Every neighborhood has its anchors, landmark businesses that bring personality and character to their home turf. For the stretch between the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and the Inner Harbor, the Little Gem Diner, 832 Spencer St., achieved legendary status during five-plus decades of operation.
But when the owner of the kitschy silversided café fell victim to structural problems and a financial shortfall leading to its closing two years ago, it left a gaping hole in the transitional neighborhood that many see as bursting with developmental potential. One family of local restaurateurs saw the end of an era for the Little Gem as an opportunity to start a new chapter in the revitalization of the community, leading to an ongoing renovation of the property as it careens toward a June grand opening.
“We’ve been talking about it for a yearand-a-half, because we knew it would become available,” revealed Doug LaLone, whose family runs Mama Nancy’s, 510 State Fair Blvd., an all-night hotspot for truckers, travelers and locals hungry for breakfast, a burger or a cup of fresh joe. Although Mama Nancy’s is only a half-mile from the steel bullet that once was Little Gem, LaLone and his family plan to operate both diners, but not in exactly the same way.
The rebirth of Doc’s Little Gem will come under a new name, the Gem, and will generate an expansion both inside and out, with a covered deck that can hold 60 customers, three ice cream windows and two new dining rooms. “It’s going to be a great environment,” LaLone raved. “The buzz we’re getting about reopening that place is crazy. People are just coming out of the woodwork saying ‘Can’t wait ’til the Gem opens.’ The buzz is more about reopening, rejuvenating that building. It’s a historic landmark. We’re going to stay with the same theme. We love the trolley car theme. We’re going to make it retro inside, like a 1950s-style diner.”
The new business owners are planning to serve breakfast, lunch and dinner, opening at 6 a.m. each day and closing at 11 p.m. on weekdays and midnight on weekends. They’ll be baking gourmet pizza and pouring beer and wine, but atmosphere will play as large a role as menu in attracting customers to the transformed eatery. “Wednesday nights we’re going to have hot rods and bikes there together,” LaLone promised. “We want to do a huge Wednesday-night party every week, giving out trophies and gift certificates. I want it to be a place for people to bring their car down for an ice cream, bring their bike down to have a beer, bring the family and have dinner.”
Work crews are currently swarming the corner site, remodeling to LaLone’s design. The property is owned by Montreal Construction, a local business with several properties nearby. “We’re updating everything from the electrical system, heating unit, the roof,” LaLone said. “We’re updating, yet making it look retro like it originally did. I’ll just tell you this: We’re over budget and behind schedule, so everything seems to be working perfectly. We had a goal in mind and we’ve exceeded it.”
As a West Side native and business owner, LaLone embraces the opportunity to be instrumental in the neighborhood’s emergence.
“The thing about the Gem is I didn’t want to see it just fall off the face of the map here in Syracuse,” he said. “The West End is on the verge of all this development. Every time we seem to take a move to the positive, we also seem to take a step back. The Little Gem closing was just that—a step back.”
An eye-popping exterior with new signage and lighting will give the Gem some sparkle. “It’d be nice if we could get sidewalks and lamps from the Inner Harbor down to where we are,” LaLone said. “It would make it a destination, which was the original plan anyway, to expand the West End over to the Inner Harbor and over to the {Carousel Center} mall. We’d like to get integrated with the Inner Harbor.”
The welcome will continue as customers enter to be greeted by a bolstered staff and managed by a member of the owners’ family. “I’m probably going to hire 30 people right off the bat. You have to figure I’ve got four dining areas with the deck,” he said. “I’m going to have eight waitresses. I’m going to have three or four people cooking in the kitchen at all times, with a hostess, a cashier, and management. I’m going to have 15 people there on any shift.”
Co-op buying power and increased presence in the neighborhood give LaLone reason to be optimistic about his new joint’s future. “It was better that we took that place down the street than someone else did,” he insisted. “We thought that by us expanding our horizons with that location, it’s just going to be a benefit to both of the restaurants. We’re just kind of blessed by the whole project. We really wanted to expand. We just feel that this is our end of town and we want to stay here. We thought about the suburbs, but we’ve got such a friends-and-family base here that this was the place to be. When it came down to pushes and shoves, this is where we wanted to stay: the West End.”
—Kevin Corbett
Silver and old: Well on its way toward renovation, remodeling and rebirth as the Gem, this diner fixture at 832 Spencer St., will once again welcome customers in mid-June. Check The New Times for updates as the occasion approaches.
