The post-pandemic rebirth of beloved Old John's Diner

In the early evening of Wednesday, June 23rd, the booths of Old John’s Diner were shining, ready to welcome new customers. Waiters walked up and down the spacious room, checking that each table was being taken care of. One of them stopped to exchange a few words with customers and recommend his favorite items from the menu.

It was the day of the grand reopening, nine months after the restaurant risked permanent closure amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, a much-awaited renovation had been in the works.

“I’ll have a Coke,” a young man in his 20s ordered.

One of the waiters quickly fetched a tall, skinny glass bottle, different from the familiar grocery store version, made of plastic. He snapped open the cap, poured the Coke in a cup with ice and stared at his client intently. “Try it,” he said. “This is the original Coke, the one we used to drink 40 years ago. They changed the recipe since, but the new formula is not authentic. This tastes like childhood. Try it.”

The reopening of Old John's is the latest adventure of Louis Skibar, who owns more than 10 restaurants around New York.

He remembers it clearly. Almost 40 years ago, he poured his first Coke for people sitting at these very tables. When he arrived from Bolivia, a 16-year-old full of ambition, Old John’s was the first place to give him a job.

Seven years and many Cokes later, he left the diner and started a career in the hospitality industry. Since then, he has become a prominent entrepreneur. To him, the reopening of Old John’s was a mission more than a business operation. When he heard about its closing in September 2020, he immediately decided to buy it off and renovate it.

Old John’s Diner­­—known as Old John’s Luncheonette throughout most of its 70 years of history—sits on a small stretch of West 67th Street, just behind Lincoln Center. According to residents of the Upper West Side, it was a beloved destination for family gatherings and affordable post-theater meals. The beige booths and wooden chairs filled the compact space, big enough to accommodate a theater crew of 50, and feed them burgers and pancakes after a show.

The place was popular, so the owner could always use help. “I was basically doing anything he needed,” Skibar said about his first years here. He did deliveries, made sandwiches, worked at the counter. At one point he became the grill man. “Being the grill man in a diner is like being the chef in a restaurant,” he said.

Old John’s also made history as a destination for the famous. Celebrities from the nearby ABC television network and the Juilliard School would hang out there, and superstar chef Ferran Adrià was a fan of its waffles. But Skibar became a celebrity in his own right. “Sometimes I walk around this area and a couple of guys recognize me and remember my name,” he said.

Even after he left the diner, he frequently went back for meals, and checked on his former colleagues and friends.

When COVID-19 came along, everything changed. Without the atmosphere, the bustle, the shared meals and conversations, Old John’s seemed doomed. It shuttered in September 2020. Kathy Dellinger, who had zealously waited tables for 21 years, was heartbroken. “I cried. It was devastating. I didn’t quite know what to do,” she said.

But Skibar knew that he had a moral obligation toward the diner. “I have roots here,” he said.

He took the opportunity to not only reopen Old John’s, but also to give it a refreshed look, in line with current trends. He replaced the beige of the booths with a more modern mint green, and changed the name “luncheonette” to a more up-to-date “diner.” The pinwheel mosaic floor has stayed the same, as has the neon sign that hangs across from the front door, a staple of the previous decor.

Then, he called Dellinger. “Of course I wanted to go back there to work. I didn’t want to work anywhere else. Old John’s was my home,” she said. Now, she roams the space like she owns it, and she’s been appointed social media manager for the restaurant’s Instagram page.

Together with Dellinger came the cooks, two young, enthusiastic Latinos. They, too, got an upgrade: a training period with Grayson Schmitz, a renowned chef with experience in several multi-Michelin-starred restaurants. Chef Schmitz created what she described as a “retro diner menu, without that greasy food feel.” Welcomed as a new member of the family, she spent some time with the cooks and taught them her secrets. Then, she left them to do their thing.

The new Old John’s blends tradition and innovation. It’s a plunge into the unknown after a pandemic nightmare. Skibar envisions its future like the future of New York itself. “I believe in New York, that New York will come back stronger,” he said. “I’ve been here for 30 years, I have no doubt.”

Does he think residents will be put off by the glossy new look of a once frugal luncheonette? “On the contrary. We captured the beauty of the diner, its sense of community,” he said. “If anything, it’s even nicer.”