During a time when I worked in Queens, I would sometimes take advantage of the morning commute subway change from the G to the 7 to visit a Long Island City diner and pick up an egg sandwich for the road. I don't remember the name of the place. It was on windswept Jackson Avenue, not far from the Citicorp Building. It was a narrow, railroad-flat-shaped place run by a nice Greek family. A counter on the left, booths on the right. They were very friendly, always smiling. The egg sandwiches were more than decent. It made for a nice pit stop.
I was in that area the other day and saw that the diner was gone. Not just the diner, but the building it was in, and several other buildings besides. There was a gaping hole, a large development site, where my nice diner used to be. Lord knows what will arise on the spot.
It's seemingly meaningless losses like this, of anonymous family-owned businesses, that chip away at the City's soul, bit by bit, day by day.
Curbed reported two years ago that the site was bought by a Japanese budget hotel chain, Toyoko Inn. Recent chatter on the interweb suggests it might rise to about 3/4 the size of the neighboring Citibank building.
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