‘A family diner like no other’: Ottawa breakfast fixture John’s to close after 51 years [Video]

After 51 years, the folks at John’s Diner are about to fry up their last slabs of bacon.

The venerable Wellington Street W. breakfast spot — with its two-storey tall mural of original owner John Hatoum proudly presenting a cup of coffee — has been a longtime fixture of the local streetscape, ever since the first of countless customers walked through the doors decades ago.

“They’re all good people. They support us, and we support them,” said a busy Hatoum on Thursday morning, juggling a quick CBC interview with the demands of a packed restaurant on its second last day in business.

Hatoum emigrated from Lebanon in 1967. Seven years later, he opened his eponymous diner, initially at a different location a few …