagen on Broadway, as well as a run as the title character in the television comedy-drama The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd,...
had "conceived the [title] character ... over long discussions at the Empire Diner."
It appeared in an H. J. Heinz company print advertisement for ketchup
Ketchup
Ketchup is a sweet-and-tangy condiment typically made from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar or high-fructose corn syrup and an assortment of...
, in Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine. It was the subject of an oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
by the fine art
Fine art
Fine art or the fine arts encompass art forms developed primarily for aesthetics and/or concept rather than practical application. Art is often a synonym for fine art, as employed in the term "art gallery"....
painter John Baeder
John Baeder
John Baeder is an American painter closely associated with the Photorealist movement. He is best known for his detailed paintings of American roadside diners and eateries.-Early life:...
.
External links
- Empire Diner (official site) WbCitation archive; and official blog. WbCitation archive.
- US Patent and Trademark Office: "The Empire Diner" at the Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval (TARR) system