Two downtown Modesto restaurants have posted ‘temporarily closed’ signs. Will they reopen?
Three more well-known Modesto businesses are either closed or closing, as the lingering effects of the pandemic continue to take their toll.
In downtown Modesto, two restaurants posted “Temporarily Closed” signs on their doors and went dark last month. Both Chefs of New York, a popular Italian restaurant, and Graffiti Dogs, a gourmet hot dog joint, remain closed. According to their owners, their futures and reopening are up in the air.
For more than 20 years, Chefs of New York has been one of the city’s best Italian eateries, led by the outsized personality of its owner Vinny Altadonna. The restaurant started at a small, 50-seat spot in a retail strip on Oakdale Road under different owners in 2001, and then was purchased by Altadonna in 2006.
Then in 2016, he expanded to a second location at J and 14th streets in downtown Modesto. Then last July he closed the smaller downtown space and moved into a larger spot on 13th Street with a full bar attached. The Oakdale Road location also has since closed.
Two downtown Modesto restaurants remain closed
The current restaurant, which can seat about 140, closed on Oct. 13. When reached by The Bee, Altadonna said his only official comment would be what was posted on the restaurant’s door and social media page. The 13th Street site had a hand-written sign that said “We will be re-opening soon! Thank you for your patience.”
A post on the Chefs of New York Facebook page from Oct. 15 said, “We will be temporarily closing the restaurant as of Thursday October 13th. Please be patient while work to reopen our doors to the community. Thank you from all of us at Chefs of New York.”
Down the street from Chefs, Graffiti Dogs at Tenth Street Plaza also closed Oct. 1. First opened in September 2018, the gourmet hot dog spot took its name from Modesto’s “American Graffiti” and George Lucas connection. They served loaded quarter-pound all-beef franks and had a prime spot next to Tenth Street Place and its busy public plaza.
But owner Linda Abeldt, who operated the place with her husband, former longtime Manteca police spokesman Rex Osborn, said the restaurant’s current incarnation and location are no more. The restaurant will be leaving its original site and moving to a new location, she said. It is also likely shifting its concept, and possibly its name.
She said the pandemic played a big role in the closure, because even though they had been able to see its customer base bounce back once downtown workers returned, the toll it took made them reconsider.
“It was a great location for us. We have just decided to go with a new concept and will look at different locations. It was time,” Abeldt said. “We just already miss all of the customers so much. That was the hardest part. We had such loyal, nice clientele.”
Abeldt said depending on what they decide for their new concept, they could bring some of their six Graffiti Dogs employees on board with them again. But they won’t have plans finalized until likely the new year.
Longtime Modesto jewelry store closes in McHenry Village
And, finally, after 74 years in business, longtime Modesto jewelry store Edwards Jewelers is closing for good. The shop in McHenry Village began its going-out-of-business sale at the start of November, and it should run through the end of the year.
First opened in 1948 along Yosemite Boulevard by namesake Robert Edwards, Edwards Jewelers spent the next 30 years along the busy Modesto thoroughfare. In 1978 it moved to east Modesto’s Century Center shopping center. In 1995, the store moved to McHenry Village, where it remains today.
Edwards owned the shop until selling to his daughter Sandy Davenport. Then business partners Denise Culbertson and Sam Jennings took over, and then current solo owner Nancy Culbertson joined in 2008.
Nancy Culbertson said she made the decision to close because of changes in customer habits caused by the pandemic, and also the aging of her three part-time employees who are all retirement age.
“The pandemic, I think it played a pretty big role between that and the economy,” she said. “It’s still been slow. I think people changed their shopping habits to online and such.”
Culbertson said the shop has seen generations of customers come through its doors in its seven decades. More than one couple bought their weddings rings at the store and then had their now adult kids come to the store to buy theirs years later.
Since announcing the closure, Culbertson said past clients have flooded into the store to check out the offerings and also share sentimental stories.
Modesto resident Elvin Hamilton came in to have his wedding ring fixed, and said he was saddened that he will have to find a new jewelry shop. The store has an on-site jeweler who repairs, cleans and customizes pieces.
“I like the way they do things,” he said. “I’ve been to other places and they don’t know what to do. But here they always say, ‘Sure, we can do that.’”
The store has started its closing sale with everything marked down by at least 25%. The discounts will increase until its Dec. 30 closing date.
“It’s been bittersweet. We’re appreciative but also sad,” Culbertson said. “(People) say, ‘I just always thought you’d be here.’ But as much as we’d like to be, it’s time.”
This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 12:36 PM.
