Tesla Café vs. Tesla Diner: Who Came First – and How EV Culture Was Born

In July 2025, Tesla Inc. finally opened its much-anticipated Tesla Diner in Hollywood – a retro-futuristic restaurant and Supercharger hub on Santa Monica Boulevard. Global media immediately crowned it as the new hotspot for Tesla and Elon Musk fans.

But for us at TSK, based in Ukraine, the news brought a knowing smile. That’s because we built something very similar back in 2020 – the world’s first Tesla-themed café and community space, years before Tesla’s own lifestyle project saw the light of day.

 What Is the Tesla Diner?

• Opened: July 21, 2025, on Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, Los Angeles
  
• Concept: A retro-futuristic American diner meets drive-in theater, featuring 80 Supercharger V4 stalls. The building is shaped like a spaceship and surrounded by neon Cybertruck billboards.
  
• Atmosphere:
  
  • Waiters on roller skates
    
  • Popcorn served by a Tesla Optimus robot
    
  • Food packaging shaped like the Cybertruck
    
  • Menu includes burgers, tacos, chicken & waffles, milkshakes, and more
    
• Technology:
  
  • Orders placed directly through the Tesla infotainment screen
    
  • Automatic billing and delivery to your car while charging
    
  • Movie screenings on massive LED screens (45-66 ft) with audio streamed via Tesla’s speakers
    
• Operations: Open 24/7, seats over 250 people, and is accessible to all EV drivers
  
• Partners:
  
  • Curated by celebrity chef Eric Greenspan (MrBeast Burger)
    
  • Developed in partnership with restaurateur Bill Chait (Tartine Bakery)
    
• Reception: Long lines, 2-3 hour waits, even app glitches – but still packed with Tesla fans eager for the experience
  

 What Is the TSK Tesla Cafe ?

1. The Opening of Tesla Café in Kyiv – 2020

Back in 2020, our team at TSK opened a completely original concept in Kyiv: Tesla Café / The Church of St. Elon – the first Tesla-themed café and EV community space in the world.

It wasn’t just a place to grab coffee. It was a full-blown Tesla culture hub, combining:

• A cozy lounge with Tesla memorabilia, art, and customized cars
  
• A café serving drinks inspired by Tesla culture (names withheld here to avoid unverified claims)
  
• A media zone for streaming SpaceX launches, Tesla updates, and tech talks
  
• A community center hosting lectures, meetups, and workshops
  

2. Why It Mattered

Back in 2020, Tesla was still a car brand to many – not yet a lifestyle. But we saw something bigger: a cultural and philosophical shift around technology, autonomy, and energy. Tesla Café wasn’t a gimmick – it was an early attempt to capture that vision and give it a physical space.

3. So When Tesla Opened Their Diner in 2025…

We were genuinely happy to see Tesla embrace this side of their identity. But we also knew one thing for sure: we had already done it, five years earlier, on our own terms.
We don’t claim Tesla copied us. Great ideas often emerge in parallel. But it is a fact that TSK’s Tesla Café in Kyiv predated Tesla’s official diner by half a decade.

Context and Relevance

Tesla’s new diner is a strong, creative expansion of the brand – integrating food, charging, entertainment, and tech. Media outlets like LA Times, The Guardian, Business Insider, and Vanity Fair highlight how Tesla is building not just a car company, but a lifestyle ecosystem.

Reports suggest the company plans to replicate this concept in other cities, even at Starbase, Texas. Elon Musk has already hinted at this via X (formerly Twitter).

Final Thought

The Tesla Diner in Hollywood is undeniably a milestone for EV culture. But the story of TSK and The Church of St. Elon in Kyiv shows that true innovation doesn’t always come from corporate boardrooms – it often begins with passionate local creators who simply believe in the future early.

Our Tesla Café wasn’t about being first. It was about capturing a spirit – one that continues to inspire a global shift in how we think about energy, mobility, and community.