Chelsea’s Hollywood Diner Back & Booming After August Fire

The popular neighborhood restaurant was closed for more than two months after a two-alarm fire erupted on August 28, but is now back serving happy customers. John Halijias, who oversees the diner with his son Socrates, told Chelsea News that he was feeling good about things.

| 11 Nov 2024 | 02:38

Chelsea’s beloved Hollywood Diner is back in action after a two-alarm fire left it closed for more than two months.

The diner, on the corner of Sixth Ave. and W. 16th St., looks the same as ever. It’s now proudly serving customers, quite a few of which were tucking into good grub at around noon on Nov. 8, when Chelsea News paid a visit.

“All the customers from the neighborhood were saying ‘when is it gonna reopen, when is it gonna reopen,’” diner operator John Halijias told Chelsea News. He helps his son, Socrates, with the day-to-day management of the restaurant. “Here we are, we’ve done our best to get it open as soon as possible for our customers.”

The restaurant looked like it hadn’t skipped a beat. “Problems from the fire could only last for so long,” Halijias said. “Our customers are happy to be back.”

”You meet everybody, and everybody smiles at you,” Halijias added. “I’m a happy man. For two months I was disappointed.”

Indeed, the diner has a legion of super-fans that are no doubt thrilled about it reopening its doors. Shadparie Bokharaie, who posts on the app NextDoor, describes it as her “favorite diner of 15 years!!!!!” When the diner first posted an “opening soon” sign in early September, she appeared joyous: “I am craving their cheese burger deluxe and delicious coleslaw!”

Other customers are fans of their unique Hollywood-themed offerings; one Yelp reviewer noted in February that it’s a “very cool little place that’s open 24 hours. I had Robert De Niro platter. It was very good. The service was great and the place was very clean. They also have a little bar area. Check this place out if you are in the area.”

Halijias elaborated that the fire had started between two walls in the back of the restaurant, behind the kitchen and the building next door. He also disputed the initial findings regarding what started the fire. “They’re talking about a grease trap. It didn’t start in our grease trap,” he said. “It started in the hallway next door.”

When the fire was first called in at around 11:30 a.m. that day, the FDNY said that they believed something had gone wrong with ductwork, and sent 106 firefighters and EMS personnel to the scene. It took until 12:50 p.m. to put out. Two firefighters were mildly injured, and were treated and discharged from the Lenox Hill Hospital branch in Greenwich Village.

The fire had also spread to the business above, a branch of the fitness chain Body Evolution. On the day of the fire, Body Evolution owner-operator Bill Macagnone told amNY that heavy black smoke had spread upwards, threatening his life. The FDNY also had to shatter Body Evolution’s windows to ventilate the building. That business is also up and running again as of last week, as evidenced by a social media post, and its windows have been reinstalled.