A boarded-up Marie Callender's, a sad movie critic and a 'bah humbug' to struggling family dining
LOS ANGELES — Alice Maltin got out of her car on Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks with hungry anticipation.
Shocked at her luck in finding a primo parking spot, the septuagenarian took a few steps last month toward one of her favorite places. And froze.
The last Marie Callender's in the San Fernando Valley — where she had come to get Thanksgiving pies as she did every year — had a thick padlock on the door. Closed for good.
"There were boards in the window, like they didn't want us sneaking in to get the rest of the pies," Maltin said.
She peeled out of there. Burst into the home office of her husband, the renowned film critic — and self-described Marie Callender's "pumpkin pie aficionado" — Leonard Maltin. She dropped the news on him like a big-budget box-office bomb on a desperate Hollywood producer.
"We're still grieving," Leonard said, the wound still fresh
You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.
Start your free 30 days