Home delivered bakery goods

JasonLewis · Status: Offline

RE: Home delivered bakery goods

JasonLewis · Status: Offline

I copied this from the old Forum:

Message written by "Judoterry"
Date: Mar 12, 2013

I remember the Colonial Bakery man very well! Best cakes and breads, not to mention the doughnuts! We lived on Marquard Drive not once, but twice! 20 and 24 Marquard. I can still the sound of his melodic horn announcing his arrival. The headquarters building was in Corte Madera, adjacent to the freeway on the east side. Another favorite Bakery was the " Lady Baltimore" on the Miracle Mile, well within walking distance of our house(s)on Marquard!

-- Edited by JasonLewis on Sunday 20th of October 2013 09:22:00 AM

rob miller · Status: Offline

I also remember the Colonial Bakery man. Storocco nailed it-doughnuts before dinner! Vehicle wise, I recall he'd open the back doors of the panel van, and there these really cool, shallow wooden drawers he could pull out to show you the goods. Kind of like an architect's flat file, except nicely finished, shiny wood. Very custom. Also the guy in my 'hood drove a panel-delivery with wood paneling on the sides, also finished nicely. I think the truck was to new for it really to be a "woody",
so I guess the wood wasn't actually structural, just there for spiff.

Neon-wise (almost), I was driving home last Sat. nite, up 101 north thru san rafael, and noticed the Litchfield's sign is blazin' again. Love it. Anyone remember the Marin Saw Works sign, just a block or so west of The Palms/Litchfields area on E. Francisco. It was an animated neon piece, showing a guy
sawing away with a hand saw of some sort. It's probably been gone since the late 60's, I guess.

Meadowsweet Rich · Status: Offline

Neon is getting harder to find in Marin, I was bummed when they removed the Casa Buena Motel sign next to Marin Joes, The Fountain in Tam Valley recently put up a generic looking plastic sign & only light a small part of the old neon now. Have you seen my 4 x 8 foot bread sign from the 1940's ? It is from World War 2 era and came from Larkspur, one day I was driving through town & it was propped up along the side of Frizzi's building across from the Blue Rock with a note on it that said 'Free to good home', I guess it was stored some place for 45 years & hauled out when they cleaned a storage area, it's red, white, & blue & says "Keep 'em flying Hillmans Master Bread" on it, probably came from Rainbow Market or Food Center.

Paul · Status: Offline

I havn't been out to the Lagunitas Store lately , but is the Lucas Valley sign painting still
on the brick wall facing the parking lot ? That is a classic sign worth restoring. Also I drive
through Larkspur all the time , and I noticed the old neon sign for Rainbow Market is
still there . I don't think they legally fire it up now , because I think most types of neon
signs like that are not permitted in Marin now , just little ones inside the window.
Remember billboards ? I quess I should start another post on Signs , billboards
and the first traffic signals in Marin.

Paul Penna · Status: Offline

Meadowsweet Rich wrote:

I bet you knew our old Corte Madera mailman, his name was Dave & he was he a black guy who was ex-military, super nice guy.

Yep, Dave Harris. Like you said, a great guy, and funny as hell.

Meadowsweet Rich · Status: Offline

Interesting stories about the West Marin families Paul, I guess the Gambonini family is the same folks who have the ranch out by Soulajule that the motorcycle club leases, a friend of ours owns a ranch back in the hills just south of there, quite beautiful out there. Is the Martinelli family related to Leroy Martinelli who ran the Pt Reyes dump in the canyon northwest of town?I bet you knew our old Corte Madera mailman, his name was Dave & he was he a black guy who was ex-military, super nice guy.

Paul Penna · Status: Offline

Thanks, Rich, for reminding me about Marin Dell Milk. It was, of course, one of the two main brands I guzzled as a kid in the 50s, the other being Lucas Valley.

Here are links to two pages I found with some history of the brand:

Corda and Gambonini Families

Mary E. Silveira

BTW, as a long-time Corte Madera resident, you probably had occasion to make use of the CM post office between 1968-1982. In that case, I probably waited on you more than once. A lot of your mail would have passed through my hands during that period as well. I may even recognize your name; when my memory was still going full-force, I might even have been able to dredge up your address. I wasn't your mailman, but I sorted a lot of mail for the town back then, and it's amazing what your mind can retain.

Meadowsweet Rich · Status: Offline

I remember Marin Dell milk as a local brand when I was growing up,I think Lucas Valley may have been the last local label in Marin, I don't remember ever seeing Meadowsweet milk in a store, but I did find many bottles in old dumps around where I was raised. I recently saw a Costa Brothers Milk from Mill Valley go for about $100.00 on ebay, a square pint bottle.

SteveC · Status: Offline

I don't remember the bread or milk truck, But I do remember taking the delivered milk out of the wooden box (with hinged top) that was on our porch when I got home from school and put the milk in the refrigerator.

It seems we are all so paronoid about food safety nowadays, it's seems maybe we overdo it.

That milk sat there all day and was just fine.

Speaking of milk. I remember Meadowsweet and Lucas Valley.

I know there were many before our time, but can you think of any others in your lifetime ?

Paul · Status: Offline

Rich , when we lived up in Madrone Canyon between 1963 and 66 , I remember
the Colonial panel truck , I thought it came through every day at around 4;30.
We would score doughnuts just before dinner. We lived on Millard
Rd. off Olive , he never came up there so we would meet the truck
down at Olive and Madrone. Also the Rainbow Market would deliver
grocerys to our house whenever ordered , all the way up a bunch
of stairs to our door. And the Balzan Dairy would deliver to our
house once a week.

Meadowsweet Rich · Status: Offline

Anybody else have bakery goods delivered to their home by the Colonial Bread man back in the 60's ? I remember the bread man showing up in an old turquoise colored Chevy or GMC delivery truck, similar to a Suburban with 'Colonial' written on it's side, he had bread, donuts, pastries,cookies, etc. He came about once a week & had a regular route in our area.