| Helms Bakery | |
| Type: | Private company |
| Location: | Los Angeles/Culver City, California, U.S. |
| Industry: | Food (bakery) |
| Products: | Bread, cake |
| Owner: | Paul Helms |
Helms Bakery was an industrial bakery on the border of Los Angeles and Culver City, in Southern California, that operated from 1931 to 1969. Currently the buildings have been adapted for use as retail shops, restaurants, and furniture showrooms; the complex is part of what is now called the Helms Bakery District.[1]
In 1926, Paul Helms of New York took early retirement for health reasons and moved his family to Southern California. 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 when Paul Helms won a contract to supply bread for the 1932 games in Los Angeles. His slogan was "Olympic Games Bakers - Choice of Olympic Champions."[2] Four years later, in time for the 1936 Summer Olympics, Germany asked Helms for his bread recipes. The U.S. teams at London and Helsinki requested his bread be served.[3] Early Helms vehicles sported the Olympic symbol, and it also appeared on and was mentioned in, the Helms logo on the bread wrappers,[4] the company logo, and sign.[5]
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, dozens of Helms coaches,[6] painted in a two-tone scheme, would leave the bakery for various parts of the Los Angeles Basin to San Gabriel Valley, when the network of freeways had not yet been built. One of each of these coaches is on display at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles,[7] the Lyon Air Museum in Santa Ana, and the LeMay Car Museum in Tacoma, Washington. In an apparent tribute to the Helms Bakery, a churro cart ("Willie's Churros") in Disney California Adventure is styled and painted to resemble a Helms delivery truck.
Each coach would travel through its assigned neighborhoods, with the driver periodically pulling (twice) on a large handle that sounded a whistle or stopping at a house where a Helms sign, a blue placard with an "H" on it, was displayed in their windows.[8] Helms Bakery coaches were originally manufactured by Twin-Coach, a delivery truck firm in Kent, Ohio, and were designed similar to that firm's buses, only smaller.
In the 1930s, the Fageol brothers merged Twin-Coach with Divco, another delivery truck maker based in Detroit, Michigan. Until WWII, both Twin-Coach and early Divco vehicles were manufactured by the merged Divco-Twin Truck Company in a new factory opened in 1939 on Hoover Road in suburban Detroit.
In 1937, the firm introduced a new delivery vehicle based on a design similar to Chrysler's Airflow, which by WWII had a market for Divco. The tucks made with the older Twin-style bodies were discontinued and the name was dropped from the company when the factory switched to military parts in WWII and was never resumed. But Helms still wanted the older design, which had become iconic to their business, so they bought an unfinished snub-nosed chassis from Divco and redesigned it with newly made older-style bodies by several local California truck body manufacturers. An example of this style of truck may be found at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Helms' later Divco chassis coaches were powered by various engines, including motors purchased from Nash and Studebaker.
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 to the north; San Bernardino to the east, and south to Orange County and San Diego. In the company's final year of operation, a marketing campaign netted Helms a contract to furnish "the first bread on the moon," via the Apollo 11 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, which has since gone out of business as well. The building in San Bernardino is still currently housing a mattress and home furnishings business.
The Helms company ceased operations in 1969.
The Marks family purchased Helms Bakery in the early 1970s and adaptive reuse of a historic structure. Covering the 11 acres, the improvements include restoring original neon signs on the roofs, creating two murals, installing two photovoltaic solar arrays, restoring the Zigzag Moderne detailing, reinventing retail, home furnishings, and eateries. To honor the history of the bakery, a small museum was installed inside one of the retail stores.
The closure of Helms Avenue gives the neighborhood a community space, Helms Walk. Helms Bakery's most recent addition closest to the Culver City station on the Expo Line is the Helms Design Center. Featuring five to-the-trade contract showrooms with brands such as Vitra, Snowsound, and The Splash Lab. A 200-car automated parking structure has been constructed.
There are several retail stores now located at the Helms Bakery District. There is a Helms Bakery Collectors Club, established as a resource to obtain literature, memorabilia, and Helms Coaches.