80-year-old diner reopens in Wyoming
Güncelleme Tarihi:
AP
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 02, 2009 00:00
LABARGE, Wyoming - Cheryl and Vince Pierce have realized their dream despite enough setbacks to fill a country song. After months of weather complications and a struggle to secure financing for the $400,000 project, the Moondance Diner opened in mid-January
Freshly fired from his job hauling mud, Joe Henshaw was propping up his spirits with a chili cheeseburger at an uncommon place for this remote western Wyoming town: A diner.
"A diner in LaBarge? That's like putting a fish in the Mojave Desert. Usually we kill our own food around here," he said during a recent lunch.
Making the Moondance Diner even stranger is that it's an import Ğ an 80-year-old Manhattan eatery hauled out here and recently reopened.
But if Henshaw's luck is anything like that of the Moondance, which went through hell on the way to resurrection in Wyoming, better times lie ahead.
The former fixture of New York's chic SoHo neighborhood is now an incongruous landmark in sagebrush country, brought to its new home through eight states.
Even so, the Moondance hasn't looked this good in years - decades, maybe - and seems to be doing decent business serving ranchers, roughnecks and visitors to Wyoming's scenic wonders.
It was a dream
Its owners, Cheryl and Vince Pierce, have realized their dream, despite enough setbacks to croon a country song. After months of weather complications and a struggle to secure financing for the $400,000 project, the diner opened in mid-January.
"The banks around here were pretty skeptical about the whole thing, you know, just because it was a restaurant and we're a small area," said Cheryl Pierce, a lifelong resident of Sublette County. "It was very difficult to convince them it's a worthy cause."
The Moondance Diner isn't the only Manhattan restaurant relocating. A businessman recently bought the Cheyenne Diner and plans to move the West Side eatery by flatbed truck to Birmingham, Alabama. The Pierces had been toying with the idea of starting a restaurant in LaBarge - a town of about 600 people 135 miles (217 kilometers) northeast of Salt Lake City - when Vince Pierce spotted the Moondance for sale in the summer of 2007. They flew out to New York a few days later. His wife had never been there before.
When they first stepped inside the weary old Moondance, they knew they were on to something.
"There was something in our gut that just said, 'This could be it,"' Cheryl Pierce said.
A few weeks later, Vince Pierce and Cheryl's father, who owns a trucking company, returned to Manhattan with a big rig and flatbed trailer. They paid just $7,500 to buy the diner and save it from condo development. Everything considered, it wasn't exactly a bargain.
’A dilapidated little tin house’
Torrential rains and permit problems slowed them down before they even got the diner out of New York. A week later, they settled the diner onto stacks of railroad ties in LaBarge.
"It was a dilapidated little tin house," recalled Vince Pierce's mom, Judy McCracken, of Horse Prairie, Montana. "I started to cry."
Like any blue-collar Wyoming couple, the Pierces knew what to do. They got to work.
Working with a contractor, they removed everything inside: counters, stools and fixtures. They scraped five layers of tile from the floor. They peeled off most of the stainless steel from the inside and outside. They stored the enormous "Moondance" sign and other salvageable items.
They set about restoring the diner, using how it looked after a renovation in 1983 as a guide. They referred to old photographs and scoured the Internet for just the right fixtures and trim to replicate the clean, bright, modern atmosphere.
Then last winter, a blizzard dumped 18 inches (45.72 centimeters) of snow on the roof. The walls of the diner separated and the roof collapsed - while the general contractor and two workers were inside. No one was hurt. "I thought they probably would have canned the whole thing," said local resident Jessica Bush. "It basically looked like a tin box. It didn't even look like a building."
To Cheryl Pierce, though, the collapse was a blessing in disguise. They had been wondering how to go about renovating the vaulted roof. Now they knew: A construction company would rebuild it, truss by truss.
After months of delays, the Pierces reopened the Moondance on Jan. 12. They've been so busy since, they've called on friends and relatives to help. McCracken, who is a ranch cook back in Montana, has been supervising the kitchen.
"I'm used to cooking for a sit-down group, a big roast or a big meatloaf or big lasagna for, you know, 20 people," she said.
"A diner in LaBarge? That's like putting a fish in the Mojave Desert. Usually we kill our own food around here," he said during a recent lunch.
Making the Moondance Diner even stranger is that it's an import Ğ an 80-year-old Manhattan eatery hauled out here and recently reopened.
But if Henshaw's luck is anything like that of the Moondance, which went through hell on the way to resurrection in Wyoming, better times lie ahead.
The former fixture of New York's chic SoHo neighborhood is now an incongruous landmark in sagebrush country, brought to its new home through eight states.
Even so, the Moondance hasn't looked this good in years - decades, maybe - and seems to be doing decent business serving ranchers, roughnecks and visitors to Wyoming's scenic wonders.
It was a dream
Its owners, Cheryl and Vince Pierce, have realized their dream, despite enough setbacks to croon a country song. After months of weather complications and a struggle to secure financing for the $400,000 project, the diner opened in mid-January.
"The banks around here were pretty skeptical about the whole thing, you know, just because it was a restaurant and we're a small area," said Cheryl Pierce, a lifelong resident of Sublette County. "It was very difficult to convince them it's a worthy cause."
The Moondance Diner isn't the only Manhattan restaurant relocating. A businessman recently bought the Cheyenne Diner and plans to move the West Side eatery by flatbed truck to Birmingham, Alabama. The Pierces had been toying with the idea of starting a restaurant in LaBarge - a town of about 600 people 135 miles (217 kilometers) northeast of Salt Lake City - when Vince Pierce spotted the Moondance for sale in the summer of 2007. They flew out to New York a few days later. His wife had never been there before.
When they first stepped inside the weary old Moondance, they knew they were on to something.
"There was something in our gut that just said, 'This could be it,"' Cheryl Pierce said.
A few weeks later, Vince Pierce and Cheryl's father, who owns a trucking company, returned to Manhattan with a big rig and flatbed trailer. They paid just $7,500 to buy the diner and save it from condo development. Everything considered, it wasn't exactly a bargain.
’A dilapidated little tin house’
Torrential rains and permit problems slowed them down before they even got the diner out of New York. A week later, they settled the diner onto stacks of railroad ties in LaBarge.
"It was a dilapidated little tin house," recalled Vince Pierce's mom, Judy McCracken, of Horse Prairie, Montana. "I started to cry."
Like any blue-collar Wyoming couple, the Pierces knew what to do. They got to work.
Working with a contractor, they removed everything inside: counters, stools and fixtures. They scraped five layers of tile from the floor. They peeled off most of the stainless steel from the inside and outside. They stored the enormous "Moondance" sign and other salvageable items.
They set about restoring the diner, using how it looked after a renovation in 1983 as a guide. They referred to old photographs and scoured the Internet for just the right fixtures and trim to replicate the clean, bright, modern atmosphere.
Then last winter, a blizzard dumped 18 inches (45.72 centimeters) of snow on the roof. The walls of the diner separated and the roof collapsed - while the general contractor and two workers were inside. No one was hurt. "I thought they probably would have canned the whole thing," said local resident Jessica Bush. "It basically looked like a tin box. It didn't even look like a building."
To Cheryl Pierce, though, the collapse was a blessing in disguise. They had been wondering how to go about renovating the vaulted roof. Now they knew: A construction company would rebuild it, truss by truss.
After months of delays, the Pierces reopened the Moondance on Jan. 12. They've been so busy since, they've called on friends and relatives to help. McCracken, who is a ranch cook back in Montana, has been supervising the kitchen.
"I'm used to cooking for a sit-down group, a big roast or a big meatloaf or big lasagna for, you know, 20 people," she said.