He was going to close the family diner. Then he got a sign.

Chris Panayiotou was lost without his father, but the remarkable gesture of a stranger helped him heal.

When his father, Peter Panayiotou, the beloved frontman of the Gee Whiz Diner, died from Covid-19 last spring, “the fate of the business was left in his son’s hands.”

The Panayiotous had kept Gee Whiz, located in Lower Manhanttan, striving through Sept. 11,

Hurricane Sandy, and years of gentrification and soaring rents. However, when the pandemic hit, that had proved too forceful for the business, and it shuttered the Gee Whiz.

Later on, when the elder Panayiotou died from Covid-19 in March, Chris kept the business locked up and untouched for three months. He thought about giving it up and selling it.

“But when protests over the police killing of George Floyd began in late spring, setting off sporadic violence and looting in Manhattan, Mr. Panayiotou got a call from a handyman who worked in the diner’s building, suggesting he should shore up the property.”

To his surprise, when Panayiotou arrived at the restaurant, it was perfectly fine, but was filled with messages and gestures such as dandelions, orchids, roses and notes of memories about his beloved father.

Furthermore, a concierge, David Morales, from a building next door entered the restaurant and told him, “they put your dad’s name on the sidewalk.”

Morales explained, that he saw a man welding and engraving the name “Peter Panayiotou” on the sidewalk, and said the mystery welder told passers-by that, “Peter was a good friend.”

This was the sign. Mr. Panayiotou was speechless as looked down on the sidewalk at the engraved name.

He looked at it for another 10 minutes, and thought, “this is a sign. We’re going to reopen no matter what. No matter what. This is what Dad would want.”

— NYT: Top Stories