Comments on: Smith Haven Mall; Lake Grove, New York

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:16:04 +0000

Does anyone remember the weird sculpture that was hanging on the wall on the wing with the movie theater / sparros? It had a lady’s leg, movie reel tape and some other stuff? It was very late 1960’s – early 1970’s looking. This was up in the 70s.

By: Corrin

Corrin — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 21:54:01 +0000

Ah, Smith Haven mall. My mother worked in Sear’s in the early 1980’s and nearly 20 years later I would spend four very long years working in Express and then The Bombay Store.

I remember Friendly’s being in the mall, right outside of Sears if I recall correctly. This would be in perhaps 1985.

There was a carrousel in the middle of the mall which was a sunken circle with two rings of steps/ seating (don’t remember if this was permanent but it was there in the early 1980’s. Later there was again another carrousel after Stern’s closed.

The Calder sculpture was meant to eventually have a mobile like piece hanging from the top but it was never completely assembled.

The food court during the 1980’s and 1990’s was like something out of the Simpson’s. There was a spud hut at one point (French fries, stuffed potatoes and such) the place next to the spud hut that sold strangely shaped chicken nuggets and I think grilled chicken sandwiches and such.

There was a yogurt and things at the far left of the food court strip. Above the food court, outlets, on the wall, were pop art style paintings of hotdogs, tacos (which pissed me off because for years there were no tacos in any of the food court shops) and other fast food items.

There was a Red Robin’s, one of the only that I can personally remember on long island. Today that Red Robin’s is now TGI Friday’s.

At the mouth of the food court was Sssassy. If you were a girl, loved neon electric purple, Hello Kitty and Unicorns then Sssassy probably still holds a special place in your heart.

I remember when Hot Topic opened in the food court and people were so scandalized by the Goth culture having a place to shop in the mall.

Next door to Hot topic was a comic book store (not sure if its still there).

I could go on some more, but I want to check and see if I still have my old Santa photos from Smith Haven. They used to list all the mall stores on the back.

By: Gavin

Gavin — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:58:28 +0000

The third floor of macy’s was added in the 80’s. Notice the different black exterior walls and the brick line where the stairwell towers were extended.

By: Galleria Mall Rat

Galleria Mall Rat — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:14:38 +0000

@Baul Plart,

I think the store was simply called “Food of All Nations” – I remember my father (having emigrated to the U.S. from Hungary) LOVED that store and would buy all sorts of odd food there…..

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:13:15 +0000

the Macy*s is original, and the original anchors were Stern’s, Sears, and Macy*s

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 19 May 2009 19:06:01 +0000

It was “Foods Of All Nations” in the south wing across from the Movie theater and next to one of the original “Sbarro” locations which I remember being more like an Italian Deli with cheeses and salamis hanging from the ceiling.

By: keith

keith — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:21:20 +0000

the second macys is the macys furniture gallery.. its fairly new when they opened the lifestyle village like a year or two ago.

there are also some updates… a lott of store closings. two jewelry stores are gone… payless and pacsun both remodeling. sharper image is gone and closed.
oakley sunglasses store is opening soon.

By: Baul Plart

Baul Plart — Mon, 18 May 2009 05:29:20 +0000

There was a store near the middle that I can’t remember the name of. It was like a “food of all nations” type of place, and it was quite small. It was there in the mid to late 70s and possibly a bit later. Anyone remember the name of this store?

By: Ken

Ken — Thu, 14 May 2009 23:40:07 +0000

The original anchors were Abraham & Straus and Macys when the mall opened in 1969, soon followed by Sears, Martins (a local upscale department store) and McCrorys. The Martins is now JCPenney at about 90,000 sq. ft.

By: Baul Plart

Baul Plart — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:10:52 +0000

I’ve lived near this mall since I was a young child. There were concrete “bridges” down the aisles that were not raised. On either side there was water. There may have been some small fountains in that water. There was a large oil fountain in front of A&S. There was also a restaurant on the second floor of A&S that overlooked that fountain. The modernist pillars in front of A&S were great, and there were circular, domed skylights in the overhang supported by the pillars. I took photos of it years ago, but they were only on my hard drive, which crashed and so they are lost.

There was a large circular water “pond” in the middle. I don’t remember if there was a fountain in there. On the end without any major store (now the food court), there was a second floor that had stores or offices. I think that is now off-limits to the public. The large Calder sculpture was relegated to the parking lot for a while, then moved into the food court when it opened, which was then called the Calder Court. I guess they figured it was worth more to sell it, which they did (I think at auction), and then they changed the decorations. I don’t think it’s called Calder Court any more (don’t go there that often). I don’t remember the paintings by Rivers, and the others.

Overall, the early mall was comfortable, yet it felt too large. The new mall (meaning in the last several years) feels much smaller, yet not really comfortable (even though the chairs in the aisles are quite comfortable, physically). I’d call the early mall a temple of consumerism. The new mall seems to be trying to hard to be hip. Of course, I’m not the same person I was in the late 70s or 80s.