The Anchor Diner served its last breakfast Sunday morning after forty years on Front Street, closing its doors for good after owner Ruth Palakiko said her new landlord nearly tripled the rent on the building's ten-year lease renewal. The diner had operated in the same storefront since 1986, when Palakiko's late father-in-law first opened it.
Palakiko said the building's previous owner, who had held the lease steady for over a decade, sold the property last spring to a real estate group based two towns over. When the diner's lease came up for renewal in August, the new owner offered a rate of $6,800 a month, up from the $2,400 the diner had been paying.
"I asked them if there was any room to negotiate and they said that was the market rate for Front Street now," Palakiko said. "Maybe it is. I just can't sell enough eggs and coffee to cover it."
Forty years of regulars
Sunday's final service drew a line out the door by 7 a.m., with several longtime customers arriving before the diner opened to make sure they got a table. Retired harbor pilot Grady Nakamura, who said he had eaten breakfast at the Anchor most mornings since 1994, brought his own camera to take a photo of the counter one last time.
"This was where you found out what was actually going on in town, better than the paper some days," Nakamura said, laughing. "No offense."
Palakiko said she has not decided whether to look for a smaller space elsewhere in town or leave the restaurant business altogether. Six employees, some of whom had worked at the diner for more than fifteen years, lost their jobs with the closure. The storefront's new owner has not announced a replacement tenant.
