A Legendary SoHo Diner Has Quietly Starred In Some Major Movies

New York is known for its famous on screen eateries like Tom's Restaurant in "Seinfeld" or Katz's Delicatessen in "When Harry Met Sally" (which appears in the scene featuring that famous punchline), but rarely has a diner appeared as frequently in film and television as the Moondance Diner. Located on the corner of Sixth Avenue between Grand Street and Canal Street in the New York neighborhood of SoHo (South of Houston Street), the Moondance Diner was a railroad car-style diner built in 1933 made of shiny chrome. It had an adorable spinning crescent moon sign on top and shimmering glitter around its logo. On the inside, it had laminate tables squeezed next to shiny blue vinyl stools in front of a counter.

The diner's cartoony and 20th-century Americana aesthetic stood out against the surrounding brick apartment facades and other historic buildings, which made it really pop on screen. In addition to its motion picture appearances, the SoHo staple was featured in episodes of "Friends," "Law & Order," "Reading Rainbow," and "Miami Vice," as well as the music video for A-ha's "You Are the One."

One of the diner's biggest starring moments is in Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man," when Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) runs into Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst). The diner is in the background of a shot when Mary Jane bashfully reveals her retro uniform and confesses that she is just another struggling actor waiting tables in-between jobs. By shooting on location, "Spider-Man" has more personality and a tangible texture that sets it apart from the CGI and soundstage-heavy Marvel movies that came after. The Moondance Diner is also the perfect place for Mary Jane to work because many real-life performers and artists found a home there, such as the creator of the "Rent" stage musical, Jonathan Larson.

With its proximity to the East Village and Greenwich Village, SoHo was a funky haven for creatives and LGBTQ+ community members. Visual artists were able to live and work in affordable loft apartments there, while actors were close to Off-Broadway and Off-Off-Broadway venues. By the mid-1980s, however, artists and longtime residents had been pushed out by gentrification (specifically, rising rents, Wall Street workers, and ritzy shops). These new residents were drawn to the neighborhood's groovy vibes, yet they forced out the very individuals who made it that way.

The Moondance Diner was a particularly beloved spot for the eclectic folks who made SoHo so special. "There is always a good energy here, beautiful light, the food. It just feels like home," as Ruth Litoff (a frequent customer there) once told NY1. Unfortunately, its appearance in "Spider-Man" was one of the last signs of the neighborhood's eccentricity before the diner was moved to Wyoming in 2007 and replaced by luxury hotels. Today, the Moondance Diner sits empty and alone in the town of La Barge.

Lin-Manuel Miranda's film adaptation of Larson's autobiographical stage musical "tick, tick... BOOM!" lovingly recreates the Moondance Diner on screen and honors the creative spirit of SoHo that once thrived there. "tick, tick... BOOM!" also depicts what it was like to be one of those "starving" artists in the SoHo area. When Larson reaches his 30th birthday in the story, he reevaluates his musical aspirations while hustling at the Moondance Diner. In real life, Larson worked there from 1985 to 1995, making him a first-hand witness to the neighborhood's rapid gentrification. He quit when "Rent" was accepted to the New York Theatre Workshop but tragically passed away before the first preview.

Miranda rebuilds the legendary diner on a soundstage for the leisurely "Sunday" song that captures the dull grind of Sunday brunch at the Moondance: "In the blue, silver chromium diner / Drips the green, orange, violet drool / From the fools / Who'd pay less at home," Larson sings. The sequence is bursting with cameos from famous Broadway actors, including Bernadette Peters, Chita Rivera, Joel Grey, a trio of actors from the original production of "Rent" (Adam Pascal, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia), and Miranda's fellow "Hamilton" stars Renée Elise Goldsberry and Phillipa Soo. This laundry list of Broadway royalty honors the arts scene that kept the SoHo neighborhood churning, especially all the struggling actors, dancers, playwrights, and musicians who lived or worked nearby.

The diner walls even fold down like theater flats, letting Andrew Garfield as Jonathan Larson (in one of his best roles) stand in the bright sun and conduct a rousing chorus. In this moment, he's the composer he came to New York to be, not just a waiter. The final shot takes in the entire diner tucked into that corner on SoHo, a neighborhood where so many creatives tried to make their dreams come true.