THE CHEYENNE DINER: GOOD NEWS + BAD NEWS.

We are going to miss The Cheyenne. The closing of its doors last April was made bearable by the hope that it would be relocated to a different part of the city—it being a diner and thus portable and all. And indeed, plans surfaced to move it to Red Hook. Perfect! The soon to be empty lot on 33rd and 9th would be filled with condos, true, but part of New York’s history, a place where everyone from Jerry Lewis to David Letterman sat down for a cheeseburger at some point in time, would live on.

Problem is, those plans fell through when the diner proved too large to haul over the Manhattan Bridge, and transporting it by ferry proved too expensive. Meanwhile, the building has been empty for a long time now and, as we all know, we don’t have nearly enough empty or half-constructed luxury apartments in this town. So the estimable restaurant had to get moving.

Fortunately Michael Perlman, Chairman of Committee To Save The Cheyenne Diner, was able to broker a deal with property owner George Papas and Joel Owens of Birmingham, AL. That’s right. Just like a City employee with a fat pension, the Cheyenne is heading down south to take things easy. It’s going to be transported via flatbed in 2 sections to Birmingham with the help of Rigger Mel Brandt of M&M Rigging, who moved the Moondance Diner to LaBarge, WY in August of 2007.

So the Cheyenne is in good hands, and it will continue to feed the hungry and the drunk, just like it did here for 68 years. All well and good. But it is going to be missed. At least the Market Diner on 43rd and 11th has re-opened. Go there, people; give them your business so we can keep these beauties in New York where they truly belong.