Few people outside of my Hamilton neighborhood will recognize what was
the very best bakery in our area up to the time they closed in the
1970's. Mr. Nowak (pronounced "NoVock" )was a Polish gentleman who had the most
incredible bakery business going back to the late 1930's. I remember as a
boy he had a delivery truck where he delivered his baked goods to many
of his fellow customers who immigrated from Poland. My best buddy Don
Slabicki's family was one of his customers. Fast forward 20 years
or so and the building in the photo, still standing on Hamilton's
Partridge Avenue was where one could get what I can only describe as
baked delicacies. After Mr. and Mrs Nowak passed away, son Stanley took
over the business and the family baking formulas for the various
products. Mine happened to be the Nowak Coconut Melt aways. This bakery
was so popular folks had to get there early on a Sunday morning before
they sold out. They limited their baking schedule to only one per day.
Stan old me how he would get up each Sunday morning at 3 A.M. and bake
until dawn and open the shop. Any Facebook visitor to this page will
agree with my assessment of what I consider to be the very bast bake
shop that unfortunately is now a vacant building. How I miss those
Sunday morning melt-aways and "sticky buns!"
1 comment:
Hi Tom, Small world. I have an unusual connection to the Nowak bakery. Not only did I frequent it, when we still lived in Trenton, but I met Stanley Nowak through, what else, a car. I was working at Coleman Buick at the time, and Stanley drove in one Saturday, in his absolutely mint, like new, 1963 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk. I ran out the door to meet him. He had tried to trade the car at Keats Ford, and they offered him $100.00. Needless to say, I bought it on the spot, for more than the $100.00. The funny thing, the Stude was a leftover, that the dealer, Walter H. Schultz, wanted to unload, because it was a 4 speed standard shift, on the floor, with the 289 V8.Stanley bought it. He kept it inside the back of the bakery, from new, hardly drove it , and kept it in new condition. My wife, always said the car smelled like the bakery inside, but I never thought it did. That was a wonderful car, I regret selling to this day. What a great bakery, wonderful rye bread and babka. rayfromvillapark
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