Former Smith's Restaurant in South Scranton demolished to make way for lot

Jim Lockwood, The Times-Tribune, Scranton, Pa.
Updated ·3 min read

Feb. 1—Crews demolished the South Side landmark Smith's Restaurant to make way for employee parking at the Scranton Counseling Center across the street, center President and CEO Dr. Sarah Wodder said.

The restaurant dates to 1934. Demolition and cleanup of the site began Monday and continued through Wednesday.

"We're going to work at beautifying that corner and making additional parking," Wodder said.

The counseling center in February 2021 bought the vacant restaurant property at 1402 Cedar Ave. for $212,500, according to public records. The eatery at least three years earlier was renamed the All Aboard Diner, but it was closed and vacant when SCC bought the property. In the 300 block of Adams Avenue downtown for four decades, the counseling center moved in April 2021 into a renovated former button factory and Capitol Records plant at Cedar Avenue and Cherry Street.The center knew parking at the new South Side location would be tight and bought the former Smith's property for use as a future lot, Wodder said.

"They went into the project knowing we're going to need (more) parking," said Wodder, who became the center's president and CEO in September.The restaurant sat at the front corner of the Smith's property and the rest of the lot alongside and behind the building already had been parking for the establishment.

SCC now will convert the former restaurant property into a parking lot with about 58 spaces and landscaping greenery. The center also will upgrade sidewalks and install a crosswalk to make the busy Cedar Avenue/Cherry Street intersection safer, Wodder said. This work might start in spring and take a few months to complete, she said.

Some center employees also park in a nearby lot along Brook Street. The parking lot directly behind the counseling center accessed via Cherry Street has about 70 spaces and will be devoted to visiting clients and consumers, she said.Smith's Restaurant, previously owned by former state Rep. Ken Smith and his family had been a neighborhood fixture for many years.

With seating for 75 including the counter, booths and adjoining dining room, as well as space for another 100 in a back room, Smith's also had been a go-to spot for campaign kickoffs, neighborhood meetings and private parties like showers and receptions."That was a thriving business for years and years. We're going to miss it. It was a nice place," said Bob Sheridan, owner of the nearby D&S Auto Sales at 1202 S. Washington Ave.Though sad to see Smith's gone for good, the vacant building and its parking lot needed some TLC, Sheridan said.

Sheridan, who opened his business in 2005, noted the immediate neighborhood has been on an upswing of late. After the counseling center opened in April 2021, a drive-thru-only Dunkin' Donuts constructed at 1120 S. Washington Ave. and opened in June 2022. In September 2022, CTown Supermarket moved into the South Side Station plaza at 1110 S. Washington Ave., filling an anchor spot that had been vacant the prior six years."With all the building going on here, I'm loving it," Sheridan said.

mailto:Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter.

emailto:Contact the writer: jlockwood@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9100 x5185; @jlockwoodTT on Twitter.