Tag Archives: los angeles suburbs

When I was just a small boy living in Glendora, California, there used to be these trucks owned by Helms Bakery. The trucks would descend on the greater Los Angeles suburbs every morning with their baked goods.

These trucks were stocked full of fresh breads, doughnuts, fresh hot coffee, rolls and assorted pastries. The stuff was still warm from being baked earlier that morning. It was a thing to behold.

The trucks featured these sort of high pitched whistles that the driver would blow to alert everyone in the neighborhood that they were approaching. People would come outside in their robes and pajamas to get their daily supplies.

The people that ran the trucks were allowed to extend credit to people until Friday when they got paid and could pay for their baked goods. This was done on a hand shake. Of course back then you could have fresh milk delivered to your door daily and people wouldn’t steal everything not bolted to the ground from your front porch.