Staten Island, NY
The Victory Diner is finally scheduled to move from Richmond Road in Dongan Hills to Midland Beach early Tuesday morning, according to the Parks Department.

The landmark chrome-and-neon diner is expected to be hoisted from its current location onto a flatbed truck tomorrow and start its journey to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Boardwalk Tuesday morning at 4:30. It will temporarily be stored behind the women's comfort station, before being moved to a more permanent spot at the end of the boardwalk and the start of the promenade, near the Freedom Circle. It is not certain when that move will happen.

Originally scheduled to be moved last week, Parks Department officials and workers for the Lancaster, Pa.-based rigging company in charge of the project hoped the relocation could happen early Monday morning. But delays in moving the Moondance Diner out of Manhattan, en route to its new Wyoming home, pushed back the Victory Diner move.

Moving the restaurant from Dongan Hills to Midland Beach is expected to take about 45 minutes and be done in time for the Tuesday morning rush hour, said Bonnie Williams with the Parks Department.

Facing an uncertain future of demolition or sale, the Victory Diner was saved when a group of Island leaders intervened to purchase it for use near a future kiddie park, proposed by Borough President James P. Molinaro. Among them were the Parks Department, the Richmond County Savings Bank Foundation, the Advance, and the nonprofit Staten Island Community Preservation Conservancy, established by Molinaro and developer R. Randy Lee.

Originally published online here: http://blog.silive.com/advanceupdate/2007/08/victory_diner_scheduled_to_mov.html