But will they serve The Big Salad?

Another story from our local newspaper.  Cute story this time.  No murder.

There's an old diner in New York City, slated for demolishing, as Michael Bloomberg continues the work begun under Rudy Guiliani to wipe all traces of idiosyncracy and charm from the face of Manhattan and turn the City into a grayer, snowier version of Atlanta or Dallas, a giant office park with pockets of luxury housing for rich people who want to live like bees in a hive, dependent entirely on take out, car services, TiVo, and personal shoppers to create a semblance of a life.

(Roy Edroso, a proud New Yorker and defender of his hometown, has waxed ironic and waxed nostalgic, or as nostalgic as a professional crank and curmudgeon like Roy can wax, on the subject of Manhatan's architectural and cultural lobotomies and Tom Watson has fumed at the filthiness of New York's new filthy rich.)

The diner was bought out by the Volvo dealership next door which wants the space in order to expand its showroom.  Which tells you the City's changing.  A car dealership in Manhattan needs to expand?

I can't get my head around the fact that there's even a Volvo Dealership in Hell's Kitchen.

But thanks to the efforts of The American Diner Museum---and you got to love it that there's an American Diner Museum---the diner has been saved.   It's going to be picked up, loaded onto a flatbed, and trucked out to our neck of the woods.  It'll land in Liberty, which is about an hour west of here, putting it only a little closer than it is at the moment, but even though I'm unlikely to drop in, once it re-opens in July, unless the pie is really, really, really good, I'm glad to know it'll surivive.

Not just because I like old-fashioned diners.  This diner has historical significance.

Well, if by history you mean it's an answer to a TV trivia question.

Q:  What diner was the model for the other diner the gang went to on Seinfeld when they didn't eat at Monk's Cafe.

A:  The Munson Diner

Tom's Diner, at 114th and Broadway---apologetic corrective update here:  sorry, it's at 112th and Broadway. Thanks for the heads up, Mark---is the diner in the establishing shot whenever Jerry and the gang are at Monk's.  (Lots of great diners in NYC.  Gastronomical alert update:  Mark and Mo report that Tom's is not one of them.)  The Munson stood in for Reggie's, the diner they had to retreat to after George was shot down by a waitress at Monk's he tried to date and felt too humiliated to show his face there anymore, much to Elaine's frustration---they don't serve her favorite, the Big Salad, at Reggie's.

George:  What's in the Big Salad?

Jerry:  Big lettuce, big carrots, tomatoes like volleyballs.

Amazingly, the reporter did not work these important facts into his story.  My source at the paper was surprised at the oversight and promised that it will be corrected when the Munson re-opens.

Good, but there's more.

Kramer was dating the grouchy waitress at Reggie's and he accidentally got her fired.   Trivia:  How did she lose her job and how did George try to make use of this to get the gang back into Monk's?

Munson moving to Liberty
Classic diner was a fixture in Manhattan
   
   By Ramsey Al-Rikabi
   Times Herald-Record
   ral-rikabi@th-record.com
 
New York – For decades, construction workers rolled into the Munson Diner for eggs and toast as the sun rose over Hell's Kitchen. Cops popped in for coffee and cabbies grabbed a bagel or burger between fares. Commuters picked up dinner on their way to the Lincoln Tunnel and late-night club kids poured themselves into the black booths for cheeseburgers and onion rings before dawn.

But that was before the diner was bought up, shut down, and nearly scrapped last summer after more than 50 years at 49th Street and 11th Avenue.

So where do you go when you're priced out of New York City? Upstate, of course.

After almost a year in limbo and several failed suitors, a group of local investors is set to settle the Munson Diner into a new home in downtown Liberty.

Down in the city, the Munson's red neon sign no longer glows and its large windows set above stainless steel siding the color of grape soda are boarded up. On a cold and sunny day this week, a U.S. Postal Service cart was overturned by the padlocked front door, spilling torn cardboard and broken mirrors onto the pavement.

A sorry state for a diner so classic that film and TV directors booked it for scenes.

Inside, a stack of July 19 newspapers from last year sits on the counter by the front door – from around the time this 1940s streamline served its final Philly cheesesteak platter special for $7 and its last coffee to go. There's still salt in the shakers and ancient gum stuck under the stacked faux-marble tables. The still air was foul.

"Grease," said Tony Chianese, explaining the smell.

Chianese is manager of Martin's Manhattan Volvo next door, which bought the Munson last year because the dealership needed the space.

"It was fully operational until the day it closed," Chianese said. He tried selling it, but no deal would stick. The American Diner Museum in Rhode Island pitched in to find a buyer.

"We were going to demolish it," he said. "So I'm happy to see it go in one piece."

Early next month, the Munson will be loaded – in one piece – onto a flatbed and hauled up to Liberty to be reborn this summer on a vacant lot on Lake Street.

Fifteen investors making up the Munson Diner Corp. want the Hell's Kitchen landmark to be, "downtown Liberty's new national tourist attraction," said Allen Berube, a Village of Liberty councilman.

The Munson move is part of Liberty's efforts to revamp its downtown into a dining, cultural and shopping hub.

Almost all the new owners, so far, have remained anonymous.

"I don't know why they're so adamant about keeping it a secret," said Jeremy Gorelick, the president and public face of the Munson Diner Corp.

The group, which has already raised $250,000 for the diner's rebirth, is looking for someone to run it, and hopes to have burgers on the grill by July 4.

By then, a new crowd of construction crews and commuters, lawyers, artists and late-night kids will have the chance to slide into their favorite booths, order their favorite deluxe platters and see the new home of the seasoned Munson Diner through its big windows, set above its stainless steel siding the color of grape soda.

Comments

[Connie]

The original diner used in the Rosie's diner Bounty commercials has been moved to Michigan and is open and operating, with two (or maybe more) additional rescued diners on the site. If you are ever heading north from Grand Rapids on US-131, take the Sparta/Greenville exit and turn right. May I recommend the hot beef sandwich?

[Elsie]

The topic of this post reminds me of the book "The Little House" by Virginia Lee Burton. "Once upon a time there was a Little House way out in the country. She was a pretty Little House and she was strong and well built." The rosy-pink Little House, on a hill surrounded by apple trees, watches the days go, by from the first apple blossoms in the spring through the winter snows. Always faintly aware of the city's distant lights, she starts to notice the city encroaching on her bucolic existence. First a road appears, which brings horseless carriages and then trucks and steamrollers. Before long, more roads, bigger homes, apartment buildings, stores, and garages surround the Little House. Her family moves out and she finds herself alone in the middle of the city, where the artificial lights are so bright that the Little House can no longer see the sun or the moon. She often dreams of "the field of daisies and the apple trees dancing in the moonlight." One day a woman recognizes her and whisks her back to the country where she belongs.

Although used to the city, I hope the Munson Diner also finds fields of daisies and apple trees in the country.

[Mo]

Man, NYC does have a lot of good diners, but Tom's Restaurant was never one of them. It was a slight bit better than College Inn, but only that.

It was cheap, though, and that counted for a lot for Columbia students.

[harry near indy]

the name of ramsey al-rikabi -- now THAT'S another only-in-American story right there.

i recognize that ramsey is a scottish name, and al-rikabi sounds arabic (don't know for sure).

that's america for ya -- mix it up. most of the time, it's good, and some times, it's too good to be true.

[The Heretik]

The Munson Diner gone? LM, the West Side of Manhattan is littered with car dealerships for now. Just wait til that new stadium goes up over the Penn Yards. Yuppie, I mean, yup, it will be like the Eighties all over again. No conscience in the real estate game. Oh, wait a minute. That's how it's always been in New York.

Been to Times Square lately? I lived at Fortyeighth and Eighth for a few years back in the day before they said back in the day. Times Square today is a fricking Disney Theme Park I swear I miss the daze when Mickey Mouse sized midgets would come out of porn shops and hit you up for a dollar, just before they would um relieve themselves on the street.

Or maybe I don't miss those days.

[blue girl]

"Trivia:  How did she lose her job and how did George try to make use of this to get the gang back into Monk's?"

I can't believe I missed an episode of Seifeld....what's the answer?

[Mark]

[nitpick] Tom's is at 112th, not 114th. [/nitpick]. And at this point it's overpriced and not terribly good; on the other hand, it's open real late, which is why people tend to still go there. at least in my experience.

[ts]

okay, I'll bite. Kramer gets his girlfriend fired by calling her at work, and George thinks he can do the same by calling her at Monks.

[Lance]

Hooray, ts! You are the only one to come through with the correct answer. Congratulations! Your prize is being sent to you direct from the headquarters of Vandalay Industries.