Green River, Wyoming
OK, Spidey fans, here's one for you: What's the name of the famous New York City diner where Peter Parker's girlfriend, Mary Jane, waited tables in the 2002 "Spiderman" movie?

Fans of the web slinger know it's the late-night watering hole called the Moondance Diner, located in the fashionable SoHo District of Manhattan -- and soon to be serving customers in LaBarge, Wyo.

LaBarge???

That little piece of New York City history is coming to southwest Wyoming on the back of a semitrailer next week, thanks to the efforts of LaBarge residents Vince and Cheryl Pierce.

The Pierces finalized the purchase of the famous diner last week and are moving the nearly 80-year-old piece of Americana to the tiny town of LaBarge, located right on the Lincoln/Sweetwater county border.

The plan to renovate and then run the diner for the approximately 500 residents of the remote community who currently enjoy no operating restaurants at all.

"We hope this will be something that will be very fun and different for LaBarge," Cheryl Pierce said in a phone interview Monday.

"We're going to try and really keep the (Moondance) atmosphere and stick to the original diner menu and food," she said. "We're trying to keep everything as original as possible."

Located on Sixth Avenue, the Moondance Diner was one of the last free-standing diners in Manhattan, according to the American Diner Museum. The diner seats about 34 people with 10 stools and six tables.

But a boom in urban redevelopment in SoHo forced the closure of the diner earlier this summer. A real estate developer bought the site between Canal and Grand streets with plans to turn it into luxury residential condominiums. An Aug. 1 demolition date was set.

Nowhere to eat out

Cheryl Pierce was born in Rock Springs, raised in Big Piney and moved with her Montana-born husband and their two children to LaBarge three years ago. The family operates a water truck company that hauls water to the nearby Jonah and Pinedale Anticline natural gas fields in southwest Wyoming.

She said the couple has always "toyed with the idea" of running a family-style restaurant and has been particularly interested in diners, which they try to frequent whenever possible.

"We saw a need in LaBarge ... There's two restaurants that are here, but they're not open, and everybody usually goes to Big Piney or Pinedale to eat out," Pierce said.

"And we thought LaBarge was kind of a nice location (for a diner) because it's right in the hub of the natural gas fields. So we just one day decided to see what's for sale."

An online search revealed that the Moondance diner was listed for sale on the American Diner Museum's Web site, Pierce said. The museum works to preserve, advertise, sell and relocate historic diners across the country.

"We liked the looks of the diner right off ... The exterior itself was kind of that old shiny metal, and the sign was kind of extraordinary," she said. "We got researching it a little bit further and found it had some history with the movies and television. And the price was good."

A big move

The couple flew to New York last week, finalized the purchase and hired a moving company in Manhattan to remove the diner from its foundation and to prepare it for the cross-country move. Pierce declined to disclose the sale price.

She said her husband and father are driving one of their semitrailers to New York City this week to haul the 36- by 16-foot structure to Wyoming. The move should begin this weekend.

"Just getting it out of the city will be a huge undertaking ... There's a lot of red tape to go through in Manhattan, and we had to get permits to close off Sixth Avenue and Grand Streets which is a very big deal," Pierce said. "But we hope to get it loaded and actually have it back in LaBarge by Aug. 10."

The diner needs some renovation, but "is very sound structurally for its age," she said. A kitchen addition built onto the back of the diner was left behind for demolition. "So part of the plan is to build an addition ourselves once the diner is in place."

Pierce said the couple is working on buying a site in downtown LaBarge to relocate the diner. "There are some nice commercial lots available here," she said.

The diner will also have to be renovated to meet Wyoming building codes, and the business will have to obtain local planning and zoning permitting and approval, she noted.

The LaBarge Moondance will serve a "traditional" diner food menu, Pierce said. "Ours will be a meat-and-potato kind of fare, the kind of food that diners were popular for ... meatloaf and burgers and malts and milkshakes and the flavored sodas."

Pierce said she has some experience in the food preparation business and looks forward to running a diner grill.

"I've cooked a lot in my life ... We have a guest ranch we operate up in the Cottonwood Creek, and I've cooked there and for other guest ranches for many years," she said. "So I'm planning on working as well as managing (the diner). We're not in this to make millions ... The husband isn't planning on giving up the day job yet."

Originally published online here: http://www.jacksonholestartrib.com/articles/2007/07/31/news/top_story/7b7fbf4c9b78d7a88725732900014cce.txt