When it opened on the corner of 43rd Street and 11th Avenue in 1962, the Market Diner was one of the biggest of its kind in New York City. It became known as a late-night hangout for Frank Sinatra and Kate Smith, the place the Westies gang dropped by during a break from dismembering victims, and even the spot where Jerry Seinfeld and his friends Kramer and Newman met a dealer for black-market shower heads.

The diner opened at the corner of 43rd Street and 11th Avenue in 1962, and was closed in the spring of 2006. No one is there now. It sits behind a chain-link fence. A random corn plant has sprouted through the cracks in the parking lot. Inside, the revolving dessert display case still has its mirror-ball finish, and one can almost hear the clink of rob roys against manhattans after being passed through the little window from the bar.

The diner’s closing in spring 2006 left some neighbors crying in their egg creams, wondering who will rent the corner lot in Hell’s Kitchen, in a quickly evolving area with an increasing number of high-rise apartment buildings. The owners are seeking almost half a million dollars a year in rent.

Possible tenants include high-end restaurateurs, a graphic design firm and a skate shop, said Stephen May of the Winick Realty Group, which is representing the owner, the Moinian Group, a developer. So far, all those who have expressed an interest also say they would use the building, though it is likely to be refurbished, he said. Present zoning does not permit another high rise on the corner, Mr. May said.

Aaron Neil was making something this morning for the Little Gem that the popular 24-hour eatery hasn't needed in more than a half of century of business -- keys to the front doors.

"They say they haven't locked it up for 50 years so they had no need for keys," Neil, a locksmith with Fradon Locks, said as he fiddled with a lock.

A fire about 7 p.m. in a wall of the restaurant on Spencer Street forced the closure last night, owner F.R. "Doc" Good ("Don't let the last name throw you") said.

Good said he smelled something burning about 6:15 p.m. last night, but he didn't have any idea what. About 7 p.m., a customer who had been sitting on a picnic bench came in saying smoke was coming out of a wall.

Good went out and took four screws from a piece of the stainless steel siding and "it went into flames," he said.

Good was able to put out the flames, he said, and the fire department came and made sure the fire hadn't gotten beyond the walls.

"I think they did a beautiful job," he said.

Groton City, CT
Annie Brochu used to let her customers at Norm's Diner leave their restaurant tab up to a game of chance.

“I'll flip you — double or nothing,” she used to tell them.

Somehow, Annie's sister Rose Phelps recalled, Annie usually won.

Annie stopped working at the diner more than 10 years ago for health reasons. But the departure of her husband, Norm Brochu, from the diner last month marks their official retirement from running the place after more than 40 years.

The diner will still be open, managed by Dan Logan, who also runs Dano's Pizzeria & Lounge on Poquonnock Road.

Under the direction of the Brochus, the Bridge Street diner at the entrance to the City of Groton has survived the ebb and flow of the Navy and Electric Boat workers. It has outlasted competition from the former IHOP and Rosie's Diner.

Aficianados who cross the country on diner tours make sure Norm's is a stop, some even asking Norm to autograph a photo of the place. Little has changed: It's still cash only, though a single jukebox has replaced jukeboxes that were once at every table. A 50-year-old milkshake machine that matches the green décor is still in operation.

[For a bit more on this SC landmark, now completely renovated, check out their website. RJD]

Florence, SC
The Drive-In is harking back to the 1950s as the restaurant celebrates its grand reopening a half-century after the serving its first 20-cent hot dogs, among many other classic menu items.

The restaurant’s employees and customers, as well as several state senators and representatives from the Pee Dee, attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday to officially reopen the new building on East Palmetto Street.

The drive-in moved in January to a new building next door to the smaller building its owners had leased for 36 years. The downtown restaurant celebrated its 50th anniversary in May.

“The opportunity to rebuild the drive-in on the original site ... is really special to us,” said Pauline Kremydas, who owns the restaurant along with her brother, George Nikolakakos.

“Our parents came from Greece, with nothing, to fulfill the American dream,” and the family has a chance to carry on with that dream by keeping the restaurant a success, Kremydas said.

In 1997, she and her brother bought the 301 Drive-In, which has been family-run since its founding.

Cleveland, OH
Kluck's Restaurant, a landmark on West 117th Street between Detroit Avenue and Clifton Boulevard in Cleveland, will close Friday after 70 years. "I think it ran its course," Tom Pappas, who took over the restaurant from his late father in 2002, said Tuesday.

Named after the original owners, Kluck's wasn't a chicken place but was known instead for its seafood and German fare, including sauerbraten and spaetzle, wienerschnitzel with cabbage, and beef brisket. The restaurant was the epitome of old-style ethnic Cleveland, with marine decor in a knotty-pine dining room and dark wood bar.

"I guess it's time for me to move on," said Pappas, who is looking to open a Greek restaurant somewhere in the western suburbs late next year. He blamed the loss of business on the economy, an older clientele that has declined over time, and three years of road construction. Pappas, who owns the building, said it has been leased to operators who will open a Mexican restaurant called El Jalapenos in October.

[Note: Here's a link to a photo on RoadsideAmerica.com. RJD]

ShowMe Aquatics & Fitness sold raffle tickets at $10 apiece as a fundraiser at Wednesday night's "Bring Down the Ark" celebration at the old Noah's Ark restaurant and motel, and the event brought in about $3,000.

The winner was Heather Ordner, 27, of St. Peters. Her prize? She got to climb into the cab of an excavating machine to direct its first jabs at the old Ark building. (She was accompanied by its regular operator.) The operator then proceeded to take some more big chunks out of the wood exterior, although the bulk of the Ark demolition will begin Tuesday.

Partly because the "Haunted Hotel" that was held last October as a fundraiser will not take place this year, the overall demolition schedule has been accelerated. All buildings on the 22-acre site are expected to be down by December, and grading is to start then for the Plaza at Noah's Ark. It is slated to open in 2010, as is the new ShowMe Aquatics & Fitness Center.

The parking lot was jammed at the Charcoal Drive-In late Tuesday afternoon, but the once-thriving diner was empty.

It had closed early for the past week -- and will close for good Aug. 31, a victim of what some people see as progress: the Route 222 Bypass that's taking shape in front of the iconic business, permanently severing direct access from Hamilton Boulevard.

By contrast, business is booming at the Bieber Bus terminal, which operates in the same building, and the terminal will remain after the diner closes, said Steve Haddad, who owns both businesses. Most of those cars in the parking lot Tuesday belonged not to diner patrons, but travelers working in or visiting New York, Philadelphia or Atlantic City, Bieber's main destinations.

From a business standpoint, ''The diner was there strictly as a complement to the bus company,'' Haddad said Tuesday. ''We're not really in the restaurant business.''

Long a staple for many area residents, the diner at 4440 Hamilton Blvd. in Lower Macungie Township dates to 1953, when brothers Amos and Donald Weida opened it. Carl R. Bieber Tourways opened the bus terminal there in 1971 and later bought the property, diner and all.

Haddad, who acquired both businesses in 2001, remembers his family visiting the restaurant when it lived up to its name: They cooked with charcoal, and waitresses balancing trays on their shoulders served customers in their cars, he said, like a scene from the movie ''American Graffiti.''

''It's quite an icon,'' Haddad said. But business and nostalgia don't pair well on the menu.

By Mark Boone / WCNC-TV | August 22, 2007

The owners of a 60 year old Charlotte restaurant say the business will close its doors Friday, ending a months-long battle to preserve the diner as a historical landmark.

The ‘Coffee Cup’ restaurant became the city’s first integrated restaurant in 1968, allowing both African-American and white customers to eat in the same dining room.

Atlanta-based Beazer Homes owns the property on which the restaurant sits. The company plans to transform the South Clarkson Street site into offices and condominiums.

Restaurant owner Gardine Wilson successfully petitioned the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Historic Landmarks Commission to designate the building as a historic landmark. But Wilson said the designation would only delay the diner’s demolition.

By Caroline Pam } The Valley Advocate | August 23, 2007

In 2002 Tod Murphy started the Farmers Diner as a modest breakfast-all-day establishment with a big mission: to feature local farmers' products in food that those same farmers could actually afford to eat. The 50-seat restaurant in Barre, Vt, quickly gained national attention for its "short order revolution," in which 70 percent of the ingredients used in the diner's bacon and eggs and burgers and fries came from nearby farms. Buzz about potential Farmers Diner franchises flourished.

Like many other fans of local food, I made a pilgrimage to the Farmers Diner a couple of years ago and was disappointed to find it boarded up. Despite its success as a cause celebre the restaurant was ultimately too small to support the higher cost of its ingredients, and closed.

Happily, the Farmers Diner found larger digs and reopened last year in Quechee, Vt. The new restaurant is situated in the Quechee Gorge Village, a tourist attraction drawing crowds to the Cabot cheese outlet and a country crafts mall. This location sacrifices Barre's small town charm for a theme-park setting, but you can still capture the retro diner feeling at the counter in the tiny 1947 Worcestor dining car, or you can stretch out in the lofty renovated barn space that's attached.