The Helms Bakery in Culver City, California

Culver City, California

Culver City is a city in western Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 38,883, up from 38,816 at the 2000 census. It is mostly surrounded by the city of Los Angeles, but also shares a border with unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County. Culver...

 was a notable industrial bakery of Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 that operated from 1931 to 1969.

In 1926, Paul Helms

Paul Helms

Paul Joy Helms was an American executive in the baking industry and sports philanthropist. He founded the Helms Bakery in 1926 and the Helms Athletic Foundation with Bill Schroeder in 1936....

 of New York took an early retirement for health reasons and moved his family to Southern California and its mild climate. Helms started construction on a building between Washington and Venice Boulevards in 1930 and, on March 2, 1931, the Helms Bakery opened with 32 employees and 11 delivery coaches (trucks).

By the next year, the Helms Bakery had become the "official baker" of the 1932 Summer Olympics

1932 Summer Olympics

The 1932 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the X Olympiad, was a major world wide multi-athletic event which was celebrated in 1932 in Los Angeles, California, United States. No other cities made a bid to host these Olympics. Held during the worldwide Great Depression, many nations...

 when Paul Helms won a contract to supply bread for the 1932 games in Los Angeles. Early Helms vehicles sported the Olympic symbol, and it also appeared on, and was mentioned in, the Helms logo on the bread wrappers.

Despite never being sold in stores, Helms baked products soon became known to millions of consumers. The Helms motto was "Daily at Your Door" and every weekday morning, from both the Culver City facility and a second Helms Bakery site in Montebello

Montebello, California

Montebello is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, in the southwestern part of the San Gabriel Valley. It is located on of land just east of downtown Los Angeles. It is considered part of the Gateway Cities, and the city is a member of the Gateway Cities Council of...

, dozens of Helms panel trucks, painted in a unique two-tone scheme, would leave the bakery for various parts of the Los Angeles Basin

Los Angeles Basin

The Los Angeles Basin is the coastal sediment-filled plain located between the Peninsular and Transverse ranges in southern California in the United States containing the central part of the city of Los Angeles as well as its southern and southeastern suburbs...

, some going as far as the eastern San Gabriel Valley

San Gabriel Valley

The San Gabriel Valley is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, United States. It lies to the east of Los Angeles, to the north of the Puente Hills, to the south of the San Gabriel Mountains, and west of the Inland Empire. It derives its name from the San Gabriel River that flows...

. This is remarkable because the network of freeways had not yet been built, so the trip might take an hour or more. Each truck would travel through its assigned neighborhoods, with the driver periodically pulling (twice) on a large handle which sounded a distinctive whistle or stop at a house where a Helms sign was displayed. Customers would come out and wave the truck down, or sometimes chase the trucks to adjacent streets. Wooden drawers in the back of the truck were stocked with fresh donuts, cookies, pastries and candies, while the center section of the truck carried dozens of loaves of freshly baked bread. Products often reached the buyers still warm from the oven.

Paul Helms died on January 5, 1957 at age 67, but the business continued to operate, run by family members. Its delivery network gradually grew to include Fresno

Fresno, California

Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...

 to the north; San Bernardino

San Bernardino, California

San Bernardino is a city located in the Riverside-San Bernardino metropolitan area , and serves as the county seat of San Bernardino County, California, United States...

 to the east, and south to Orange County

Orange County, California

Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...

 and San Diego

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

. In the company's final year of operation, a clever marketing campaign netted Helms a contract to furnish "the first bread on the moon," via the Apollo 11

Apollo 11

In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...

 space mission. The San Bernardino facility was located on the northeast corner of Mt Vernon Avenue and Birch Street. After Helm Bakeries closed that location, it was taken over as a small warehouse by FEDCO Corporation

Fedco

Federal Employees' Distributing Company, known as Fedco, was a membership department store chain that operated in Southern California from 1948 to 1999.-Beginning:...

, which has since gone out of business as well. The building in San Bernardino is still there, housing a mattress and home furnishings business.

However popular, the Helms method of neighborhood delivery was doomed both by the expense of sending trucks hundreds of miles each week and by the advent of the supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

, which stocked products from other (less expensive) bakeries, which delivered once or twice each week. The Helms company ceased operations in 1969.

The former Helms Bakery building has been re-purposed into a warren of furniture showrooms, art galleries, restaurants and other retail outlets including the famed but now closed Jazz Bakery

Jazz Bakery

The Jazz Bakery is a jazz club in the former Helms Bakery on Helms Avenue off Venice Boulevard in Culver City, California. It was established as a not-for-profit company by jazz vocalist Ruth Price, others, including Maurice Hall co-founded the bakery. It is based on an informal concert hall model...

, as well as a Helms Museum, the Gascon Theatre and the La Dijonaise restaurant.

Other retail stores now located at the Helms Bakery District include: Alan Desk, ADP, Ashely Furniture, Boom Design, Creative Galleries, Hastens Beds, H.D. Buttercup, Jaxon, La Bella Cosa, Plummers, Rejuvenation

Rejuvenation (lighting and hardware)

Rejuvenation is an American manufacturer and direct marketer of light fixtures and hardware. The company builds most of their lighting in Portland, Oregon. Williams-Sonoma acquired the company in November 2011. -History:...

, The Rug Warehouse, Style de Vie, Thos. Moser Cabinetmaker, Twenty Gauge, Vitra and Wall Units.

In addition to La Dijonaise restaurant, Helms Bakery District also features Beacon, an Asian cafe, a hot dog stand called Let's Be Frank and Father's Office

Father's Office

Father's Office is a gastropub located at 1018 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica, California and has become famous for the Office Burger, which Esquire Magazine called one of the best burgers in the world.-History:...

, a gastropub

Gastropub

Gastropub or Gastrolounge refers to a bar and restaurant that serves high-end beer and food.The term gastropub, a portmanteau of gastronomy and pub, originated in England in the late 20th century. English pubs were drinking establishments and little emphasis was placed on the serving of food. If...

.

The facility is partly powered by solar energy.

There is now a Helms Bakery Collectors Club, established as a resource for Helms fans to obtain literature, memorabilia and even Helms Coaches.

External links

• Helms Bakery District website
• The Jazz Bakery website
• Helms Bakery by Frank J. Leskovitz
• Location: 34.029945°N 118.385373°W