Sunday, June 21, 2009

Remembering the Helms Bakery Trucks

helms bakery truck
Lee Fredrickson remembers the Helms Bakery Trucks rolling through his neighborhood, and the smells of fresh baked bread...
One of my favorite memories of growing up in Orange County was the Helms Bakery truck coming through the neighborhood during the weekdays.

I was talking with a high school friend today about that, and things I remember was the driver always blew the horn twice while going up and down the streets to draw the customers outside. As kids, we didn't get to see the bakery truck very often because we would usually be in school when the driver made his rounds, but when we were home, and we heard that horn, we would immediately start pestering our mother to get something from the "bakery truck".

It was always a treat to be there when the driver would open the double doors at the back of the truck and to smell all those wonderful treats - some of them still warm from being baked that day. My mom would tell the driver what she wanted to purchase that day, and he would start opening up those long wooden drawers which were used to store the baked goods. One drawer would have doughnuts, the next one would have cakes, another held pies, and it would go on and on while we just watched and enjoyed the show.

The drivers were always very friendly and knew our Mom by name. Mom didn't always have the money that day to pay for the stuff she wanted, so the drivers would extend her credit until the next time they came around. I remember they would have a little notebook with the customer's name on it and a column of numbers showing purchases and payments.

Unfortunately, Helms Bakery went out of business in 1969, but it is a memory I still cherish to this day.
Aside from the ice cream trucks that cruised our neighborhood, the only other food trucks I remember were the ones in Yokohama, Japan when I lived there from 1970-71. They sold just about everything, and if they didn't have it, they'd have it for you on the next stop. My mom would buy stuff from them.

In Santa Ana, I'd often see trucks going up and down the neighborhoods selling produce and clothes, but our family never paid any mind to them.

Today, we have the Schwan's trucks making deliveries in the neighborhood out here in the IE.

76 comments:

  1. I remember the Helms trucks too, but my mom rarely bought from them because she thought they were too expensive. Does anyone remember the guys that used to come around with the ponies that you could ride? They came down our street and would park for awhile and you could ride the ponies right in the middle of the street! And some of them had a small merry go round you could ride. I remember the ice cream trucks too.

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  2. I lived in the northern end of Buena Park in the 60's and remember the Helms whistle and would recognize it if I heard it today. My favorite was the cream puffs.
    I also remember the guys with the ponies.

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  3. The Helms Bakery Man


    This is a tribute to the Helms driver that serviced Los Alamitos in 1959 to 1960. I do not know his name at all now but I assume we knew it well back then. My dad was having huge diabetic problems those years being in long comas at least twice. Our income had slipped to nearly nothing…we were aided by relatives but we mainly lived on charity and my pay from the newspaper routes I held. I delivered a daily paper to an area just south of us and I had a Sunday paper only run at the Los Alamitos Naval Air Station. So I pulled in $35 to $50 a month between them depending on the sales. It differed on the Sunday run since we had different things going on at the air base each weekend. When a large National Guard Unit was there I did fabulous business…other weekends not as well.
    The main person to help us out in all this was the Helms Bakery man. Whoever he was he saved us that year. He brought us all our bread for free and gave us treats like cookies and doughnuts. These were all his day old things but since he reported them as unsold and they generally were thrown away that evening. He instead bagged them, put them in his truck, and gave it all to us. It is in his spirit that I donate what I do for people that I see as needing help.
    This truck is just like the one he drove. I have been looking for a good picture for years and I wasn’t aware that it would be so hard. In the front behind his seat was shelves and drawers of regular customers special orders and in the back were long, long drawers filled with bread, doughnuts, and other baked goods freshly made that morning.
    I will never forget this man and the human kindness he freely gave to us. He literally was a life saver.

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  4. The Cream Puffs were the greatest.

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  5. I lived on Mark st Santa Ana and our Helms man's name was Ralph. We also had Golden Krust, we liked Helms better.

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  6. I remember the Helms truck from Baldwin Park/West Covina as kid. Mom would give us a nickel, shoo us outside, where we would wait till we heard the Helms Bakery man blow his whistle signaling us that the sweetest, biggest and gooiest creampuffs in the whole world, or at least on our block, were about to arrive. The cream puffs were the worlds best pastry. It was at least a foot high mountain of cream, ok everything did seem bigger as kid.

    I was born in LA, moved to OC in 1960. Lived in Orange went to the old El Modena Elementary, then McPherson Jr High and the "new" high school El Modena. I just found this website but would like to read, post and talk to people more about Orange County, specifically the years 1965 to 1971. Researching for an "American Graffiti" type movie set in the city with the circle in the middle.

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  7. I started the blog about Crescent Jr. High in Buena Park and love the response to that...but this one really takes me back..my dad was a Helmsman in the 50's in BP and how I remember growing up with that Helms truck parked in the driveway. Ate too many sweets with that around. If anyone remembers Harry, the Helmsman from Buena Park, he was a great guy, a great talker, and loved his customers. My uncle had a bread route in Sunny Hills Fullerton too till the company closed..good memories and what a great looking truck that was.

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  8. Growing up on Balboa Island in the 60's, my Summer memories are not complete without remembering the mad dashes we would make from the beach on South Bayfront to our house on Agate when we heard the Helms man coming up the street.

    Once in awhile, we would sneak the sign into the window, knowing once he stopped, someone would buy us something. I do not remember the driver's name, but remember he was the nicest "old" person I dealt with in those days outside of my family. And, he knew all our names, which was fascinating to a 7 year-old.

    Oh, those jelly doughnuts! I have never had anything that was close to being that good, and looking at me now, I have know a jelly doughnut or two in my life.

    My grandmother would let us pick a treat, and add a cupcake for after dinner. Or if we had our own money we would spend whatever we had trying to buy up the whole truck.

    The two things I miss most from those days.. Adohr Farms delivering milk (and orange juice in huge glass bottles), and the Helms Man.

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  9. Marco, you just mentioned 'sneaking the sign in the window', what sign was that? Did the Helms man have a sign to know if he should stop? And what did the sign say? I have never heard of that before!

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  10. I grew up in Anaheim in the 60's, and my mom, and many of the neighbors had the Helm's sign in their front window. It was white with a picture of a blue ship helm (steering wheel)and a big 'H' in the middle of it. ( I hope my memory is correct on that, lol).
    If the driver saw the sign he would know to stop in front of your house and blow his whistle. OH! The smell of the fresh baked bread, doughnuts and goodies when he would open the back doors of the truck was heaven!!

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  11. Growing up in West Garden Grove in the 60's I remember the Helms Bakery truck. Our housekeeper would let me get a jelly or glazed doughnut, they were sooo fresh. I remember the wooden drawers with the glass inserts and the chrome handles. After Helms closed the driver (Al) continued the route and changed the name to "Al's Bakery" on the truck. I also remember Ador Farms delivery and how cold the milk was in the glass bottles and the checklist you would place the order on and leave it with the empty bottles in the wire rack. My parents told me in the 50's before I was born when we lived in Lakewood that the Ador Farms deliveryman and the drycleaner deliveryman had a key to our house so they could put the milk and drycleaning away.

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  12. I grew up on the west side of Costa Mesa (Government streets) and I will never forget the sound of that bell and smell of the donuts and cakes when the driver would open up the drawers.
    One of the true magic memories of my childhood. My link to a different vanished time.

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    1. Somehow that last line sounds like rush lyrics

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  13. Growing up in Santa Ana, near South Coast Plaza, surrounded by lima bean fields in the 1960's California Dreamin we were living. The smell of orange blossoms, strawberry fields and of course The Helms Bakery truck! Pulling the drawers from the rear of the truck, to all the fresh bread and doughnuts. I sound like my parents. I'm 47 asking where have all the good days gone?

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  14. I have to vote for the cream puffs being the utmost delicacy ever to grace the Helms truck. What I wouldn't give for one of those tasty treats with the powdered sugar dusted on it right now. I have never come across another like them in the 40 years since they shut down. I was fortunate to grow up in Garden Grove and have the chance to experience them.

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  15. I Remember the Helms Trucks as a child the drawers seemd to go on for ever and they had drawers and drawers of the best fresh donuts and cookies I am glad to have such wonderful memories and to of had such a wonderful MOM whom let us stop him ALOT!!!!Lots of memories of growing up in Orange.

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  16. I've often recounted my memories of the lovely aromas that would waft from the back of the Helms bakery trucks. I don't have any memories of actually eating any of the goodies, just the smells. Heavenly! Does anyone remember the Foremost Dairy truck that would come around and take family photos?

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    1. I remember that truck. Still have some of those old family pictures. They were some of the best pictures of my toddler years.

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  17. I am happy to see soooo many fond memories of the Helms Bakery truck ( the Helms man as we would call him). Well, I grew up in the San Fernando Valley, and we would wait anxiously for the Helms man to come visit our street on Bromont Avenue. I would enjoy looking at all the goodies, and when I was done, I would select the Chocolate Eclair yummies, ( I can still taste em) pure goodness. What a happy tongue I had. Boy I wish they were still around...or maybe not, I'd probably over do it. By the way, I saw a Helms truck about a year ago up in Palmdale California on 10th Street West near Palmdale Blvd. I wish I had of investigated it then. It brought back very fond memories.

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  18. Nice web page. I had the opportunity to work on a 1939 helms truck. Check out Lions Automtoive in Torrance. Here is a you tube video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U90ka_QnNVY

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  19. My husband & I were talking tonight about our memories of the Helms bakery truck in the 40's & 50's. I can still recall that wonderful aroma. Other comments are right, the cream puffs were great.

    Elaine

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  20. What a treat to be reminded of the Helms man. Glendale here, late Fifties. I loved watching the goodies being revealed as he pulled out those long drawers at the back of the truck, and him making change from the chrome thing on his belt. Nobody ever made a glazed doughnut like Helms did.

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  21. I grew up in Fullerton and remember the "Helms Man" very well. Yes, my Mom put the "blue Card" sign in our front window as well when she wanted him to stop. I honestly don't remember her buying much, although I'm sure she did. My focus was on the Lemon filled doughnuts! They were the best! I remember the long wooden drawer put the doughnuts right at eye level! Does anyone else remember going to the drive in dairy and buying milk in glass bottles that were in a wire rack. My Mom would drive in and the dairy guy would get the rack from the floor of the back seat, & replace the empties with full bottles, then back onto the floor. Life was so simple then! And friendly!

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  22. OMG!! Their glazed donuts were the Best!!

    I could smell the Helms truck coming even before he blew the whistle

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  23. Sure, I remember the truck and especially the jelly donuts we had during neighborhood basketball games. I actually purchased an old 59 chevy panel truck for $500 that was a Helms bakery truck. It still had the holes in the roof that the awning was mounted on. I lived in my truck going to college and sold it years later for $500. I now have a 56 chevy panel and get to relive all the good times we had during the 60's in Covina CA.

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  24. I have some great memories of a guy named Chuckles the clown how drove the neighborhoods with a carousel on the back of his vehicle. I was about 5 so I don't remember if it was a car or a truck. Chuckles later had a TV show. John was our Helms bread man. I still covet the Milano wafers. Charles was our Good Humor man. He was the first black man I met up close and personal. He always had a big smile, familiar white suit and bow tie and after handing out the ice cream he would always admonish us with "look out for the cars honey's". Our streets in Norwalk would often be a cacophony of competing ice cream vendors but Charles was the best.

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    1. And I thought I was the only one who remembers Chuckles the clown . I remember him living next to the preschool I went to. Everyday seeing him leave n come home all made up . Funny some of the only memories when I was that young .

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  25. My absolute fondest memory of childhood was the Helms Bakery truck and those impossibly long drawers full of cookies and cupcakes! OMG! It brings tears to my eyes thinking about it. Truly, a lost era!

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  26. in west garden grove he drove a yellow van/truck. an old guy and i thought his name was paul and the truck said PAULS BAKERY. is this still the helms guy?

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  27. I grew up in Pomona in the 60's ('58 to '76 to be exact) and remember well, as a kid all through the 1960's having the Helms Bakery Truck come through with the best, freshest, donuts and bread... opening up those back doors and pulling out the shelves and shelves of donuts! Jelly, glazed, chocolate covered - you name it. Between this great service and our milk-man... we were set!

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  28. We had a neighbor that actually had his own Helms truck....The best maple bars ever!!!!

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  29. Hi all,
    My dad worked for Helms, he had the Beverly hills route.
    I have an old movie of him, driving his truck out of the Helms building. I may put it on Youtub on day.

    He told me that they use to drive the truck standing up..
    May he RIP

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  30. The Petersen's Automotive Museum in Los Angeles has a Helms truck - it looks just as I remembered it! The powdered sugar donuts and carmel apples were amazzing!

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  31. I remember the days when ,we would get all the drawres open and be able to steal from oposite side of truck that the driver was on. Ussualy geting packs of 5 bazzooka bubble gum.Not proud of stealing ,but proud of being there to see the old 50s chevy panel trucks and being a part of history.Orange California,1963-on..We also has Formost milk delivery.They also came by and took family photos , Good ol'days...

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  32. I remember the Helms truck. My Dad drove one in the early 50's. We lived in Long Beach. He had a heart attack while on his route and one of his customers brought him home. He never went back as he passed away two weeks later. I have many pictures of his truck and I remember when he came home at night he would open those long drawers,and the wonderful smells drifted up at my brother and I. What a wonderful memory of my childhood.

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  33. I remember getting my picture taken in the back of a Foremost Dairy delivery truck stopped in front of our house in the mid 60's. I was 4 or 5 years old at the time. The photo was an 8x10 with a calender embedded onto it. Very cool. Still have it somewhere.

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  34. Grew up in Dana Point in the 60's and oh yes remember the Helms truck - I would run out with my mom and she would always let us girls get one treat - I still remember those wooden drawers and would always get the chocolate filled bismark - yumm yumm - wonderful memories - jeanne

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  35. Jerry was our Helms Man in the 50's in Fullerton. I loved the cream puffs and those awesome cream filled cupcakes-you can't find anything as good these days. I remember when we moved to Palm Desert in spring of 1963, the Helms truck came down our street & I was so disappointed that he had no cream puffs-he told me it was too hot for them out there in the 115 degree heat! Someone should buy one of the old trucks and start selling the old fashioned Helms way-I think it's come full circle and plenty of people would buy! I know I would.

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  36. My favortie from the Helms truck was the chocolate macaroon cookies. They were huge and so yummy. We lived in Santa Ana and also had the Golden Krust bakery truck visit our neighborhood. Helms was the best! I dream of the long wooden drawers filled with goodies.

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  37. Reading all these memories just takes me back to Elm St in Anaheim in the 1960's, I remember the whistle on the Helm's truck, my brother and I would race to the truck on our bikes and follow him on his route until he made it to our house, I couln't wait to get a glazed doughnut and the chocolate doughnuts had a hard icing all over them!!!!!!!! Thank-you for this wonderful website, I love reading everyone's comments, it's like curling up with a good book.

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  38. My Grandfather, Paul Lagerquist drove a Helms route as well as Golden Crust in Long Beach during the '50's thru late '60's when he bought his own truck. He continued his route as "Paul's Bakery" until '74 when he retired. I don't recall his exact route though.

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  39. Where can I get the recipe for the Helm's Man Applesauce cake with the frosting?

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  40. Great memories! I grew up in Norwalk in the late 50's early 60's and can still remember the beep beep of the truck. We would stand at the back and wait for him to open the drawers, then just stand there and smell the freshly baked everything. I honestly don't remember ever getting anything to eat off the truck, but I do remember the smells. I wish someone would have taken a picture. 8-10 kids just standing there with eyes closed.

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  41. I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley (Azusa). My best childhood memories were that of the Helmsman bakery truck!! We couldn't always afford to stop him as he "tooted his horn" passed our house, but when we did, me & my three sister's were front & center with eagerness & delight & couldn't wait for the helmsman to start opening all those drawers!!!! Loved the big taffy wrapped in wax paper in all colors, doughnuts,candy necklaces,gum & homemade bread!!! I will never forget our helmsman....very nice!!

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  42. Your grandfather's route went through west Garden Grove. He was always the nicest guy, very patient with us kids trying to figure out what kind of doughnut we wanted...I always went with the jelly. Although we knew him as Paul, we continued to call him the Helm's Man. Thanks for the great memories.

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  43. I grew up on west 111th Street in Los Angeles. One of the best memories of my childhood is hearing and then seeing the Helms Bakery truck slowly making it's way up my block. Without a doubt, the cream puffs were the best! I even remember the times when they would be sold out of them, and I'd beg the driver to PLEASE save me one next time! The best of times, SoCal!

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  44. I grew up in Atwood. I have the sweetest memory of my Dad and I sneaking away from the other family members and stopping the driver. I recall the drawer of glazed donuts and how excited I would get that my Dad treated his "favorite" to a donut. Years later, I learned he did this for all of us 1 x per week.

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  45. Oh my God, reading these comments brings back so many memories of my childhood in Costa Mesa, and a few tears to my eyes. Every Saturday morning my Mom & I would anxiously wait for the Helms Bakery truck to come down our street, and you could almost set your watch by his arrival time. I remember our Helms man like I just saw him yesterday, he was a short chubby bald headed guy with glasses named Ed, and he drove truck #53. He was the nicest guy on the planet, and I think he knew every kid and Parent in the neighborhood by name. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into either a cream puff or a jelly donut or 2, and nothing today could ever come close to the freshness or quality of those Helms bakery products. The saddest day of my life (back then when I was 10) was when I heard they went out of business. I just wish the kids of today could have experienced some of lifes little pleasures we had back then like the Helms Man or the Adhor Farms milk man.

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  46. I grew up in Beaumont, CA and I remember the Helmsman coming around to sell to us there. As a kid it never occurred to me to wonder where they came from, they must have really gotten around. It was always such a thrill to run out to that truck - I can still recall dancing back and forth from one foot to the next in anticipation as we stood waiting for the driver to open the door. It felt like forever, but then he was there sliding open those big wooden drawers - what a treat! But so hard to choose. Mom would say we could only have one thing ... I loved the donuts, but my favorite was always the chocolate cupcakes. Yum! :)

    Gail Reed

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  47. Grew up in Buena Park, and we also loved the Helm's Bakery Truck! So many wonderful memories from so many people, it really makes you wonder why it didn't pan out for them. I guess donuts just didn't cover the trucking costs! We were lucky then, weren't we. To have this little bit of heaven for a brief time in our childhoods. Someone also mentioned the Adohr or Foremost milk men. I think my baby sister looks just like one of the drivers.
    WINK WINK WINK !!!!! :)

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  48. Grew up in Garden Grove and remember the Helm's Bakery Truck coming around....What great memories...

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  49. Grew up in Boyle Heights in the 60's and every morning when the Helms man would come down Winter Street and blow his whistle all us kids would come running and the Helms man would stop and swing the rear doors open and pull out those long drawers, it was like magic the drawers seemed like the could go on forever well at least for 5 year old it did. My favorite was the cream puff and have yet to find one to match the Helms Man.

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    1. OMG, I grew up in El Sereno (Los Angeles, 90032)! Our Helms man's name was BOB. I attended Our Lady of Guadalupe School(Rosehill). I remember mom sending one of us running down to the corner (Lomitas Dr. & Carnegie Sts) to buy either a dozen glazed donuts or a dozen cupcakes as soon as we heard his distictive Helms "toot-toot". My mom would pack either of the treats for us in our brown bag lunches. My fellow students would always want to trade me something for the yummy glazed donuts. Oh how I long for those days again, of the Helms Man, The Good Humor Man (ice cream) and the Foremost Milkman. What a better place the world would be if we still had that wholesome way of living today.

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  50. OMG! What a great memory. I had forgot all about them. Lived in Garden Grove also and I remember the helms trucks coming around. Their baked goods were so good!

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  51. Yes, like has been said here many times, we all loved the Helms truck and to watch the driver pull the long drawers out revealing the doughnuts and such. My mom would only buy on rare occasions, money was tight so she usually bought stuff from the day old bread store in Santa Ana. We lived very close to the Cal-Va dairy when they still had cows there. I could buy popcicles at Cal-Va for 3 cents. Take a few empty pop bottles to the dairy and trade them for fruit punch and 50-50 bars. I can remember the bad smell of the cows in the summer when it would get hot and the breeze would blow from that direction.
    We also had a chili factory near my house and the smell from that place was really strong if the wind was right.
    No wonder I have bad allergies. Ahhhh yes, the good old days when times were bad.

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  52. What a great site, conjuring up the best memories! My dad was a Helm's driver in the late '40's early '50's, in L.A. We kids (three of us) were not aware of the cost 'cause we had the day old bounty (tasted fresh and new to us)that he was allowed to bring home. One favorite of mine was the "Blueberry Buckle". Have never found one as good. I can smell those aromas even now. Dad had some great customer stories to share with us, and after all these years some still bring a smile. He was one of those nice, sweet guys that his customers loved.

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  53. I'm looking for someone who remembers the Helmes delivery "wagons" that looked like a trolley car and had the drawers that pulled out inside the wagon so the driver never stepped outside. I saw them in the neighborhood just west of Alameda st.(by the RR tracks) and south of Florence ave. in 1946 and 1948.

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  54. I grew up in South El Monte in the 80's and I remember an old guy in a yellow delivery van that everyone called "The Helms Man". He sounded the double-toot whistle and had long wooden pull-out shelves lined with donuts, racks of candy, etc. He even extended credit, recorded in a little notebook and made change from his coin dispenser. Thing is, around the summer I turned eight I realized that the faded blue lettering on the side of his truck read "Paul's Bakery". My parents, who grew up in East L.A., would later explain this as a reference to the original Helms Man they (and other parents in the neighborhood) grew up with. The name Helms had become so synonymous with baked-goods delivery that 15 years after the company closed parents were still using the reference and passing it on to their children.
    I remember hearing that our driver retired, when I was in high school, after which I never saw a neighborhood delivery truck again.

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  55. Even though I was 1800 miles away from a Helm's bakery wagon's closest stop, I do remember reading in our local paper how the cream-puffs made by Helm's were 'the best' to be had anywhere. I finally got to see a total of three very nicely restored Helm's Bakery Twin-Coach delivery trucks last spring; two at the American Truck Historical Society's annual Meet in Pleasanton, CA., and the one on display in the Petersen Museum in Los Angeles. Again, an unfortunate case where changing demographics and spiraling operating costs has made the 'delivered to your door' era of business a fond memory.

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  56. Yes my mom posted the sign in our window in Far West Anaheim. Previous to that I remember the truck coming through our garden apartments in Buena Park off of Lincoln. We lived there after moving down from Canada in '65.
    My mom also worked at a very popular bakery in Garden Grove, Priscilla's Cake Box. Anyone remember that place? All of the items from rolls to Danish to cookies and cakes were made on the site, fresh everyday.

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  57. Wow! These posts flood the memories in my mind! I loved the Helm's Bakery man. I lived in East L.A. in the 1950's. As soon as the whistle blew I was begging my mom or grandma for money to buy a cream puff. All of the baked goods were delicious but the cream puffs were always what I ended up choosing. It had the most awesome filling I have ever tasted. The powdered sugar would get all over your face when you ate it. Sure wish I could find the recipe to that!

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  58. Our Helm's man was Mickey on the Westside of Long Beach. My mother bought bread for my sandwiches and oh how I longed for Wonder Bread instead. But Helm's cream puffs and glazed donuts were the best. I'm talking about late 40s to the 50s.

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  59. No one has mentioned the crumb donuts which were absolutely the best ever made. My mom never remembered to put the sign up to alert the Helms man so we usually had to run down the street to stop him which was half the fun. Our Helms man lived just up the street on the corner so if we really needed something my mom would have us knock on his door and he was always happy to open his truck. The best memories.

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  60. I remwmber the beautiful brown and tan panel trucks full of goodies and delivering in San Ysidro. My favorite was the cream puffs.

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  61. I was very young growing up in Simi Valley in the early 60's and have few memories of that time, but one that stands out was eating the delicious glazed donuts when the "Donut Man" came through the neighborhood. Still the best glazed donuts I've ever had.

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  62. I remember going to Priscilla's Cake Box in Garden Grove. My family still talks about it ... I remember a lemon cake that was so good.

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  63. i remember growing up in La Puenta in the late 50's and early 60's. I have such fond memories of the Helms bakery truck. I remember my mother would put the big H sign in the window letting the Helms man know we needed something, usually bread. I will always remember my mother would give us a nickle to buy a donut on the way to school and when the Helm's truck would stop and open those wooden drawers, my mouth would water from the wonderful smell. I do remember those cream puffs they were so yummy, but I would usually get a donut (honey dipped) and it was warm! We also got milk delivered in glass bottles, things were so fresh and tasted better back then. I think the glass made all the difference.

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  64. I grew up in East Anaheim at South and State College (then called Placentia Ave.) and our Helms man was "Marty". We loved the jelly donuts and the sourdough bread. We'd toast the bread on the BBQ and then slather on butter - a treat equal to a sweet dessert at our house!

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  65. In the mid-1950's I grew up in Downey and have fond memories of the Helm's truck coming by especially on the weekends and in Summer. My mom would give me a quarter to buy a loaf of bread and some extra change so my sister and I could buy a chocolate macaroon cookie or a cupcake. One summer I saved some money and purchased their cream puffs.....delicious! Our Helm's driver (don't remember his name) was such a nice guy and all the mom's and neighborhood kids loved him! My mom and I used to watch a short 10 minute tv show with Coris Guy who would whip up a meal (or dessert) using Helm's bakery items. Wish I still had those recipes (the Helm's driver would give us a free recipe bookelet every month).

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  66. I remember the wonderful helms man in that beautiful truck! I loved the sound and the smell that came out of those wooden drawers and mom with her change purse and curlers in her hair..fuzzy slippers..almost never could we buy anything but bread..we hyad 6 kids at our house..and oh so hungry..But I have at least once had a glazed donut from the helms man, thank you helms man..thank you momma.

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  67. I remembered as a kid in the summertime waiting for the Helms Truck sitting on the curb. Those were the best donuts in the world, fresh and mouth watering.

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  68. when i think of my childhood, the helms truck always comes to mind. i loved the glazed donuts.

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  69. my dad was a mechanic for helms bakery culver city plant 17 years,i used to help work on the trucks on saterday nights.the 1923 modle t pie truck is in az somewhere.if they were still open i would be a machanic working for them.i miss there donuts and creampuffs.

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  70. This post has been going for awhile! I grew up in San Diego and we had the Helm's truck as well. I tell people to this day about the smells and the nice wooden drawers with all the baked goods in them . It was awesome, and the Good Humor Ice Cream man...as well with the best REAL POPSICLE brand popsicles in all the great flavors, as well as the milk man!

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  71. I too have fond memories of the Helms truck. Does anyone else remember the toys you would get after so many points (donuts bought)? The driver would pull out the bottom drawer to display all kinds of neat toys. I guess that may be why I love donuts so much today. We also had deliveries by Adhor Farms or Eddie the Milk Man who continued to deliver even when my mother did not have the money to pay him. My mother also bought the day old donuts and would come in with a big gunny sack full of donuts and plop them in the back porch where we happily filled up on them. I too attended Crescent Jr High in 1968-1970 so will have to find that blog. Happy I found this site.

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