The historic Eat-Rite Diner in St. Louis has closed permanently for a second time in a little more than three years.
Longtime Route 66 enthusiast Joe Sonderman reported the closing in a Facebook post on Friday evening, with the owners citing crime, violence and COVID-19 regulations.
KSDK-TV in St. Louis confirmed the closure with the owners, saying the Eat-Rite’s last day of operation was Dec. 12.
A phone call to the restaurant Friday was not answered. The Eat-Rite’s Facebook page also has went inactive for about six weeks.
A Google listing for the Eat-Rite lists it as “permanently closed.” Heath Goodridge snapped a photo of the restaurant Friday showing plywood affixed to all the windows and its front door:
Joel and Shawna Holtman bought the restaurant, renovated and reopened it in the spring of 2018 after its aging owner closed it the previous fall when the building encountered mechanical issues.
The Eat-Rite is an institution and was a popular hangout for St. Louis Cardinals baseball fans because the stadium is nearby.
The Eat-Rite was an old-school gem of worn Formica counters and hand-painted menu boards where one could order cheeseburgers by the half-dozen or a slinger (a mess of fried eggs, hash browns, cheese and hamburger patties slathered with chili and onions) made to order.
The Eat-Rite — known for its “Eat Rite or Don’t Eat At All” motto — sits on an old Chouteau alignment of Route 66 and sits only a block from the better-known Tucker Boulevard alignment of 66.
According to Norma Maret Bolin’s “Route 66 St. Louis” book, a business has existed at the Eat-Rite site since 1916. Originally a coal-selling venture, it became a gas station during the 1920s. It converted into a White Kitchen restaurant in 1936, then a Regal Sandwich Restaurant in 1957, then Gateway Sandwich in the 1960s and ’70s. It finally was morphed into the Eat-Rite in 1986.
UPDATE: The owners left this parting message on Facebook:
(Image of the Eat-Rite Diner in St. Louis in 2013 by Paul Sableman via Flickr)
Dang…..that’s really sad….I should have stopped in there, when I had a chance to , last year