GREEN RIVER - They'll be moonlighting at the new Moondance Diner before it even opens. Kind of a practice run, if you will, for Wyoming's newest landmark.

The slow pace of financial paperwork has pushed back the planned fall opening of the famed Moondance Diner until next spring, new owner Cheryl Pierce said this week.

In the meantime, Cheryl and husband Vince - who bought the famed New York eatery this summer and relocated it to the tiny town of LaBarge - are opening a catering business under the auspices of the Moondance Diner.

The aptly named business will be known as Moonlight catering, Cheryl Pierce said in a phone interview.

The business will provide catering services to the truck and energy industries in southwest Wyoming, she said.

"We're not going to sit idly by, I'll tell you that, just because the banks are taking their time," Pierce said. "We're ready to be doing that diner right now. But we think this (catering business) can be sort of a warm-up to running the diner when it opens next year."

A small bit of renovation and refurbishing of the 77-year-old Moondance Diner was completed last month on the diner's interior. Pierce said the couple recently finalized the purchase of a lot in downtown LaBarge where the new diner will eventually sit.

"We did close on the ground this week, and we're putting our banner up," she said. "But it doesn't look like we'll be able to start construction before winter. But we're still in full force on this, and it's moving along, and now we're looking at starting construction maybe in March or April."

Pierce said the intense interest in the diner's move to LaBarge and its history spurred the couple to create a Web site, www.historicmoondancediner.com, for the Moondance.

"It's up and running, and it's been so much fun," she said. "We've also got business cards and bumper stickers, and we've got Moondance Diner T-shirts on the way. It's been great."

Trendy eatery

The Moondance was located in Lower Manhattan, within New York City's trendy SoHo district, from the early 1920s until 2007.

Originally known as the Holland Tunnel Diner, the eatery featured the sleek, streamlined design of the era, sporting chrome detailing, barrel roof ceilings and wrap-around windows.

The most recognizable feature was the diner's unique revolving, crescent-shaped, incandescent moon sign. The diner was used in numerous TV episodes and films over the years, including cameo appearances in the first "Spider-Man" movie and on episodes of "Friends" and "Sex in the City."

The diner - noted for its cheeseburgers, fries, homemade shakes and hungry celebrity revelers stopping by for breakfast - became a victim of the times, however, and was scheduled for demolition earlier this year to make room for condominiums.

The Pierces rescued the diner and purchased the icon for $7,500 in July. The couple had been looking for a restaurant investment when they spotted the Moondance Diner for sale on the American Diner Museum's Web site.

The diner was strapped to a flatbed truck and hauled to LaBarge in August, which currently has no operating restaurants.

The preservation and relocation of the diner caught the interest of New York media and diner fans across the country and sparked feverish excitement among LaBarge's 600 or so residents. The 2,000 mile, cross-country trek through nine states was the subject of daily news, TV and radio reports. The trip took a week to complete.

Manhattan's grand old dame has lost a bit of her Big Apple luster in recent years and will require a lot of renovation, Pierce said.

Once it's renovated and open, the couple plans plans to serve up traditional diner fare including burgers, fries and milkshakes to residents, oil and gas industry workers, and to tourists passing through LaBarge on their way to Yellowstone and Jackson.

Traffic counts

Pierce said a new foundation will be poured at the site, and the diner will be lifted by crane onto the foundation, where it will be renovated and refurbished.

The couple also plans to build an additional structure to house the diner's kitchen facilities that will be attached to the back of the diner.

Pierce said a construction appraisal is being completed and contractors have bid on the renovation and relocation work. "Really, everything we've been doing the past two months has had to do with some sort of financing," she said.

"I was completely surprised at one point in the underwriting process when we talked to a guy in Minneapolis … who had no clue about LaBarge and this area," she said.

"We had to convince him there were enough people here to sustain a restaurant, and it was really frustrating," Pierce said. "So I called the Wyoming Department of Transportation, and they gave me the 2006 traffic counts along (U.S.) Highway 189, which was 2,250 vehicles per day. So we sent that back to the underwriter, and we're waiting."

Pierce said contractors took the siding off the diner last month so they could make bids for the renovation work.

"They found the integrity of the building was pretty good. The only wood that had rotted was on the sign, and we had planned on redoing the whole sign anyway," she said.

Pierce said the couple is now looking at a June 2008 opening.

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