JOLIET — For the first time in many decades, one of the city’s best known tourism destinations, The Joliet Route 66 Diner, remains shuttered. The downtown restaurant’s windows are covered with brown paper so people can’t look inside.
Back in April, Joliet Patch broke the news of The Joliet Route 66 Diner’s demise. Google Reviews list the restaurant as permanently closed. The Route 66 Diner is located at 22 W. Clinton St., across from the Joliet Public Library.
Back in April, Patch reported that Mark Koenig, who owns The Koenig Group real estate services, was advertising the restaurant property at 22-24 W. Clinton St. on several websites for commercial properties.
The proposed rent for The Route 66 Diner was $3,000 a month total.
At Tuesday night’s meeting, Joliet City Councilman Joe Clement told everyone he was deeply concerned about The Route 66 Diner.
On two recent occasions, Clement said, he saw out of town tourists, presumably on their Route 66 tour across the United States, stop and pose for photographs in front of the empty Route 66 Diner.
“It’s a shame,” Clement said. “It’s very unfortunate the restaurant is closed. I would like to find out is it going to open or is it going to stay closed?”
Clement said he wants to make sure that city officials realize the importance of The Route 66 Diner to Joliet’s tourism and the downtown’s vitality.
In April, The Route 66 Diner abruptly closed for business after the landlord raised the rent, prompting the managers of the restaurant to vacate the space, Clement pointed out.
During a September 2021 story, Patch reported that Joliet’s Route 66 Diner is different from most of the area restaurants because it relies on tourism, even international tourism, to succeed.
About 50 percent of the restaurant’s business is tourism-related, according to staff. People from all over the United States choose to eat their breakfast or lunch at The Joliet Route 66 Diner as part of their cross-country vacation journey.
The front window is where out of town tourists usually pose for their keepsake photo, in front of the red, white and blue Route 66 sign. Claudia Salez and Ariana Ruiz operated The Joliet Route 66 Diner, and their breakfast and lunch diner had been a part of downtown Joliet for decades. Years ago, it was called the Peter Piper Restaurant.
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“We get people from Europe, all over,” Ruiz told Joliet Patch three years ago.
Three years later, The Joliet Route 66 Diner marks its sixth month of being empty.
“Is it going to open?” Clement asked Joliet Patch on Wednesday. “People have been going to that place for many years. That restaurant, I believe it’s a staple down there. I would love to know if it’s ever going to reopen?”
Clement said the city does not belong in the restaurant industry, however, he wants to make sure that Joliet officials, particularly the economic development department, are working to recruit and attract someone to reopen The Route 66 Diner, given its world-wide appeal.
Meanwhile, Joliet Patch has left a voicemail message with Koenig, inquiring whether his Joliet-based commercial real estate company has any prospective tenants for The Route 66 Diner.
Related Joliet Patch coverage:
Joliet’s Route 66 Diner: ‘We Get People From Europe, All Over’
Joliet Route 66 Diner Doesn’t Make It, But Good News On Horizon?
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