Urban growth fails to swallow up tiny diner : Mickey’s, a St. Paul, Minn., landmark, now shares its block with a large insurance complex.

Later this month, some of the 2,100 downtown employees of St. Paul Companies Inc. will begin moving into their new $70-million headquarters expansion. The insurance firm’s 17-story, 450,000-square-foot complex won’t have the block all to itself, however. The glass and steel complex shares its space with Mickey’s Diner, which now resembles a toy at the foot of a giant kingdom.

Mickey’s survival after more than 50 years demonstrates how a city managed to embrace new construction while preserving a cultural landmark.

With the diner listed on the National Register of Historic Places and further designated as a historic property by the city, it would seem Mickey’s owner, Eric Mattson, would feel pretty secure by now. But he doesn’t.

For more than 20 years, a steady stream of mayors and city bureaucrats have been telling him it’s time to pack up and relocate.

“The greatest threat to the operation that we’ve had is the government and the developers in the neighborhood over the years,” Mattson said over a bowl of oatmeal in a corner booth. “And I suppose if I’ve done anything to preserve it, it’s that I’ve resisted the pressure from those who haven’t wanted us here.”

As the jukebox played “Blue Moon” and the fry cook flipped another order of hash browns, Mattson said: “We’re here trying to keep the street alive and trying to survive off the life on the street.”

Most recently, a 1980s street-widening project threatened to dislodge the diner, but loyalists cried “Save Mickey’s.” The completed project makes Mickey’s appear to be jutting out in the middle of the street. City Traffic Engineer Don Sobania admits that if it weren’t for Mickey’s, the 7th Street thoroughfare running in front of it would have a right-turn lane.

Mickey’s has a fan in Mayor Jim Scheibel, who said he sold newspapers in front of the dining car as a youngster. “A one-story train car may not be the highest and best use of the land, but we’ve learned in St. Paul that it’s important to save our historic landmarks,” Scheibel said.

In earlier days, inner-city diners like Mickey’s were commonplace and popular blue-collar hangouts. But most were shut down by suburban migration and the advent of fast-food restaurants in the 1950s.

Many remaining diners, such as the Fog City Diner in San Francisco and the Elm City Diner in New Haven, Conn., are more likely to serve seafood and pasta than the hamburgers and other standard fare featured at Mickey’s.

Mattson, 47, gets the impression that the insurance firm sharing his street is less than pleased about becoming next-door neighbors but says he has heard nothing directly.

“Mickey’s Diner, like our company, is a St. Paul landmark,” said St. Paul Companies spokeswoman Suzi Hagen. “It was a given at the outset (of construction) that Mickey’s would continue in its present location.”

Besides, the company didn’t own the land, and Mattson wouldn’t sell.

The insurance company hired the New York architectural firm of Kohn, Pederson & Fox to design the facility, with a pyramid-topped tower and adjoining nine-story building.

The new building turns its back on Mickey’s, which stands just 10 feet from the insurance firm’s property line. That strip of land is owned by the city, and Mattson hopes the city will sell it to him someday. For one thing, he could use more parking because there is room for just nine cars in the Mickey’s parking lot.

“For 20 years, we’ve been under the wrecker’s ball, and I feel that the least the city could do is dedicate that land in our favor,” Mattson said.

Mattson’s father and a business partner ordered the prefabricated Art Deco Streamline Moderne-style car from Jerry O’Mahoney Inc. of Elizabeth, N.J. Mickey’s has soft curves that design aficionados say suggest a fast-moving vehicle. With porcelain exterior walls, glass windows and mahogany woodwork contrasting with gleaming stainless steel, Mickey’s is a living museum piece.

Patrons who scan Mickey’s menu find the Sputnik, a double hamburger dating to the 1950s, along with newer menu selections. The most popular menu item? It’s the O’Brian Special, eggs and potatoes, the latter grilled with onions, ham and green pepper.