Los Angeles Store

I grew up in LA and went to Warner Avenue School in the late fifties. My first grade class took a field trip to Helms Bakery, as did so many other LA elementary school classes. We saw the big machines in the bread-making factory doing their thing and at the end of the tour we each got a miniature loaf of bread to take home. In my memory, it remains the most exciting thing I'd done in my life up to that point.

I grew up in Altadena, California and to this day still think back with great fondess to the Helms Bakery truck coming down our street. One of the families had a daily delivery so we always hung out near their house when we knew the truck would be coming. I remember the Helms Bakery man getting out of the yellow truck and coming around to the back to open up the double doors and there were the beautiful drawers filled with breads and donuts. My favorite drawer was the candy drawer because he always had my banana salt water taffy in the long strips. I know live up in Seattle, Washington and every once in a great while i will spot one of those old trucks and immediately I'm reminded of Roosevelt Avenue, and the pale yellow Helms Bakery Truck coming down the street, knowing that it would soon be stopping and the beautiful wooden drawers would soon be opened up with all of the yummy treats.

As a kid, I preferred the Helms truck to the ice cream man and I always bought the same raised doughnut, though chatting with the dapper, kindly driver was as much of a treat for me. One day he gently told me that the price of my doughnut had gone up a nickel--months earlier. He'd been making up the difference. I was mortified and of course at age 10 or 11, did not have dozens of nickels to repay him. I'm sorry to say my response was to never flag down that truck again.

I loved the Helm's man. My mom and I would run out when we heard him. He'd pull out those big drawers full of goodies and we'd make our selections. The aroma of was enough to make our mouths water. What a wonderful memory of that simpler time!

Helms truck would show up and I would "run" down the driveway. I loved those, "Powder sugar" donuts. You can't find any like that anywhere in LA. I guess my mom bought bread, but I don't remember exactly. I just remember the donuts. I've been to Stans in Westwood and always loathed the donut shops that the people from faraway countries operate. Krispy Kreme has a good chocolate cake donut, but I still remember the powder sugar....memories will never be forgotton.

My story is probably the same as thousands of others you'll hear - but that's a good thing - it was a shared tradition throughout much of Southern California. In the middle '50s we lived in Sherman Oaks alongside the LA River in a cozy neighborhood. On those special days that Mom put out the Blue H card in our front window my brother and I got very happy. That was a day we would wait to hear the truck coming and then rush out to wait on the curb. The truck would stop, the delivery man (and yes, it was always a man in those days) would come to the back of the truck, open the doors, and pull out those wide. thin, long drawers filled with such a spectacular display of donuts to look over. I almost always got a glazed or a chocolate eclair. My brother had more eclectic tastes as I recall. Donuts have never tasted so good since - even from Randy's. Having freshly-baked donuts come to your front door was a little bit of my heaven growing up. A delicious bite.

The truck brought the best donuts in the world!

he cream puffs...yum. I can still remember the sweet smell and how they melted in my mouth. The bottom of the puff was so soft because of the most delicious filling. I remember searching under the cushions of the sofa looking for any spare change that might have fallen out of my dad's pockets, because I had already spent my allowance. Then running out to meet the truck and watching the driver open the drawer that held those tasty treats, hoping that they hadn't sold out before they came to my neighborhood. How happy I was to see that there was still some,or sometimes only one left in the drawer. Every once in a while I will buy a cream puff hoping that it will have that same heavenly taste. Always disappointed, but that's okay because I still remember what the best cream puff tasted like.