GREEN RIVER - It didn't take long for the Moondance Diner that arrived in tiny LaBarge last month to give up a bit of its storied history.

New owner Cheryl Pierce, who with husband Vince recently bought the famed New York eatery and relocated it to LaBarge, said workers began dismantling the floor last week as part of the diner's renovation and discovered four layers of tile underneath.

"Apparently over the years, when they'd do a new renovation of the diner, they just put tile over tile," Pierce said. "It was like digging down into history … It was kind of like walking back through time to the 1930s and '40s as we went through each layer and saw the designs."

Renovation and refurbishing of the 77-year-old Moondance Diner has begun, Cheryl Pierce said in a phone interview Friday.

The couple hope to have the diner restored and open for business before the end of the year. They plan to serve traditional diner fare including burgers, meatloaf, malts and milkshakes to residents, the oil and gas industry workers in the area, and to tourists passing through LaBarge on their way to Jackson and Yellowstone.

The Moondance Diner was built in Manhattan's SoHo district in the late 1920s in the sleek, streamline design of the era. The diner featured chrome detailing, barrel roof ceilings and wrap-around windows and was topped with a huge, incandescent, revolving, crescent-shaped moon sign.

The Moondance served up cheeseburgers, fries and homemade shakes to Manhattan trend-setters and celebrities for decades before being scheduled for demolition earlier this year.

The Pierces rescued the diner when they bought it for $7,500 in July, strapped it to a flatbed truck and hauled it last month to LaBarge, which currently has no operating cafes or restaurants.

The preservation and relocation of the Moondance, which has been used in numerous TV episodes and films such as "Spider-Man," caught the attention of New York media and diner fans across the country and sparked feverish excitement among LaBarge's 600 or so residents.

Manhattan's old grand dame has certainly lost a bit of her Big Apple luster over the years and is in need of a lot of renovation, Pierce said.

The media interest, however, hasn't faded.

A reporter and crew from CNBC's prime-time show "On the Money" spent about six hours in LaBarge last weekend taping and interviewing the Pierces for a show on the Moondance that will air later next month.

"We were excited, but a little nervous too about what we were going to do, but it was fun because we kind of ran into people and talked to them and they got photos of the diner," she said. "It was funny, because their videographer named Victor ate in the diner about 20 years ago in New York."

Classy, rich colors

Pierce said workers will probably begin pouring the foundation next week for the diner's new home in downtown LaBarge. She said some renovation has already begun on the diner's interior.

"They're working on the floor while it sits at the current spot," Pierce said. "We're also having a welder come in to weld the corners a bit, and once the foundation is built, then we'll have a crane come in and lift it onto the foundation. Once that's done, we'll finish the renovation right there on its new spot."

She said an additional structure - which will house the diner's kitchen facilities - is being constructed in Riverton and when completed, will be attached to the diner.

Pierce said the late architect/designer Alan Buchsbaum redid the interior of the Moondance in 1983.

"We're trying to go off that (design) and get the diner back to that 1983 version that is really rich in color and classy looking," she said.

Pierce said local contractors were so eager to start refurbishing the diner that they began work earlier this month before the family had even signed the final construction loan papers. "Everybody's been so excited," she said.

Pierce said the renovation has been a "true labor of love." She noted husband Vince has been hand-working on the famed Moondance sign to restore it to its former glory.

"The sign has all these little silver sequin stars on the sign, there are thousands of them, and (Vince) is taking each one of them individually and polishing them and getting them ready," she said.

"We're treating this like a gift," Pierce said. "It's almost like we don't really own it, we're just caretakers of the diner … It's taken on a life of its own. How often in life does one get the opportunity to be the caretaker of (history)?"

Once considered cultural icons in eastern and midwest America, diners are gradually disappearing in the age of fast-food restaurants, according to preservationists. Of about 6,000 diners once existed in the country, and fewer than 2,500 survive today.

Southwest Wyoming bureau reporter Jeff Gearino can be reached at 307-875-5359 or at gearino@tribcsp.com.