Helm’s Bakery

Two of my favorite memories from childhood were delivered by those little yellow trucks with the black fenders.
First was the anticipation sparked by hearing the whistle of the Helm’s Bakery truck somewhere in the neighborhood (maybe half a mile away!), and the first sight when the Helm’s truck turned the corner…and each time it stopped, on that agonizingly slow trip down Olympus Avenue before finally reaching OUR house.
The other favorite memory is the delicious smell that wafted out of the truck when that big door would open, and he would pull the big wooden drawers open to get the bread and donuts.
I can hear the whistle and the drawers as if they were just this morning.
Then there was the overwhelming smell when my 2^nd-​grade class toured the bakery. I wish I had appreciated it more, but they told us we were getting to pick donuts at the end of the tour, so we were more interested in the end result than in the people and ovens which created all of those wonders of taste and smell.
It was a dark day in human history when the Helm’s trucks stopped rolling.
My favorite was their chocolate-​covered donut. I would love to find someone making them the same way. Van de Kamp’s and Entenmann’s are close, but…come on, CORN SYRUP??? Other places use beet «sugar» — again, close but no kewpie.
Show me a place using Helm’s recipe and PURE CANE SUGAR, and I’m on my way at the speed of heat!

Wow… I haven’t been able to find anyone who remembers the Helm’s Bakery Truck! I lived in Vallejo in the early 60s and I can still hear the whistle as it came down the street, and remember the incredible smell from the large variety of baked goods stored in the back of the truck. I know there are countless others like me who fondly remember the gem on wheels known as the Helms Bakery Truck.

At night, don’t miss the restored classic animated Helms sign on top of the building. I could see it from my bedroom window growing up: «Helms…Olympic…Bread!» (insert animated fireworks). And oh, the glorious scent of baking bread in the early mornings when the wind was kind…
There’s also a marvelous French Bakery (La Dijonnaise) in one corner of the old Helms Building, at Helms and Washington. Killer pastries. Yum.

It might be slightly crazy to review a business that no longer exists,
but for those of us who remember those yellow
Helm’s Bakery trucks that came around LA neighborhoods, the tooting of the Helm’s whistle, the smell of those heavenly baked goods and the sight of those wooden drawers filled with fresh jelly donuts, chocolate donuts, fresh breads, etc will forever be a
HUGE part of our childhood memories.
There was also the TOUR of the Helm’s Bakery! I must have gone
on that tour ten times (Church group, Girl scouts, school visit,
family visit,)…not only did you get a tour of the inner sanctum
of Helm’s bakery but you also got a mini loaf of bread AND a
chocolate donut AND a miniature Helm’s Bakery truck (only
cardboard, but I loved them!).
Heaven on earth!