Photo: Getty Images
Cattin's Family Restaurant, one of the last 24-hour diners in the Puget Sound region, is no longer open after 48 years of service, according to The News Tribune. Reporters found out about the permanent closure via a white paper posted on the Puyallup diner's door earlier this month.
“I am sorry to inform everyone: After 48 years of serving you, we are closing the restaurant,” Owner Hermann Harris wrote on the note. “From the bottom of my heart, it has been a pleasure to get to know everyone, not only as our guest but also as my friends. Thank you for everything.”
Charlie's Restaurant & Lounge called Cattin's “one of downtown Puyallup’s biggest landmarks" on Facebook. The newspaper says many customers shared fond memories of their time there.
“Cattin’s was a nice place to just stop in and have good diner food,” Holly Alkire, who has lived in Puyallup for 34 years, told The News Tribune. “I hope maybe in the future some more restaurateurs will open up diner-type restaurants like the ones we have lost. I really miss my ham and American cheese omelets!”
In a phone interview with reporters, Harris cited several reasons for Cattin's closure, including his old age, pandemic struggles and restrictions, and the changing industry.
“It’s been a good long haul. I have no regrets being there, being in the coffee shop industry,” he told reporters on Monday (August 8). “Towards the end, I was not just the owner of a restaurant; I was a hands-on employee. In a small restaurant like mine, the owner is hands-on — washing dishes, cooks, whatever it takes.”
The restaurant was originally built in 1973 but didn't become Cattin's until the early 1980s, according to the newspaper. The owners of the property say they're not sure what the future holds for the shuttered restaurant. A spokesperson told reporters, “We are still determining a plan. So currently unknown."
You can read more about the situation on The News Tribune's website.