Interview: Ellen Hart Talks About Her Legendary Stardust Diner and Its Lasting Spell on Broadway

Anyone who has walked through the Broadway district in New York City has likely seen a line stretching down the block of West 51st Street alongside Ellen’s Stardust Diner.

The ’50s-themed restaurant has become legendary among visitors to the city who want to sample an old-fashioned burger or egg cream, and take in a spontaneous performance from the talented singing waitstaff.

We talked to the Stardust’s owner, Ellen Hart, about the diner’s beginnings and why it continues to be such a strong draw after almost 40 years.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

I want to begin with your first restaurant, Ellen’s Café, in Lower Manhattan. Tell me about its history.
My husband at the time was in the retail business. We had a grocery store, and he decided that there’s more to life than just a supermarket. He met somebody in the coffee shop business, opened it up with them, ended up buying them out, and then I decided it was time for me to get involved.

I had been a singer and actress, and a former Miss Subway. It’s very difficult to be in show business, so I decided that I should go into business with him because I believe I am a creative person. We went into Ellen’s Café together downtown, opposite City Hall, and we became pretty famous for a café with a bakery in it. We’d get a lot of mayors coming in, starting with Abe Beam.

We went out of business right before 9/11 because the landlord decided to buy everybody out. At the same time, we were looking at another location and ended up with a diner on 56^th Street and Sixth Avenue. We decided we needed a bigger space and we moved to 51^st Street and Broadway, and I thought it would be a great idea to have singing waiters, and that put us on the map.

What made you decide to bring in singing waiters?
As you know, waiters traditionally want to be singers and actors. We did it very slowly and it caught on. They started telling their friends, we started getting singing waiters, and the whole thing just mushroomed into something that is amazing.

Do you let them pick the songs they sing?
We let them pick, but we like the 1950s and 1960s, and, of course, they throw in some things from today. We have always had a general manager with show business knowledge who was able to coordinate them. We’re going to celebrate Elvis’s 90^th birthday this year on January 8. It’s going to be like a sock hop. If you want to wear a costume, wear a costume. I even ordered mine. I’m an old, young girl. Young in spirit.

Obviously, Ellen’s Stardust still gets a crowd—you have lines around the block. How do you still create that demand? Is it the food, the service, the singing waiters?
All of the above. One person tells another. It used to be that you took a picture and you told a couple of friends. Now they’re recording all the songs and they’re all-over social media. When theater starts, the line empties out a little bit.

What’s your favorite thing on the menu?
We have a menu that’s both yesterday and today. I love the avocado toast, which is today, not yesterday. We’ve added egg creams to the menu, which we should have had a while ago. You can’t get rid of that. Our biggest sellers are burgers and beer.

When you were first starting out, what were your ambitions? Did you want to be on Broadway?
I was in the all-city chorus and thought of myself as a singer more than actress. Maybe I wasn’t ambitious enough, because I just kind of abandoned it until Ellen’s Café. I get up and I sing in the diner every so often. I have a very good vocal coach—I should have met her years ago. So I sing the oldies, “Getting to Know You,” “I Could Have Danced All Night.”

When you look back, what would you tell your younger self?
Work hard? Practice more? I want to take piano lessons again. I know the right hand, but I don’t know how to put it together. I had the opportunity when I was younger to take any lesson that I wanted, but I wasn’t mature enough to carry it through and practice. I do have certain regrets, could have, should have, you know. But at 83, I’m working very hard.