One of Phoenix’s oldest diners and soda fountains, called MacAlpines, is trying to reopen for the first time in four years after being forced to shut down due to the pandemic in 2020.
However, they are hoping to get back up on their feet by selling desserts online to raise money to reopen the diner. Their goal is to sell 2,000 pies and working towards that goal has led them close to reopening. According to AZ Family, MacAlpines owner Monica Heizenrader said in interviews, “We’ve been here since around 1929 at this location so there is a lot of history so we’re just trying to get it reopened and save Phoenix history which would be amazing.”
Heizenrader and her husband, Carey Heizenrader, bought MacAlpine’s in 2001 and have owned it since. In a diner that is 1950s style, they served dinner and dessert. After they closed, C. Heizenraderbecame ill and passed away. C. Heizenrader was the diner’s lead chef and Monica had lost her partner, both in business and life.
“We’re getting closer to reopening, we just have to get enough financial backing to reopen our doors” said M. Heizenrader according to AZ Family. M. Heizenrader says that they need 100,000 dollars for repairs and to hire new staff and they are now selling the homemade pies online to fundraise.
MacAlpines Diner and Soda Fountain is inside a building that is nearly 100 years old at 7th and Oak streets in central Phoenix. The store was originally a pharmacy with a soda fountain attached to it when it opened in 1929. The pharmacy closed in the 1990s but the diner stayed open.
