On Friday night, workers raised the Moondance diner with hydraulic jacks then later backed up a big flatbed truck underneath it, and eased the eatery down onto it. Around 6 a.m. Saturday morning, the famed greasy spoon departed Soho, above, on a seven-day journey to its new home in Wyoming, where it will serve home cooking, including fresh-baked pie. Vince Pierce, who purchased the diner with his wife, Cheryl, for $7,500, is doing the driving. Originally called the Holland Tunnel Diner, the Moondance was the city’s oldest classic-style diner, according to diner aficionados. One such diner devotee, Daniel Zilka, left, head of the Diner Museum in Providence, R.I., was on hand to watch the Moondance get prepared for its sendoff. Pierce had been looking for an old railroad car-style diner to buy and found it listed on the museum’s Web site. Some had hoped the restaurant could be incorporated into a new building planned at the Broome St. and Sixth Ave. site, bottom left, but the idea didn’t pan out.
