Concord diner goes dark

As 2014 drew to a close, the Concord Diner, a longtime Valley Stream eatery located on Fourth Street near Sunrise Highway, turned off its lights and locked its doors for the last time. The restaurant closed on December 31, the end of an era for a family of Greek immigrants who said they “lived the American dream.”

Athanasios Cheliotis started working there in the 1970’s as a cleaner. He eventually worked as a cook, waiter and host before purchasing the diner with Charlie Tsemplis in 1981.

“He really lived the American dream,” said Cheliotis’s son, Kostas. “He came to this country in the 1960’s with almost nothing, took a job at the diner scrubbing the bathroom floor and eventually worked pretty much every role in this diner before he finally bought it.”

The diner often served as a meeting place for local businesses and groups andenjoyed success in the community for most of Cheliotis’s and Tsemplis’s tenure as owners, Kostas said.

“They really liked owning a diner and working in Valley Stream,” Kostas said. “They really enjoyed the energy the area brought and they loved being a part of the fabric of the area.”

Athanasios died tragically in a car accident on Merrick Road in Bellmore in July 2013. He was 66. Tsemplis, now 62, was devastated by the death, and began to miss payments on the restaurant’s rent, Kostas said. The mounting debt became too much to overcome, and they were evicted from the property.

“He was just distraught after the accident,” Kostas said. “He fell behind about six months on his payments, and the landlord finally decided he’d had enough. We tried to negotiate with the landlord so the diner could be preserved and the history could stay in place, but they decided to take it to court, and they now control the property.”

He said the family has no plans to continue at another location.

“No, that’s not my business and my uncle is really too old to be starting something new,” said Kostas, an attorney. “We’ll find my uncle another job and he’ll land on his feet, but New Year’s Eve was the last chapter.”

Kostas said he spent much of his young life working at the diner. He said the work taught him “just as much, if not more, than anywhere else,” and is sad to see it go.