The Cap City closes

Category: Eat in Diners

Published Date

Written by Randy Garbin

Several news outlets reported today that your last chance to get a meal at the Capital City Diner comes this Sunday. With the opening of a new Denny's a stone's throw away coupled with the diner's ongoing struggles in a marginal neighborhood, co-owner Matt Ashburn finally rests the spatula.

As many already know, Matt and former partner Patrick Carl bought the Avoca, New York Silk City diner on eBay at an inflated price of $20,000, and immediately stumbled into and through repeated hurdles establishing their business in a dicey part of town.

A few months after they opened, I had the opportunity to speak with Matt, who wryly spoke of the issues they faced — the crime, the troubles with the city, the struggle to retain good help. In other words, the same issues that faced just about every owner of a small restaurant in an old city neighborhood. According to Matt, the original idea of buying a food wagon inflated into full diner-dom, requiring much more time, money, and effort than they originally planned.

While I enjoyed my visit with Matt and my meal, I knew that he possibly faced insurmountable odds. Tom Carman at the Washington Post also spoke with Matt, who shared some of his war stories, including at least one hold-up at gunpoint.

Matt Ashburn (left) discusses the work schedule with an employee.

Opening up a 35-seat diner in the best of locations requires steely fortitude and inexhaustible drive. I couldn't help but wonder what Matt and Tom were thinking when they opted to plant stakes in the Trinidad neighborhood. Still, I've seen others overcome worse adversity, but only a very few.

The prospects now for the former Avoca Diner look grim. In most cases where diners such as these have existed for decades in such locations, they all-too-often slip from their historical moorings. A building constructed to serve comfort food to the working classes become fast food Chinese, taco joints, nail salons, or offices for used car lots. Doesn't have to happen, I suppose, so lets all hope for the best.