This morning customers and employees of the Olympic Diner, 115 Delancey Street, are feeling pretty lucky. You wouldn’t think that would be their reaction following an overnight accident that sent a Daily News delivery truck sailing through the restaurant’s facade.
But when we stopped by a short time ago, they were indeed relieved that the incident happened at 1:30 a.m., when the metal drop-down gates were down and the diner closed. The owner said he hates to think what would have happened if people had been sitting at tables alongside the window when the truck came barrelling through.
The diner is open today. Customers are eating lunch and talking about what it will take to repair the damage. The owner told us he has every expectation the newspaper’s insurance company will pay to repair the window and wall along Essex Street. An ATM machine, that sits outside the restaurant, was also damaged. The building is part of the Essex Street Market complex.
A fire department spokesman told DNA Info the truck was heading east on Delancey towards the Williamsburg Bridge when the driver apparently lost control. He and a passenger were taken to Bellevue Hospital.
The Olympic diner sits on the southeast corner of Essex and Delancey, one of the city’s most dangerous intersections.
Maybe he was trying to beat the ice cream truck !
Bummer, the gates looked so cool with the cars, and the Ice Cream Truck. Spruced up the intersection, that was so bland. Bring it back by popular demand.