Today is the big day . . . or one of them anyway.

7AM on a warm September 25^th we stand watching with great excitement and a few nerves as the cranes strap up to move the diner.

The plan is to lift the diner onto a flatbed trailer to move it approximately 100 feet to a safe spot with plenty of room around the perimeter.

The cranes lift the diner slightly as a test and proceed to set it back down on the steal beams its resting on.  What happens next I can hardly believe.  There is a CRASH BOOM and a slip of the steel beam that sends the diner off its center of gravity resulting in what looks like major damage from afar.  I’m so fearful to see for myself I stand motionless.  I can’t believe what I have just seen.  Did this really just happen?  I mean it is still sitting on the beams and technically only crashed slightly (yet ever so loudly).  How bad could it be?

I watch the construction manager with a very serious look on his face walk over to the head of construction standing next to me and say that there is structural damage and would advise not moving the diner at all.

Back Wall of Diner Caving in From the Top    

My heart is tightening in my chest as I proceed to slowly walk over to see for myself.  The back wall is buckled out and looks like it is split in half.  The front wall has completely separated from the base about a foot and you can see inside the diner from the underside.  There are a few broken tiles on the ground, front door and adjacent window have shifted and a less important stained glass window is broken.  There is no way to see the inside of the diner so I can’t tell what damage has been done there.  I feel like I am about to be sick!  I express this to Casey and he wraps a comforting arm around me and tells me there is nothing to     worry about.

Back Wall Where it Meets the Door Broken Tiles From Inside the Diner

Underside of the Front Wall Separated From Base

The head of construction starts joking about having a replica made in China and shipped over in a container, which breaks the tension.  I’m laughing.

The powers that be arrive to assess the damage but the structural engineer happens to be under the weather today.  We will have to wait for the most important assessment to be done later.

In the meantime, backup arrives from the crane company.  It is now 11AM and the movers begin the work on the second attempt.  Casey and I have to leave and when we return we watch the cranes carefully lift the diner off of the flatbed trailer and set her down ever so gently . . . as we all held our breath.

The Diner Loaded on the Flatbed Flatbed Pulling Away 

Flying Diner! Resting Safely 

Whew, finally safe and sound!

As if that weren’t enough excitement for the day  . . . as we are driving home we see a residential fire.  No one was around, Casey proceeds to jump the fence, climb the roof and fight a fire.  I put in a call to fire dispatch and pound on the door of the house where thankfully no one was home.  The neighbors emerge, police and fire arrive, and Casey and I drive home scoring some Good Karma Points because no one there knew who we were or the role that we played that day.

We are so excited to share our first blog post with you!

For the back story of how we have come to this point see our history page.

The Phil’s Diner blog is where you can follow our current progress and witness the countdown to our grand opening event currently scheduled for April 10, 2010.  We invite you to visit our website often to watch the evolution of this project. We also want to encourage you to tell everyone you know that great food is coming soon to a diner near you at Lankershim and Magnolia in North Hollywood.

Okay, so first things first . . .  I’m happy to announce that today we signed a contract with JH Snyder Company whose construction company will be building this project.

Thank you to JH Snyder Company for making this possible!

Also, we would like to give special thanks to the Community Redevelopment Agency for overseeing the relocation and restoration of the diner.  The CRA assigned Preservationist Architect, Robert Chattel, to assist us in preserving the historic integrity of the diner throughout this restoration process.  Robert has been most helpful in guiding us from our first concept seen in the artistic rendering by Larry Grossman to our current design.