If one were to walk into the original See’s Candies in Los Angeles in the 1920s, one would see something very similar to the brick and mortar storefront in the West Village. Indeed, the black and white tiles and decades-old employee uniform design remain the same. The recipes remain true to the originals, created with top-notch ingredients and designed to be eaten fresh. Even the cascading art deco light fixtures, which are, in fact, the originals, found in an old warehouse in California, will transport customers back to the era of swing. However, it is the spirit of the place that is most remarkable, which Bill Rhodes - who partnered with See’s to open the first New York location in the fall of 2016 - labors carefully to keep alive.
As I looked through the rows of rich chocolates behind the glass shield, I listened in as a customer shared with Bill how ecstatic she had been when she heard that See’s Candies was coming to her neighborhood. “I grew up on these,” she said, “This is like a dream.” After she made her purchases, Bill invited the Manhattan Sideways team behind the counter, where rows and rows of neat little drawers lined the shelves beneath the displays. Bill took us through the boxes, pulling out one after another, and described each one with rapture, from the heavier cherry cordials to the brown sugar butter creams, which consist of “firm brown sugar enrobed in a rich milk chocolate.” He then demonstrated how each chocolate was carefully placed into brown paper cups and displayed.
The shop, Bill told us, was meant to be a hidden gem. Mary See’s son, Charles, built the original store on the West Coast as a tribute to his mother’s kitchen, replicating her black and white tiled floors and art deco design. Bill revealed that if this store had been opened in New York along with the original in the 1920s, it would have been opened on a side street just like 8th street. The small shops and shaded sidewalks of the West Village embody the small business, community oriented spirit of the store that Charles See envisioned back in the day. “It only took us ninety-six years,” Bill said, “but we’re finally here!”
