Why the groundbreaking DTLA Cheese in downtown Los Angeles is closing

When Lydia Clarke and Reed Herrick opened their cheese shop in 2013, it was the realization of a years-long dream and part of an early wave of restaurants and shops that underpinned what many called a downtown renaissance.

But after more than 12 years in business, Clarke and Herrick are closing DTLA Cheese Superette. Friday will be his last day. Their wine bar next door, Kippered, remains open.

“It was a tidal wave of factors that impact you,” Herrick said of the closure earlier this week. “This is a process that has been going on for years. Nobody is spending money, there are protests, strikes, war, it all comes into play here.”

Clarke and her sister Marnie, who is also a partner, are third-generation milk suppliers whose family founded Alta Dena Dairy. Cheese was more than a calling; It seemed like a birthright.

She opened DTLA Cheese at Grand Central Market, a tribute to spoonable Époisses and crumbling chunks of cheddar from Jasper Hill Farm, a tribute to cheesemakers from Petaluma to Parma. Herrick, the chef, created a menu of thick salads, creamy raclette and buttered sandwiches with the same cheeses.

In spring 2023, they expanded to a new, larger location at the corner of 4th Street and South Broadway, a block from Grand Central, and opened DTLA Cheese Superette as a cafe, market and cheese counter. with a wine bar next doorWhere The culinary currency is canned fishserved with sparkling wines.

Herrick said the rising cost of goods oath Uprising Utilities contributed to the decision to close.

“We hate the word pivot,” Clarke said. “It makes it seem like a choice. It wasn't. It was about survival. The question was: Will this allow us to survive another month, another year? We got going in the last six months, then there's another big bill to pay. … At what point do you say this stops working?”

Since 2020, the city center has been particularly hard hit. HEThe office vacancy rate has risen to 34%, The vacancy rate in retail is up to 40% and “No Kings” protests and clashes with police last summer led to a neighborhood curfew that hurt small businesses. Some never recovered.

many Critic of the city administration also point out this failed policies and bureaucratic hurdles.

The beauty and hustle and bustle of downtown collide on this special corner across from DTLA Cheese and Kippered. The view from their windows is deserted OT Johnson Building, destroyed by fire almost two decades ago and reimagined as a pirate-themed “Chateau Broadway” by Street artists SC Mero and Wild Life and as a showcase for the graffiti of Piccle P until it was recently painted over.

At DTLA Cheese, regulars stopped by to eat Herrick's grilled cheese sandwiches, stock up on gallons of frozen soup, and chat about it with Clarke Seasonal cheese.

“We love our community,” Clarke said. “We love being here. We always see the same people. Kippered is a little neighborhood place now, and everyone is from the neighborhood.”

Next to the Grand Central Market, on the first floor of the 1917 Beaux Arts-style Homer Laughlin Building, this stretch of Broadway is home to the Million Dollar Theater and the stunning landmark Bradbury Building.

“We share a desire to bring people downtown and experience something fun and quintessentially LA,” Herrick said. “We need feet on the street. Then the businesses stay here. It starts with your block, your side of the street, cleaning the sidewalk and watering the plants. I'm not going to cause hunger, war, homelessness or drug addiction. I'm going to solve the mess right in front of my house and pass that on to some people around me.”

Clarke plans to continue hosting cheese classes at Kippered and offering cheese for pickup. On April 26, Emilia D'Albero, a Philadelphia-based cheesemonger who last year became the first American to win the Mondial du Fromage in Tours, France, is scheduled to visit Kippered to talk about cheese.

“I wish we could have been successful,” Clarke said. “I can look back and think of all the things I did wrong. And the things I did right. The joy of what we built. Without DTLA Cheese there wouldn't be Kippered.”

“I still love this,” she said. “There will still be cheese.”