Diner coming to Tucson's Sunshine Mile

Howdy Diner is taking over the former Welcome Diner spot at 902 E. Broadway, which was closed in 2020.

Sally Kane, owner of Coronet Restaurant, 198 W. Cushing St., leased the 3,929-square-foot diner on Broadway and Euclid Avenue with plans to add a patio and bar to the offerings.

Dave Hammack and Rob Tomlinson, with Picor, handled the lease.

“I have been looking, for about two years, for somewhere to open another location,” Kane said. “I wanted to do something more family friendly because the Coronet is special, but it’s a destination and subject to seasonality.”

She was looking at a different diner location when she got the email about taking over the former Welcome Diner.

“I was so excited because it’s exactly what I was looking for,” Kane said. “I’m a native Tucsonan and it’s the classics that draw me in, and diners is one of them.”

The name came to her after tossing around ideas with her business partner, Chris Hallverson, and operations manager Guy Torey.

“My dad ran a guest ranch, and I always greeted guests with ‘Howdy’,” Kane said.

The façade of the diner will remain, and some interior upgrades will spruce up the existing booth spaces.

Kane said the back room was not previously used by customers, and that’s where she will add a walk-up counter, bar and outdoor patio.

“That will give diners a choice of experience to be able to come in with a family and have traditional service or walk up to the counter, order a burger and a beer and sit with friends on the patio,” she said.

The full menu will be available at both venues.

Kane calls it a classic diner menu with breakfast, lunch and dinner options seven days a week.

“We’ll have everything from silver-dollar pancakes to pigs-in-a-blanket treats for kids, pastrami sandwiches, burgers and meatloaf,” she said.

Interior upgrades are underway at the new Broadway diner and, with the addition of the back room and added patio, the seating capacity will rise to 130 customers. The diner has about 36 parking spaces.

Kane imagines customers will be a cross of folks holding business luncheons, families having dinner and students grabbing cocktails and a burger.

“Who doesn’t like a diner that is centrally located, charming and delicious?” she asked. “I think Tucson will be very happy.”

The unique building on Broadway and Euclid, on the western end of Tucson’s Sunshine Mile, first opened as a Sambo’s Pancake House in 1964 until its closure in the mid-1980s.

It later operated as the Country House, then Chaffin's Diner.

In 2016, the mid-century building was restored and reopened as Welcome Diner.

While it’s been closed for six years, the historic structure remains a landmark preserved as part of the Broadway historic and architectural landscape.

The parcel surrounding the diner is a former Volvo dealership and was considered for the development of an apartment complex with a courtyard for farmers’ markets and art fairs.

Those plans were tabled for various economic reasons, but the land will likely be developed in the future.