The Short Answer (TSA)
New
York’s Moondance Diner is a local landmark that has now been moved . . . and .
. . a lesson to would-be collectors.
Located in Manhattan at 80 Sixth Avenue, this small diner
(36 feet by 16 feet) was opened in 1933 with the less lunar name of “Holland
Tunnel Diner.” After the name change, the diner attracted a trickle of notable
media credits.
Along with several cameos appearances in a few television
series, the '02 film, Spider-Man, featured the Moondance as the
workplace of Jane Watson, Spider-Man’s love interest. And, in
television’s Friends, character Monica Geller, played by Courteney Cox,
worked at the Moondance Diner. But, in that series, an outside shot of
the diner appeared to introduce scenes actually filmed in Los Angeles.
These honors were enough to draw the attention of local
residents and preservationists who organized a benefit dinner to save the diner
when it was closed in 2007 and scheduled for demolition. The Moondance was
donated to the American Diner Museum of Providence, Rhode Island.
But what’s a diner museum?
Well, that will have to wait for another TSA. But here
begins a cautionary tale for would-be collectors. Take some care to
carefully select what you want to collect. Coins, stamps, and bottle caps are
manageable collectables. When, you get to the level of collecting things like
automobiles . . . well, collecting can become a bit more complicated and expensive.
But diners are a whole other thing.
Apparently, either space or expense made it difficult for
the museum to keep the diner for itself. The museum posted the
Moondance Diner for sale on its website. The diner sold for
$7,500.00 and was moved to Wyoming (which cost about three times as much as the
price of the diner itself).
Sadly, the wilds of Wyoming get a bit more snow than the
City of New York, and the diner’s walls bucked under the weight . . . just
before the roof caved-in. The diner was repaired and restored within a few
months and opened for business – just in time for a serious local downturn in
the gas drilling industry on which the area depends.
The Moondance Diner closed in 2012 and is, apparently, still
up for sale.
M Grossmann of Hazelwood,
Missouri & Belleville, Illinois
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