Ellen's Stardust Diner

The story

The walls are lined with photographs of past Miss Subways winners, and somewhere inside sits a 1956 Predicta television. When Ellen's Stardust Diner opened in 1987 — the first 1950s theme restaurant in New York City — waitresses wore poodle skirts and the retro fantasy felt genuinely new. What kept it alive was the singing waitstaff, now the diner's defining feature. In 2016–2017, thirty-one of those performers were allegedly fired for attempting to unionize with the Industrial Workers of the World; a settlement in October 2017 gave the fired workers an opportunity to return.