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Don’t panic: Gee Whiz is renovating
I have had several emails and more texts asking why Gee Whiz is dark — A. was the first note it and sent in this picture. I don’t have a cell number for Chris Panayiotou (let me know if you do!) and the landline is out of order. HOWEVER I checked in with Bob Townley at Manhattan Youth and he said he saw Chris yesterday: they are renovating. (Plus R. said she saw someone fixing the door today.)
“Thank heavens,” Bob said. “It would be more than I could take!”
There are so many reasons that Gee Whiz is a mainstay for the neighborhood. Peter Panayiotou and Andy Koutsoudakis opened the diner on the northeast corner of Warren and Greenwich in 1989, and since then played a part in nearly every neighborhood milestone — the anniversaries of PS 234, little league opening days, kids tastings at Taste of Tribeca — and many local families’ milestones as well (graduations, birthdays, homecomings), not to mention their regular weekly suppers.
Peter and Andy were the first sponsors of both Downtown Little League and Downtown Soccer League when each started in 1993, and sponsored a team every year afterwards, as the walls of the diner proved. For a couple decades the restaurant stretched halfway to Chambers, but in 2016, faced with an increase in both rent and wages, they reduced its footprint by half (Joe & the Juice now has the other half).
The two partners opened Tribeca’s Kitchen together in 2014, but soon after split the business into two.. But then the unspeakable happened when Andy died of Covid-19 on March 29, 2020, and Peter died nine days later, on April 10, 2020.
The sons of each of the men kept the businesses going, Andreas with Tribeca’s Kitchen and then Marathi, and Chris with Gee Whiz.
I hope to hear from him soon about the renovation schedule.
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Thanks for the update — you saved me a panicked email.
Did the expansion of Gee Whiz take place around 2001? I remember there being a newsstand,bodega in the space the diner took over.
Yes, the expansion was completed in March 2002 with a neighborhood party. They took over the bodega and the leather shop.
I think it must have been 2002. My memory is that they were closed for a time after it was possible to go south of Chambers again after 9/11 because they were doing the expansion.
One of my best Gee Whiz memories was the morning Tribeca got power back after Sandy. My husband and I took an early walk and saw that Gee Whiz was open. We went in and had breakfast. We asked Andy how it was possible, and he told us that an alarm had gone off around 3AM, which alerted him that the power was back. He called his distributor and begged him to deliver perishable breakfast basics asap so he could serve his community. Pete and Andy’s kindness and hospitality was unmatched.
Nolan’s Deli! It was definitely there until at least 1998, but I think the Gee Whiz expansion happened before 9/11? It’s hard to remember because the space has expanded/contracted at least a few times since then.
Not sure if anyone else remembers (and misses) the Pennsylvania Pretzel Company, too! :)
I miss Nolan’s Deli too! However, it was on Greenwich between Duane and Jay – not on the same block as Gee Whiz.