Rosie's Diner closed last October, and is now up for auction.

One of the world’s most famous diners goes up for auction this Thursday, April 26.

Rosie’s Diner, located at 4500 14 Mile Road, is the original diner used in the Bounty paper towel commercials in the 1970s, with Nancy Walker playing Rosie the waitress, who cleaned up spills with the “quicker picker upper.” It has been a fixture here since the early 1990s.

However, the restaurant abruptly closed its doors on October 2. The owner told employees that they would be closed for renovations a couple of days, but the inside was gutted and fixtures sold off by the next day. The owner then told the employees, many of them teenagers, that she had no money to pay them. Many of the employees had to go through the Michigan Department of Wages and Hours to get the money that was owed them. Most of them got paid in December.

The owners, in cooperation with secured creditors, are now putting it up for sale on an online auction at lastbidrealestate.com. Bidding will take place today, Thursday, April 26.

Built by the Paramount Dining Car Company in 1946 as a Deluxe model Diner, it was originally named the “Silver Dollar Diner” and resided in Little Ferry, New Jersey.  In early 1991, the diner was loaded up, and four days, 10 flat tires, and one fire later, it had found its new home on 14 Mile. This diner and 3 others, including the “Uncle Bob’s” diner, built in 1947 by Jerry O’Mahony Dining Car Company, and the 2 car “Garden of Eatin” from Fulton, New York are all joined together on one property. It also has been featured several times on various food television shows.