The diner opened in 1933, when it was named the Holland Tunnel Diner. It could seat about 34 people, with six tables and ten counter stools. Like most diners of its vintage, it was built elsewhere and transported to its site. The entire structure was roughly thirty-six by sixteen feet. Circa 1997, it was purchased by Sunis Sharma. In 2007, it was announced that due to rising rent, the diner would be closing, and a demolition date of August 1 was set. Preservationists and the neighborhood's residents organized benefits for the diner. In mid-2007, the diner was donated by Extell Development Company to the American Diner Museum in Providence, Rhode Island, which put it up for sale on its website before the structure was moved. In August the diner was purchased from the museum for $7,500 by Vince and Cheryl Pierce and transported on the back of a semi-trailer truck to La Barge, Wyoming, at a cost of $40,000. However, shortly after the move, there were reports that the diner was unused and falling into dilapidation in its new site. During its first Wyoming winter, in January 2008, the diner's walls buckled and the entire roof caved in under the weight of ice and snow. The rotating moon sign, kept safe in storage, was undamaged. By March 2008, the diner was mostly repaired and restored, and was open for business six days a week. It was included in a late 2000s / early 2010s list of 51 "great burger joints" compiled by USA Today through reader suggestions. After a decline in trade due to a downturn in the local Wyoming gas drilling industry, the diner closed in March 2012, and by July was again put up for sale. While condominiums were announced to be built on the diner's former site in New York, the James Hotel went in instead.
In popular culture
In the television sitcom Friends, the character Monica Geller worked at the Moondance Diner, which was depicted as a 1950s theme restaurant with singing waitstaff. However, the show was filmed in Los Angeles, and only the exterior shots depicted the real diner.
In the 2005 rock-mockumentary film , six-year-old Alex faints on the counter of Moondance Diner after drinking and spilling cans of soda all over himself.
American composer and playwright Jonathan Larson was a waiter for ten years at the Moondance Diner.
Actor Jesse L. Martin met fellow waiter Larson at the Moondance Diner and later starred as Tom Collins in Larson's play and film versions of the musical Rent.
