The Actual Diner

In my original first post of this blog, I mentioned the property tax records for the rumored location of the actual diner portrayed in Hopper's "Nighthawks" painting and how they made no reference to a diner ever being at the corner of Greenwich and Seventh. While creating the entries you see in this blog, I had secretly started working on another site last year that was a very detailed and researched follow on to that little tidbit. It was my intention to attempt to find out where the actual diner once stood (if it had ever existed at all) and perhaps get an actual photograph of the place that we are all so familiar with.

My site is still a work in progress and is located HERE. There is still much to do on the site, but so far it has been concluded that there was no diner at Mulry Square and that Hopper based many of his previous works off of combinations and fragments of other real scenes, and sometimes completely from his own imagination.

Within the last week, it has come to my attention that another popular blog titled "Jeremiah's Vanishing New York" has embarked on a 3 part series to find the location of the actual diner shown in the painting, just like I had secretly been doing. Jeremiah had gone through just about all of the painstaking research steps I had gone through and arrived at the same conclusions, BUT he took the research one step further and decided to check out additional corners along Greenwich to see if there was any that could be another possible location for the famed diner! Please take the time to read through these three entries and the "coda" finale to follow the fascinating progress that Jeremiah has made in this neverending quest!

Finding Nighthawks, Part 1
Finding Nighthawks, Part 2
Finding Nighthawks, Part 3
Finding Nighthawks, Coda

Please stay tuned both here and to Jeremiah's blog as I will update if there are any new improvements found, and Im sure that even though Jeremiah may have concluded his mission having not found any solid evidence, I think the door may still be open for further investigation if credible leads come out of hiding! Also, I will be making updates to my Diner site very soon, as I still have a lots more pictures to add!!

X-ray

This one is from an unknown source and features an xray view of the people at the counter.

Pennies From Heaven

Steve Martin's movie "Pennies from Heaven" includes a number of scenes built on paintings and photographs from the Depression and post-war eras. This scene features Steve Martin (in the fedora) and Bernadette Peters (with her trademark hair) sitting at the diner.

Phones

I do now know what this one is titled, but it was done by worth1000.com user "akatatsu" and features cell phones at the diner with a teapot as the attendant. Neon bars outline the window.

Polit Dreams

This one is called "Boulevard of Polit Dreams". I dont know what is happening here but the patrons of the diner have been replaced with new people and there is a man standing outside looking in.

X-day

This one is called "X-Day". I do not remember where it comes from or who made it but there is a lot of violence happening here. There is a building on fire in the background and a dead person in the street. The diner is now called "Dobbs's Die Ner".

Uli Stein

This one is done by Uli Stein and has his name as the diners name. It has some cartoonish looking rats and a cat here. I believe this may be from a cartoon in another country.

Atlantic Monthly

This is the cover of the Atlantic Monthly "State of the Union" issue. It shows Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty at the diner.

Unter Leute

This one is by Rainer Trischel and is called "Unter Leute" which I have no idea what it means. The caption is in a foreign language as well. It shows one man at the diner talking to the attendant.

Nightbucks

Another take on turning the diner into a Starbucks coffee shop. This one was donr by user "mattbach" on worth1000.com as part of a photoshop contest.

Truck Stop

I dont know where this one came from but it is title "Night Hawks At The Truck Stop". and features the diner as a truck stop named "Pitstop", with a semi truck outside.

Justice League

This one was part of a worth1000.com photoshop contest created by user "QTFan451". It has Superman and Wonder Woman at the diner.

Mcdonalds

Another take on converting the diner to a modern McDonalds. This time very simple, only having a sign and the attendant in a different uniform.

Unreal Tournament

This comes from a user created map for the first person shooter game "Unreal Tournament".

Vader

This one from a worth1000.com photoshop contest simply puts Darth Vader from Star Wars at the diner.

Titanic

This photoshop brings the diner to the Titanic and names it the "Iceberg Bar". Characters from the Titanic movie are shown around the diner.

Nightsharks

This one is called "Nightsharks" and was done by worth1000.com user "kngdvd" as part of a photoshop contest. It features the diner as a more fun place to go and play pool and pinball.

Rest Stop

Found on flickr and created by user "bredlo". This work is titled "Rest Stop" and is part of a series with classic Airstream campers put into famous art works.

The Masters

An unknown remake, featuring unknown characters at the "Masters" diner. There is even a dog at the diner in this one.

Arschloch in Öl

This one was done by Walter Moers and is called "Arschloch in Öl". It has one of his signature characters at the counter with no guests at all.