An iconic Park Slope diner is looking to renovate — and the owner wants locals to pick up the tab!
Dizzy’s Diner — which has served cakes and coffee out of the same Ninth Street and Eight Avenue storefront since 1997 — launched a GoFundMe campaign on Aug. 19 to bankroll a much needed upgrade, which the owner said could mean life or death for the neighborhood eatery.
“We’ve been here for over 20 years, and I want to be here for another 10 — but I can’t be here the way it is now,” said Matheo Pisciotta.
Pisciotta is aiming to hit an ambitious fundraising goal of $20,000, which will help finance construction of a new dining room layout, a modern paint job, stylish new flooring, and more.
“It’ll still have the diner feel, but we want to create a fresh new vibe. We’re going to do some new tiling, and a new floor,” he said. “And no more bright colors — that might have been good 15 years ago, but we want it to we want to make it a little more modern.”
Pisciotta shuttered Dizzy’s Fifth Avenue counterpart in 2017, and used the savings to fund some minor upgrades to the Ninth Street location, but says he doesn’t have the dough to finish the job, and is hoping the generosity of locals will help plug the gap.
“It’s a big job, and we just kept putting it off because there wasn’t enough money to do it,” he said. “I was planning on doing it all myself… but the GoFundMe would provide some breathing room.”
Pisciotta says he’s considering special rewards for substantial contributors — like an honorary plaque on a bar stool, or discounted diner grub — but nothing has been finalized yet.
For now, Pisciotta hopes the eatery’s long history in Park Slope will move people to contribute to the fundraising effort and help bankrolling the renovation work.
“I never thought it would become such a part of the community, and such a part of the neighborhood,” he said.
