"Its chrome façade and its 1950s railcar-style silhouette part road movie, part film noir, which since 1968 have anchored the corner of Wythe Avenue and North Third Street, have become an integral part of the neighborhood's urban history, as well as the perfect backdrop for several high-profile film productions that helped shape American cinema."
"So when the Wythe was gently lifted by a crane onto a trailer and carried a few miles to the Steiner Studios complex inside the Brooklyn Navy Yard-its new home-it felt to many like watching the last remnant of a vanishing city disappear into the distance. Yet the diner had long ceased to function as a restaurant. After its last owner and operator, Sandy Stillman, closed it in 2018, it became a setting for pop-ups, events, photo shoots, and even a Chanel temporary shop in 2023."
"It was the intervention of Doug Steiner of Steiner Studios-as reported by the New York Post -that saved the diner from the wave of gentrification that has swept the neighborhood over the past decades. Steiner decided to move the entire structure in order to preserve it intact and transform it into a permanent film set.:"I wasn't looking for a diner", he said, "but it felt like a great act of preservation"."
Williamsburg's Wythe Diner anchored the corner of Wythe Avenue and North Third Street since 1968 with a chrome façade and 1950s railcar silhouette that evoked nostalgic American imagery and served as backdrop for notable film productions. The diner closed as a restaurant in 2018 under owner Sandy Stillman and later hosted pop-ups, events, photo shoots, and a 2023 Chanel temporary shop. After the lot was sold in summer 2025 to developers planning a mixed-use complex, the structure faced demolition. Doug Steiner of Steiner Studios purchased and moved the diner to the Brooklyn Navy Yard, preserving it intact as a permanent film set.
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