After 37 Years on Main Street, Whirlin'Disc to Close

When Vicki and Steve Blitenthal opened Whirlin'Disc in 1975, there was a full-blown revival of do-wop music underway in the New York of Sha-Na-Na and Disco.

It was the perfect time to build a business built on nostalgia, and for parts of four decades, the sounds of the past could be heard coming from the narrow store at 230 Main Street, chocked full of vinyl 33's and 45's.

On Thursday, Vicki Blitenthal said the time for has come to close up. Her husband died in March and the yearning for nostalgia appears to be passing.

"It's all downloading now," she said. "We're going to go to mail order. You just don't need a brick-and-mortar store any more."

The customers who remain are sad, "but they understand," she said. The store with an estimated half-million labels ranging from country to classic rock and back to the famed crooners of the big-band era will be closed on June 1.

The assortment of records can bring back memories for just about anyone who ever owned a record player:

Toward the back were stacks of records ranging from Al Jolson to Dean Martin and Al Martino. Not far away: Steve Lawrence and a "Sing Along With Mitch" L.P.

The rack of 45's included Bing Crosby tunes and Barry White ballads. Elvis sightings were everywhere. Long Islanders Billy Joel and (Canadian transplant) Guy Lombardo were well represented.

And from the speakers, Frank Sinatra was singing Cole Porter's "Night and Day."

"There's something about vinyl; you hear people say it all the time," Blitenthal said. "It's warmer sounding."

Mail orders will still be available through Whirlin'Disc's website here.