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Panayiotou told the Times that his father “tried to be upbeat about the situation,” adding that “I remember one of the waiters said: ‘All right, Pete. That is, until the pandemic shut the city down last March.”
Gee whiz diner free#
“Doors opened at 5:30 AM, welcoming ‘the morning coffee crew,’ including the homeless who could get free coffee, said Susan Guercio, who has been a customer for 22 years,” the Times reported, adding that the “doors closed at midnight, seven days a week. The business partners experimented with the menu and Panayiotou told the Times of his father’s cooking, “Food that reminded you of home, but with a twist.”Ĭustomers participated in the menu development process as well, including Tak Inagaki, a longtime regular who later became a close family friend, and told the Times that “Peter would say, ‘Hey, try this!’ But would blindfold us so that we couldn’t see what we were eating.” Peter Panayiotou was 25 when he immigrated to the United States from Cyprus, the Times reported, adding that “in 1989, Peter and his business partner, Andy Koutsoudakis, who came from the Greek island of Crete, decided to start a restaurant that showcased home-style cooking.” This is what Dad would want,” the Times reported. “This is a sign,” he thought, “We’re going to reopen no matter what. Panayiotou’s shoulder and said, ‘I’ll let you be,’” the Times reported, adding that Panayiotou “stood there, he said, for another 10 minutes.” Looking at his father’s name brought tears to Panayiotou’s eyes, and Morales “put his hand on Mr. The name was there “in elegant bulging block letters, three feet wide and sealed in Greek blue (it has since faded),” the Times reported, noting that Panayiotou “was speechless.” Morales showed Panayiotou the spot outside at the corner of Greenwich and Warren Street, and said, “Look down,” the Times reported. Morales told him, “They put your dad’s name on the sidewalk,” and explained that “in the previous few days, a man had been seen welding at night… engraving the name Peter Panayiotou on the sidewalk,” the Times reported, adding that “the mystery welder told a passer-by, ‘Peter was a good friend.’”
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Panayiotou “entered the diner for the first time since his father’s death,” the Times reported, adding that “a few minutes later, David Morales, a concierge from a building next door, rushed in.” Panayiotou was surprised “to find that the restaurant was perfectly fine” and “indeed, the diner’s doors had been covered with messages and memories by customers, its entry filled with dandelions, orchids, and roses,” the Times reported.
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Gee Whiz Diner remained closed for three months and Panayiotou “wondered whether he should just give up and sell it,” the Times reported.Īs the protests began after the killing of George Floyd and reports of “sporadic violence and looting in Manhattan” reached Panayiotou, he received “a call from a handyman who worked in the diner’s building, suggesting he should shore up the property,” the Times reported. “Chris Panayiotou, however, was deep in mourning, and struggled to take charge of what was essentially his second home,” the Times reported, adding that “it reminded him too much of his father.” 11, Hurricane Sandy and years of gentrification and soaring rents,” the Times reported, noting that “the pandemic proved too forceful,” and “the fate of the business was left in his son’s hands.” Peter Panayiotou “had kept Gee Whiz thriving through Sept. NEW YORK – Chris Panayiotou was featured in the New York Times sharing the story of the sign that led him to reopen Gee Whiz Diner, 295 Greenwich Street in Lower Manhattan, after the death of his father, Peter Panayiotou, due to COVID-19 a few weeks after the diner shut down in March during the lockdown.Īs so many families struggle with loss during the pandemic, Chris Panayiotou “was lost without his father” the Times reported, adding that “the remarkable gesture of a stranger helped him heal” and make the decision to reopen the 30-year-old family business.