People get the bad news that the 24-hour Cheyenne is closed after 68 years. (Kathleen Bulson)
Loyal customers and diner enthusiasts flocked to get the last eggs over easy ever served at the iconic Cheyenne Diner yesterday as the chrome-covered eatery closed its doors forever.
Weary employees and the diner’s owner served up heaping portions of comfort food and
breakfast dishes and received best wishes from patrons before the midtown business was official closed by 4:30 p.m. yesterday. Some folks came for the first time, some came back after several-year hiatuses and regulars showed up to pay their respects and look at one of the last diners of its kind for the last time.
The likelihood that the railroad car-style diner, including the iconic neon sign, would be saved may have increased Sunday as the property owner confirmed that a diner museum was checking out if the structure could withstand a move. The museum also found interested buyers. It could take weeks before any decision on a move or sale is made.
Unclear though was if business owner Spiros Kasimis will open up another eatery with some of the familiar memorabilia, including signed photos of celebrity patrons like David Letterman. Kasimis, who’s owned the business since 1989, said he was touched and overwhelmed by the number of patrons who showed up yesterday, and gave at least one longtime customer a free meal.
Preservationist Michael Perlman began an effort to save the diner recently, just as he had done to preserve and move SoHo's Moonlight Diner, which the American Diner Museum helped relocate it to LaBarge, Wyo.
Photo above: Owner Spiros Kasimis, center in white sweater, during the diner's last day. (Marlene Naanes)
-- Marlene Naanes
Read more about it
Other blogs
Jeremiah's Vanishing New York profiled Perlman Friday and broke the story last week.
Here's a You Tube video on one New Yorker's last trip to the diner.
Urbanite coverage:
Cheyenne update: Owner open to moving it
Oh, Cheyenne, a lamentation with some night photography
amNY photo galleries
Great NYC diners, past and present