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"Nighthawks" Diner Never Existed!
By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 9, 2010
Modified Jun 9, 2010
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Jun 9, 2010
Modified Jun 9, 2010
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You know that famous Nighthawks painting featuring a diner? Well VanishingNY has been investigating the establishment featured in the now iconic Edward Hopper piece, which is popularly believed to have stood at Mulry Square (also known as block 613, Lot 62, on the corner where 7th Avenue South hits Perry Street). After an exhaustive search, however, the sad truth was uncovered: the diner never existed, at least not in any real, someone once ordered a milkshake there kind of way.
In Hopper's biography, the author states that the diner in the painting was "based partly on an all-night coffee stand Hopper saw on Greenwich Avenue." And Hopper himself had said, "I simplified the scene a great deal and made the restaurant bigger. Unconsciously, probably, I was painting the loneliness of a large city." So if it really never existed, what did he base the scene on? Vanishing notes that there may have been a mystery diner at Perry and 7th, of which no photos have turned up... yet!
Tagged
diner
edward hopper
Mulry Square
nighthawks
Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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