A vintage diner, saved
This diner was relocated in 1964 from Victory Boulevard in Castleton Corners -- (thus the name Victory Diner) --
to Richmond Road. Now it is being saved from demolition by being move to the beach front in Ocean Breeze
Sunday, July 29, 2007
BY KAREN O'SHEA
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Turns out Staten Islanders can't bear to lose their Victory Diner.
That was the consensus of the Parks Department, a bank foundation, the Staten Island Advance and borough leaders who've come up with cash and a plan for buying and moving the classic chrome-and-neon restaurant from Dongan Hills to the Ocean Breeze waterfront.
Serving as the backdrop over the decades in movies, commercials and the lives of thousands of Islanders, the diner closed recently and had been listed for sale on-line on a diner museum Web site for $15,000 or best offer to anyone who could move it from its Richmond Road location, where it had been slated for demolition.
Now the Parks Department is poised to take possession, with Borough Commissioner Thomas Paulo saying the restaurant could be relocated to the beach -- although not opened -- as early as the week of Aug. 6, making it a local victory for the Victory.
"It looks like we've got everything in place to save this and to move it," said Paulo, who has a rigging company lined up.
"This same moving company is moving one diner out of lower Manhattan to another part of the country. Many of these diners are being transported out of New York," he added. "(The Victory) is something that's got to be saved ... this kind of little modest place became very significant to a lot of people. It was part of people's lives -- a common line. We don't have much of that anymore."
Others agreed.
Burgers and egg creams
The Richmond County Savings Bank Foundation put up $10,000 to buy the diner from owner and long-time cook, Maria Pappas.
And the newly created Staten Island Community Preservation Conservancy, a nonprofit established by Borough President James Molinaro and developer R. Randy Lee to preserve endangered buildings and open space, will contribute the approximately $20,000 necessary to move the diner to Ocean Breeze. The restaurant will eventually sit in an area located at the end of the FDR Boardwalk and the start of the Midland Beach promenade, near Freedom Circle and at the foot of SeMolinaro has set aside $6 million for the future construction of a "kiddie" amusement park in that area. When Paulo approached him about relocating the diner there, he said it made perfect sense.
Molinaro envisions an old-time diner concession with a soda fountain and party room for young children -- a place where families visiting the park or walking along the boardwalk or promenade could get a hamburger and egg cream.
"It's going to be great," he said.
The Richmond County Savings Foundation had the same enthusiastic response.
Kim Seggio, senior program officer for the nonprofit foundation, said board members were polled about the idea after Paulo contacted the foundation with a similar request for funding.
"It's a piece of Staten Island history, and as such it should be here on Staten Island and not auctioned off and moved somewhere in the Midwest," she said.
Moving diners
Diners in danger of demolition have been saved and moved in recent years after being marketed on the American Diner Museum's Web site, www.dinermuseum.org, where the Victory was posted for sale July 11.
A shuttered 1940s diner once featured on the Web site was relocated earlier this month from Rhode Island to Oakley, Utah.
Even the Victory has moved before. The Winrock family, the original owner, relocated the restaurant in 1964 from Victory Boulevard in Castleton Corners -- thus the name Victory Diner -- to Richmond Road.
Like all classic diners, the Victory was a prefabricated building ordered from a factory. Designs resembled railroad dining cars and the Victory, with its glass block and blue fluted enamel panels, was an example of the 1940s Kullman Challenger Model, according to the American Diner Museum.
It's old-fashioned feel and red neon sign made it the perfect backdrop for a half dozen movies and at least one television series before the owner of more than 30 years, Maria Pappas, retired recently.
Daniel Zilka, director of the American Diner Museum, kept the Pappas family informed on interest from potential on-line diner buyers.
"He would say, 'call so and so ... he's in Arkansas or call this person from Michigan,'" said Andrew Pappas, an attorney and son of Maria Pappas.
"A lot of people had a passion about it, but in the end, keeping it on Staten Island is a win, win," he said.
Pappas credited developer Leonard Tallo with agreeing to postpone demolition while a search for a diner savior was conducted. Tallo is leasing the site and plans to build stores and offices there.
A lobster shack?
The potential loss of the Victory prompted on-line lamenting and potential rescue plans posted by readers at the Advance's Web site, silive.com.
Some suggested moving the Victory to South Beach. That prompted the Advance to call for moving it instead to the Midland Beach Promenade, where a food concession is currently lacking.
In an editorial, the paper said the addition of the Victory Diner would complement the remarkable renaissance of South and Midland beaches. Paulo got a call from Vincent Gatullo, former director of the Staten Island Zoo, who suggested Parks lead the charge.
Paulo called his boss, city Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe. Benepe had just read about the plight of the Victory Diner and was thinking the same thing.
"The Parks Department has long been a repository for historic structures," said Benepe. "We thought we could combine historic preservation with an opportunity to provide amenities to the park."
The diner will be temporarily stored next to the Parks district office on Capodanno Boulevard until its permanent location near the promenade is readied.
Benepe said he'd like to see a renovated diner that pays tribute to the oceanfront character of the area.
"Maybe a classic lobster shack," he ruminated.
"But all of that is up in the air," he added. "The main thing is its future has been secured and a Staten Island landmark will stay on Staten Island, and hopefully go for another 50 or 100 years."
