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The Empire Diner is a restaurant in New York City that launched a vogue for upscale retro diners, and whose Art Moderne exterior became an iconic image in numerous films and television programs. Constructed by the Fodero Dining Car Company in 1946 and operating as a Manhattan diner until being abandoned years later, it was refurbished in 1976, with additions including a stylized Empire State Building outline on its roof. It became a city fixture and an artists' nexus from then on. The restaurant closed on May 15, 2010, but The Highliner opened briefly in its space in 2010. The restaurant reopened under the name Empire Diner, under executive chef Amanda Freitag, in January 2014. == Creation == The Art Moderne dining car that served as the physical structure of the Empire Diner was constructed by the Fodero Dining Car Company in 1946. Situated at 210 Tenth Avenue, on the corner of West 22nd Street in Chelsea, Manhattan, it was closed and nearly abandoned in 1976 when new owners Jack Doenias, Carl Laanes, and Richard Ruskay renovated "the former greasy spoon on then-grungy 10th Ave. and turned it into the landmark restaurant () ... became a major force in the Chelsea Renaissance that allowed art galleries, hotels, and other restaurants to replace the machine shops, gas stations and auto parts stores that then dominated the landscape." The diner had previously had its original windows changed and its monitor roof hidden from the outside.〔 The three partners painted a large "EAT" on a wall behind the diner, installed a miniature, stainless steel, stylized outline of the Empire State Building on a corner of the roof, and replaced the Formica tabletops and counters with black glass.〔 The partners also started the restaurant Ruskay's, on Columbus Avenue, that same year, and would open Rick's Lounge, in downtown Manhattan on Eighth Avenue, in 1981.〔 The Empire Diner became a popular success, appearing as a ''New York'' magazine cover story, "The New Great-Looking Dining Places: Is the Food as Good as the Design?', the year that it opened.〔 Diner historians credit it with sparking a movement toward similar upscale retro diners. Wrote author Richard J. S. Gutman, "The Empire pioneered the concept of the diner being something other than ''just'' a diner. With candlelight, live piano music, and an untraditional menu somewhat on the pricey side, this was a new tangent for diners."〔 Author Randy Garbin, founder of ''Roadside Magazine'', wrote that the new owners had taken "a run-down ... diner in a depressed neighborhood and introduced haute cuisine. The irony struck chords in both the New York art and restaurant scenes, with repercussions throughout the country." Its menu included traditional American fare, but also such signature dishes as "Jack's chili sundae" and pigs-in-a-blanket made with Vienna sausages and biscuit dough. The 24-hour diner's "highbrow-lowbrow fusion ... built a steady clientele among the neighborhood’s culture vultures and its club-going nighthawks alike."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Empire Diner」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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