Recent addition of vintage neon sign has Wichita asking when this diner will finally open
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Alex Eftekhar loves old stuff. The Station 8 BBQ owner not only opened his restaurant in a 1920s-era repurposed firehouse at 1100 E. Third St., but he also decorated that restaurant with things he collected during his time as an antiques dealer — old phone booths, fire engine toys, a 1940s Wurlitzer jukebox.
So when he was thinking about his plans for the restaurant he plans to open in the metal Walt’s Klassics building he bought in 2022 and later had relocated from its longtime home at Kellogg and Tyler to a lot across the street from Station 8, he knew he wanted something old.
With the help of a local neon sign restorer in town, Eftekhar found that something old, and late last week, it was installed on the old Walt’s building, which now sits on the southeast corner of Third and Wabash.
It’s a sign that reads “Diner” in a red, glowing neon font, and although Eftekhar has been unable to dig up many specific details about its history, he knows the sign was made in the 1940s and once hung above a restaurant in New York City.
Eftekhar got the sign from his friend Brenton “Mr. Neon” West, a local landscaper and snow removal specialist whose hobby is finding, buying and restoring old neon signs. Both Eftekhar and West developed their affinity for antiques through their friendship with Jack Perry, the former owner of the Benton Antique Mall & Restaurant, who was “like a grandfather” to both.
West had to drive all the way to Indiana to meet the seller of the sign and was excited to find that it had all its original components. He fitted the old sign with new neon tubes, new transformers and new wiring and sealed it back up.
“This is pretty hard work that nobody does today,” Eftekhar said of West. “He kind of just picked it up as a hobby and got really good at it really fast.”
Eftekhar had the sign installed on the old Walt’s building on Thursday, and on Friday, he turned it on for the first time. It creates a red glow so bright, it illuminates the whole corner, he said.
He’s also asked West to replace the red and blue neon strips that once lined the top of the old Walt’s building but haven’t worked in years.
Once that’s done, Eftekhar said, “that place is going to put off the coolest ’80s glow ever.”
Eftekhar still hasn’t settled on a name for the restaurant, but it will obviously include the word “diner.” Once he settles on the first part of the name, he’ll add that to the sign.
People who drive past the restaurant have been noticing the new sign and have been letting Eftekhar know how cool it looks, he said.
But the addition of the sign has also led customers to ask Eftekhar a question: When will the new restaurant open?
“I hate that question,” he said with a laugh.
The answer: He’s still not sure other than to say it’ll be sometime in 2026. His initial timeline was slowed by a number of factors, including the theft in November 2023 of three industrial air conditioning units worth $60,000.
Thieves struck again within the last six months, Eftekhar said, and they stripped all the copper tubing from the restaurant’s walk-in cooling unit.
He’s since had the fence — which the first round of thieves mowed down to get to the air conditioning units — put back up and has installed cameras and alarms around the building. He also put up flood lights that turn on when any movement is detected. Since then, he said, he hasn’t had any more problems.
But, he said, he still has to buy a kitchen for the new restaurant, and the person he’s hired to fix up the interior of the pre-fab metal diner won’t be done until fall.
Plus, Eftekhar said, he and his wife are expecting a baby in May, so he’s not going to rush.
In the meantime, he’ll work on choosing a name and tweaking his menu and concept. He’s not ready to share much about either but did say that the diner will definitely serve pastrami sandwiches, an occasional Station 8 special that his customers have come to love.
He also plans to enjoy his bright new neon.
“I was trying to find something vintage for the top of it, and it was harder than I thought,” he said. “But this couldn’t be more perfect for that building.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 5:03 AM.
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