Hull Street’s Lighthouse Diner Changes Hands News by Michael C. Hild - October 13, 2018November 6, 201836 Closed since 1970, folks have been dreaming about reopening the beloved Lighthouse Diner in Manchester on Hull Street for 48 years now. But no one has been able to pull it off. The dilemma is a classic situation of “which came first: the chicken or the egg?” The argument goes like this: People would move to Manchester if there were more places to eat; conversely, more restaurants would open in Manchester if there were more people who lived there who would eat out. Economic cycles came and went. Hull street crumbled with little successful business investment other than neighborhood standout Croaker’s Spot. Many in the neighborhood have grown weary of watching the old Lighthouse Diner building deteriorate. Stripped by vagrants and vandals, accumulating graffiti, and literally crumbling to pieces, the building screams out to everyone that the once great business corridor has fallen on tough times. Neighborhood business owner Ravi McPhee who owns Island Yoga Fitness across the street from the old diner was recently approached by someone who asked him if he was worried about all the change happening in the neighborhood. His response, “Are you kidding me? Do you want to continue looking at that for another 25 years?!” as he pointed to the Lighthouse Diner. An acquaintance of mine mentioned just this past week that he went over to Hull Street to check it out and grab a donut. He went on to mention that he walked up Hull Street for a block or two and immediately turned around saying that he didn’t feel safe amongst all the abandoned and graffiti laden buildings. I didn’t bother mentioning to him that Manchester has a lower crime rate than the Fan or Church Hill. I knew it would be pointless to talk about facts though, so I let it go. Perception is a funny thing. People need to see with their eyes that an area is taken care of and safe. No words will convince them otherwise. Luckily, the City of Richmond agrees and is getting involved. The city put the old diner on its derelict property list, forcing the owner to fix up the property or risk criminal charges. The hammer had been dropped. The owner decided to sell to avoid the looming risk. So my wife Laura Hild decided to step up and buy the crumbling building. We both had grown tired of watching it sit vacant and fall apart. And now the herculean effort begins to try and make something productive out of it. For those who remember the Lighthouse, they remember that the diner portion of the building was actually tiny. More than two-thirds of the building was a centralized kitchen to serve its other locations around town, not diner seating. Only a small portion of the front of the buildings was an actual sit down diner. So the first step in the renovation project will be to stabilize the building shell, and convert it to a mixed use building. That means apartments at the rear of the building where that massive centralized kitchen and dry goods storage once sat, and some new construction at the rear to fill the parcel. If all goes according to plan, the second phase will then begin for the old diner space itself at the front. But that diner/restaurant use will ultimately be dependent on the neighborhood continuing to increase density, and showing that it can support yet another restaurant. With at least a half dozen new restaurants opening on the business corridor within a span of twelve months, it is yet to be seen if locals can and will support all the new food businesses. It is also an unknown if folks will venture south across the river once again to visit what once was Greater Richmond’s densest shopping corridor on Hull Street, before it ultimately collapsed into ruins and many folks moved to the burbs. Time will tell, but the optimist in me sees breakfast, burgers, beers, and milkshakes in the form of a revived Lighthouse Diner in Hull Street’s future. Fingers crossed. *Nearly all the old metal in this interior photograph of the Lighthouse Diner from ~15 years ago has been stripped out by vagrants in recent years.
I always liked that place. I remember a thief was going to use the copper down spout to climb to the roof & break in. It broke free & slowly arched back across some power lines. The thief, while still holding on to the spout, put his foot down & closed the circuit. Darwin justice was served & he was pronounced D.O.A. Reply
yes I have been there when it was open back in the day always thought it would be cool to reopen as a diner Reply
For the 10+ yrs we have been living in Manchester we have said how awesome would it be for the diner to reopen!! Can’t wait to see what you have in store for the place. Reply
I wrote a brief history of the Lighthouse diners and the Foster and Gervasoni families who operated them 1949-1975.. It’s in “True Richmond Stories,” available where ever fine reading matter is available. Reply
When I moved to Richmond in 2011, I lived in the apartments next to Croaker Spot. I use to walk by this place all the time. There were old school steel milkshake cups on the counter and it looked like it was just stuck in that time…I use to stand in front of the door and just admire it. Reply
I absolutely love Mike and Laura for what they are trying to do! Hopefully they will start on Dogtown brewery soon! Reply
Thank you for saving this unique treasure before the remainder disappears! It is a tragedy the inside was stripped. Look forward to seeing the transformation! Reply
This location and the one at Blvd and Leigh …. Sadly , you have to see just how dangerous this end of Hull was – is . When Seibert’s towing was at Commerce and Hull, I ducked every time I heard stray bullets ….. Reply
My parents too me there some 55 or so years ago. Also to the one on Boulevard. All i ever ate was a plate of biscuits. Lol Reply
I remember eat breakfast there while i was going to highland park elementary, a neat and busy place, not much hope for that area now, the thugs will keep people away Reply
It’s nice to have dreams but in reality I don’t think anyone is stupid enough to sink a boat load of money in a restaurant in a crack infested gangster hood Reply
Larry Pollard you sound like a racist stereotype …what do you actually know about the hard working people of this neighborhood? ,and if it is a “crack infested gangster hood” like you state it is…who then would be financing this crack business,since you seem to know so much about it??. Reply
Butter Bean Restaurant and Dogtown Brewery are in progress on the same block. I remember when the same comments were made about anything North of Broad on Church Hill. Reply
Ten years ago I use to go work using hull. This time of year I could see the little lights on the appliances. Reply
Some background I wrote some years ago: https://books.google.com/books?id=ItJ2CQAAQBAJ&pg=PT112&lpg=PT112&dq=true+richmond+stories+lighthouse+diner&source=bl&ots=2ZDuZds5K4&sig=hgemo7z2AYVoCEZ0bu-88BK_uZ0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi855n24ITeAhXxdN8KHYq9AfIQ6AEwA3oECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=true%20richmond%20stories%20lighthouse%20diner&f=false Reply
Our TJ Band used to march for all the Christmas Parades on Hull—all back in the day….folks and the little children we so happy to see and hear all the bands….and Nolde Bread giving out free little loaves of Bread all along the parade route….Can we ever get there to being HAPPY again…even with so little… Reply
With it being such a large space in back, I bet it would be great if the building was turned into a theatre… stage and/or cinema with a tapas bar. Something with a cool 50’s 60’s vibe. The area needs more than just food to bring people in…. Entertainment Reply
