Not Such a Marvelous Night for a Moondance

The Moondance Diner—one of the better known diners in Manhattan owing to its presence near the Holland Tunnel (easy viewing from cars on Sixth Avenue) and its proximity to Soho (late night bites for trendoids trolling the restaurants and bars of the Cast Iron district)—will no longer light up the lonely New York nights by the end of the year.

The New York Sun reports the sad news that the diner and an adjacent two-story parking garage and a parking lot will be developed into—gee, do I even have to tell you?—"luxury residential condominiums." (Thanks to Konrad Fielder for the photo.)

Some may know the eatery best as the pace where Kirsten Dunst waited tables in "Spider-Man," but real New Yorkers know the joint's real claim to artistic fame is that it once employed "Rent" composer Jonathan Larson as a waiter. He even set a song in his lesser-known work "tick, tick...BOOM!" in a Moondance-like diner.

Though I've never been in love with the food (it actualy was diner food), I was always glad the Moondance was there. Its retro decor was only somewhat self-conscious and it was an easy place to rest your bones in the wee hours of a Saturday night or the early hours of a Sunday morning. The owner—ironically named "Sunny"—says he will hold on to the iconic sign.