Empire Diner
210 10th Avenue | also 493 West 22nd Street | Chelsea | built 1930
Open on the map10 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1946
The Fodero Dining Car Company builds the Art Deco diner car
The Fodero Dining Car Company constructed this Art Deco dining car in 1946 for the corner of Tenth Avenue and West 22nd Street. It operated as an ordinary Manhattan diner until it was closed and nearly abandoned by 1976.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1976
New owners reopen the diner with an Empire State Building outline on the roof
Jack Doenias, Carl Laanes and Richard Ruskay renovated the nearly abandoned diner and opened it on Leap Day, February 29, 1976, as an upscale restaurant that served around the clock. They painted "EAT" in large letters on a wall behind it, swapped the Formica counters and tabletops for black glass, and added a small stainless-steel outline of the Empire State Building to the roof.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1979
The diner appears in the film Manhattan
The Empire Diner appears in the 1979 film Manhattan. Its Art Deco exterior has also turned up in Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, Men in Black II and the opening credits of Saturday Night Live.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1998
The New Yorker calls the Empire Diner the art world's new hangout of the 1990s
In 1998, The New Yorker wrote that every art scene gets the hangout it deserves, tracing a line from the Cedar Tavern in the 1950s and Max's Kansas City in the 1960s to the Odeon in the 1980s. For the 1990s, the magazine said, the spot was the Empire Diner, tucked among the West Chelsea warehouses.
“Every art scene gets the hangout it deserves. ... And in the '90s? The new spot is the Empire Diner…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2010
The diner's longtime operators sue the landlord over the Empire Diner name
In late April 2010, Mitchell Woo and Renate Gonzalez, who owned the diner, sued in federal court in Manhattan. They alleged that the landlord wanted to claim the Empire Diner name for the restaurateurs taking over the space. On December 3, 2010, the judge ruled the trademark case could go to trial, by then the rooftop replica of the Empire State Building had disappeared.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2010
The Highliner opens in the Empire Diner's old space by late July 2010
By late July 2010, Gotham City Restaurant Group had opened a new restaurant called the Highliner in the former diner, without substantial renovation. The New Yorker said the body remained but the soul had vanished, calling the place typical of a new, touristy Chelsea drawing crowds to the elevated park it was named for. The Highliner lasted only briefly, and the Empire Diner name returned in January 2014.
“By late July, Gotham City Restaurant Group, "without substantial renovation", had opened a new restaurant at the site, the Highliner.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2010
The Empire Diner closes after lease talks end without a renewal
Lease negotiations between the diner's owners and landlord Chuck Levinson, whose family had owned the property since the early 1930s, ended without a renewal, and the last day of business was May 15, 2010. A new restaurant, the Highliner, opened on the site that summer. The Empire Diner name returned in 2014.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2014
Chef Amanda Freitag reopens the diner under the Empire Diner name
In January 2014 the restaurant reopened as the Empire Diner under executive chef Amanda Freitag, at first serving only dinner. Freitag left in July 2015 and the diner closed that December. It reopened in April 2017 under chef Jestin Feggan.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2015
The Empire Diner closes in December 2015
The Empire Diner closed in December 2015, ending the revival that began in January 2014 under executive chef Amanda Freitag. That revival had come after the original diner shut in May 2010 and a short-lived restaurant called the Highliner took over the space in between.
Source: empire-diner.com
- 2017
Cafeteria's team reopens the Empire Diner in April 2017
The Empire Diner reopened in April 2017 under executive chef Jestin Feggan and managing partner Stacy Pisone, both of Cafeteria, a Chelsea restaurant. The diner's history page describes the result as a chic, retro-modern setting. It followed the December 2015 closing of the previous revival.
Source: empire-diner.com
Further reading
- Empire DinerWikipedia
Nearby
- Church of the Guardian Angel193 10th Avenue | 4 entries
- 520 West 22nd Street3 entries
- Lisson Gallery508 West 24th Street | 2 entries
- The High Line Hotel180 10th Avenue | 9 entries
- The Fitzroy514 West 24th Street | 2 entries
- Getty Residences503 West 24th Street | 3 entries