This closed Sacramento landmark got a makeover thanks to a TikTok user ‘on a mission’

Three years after Jim Denny’s Diner closed its doors, a Sacramento resident is bringing life back to the downtown landmark that served breakfast and burgers for 85 years.

The 10-seat diner on the corner of 12th Street and Terminal Way for decades sported a lush box garden at the entrance that bloomed year round. Since the eatery’s 2020 closure, the vegetation has withered.

Logan Ivey noticed the empty and trashed box garden one afternoon during a bike ride, and decided to do something about it.

Though he only dined at Jim Denny’s once, he “loved the look of the restaurant and the neon sign.” His mission? Improve Sacramento even a little bit, Ivey said in an email to The Bee. He was not available for a phone interview.

“In general I just wanted to do a nice fun project to improve the city even if by 0.01%. It could have been fixing a broken window, or painting a mural, etc. But this time it just happened to be planting plants!”

With donated succulents and flowers from Propagate — a nursery at 17th and I streets — he added some life.

He didn’t have a green thumb to start with; the nursery helped him decide what to use. It took him about 30 minutes.

“He was on a mission to beautify that spot,” said Amanda Wong, a plant design lead at Propagate. “We really liked his idea and wanted to help him fulfill it.”

Ivey chronicled his project on TikTok, a popular social media app for short videos, where he has more than 113,000 followers.

“I was inspired generally, during covid after seeing all these small restaurants close down. It’s sad to see so many abandoned buildings, and empty businesses in the heart of the city,” Ivey said.

Jim Denny’s was one of several beloved Sacramento restaurants to close during the coronavirus pandemic.

The video received 47,000 views and was flooded with comments — mostly about a buried knife pulled out of the planter at the end of the TikTok, momentarily overshadowing the good deed.

Ivey said he called the police who later came to pick up the knife.

This story was originally published January 20, 2023 at 3:55 PM.