Mayor Dave Lucas of Homer, Illinois reluctantly gave up a dream of reopening the Elite Diner in his home town, but at least he successfully removed it from harm's way. (Photo above by Alex Altier. Photo below by Hunt Jones)

Mountain View #499 has been located in the Champaign County, Illinois area for 49 years. The diner started its glorious life as the Chuck Wagon Diner serving people in Champaign, IL. from 1954-1976. the diner was then moved to Villa Grove, IL. and became a donut shoppe for the next seven years. In 1983 it was moved to Urbana, IL, and became the Elite Diner and found a place in the hearts of many for ninteen years. It was a sad day for the people of Urbana when the Champaign County Courthouse Project was announced, and the Elite Diner stood on a future parking lot.

As the ground breaking ceremony grew closer there were no buyers in sight. It looked as though another American icon had come to the end of it's life, that is, until Mayor Dave Lucas of Homer, Illinois, heard of the diners fate.

Homer is a small town not far from Urbana. Dave Lucas always admired the beauty of these stainless steel treasures and could not stand by and watch it be demolished, so he took on the challenge. He bought it and moved it to Homer. Lucas thought the diner found a new home in Homer IL. He knew nothing about the diner business but he did feel the diner would be perfect in the small town. Lucas teamed up with the few restaurant people that would run the day to day operations. 

So things were looking up in the city of Homer, which was in dire need of the diner since Homer had no restaurant. Lucas figured he had a winning combination, and authentic diner and a place to eat in the town of Homer. Unfortunatly the banks did not think so. Lucas could not obtain the financing needed to complete the project. Lucas tried relentlessly to obtain financing but no luck. After 13 months of meetings with various banks trying to raise capital, with no luck, Lucas decided to sell the diner.

Mr. Lucas I'd like to thank you for saving the Elite Diner and not letting another piece of American History be wiped away forever so that the next generation of Americans would never be able to experience or have the opportunity to see the true Roadside America.

[In September, 2003, Alex Altier of Livonia, Michigan purchased the Elite Diner and plans to reopen it in his area by 2004.]