I got three good shots, I think, from a single fairly desolate block in Long Island City in Queens.   Past the diner you can see the same subway entrance that is in the background of the News Stand That Time Forgot, and the Paragon Home Heating Building that figures in the grainy black and white HDR I published just this past weekend is across the street.

The great news, however, is that in writing this post, I did some quick web research and discovered that this seemingly abandoned diner just re-opened as the M. Wells Diner.   According to this article, published 2 days ago, it just opened last week and are serving neo-Quebecois food.  Go read the article for more information about what that is.  They are also starting slowly, open limited hours on weekdays only for now.

This is truly coincidental timing.  I held this shot for 6-7 weeks and had no idea this was happening.  It was hard to tell looking in the windows back then whether there was active construction going on inside.  There are some materials visible in the entrance, but they could have been left there and abandoned from a project that never took off.  I’m glad someone is making a go of it and wish them well.

Here is an older Flickr photo taken by a different photographer, with comments that supply a bit more of the history of this location (assuming the commenters are accurate).