Shortly after the closing of the not-even-remotely-missed Circuit City, two more very different storefront changes in the LS neighborhood this month. First, the single-screen 62nd & Broadway Clearview Cinema closed, followed by the announcement that Balducci’s on 65th was shuttering next Sunday (along with the more majestic 14th & 8th store).
The movie theater was an anachronism. Across the street from indie legend Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and a few blocks south of the massive corporate Lincoln Square 13, the 62&Bway basement theater always had the late-arrivals, the also-rans, and the occasional movie that seemed to show up there and nowhere else in NYC because it was written into someone’s contract that the movie had to have a theatrical release. I think I went there once, to see “The Visitor” several months after it had left Lincoln Plaza. The screen was good, the seats nice enough — I’ve certainly been in worse theaters in the city (like every single theater on the East Side). But since we moved here it felt like a matter of time before it would go away. Clearview still runs the Zeigfeld and all of the multiplexes in Chelsea; this one was just not on the same scale.
The Balducci’s closing is much more surprising. The chain will still exist in the DC suburbs but it’s getting out of New York, which is kind of like the Metropolitan Opera moving to Montclair. The Lincoln Square Balducci’s was not a great store. Cramped, low ceilings, unfriendly staff, and of course massively overpriced. But the price of things was part of the appeal — it was OK to spend $8 on salad dressing because it was Balducci’s salad dressing. And the refurb that they did to the old New York Savings Bank on 8th Avenue was really spectacular, as far as supermarkets go. I wanted to spend money in that store.
When I think of Balducci’s, inevitably I think of the tiny original store on 6th Ave and 9th Street, which was around the corner from the PATH station and an easy early foodie destination from Jersey City and Hoboken. And I think of fresh pasta and cheese, which were the only two things I ever seemed to buy there (and the salad dressing). With WFM in Columbus Circle I won’t really miss the LS Balducci’s, but it’s as much a part of the moneyed food culture in NYC as Zabar’s or Dean & Deluca.
Michele and I went yesterday to Balducci’s for what is likely the final time, stocking up on canned Maine lobster, imported balsamic and first-press Greek olive oil that was marked 45% off. By the time we left the checkout line was 15 people deep. It was like first-class passengers stuffing their pockets with silverware from the Titanic after the iceberg hit.
2 years ago