Munson Diner and cups full of nostalgia coming to Liberty

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

LIBERTY, NY — As soon as a group of Sullivan County investors puts the final touches on a real estate deal, the storied Munson Diner of Hell’s Kitchen will be lifted onto a flatbed in one piece and hauled up to the Catskills, where it will be reborn on the corner of Main and Lake streets in the Village of Liberty.

The 1945 diner, which still sat at 11th Avenue and 49th Street in Midtown early this week, went up for sale almost six months ago when an adjacent car dealership bought the building and the land underneath it. In order to clear space for expansion, the dealership had planned to demolish the stainless steel and glass relic.

But thanks to a project initiated by the newly formed Liberty Community Development Corporation and funded by the Liberty-based Munson Diner Corporation (MDC), it looks like the Art Moderne restaurant will get a new home on one of Sullivan County’s fast-growing Main Streets.

The project surfaced at a February 10 Village of Liberty Planning Board meeting when MDC principle Jeremy Gorelick asked the board for permission to deliver the diner to its new home in Liberty. As soon as the MDC could finalize its purchase of the village property, the diner would be rescued and placed on blocks temporarily at Main and Lake streets, facing Main, Gorelick said.

The board favors the project, and if everything goes as planned, the diner will become a permanent building in Liberty this spring.