PENN YAN, N.Y.—In a real-life nightmare on Elm Street in Penn Yan, New York, the Finger Lakes community’s eponymous diner lay gutted by fire in May 2024— just a year shy of its centennial. Undaunted, the owners of the longest continuously operated business in Yates County are raising the iconic eatery from its ashes and restoring it to its Jazz Age origins.
“Over the past hundred years, [the PennYan Diner] has been remodeled, redesigned, and refinished, so suddenly we have this opportunity to take it back to a format and finish more consistent with its original appearance,” says Nate Salpeter, one of the diner’s four current owners. “It’s always a healthy way to look at crises as, ‘Where is the silver lining?’ In our case, the silver lining is a second chance.”
Built in 1924 by the Richardson Dining Car Company in Silver Creek, New York— and transported 125 miles east by rail to a spot about a block from its current location—the
Penn Yan Diner has overcome catastrophes before. In 1932, the eatery suffered a serious fire; in 2014, it sustained serious flood damage. But it bounced back and kept on serving customers.
The latest fire revealed original dark wood paneling, oak stools, and a pair of transom windows hidden under drywall—all of it lost but all to be restored. To that end, and with
the next hundred years in mind, the owners enlisted an architect skilled in both historical
restoration and modern efficiency upgrades. The goal is to open for their centennial summer and bring visitors back to 1925 with all the perks of 2025, such as a bottomless cup of diner coffee from renowned Finger Lakes Coffee Roasters and beloved lunch favorites with vegan and gluten-free options enjoyed in a better-insulated and comfortably-cooled environment.
“The outpouring of support and encouragement has been incredible,” Salpeter says,
“and I just can’t stress enough how excited and hopeful we are to bring the Penn Yan Diner
back to its original glory.”
