By Gus Saltonstall
More than a million people have watched the trailer for Timothée Chalamet’s new movie “Marty Supreme,” since it came out on Wednesday, but how many of them recognized the man who appears at the 1:46 mark?
None other than John Catsimatidis, the owner of the supermarket Gristedes, which has two locations on the Upper West Side, one at 504 Columbus Avenue, between West 84th and 85th streets, and the other at 2704 Broadway, between West 103rd and 104th streets.
While you wouldn’t guess the billionaire Catsimatidis would appear in a Hollywood film, he’s not unfamiliar with life in the public eye. He hosts a longtime talk-radio show on WABC and also ran for mayor of New York City as a Republican in 2013.
He also owns the grocery chain D’Agostino and the former Red Apple grocery stores, which he first opened on the Upper West Side in the 1970s, including a location on West 87th Street near Broadway.
“A custom ball like that, it’s going to cost a lot of money,” Catsimatidis says to Chalamet’s character in the trailer, while discussing the price of a ping pong ball.
Catsimatidis is not the only person involved in “Marty Supreme” with an Upper West Side connection.
Director Josh Safdie was raised in New York City and went to school for a time on the Upper West Side at Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School. Josh’s brother Benny is also a director, and the pair have made multiple movies together, including “Heaven Knows What” in 2014, which follows homeless heroin addicts living on the Upper West Side.
Chalamet has strong Upper West Side connections, too. While he did not live in the neighborhood, he went to school on the UWS for the majority of his childhood, first attending P.S. 87 William Sherman School on 78th Street for elementary school, then the Computer School on 77th Street for middle school, before transferring to Booker T. Washington on 108th Street, and finally landing in LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and the Performing Arts on West 65th Street.
You can check out the full trailer below.
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Wow a billionaire in a movie? Cool
Too bad Catsimatidis is not running for mayor, much better than the clowns running now .
People are suffering from EDS ( Elon Derangement Syndrome) with regards to Catsimatidis
It is an inablility to recognize the success and accomplishments of someone that they disagree with.
It’s actually not that complicated. The prices at Gristedes are outrageous–and disproportionately so.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE — wish he WOULD run for NYC Mayor!
Which is worse: someone who runs in the primary election, loses decisively, and then decides to run in the general election nonetheless, OR someone who can’t be bothered to participate in the primary but skips straight to the general? An interesting question.
omg
John Catsimatidis first slithered into my awareness back in 2013, when I encountered one of his lackeys in front of the Strand excitedly soliciting signatures for his mayoral run on the Liberal Party ticket. (Whether the Liberal Party was aware of what he was up to or wanted to be associated with him are questions remaining unanswered.) Good location and a shrewd pitch; I wonder how many signers were taken in — and whether this qualifies as election fraud.
In reality, Catsimatidis remains an ardent, long-time Republican and indeed a Trumpist, the patriarch of what I see as NYC’s answer to the Addams family:
https://www.businessinsider.com/meet-gristedes-billionaire-john-catsimatidis-trump-supporter-james-bond-republican
https://www.villagevoice.com/heres-your-morning-reminder-that-john-catsimatidis-is-staggeringly-rich-and-very-weird/
I confess I was rather taken by his proposal to give beat cops tricycles, though.
So… he is a Republican and a Trump supporter. Your point?
Does that not tell us all we need to know about his character and his qualifications for leadership?
No.
“Slithered” is a PERFECT word! Thanks for that LOL.
Mamdani should take all his overpriced stores and turn them into discount stores.
No, thanks. I don’t want to be forced to pay for other people’s groceries. It should be voluntary.
How so his markets are usually terrible, unless they’re in very well of neighborhoods, eg the Gristede’s in London Terance.
He’s managed to degrade D’Agosino’s significantly.
This Comment made it to publication? Seriously? No one is paying attention. Thanks for letting us know … and that ridiculous story about curating comments. Oh well
Oh, so: You would prefer censorship such as the current Trump administration oversees?
Why all the anger? Remember, when you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.
so true! and don’t forget to let a smile be your umbrella on a rainy day!❤️
Is this Fred Rogers’s birthday?
We should be grateful that John Kakistimatidis shall hold no such office.
<3 <3 billionaires <3 <3
a billion dollars from grocery stores is a lot of money. i guess its fair to assume that other grocery stores in the area do quite well also. is it the lack of competition? i guess we are kind of beholden to what is in walking distance.
Think real estate not the businesses.
He also owns gas stations, oil refineries and real estate operations, would guess those are all a lot more profitable than Gristedes / DAG
https://ragny.com/
Catsimatidis? Thanks for the info. I will never support anything he is associated with and I never shop at Gristedes or any of his stores either where price gouging is apparent.
Last time C ran, and then lost, he had the nerve to pile hundreds of his “C for Mayor” branded bottles of water in his stores (I guess they didn’t need them for the campaign)…and was asking money for them—selling them! Unbelievable!
Likewise.
If Timothee Chalamet didn’t live in the neighborhood how/why was he allowed to attend PS 87, The Computer School and Booker T Washington?
All of our kids attended PS87 (we live in catchment). My oldest was born in 1999, so 4 years younger than Chalamet. I remember when she was in kindergarten, a good number of kids came from out of catchment – she had school friends who lived pretty far uptown, and one who lived in Chinatown. There just weren’t enough families in catchment to fill all of the seats, and school principals had the leeway to fill empty spots with families from other neighborhoods. Fast forward 7 years, when my youngest started K at PS87 – the DOE had taken over school registrations and seats were filled by lottery because so many families has moved into the neighborhood that there wasn’t enough room for everyone. Priority was given to families who already had children in the school, which is how our last kid made it in to K there. I’m pretty sure a new elementary school opened in the Computer School building in order to accommodate the influx of students.
It’s sometimes possible to attend an out-of-catchment elementary school. If you are in-catchment, you must be allowed to attend your catchment school. But each elementary school has different policies/results on out-of-catchment admissions. Friends in high places, as someone else has said, is one way, Or friends in low places. Or just making your case persuasively and catching someone in a good mood, etc. Or persistence. Ya never know. A million stories in the naked city and all that.
It’s called “working the system” and it’s a high art form in these parts. (Didn’t say it was always fair; not defending it.)
Out of catchment PS87 in Chalamet’s day, at least, was a hard get BTW. (I know, we tried and were denied!)
If you didn’t live in the catchment area, you had to have friends in high places.
He lived in a Mitchell Lama building, Manhattan Plaza.
He grew up in Hell’s Kitchen. Isn’t that close enough?
Not at all. It is far away from the catchment area, always has been.
PS87 is a highly desirable school and they don’t have seats for the non zoned kids; they can barely accommodate the zoned ones.
Booker T is a different matter, it is a city wide high school.
Booker T is a middle school, not high school.
My mistake, sorry! A friend’s child was accepted there at the same time my child was accepted into high school; I got confu
You have to be zoned for the elementary school, he apparently wasn’t. Booker T is city-wide, you have to be selected to attend and apparently he was.
He lived in Manhattan Plaza. Maybe things have changed.
Great god father image.
He also owns D’Agostino’s.
I love how UWSers trash the very people they believe are so important to tge succesd of our city that they’re willing to spend billions feeding, housing and supporting them.
Catsimatidis emigrated to the United States with his parents as an infant and grew up in Harlem, New York City. His father worked as a busboy to support the family.
He worked at a small grocery store owned by a friend’s uncle. Catsimatidis later purchased a share of the business from the friend.
In 1971, Catsimatidis opened his first Red Apple grocery store, and within a few years, he had built a small chain. He distinguished his stores by offering amenities like extended hours, free delivery, and check-cashing services. He later acquired the well-known Gristedes supermarket chain, expanding his grocery empire significantly.
Catsimatidis diversified his business ventures, expanding into real estate, energy, aviation, and media, according to Wikipedia. This included acquiring WABC Radio in 2020. His business conglomerate, the Red Apple Group, is a major privately-held company.
Beyond his business successes, Heis also known for his philanthropy, supporting various causes and organizations.
This is a guy to be derided? He sounds like a real American success story who should be celebrated and yes would make a better mayor than what a previous poster refered to as “clowns”
Please just look at the prices of the items in Gristedes. It borders on price gouging.
Then don’t shop there it’s called choice not price gouging.
He has been a unquestioned success in business! Good for him. But that doesn’t mean he would be a good mayor.
But he might make the trains run on time….
Il Duce the Second? For those of us old enough to remember the reference.
Or for those not doomed to repeat the past (if it can be helped).
So do you think a Socialist with zero work experience is the best person to run the capital of capitalism?
The “zero work experience” is blatantly false, but at least you’re not still calling him a Communist. Why the change of heart — did you learn something?
What did Socialists use before candles?
Electricity.
The best possible person? No definitely not, he wasn’t at the top of my primary ballot even.
Better than Cuomo or Adams? Abso-freaking-lutely.
OPOD for the win.
I don’t think you know what the word socialist means.
It means taking stuff from people who have earned it and giving it to people who have not.
Well, thanks for bolstering Jerry’s suspicion, anyhow.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/ is your friend.
Class envy.
Also from Wikipedia:
“Together with his spouse, Catsimatidis contributed $515,000 to Donald Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign, and he is a vocal Trump supporter.
“The New York Times reported in October 2020 that Catsimatidis and his family run the Manhattan Republican Party; his daughter Andrea is the chairwoman, and Catsimatidis, his wife Margo Catsimatidis, and his son John Catsimatidis Jr. are vice-presidents. Between February and July 2020, Catsimatidis contributed $50,000 of the party’s $52,000 of income.”
Just so we don’t forget.
As Elon Musk is orders of magnitude wealthier than Catsimatidis and has given away millions on various occasions, may we conclude you believe he would make that much better a NYC mayor?
Neither Musk nor Castimatidis would be a good mayor.
At least the Bloomberg terminals work, not true of the spyware ridden dangerous ElonKars.
And before you say, “but Starlink”, um, that’s blanketing the earth with more powerful microwaves, so more cell phone radiation. In the long term not healthy and not a good idea.
SpaceX rockets are 1960s tech with somewhat more advanced materials; they are incredibly inefficient, like nearly all rocket transport systems.
Well now I certainly won’t dare to criticize him for anything, since you have so authoritatively defined everything for the rest of us.
On the other hand I remember that Red Apple on 87th street…
Someone that has actual knowledge before a post. Thank you! Mr. C is an Amazing Success story!
We are not supposed to celebrate success stories like this nowadays. We only celebrate those who have no skills and don’t want to acquire them. That’s called compassion. If you work hard, there’s no compassion for you.
If you work hard and become successful, the current atmosphere tries to find anything to bring you down. But if you are sitting around and collecting welfare, you receive compassion and are seen as a hero just for being poor.
In what alternative reality is any of this true?
NYC in 2025.
In NYC, in 2025, according to you, we (every last one of us?) are not supposed to (according to whom?) celebrate success stories? Do we therefore find no such celebration going on? Really?
Very nice straw man you’ve set up there…
I think he’s too busy doing great things to be sitting around in here, like us, and complaining! We’re lucky to have him.
But we’re not supposed to celebrate success stories like this nowadays. We only celebrate those who have no skills and don’t want to acquire them. That’s called compassion. If you work hard, there’s no compassion for you.
If you work hard and become successful, the current atmosphere tries to find anything to bring you down. But if you are sitting around and collecting welfare, you receive compassion and are seen as a hero just for being poor.
I remember Red Apple. Now it is a grocery store again. Hadnt there beer.s key foods on around 91dt and Broadway?
The same sleazy guy who gave Rudy Giuliani a radio show and let him keep it even after he had been indicted for trying to overthrow a fair election for Donald Trump.
Eventually, though , Catsimatidis woke up and kicked Rudy off the air.
And as much as I used to like Cats, for that, I will never forgive him.
with the disclaimer I’ve known Catsi since the 1970’s when I used to go to the Red Apple supermarket at 87th off Broadway (it was one of very few stores open late..) while he’s certainly controversial, he earned his money the hard way. He sweated at that (and other) stores, including 3 AM trips to Hunts Point Market. Yes, he invested in the real estate typically where the stores were (plus some others) back when NYC was fading out. Good. make that very good, decision…
He bought D’Ag when the family was pretty much about to shut it down.
Lots of other ventures now, with the most visible being WABC radio (which has NOTHING to do anymore with the ABC network).
Good wikipedia writeup at:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Catsimatidis
An amazing human being. Never stops. His ladder to success unlimited. John, an example to all. What is next? Maybe your book “How far do you want to go” In a movie, will inspire many.
God bless
If he’s such a paragon of virtue, how do you account for his unflagging support of Donald John Trump?
To resist a clownish opposition. Him and most of the United States. What do you have to say about the majority of the voters?
Catsimatidis has thrown his support behind, and his money at, DJT for all these years “to resist a clownish opposition”, you say? Hmm. Hmmmm. And you further assert that “most of the United States” has done likewise toward the same end — to resist a clownish opposition? Points for novelty.
What do I have to say about the majority of the voters? Well, for ONE thing, I say they didn’t vote for DJT!
https://hartmannreport.com/p/trump-lost-vote-suppression-won-c6f
*Grosstedes
Proudly overcharging UWS shoppers since the 1970s!
If you don’t like his grocery stores, open your own.
Thankfully, I don’t have to, since there are at least half a dozen other, better, options available.
Alternatively, one could visit other grocery stores. That’s been my own solution for many years.
Disgraceful (but not surprising) that Chalamet has that right-wing nut job in his movie. Really disgraceful.
We must ask ourselves, “What would Muad’Dib have done?”
Did you ever shop in Gristedes the prices are ridiculous. That’s why this creep
is a billionaire. He’s stealing from the American taxpayer.
His stores are also poorly maintained, often understocked, and badly managed.
This is ridiculous. I shop in a Gristedes on Broadway and 103 all the time. It is clean and well-stocked. I prefer to shop there than a place like Westside.
Consider that the 103rd Street store is next to Columbia U apartments on the side street.
The chain has a bad reputation. Individual stores are better managed.
Catsimatidis is a reactionary slug who runs the worst grocery chain in the city.
Isn’t it a slur? Why was it published? Because it is coming from the left?
‘Reactionary’? No, it’s an accurate description of this sleaze’s politics. He’s in favor of rolling everything back to quasi-feudalism. Which, by the way, is the operating ideology of Trump II.
This comments section is a joke—Mr Cats is described as ‘sleazy’ ‘slithering’ and ‘a right wing nut job’ —guess that’s fine—but my earlier comment where I stated factually as reported in The NY Times that Mamdani is a dual citizen of Uganda and the US my comment is dumped—I’ll repeat NYC would have been lucky to have had Cats as mayor—you’ll be begging for Cats groceries to stay in NYC once Mamdani is done with you
Regarding your unpublished comment on Mamdani’s dual citizenship: perhaps it was not such much what you said as how you said it? I can only speculate on that, just as I can only speculate on why you felt it was something worth bringing up here.
I agree. Too many slurs are published. All from the left. Look at those of @ecm.
Yes, it’s all my doing — me and my band of loyal henchmen and henchwomen! [Diabolical laughter.]
One man’s slur is another’s inconvenient truth.
John Catsimatidis bought the license for WABC AM 770 five years ago, so he’s not just a talk show host – he owns the station !
He looks like Colin Farrell as the Penguin. Except he didn’t need the prosthetics and make-up to look that way.
Now, now, Ian, let’s not disparage the man’s looks. It’s the ugliness inside that matters.
Finally made Timothy C look uncool.
It’s uncanny that there are always people who can take ANY topic posted here and turn it into a hate fest. : /
It’s startling to some of us that a discussion of John Catsimatidis could be turned into a lovefest.
John Catsimatidis OWNS WABC radio, an ultra-right wing organ.
Yes music shows cousin Brucie Tony Orlando and Joe piscopo playing Sinatra are ultra right wing lol
Yeah, 3 hours of Hannity every weekday, not rightwing at all.
Hannity is on WOR 710 not WABC
I’m just going to sit here for the next 3-1/2 years and laugh at all the deranged comments directed at Trump and anyone who supports him.