Growing up in Southern California, if I timed my morning walk to elementary school just right, I could step out the front door and meet the yellow and blue Helms Bakery truck, where I would treat myself to a maple bar—or sometimes I would splurge and add a glazed doughnut.
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From 1931 until 1969, the Helms Bakery Company’s iconic delivery trucks brought fresh bakery products directly to consumers’ homes and I was lucky enough to live on one of their routes.
Helms Bakery’s service territory ranged from Fresno to San Diego, and at the peak of its business, the company operated a fleet of about 1,000 home delivery trucks.
The distinctive double-toot whistle sounded by the bakery truck driver was like a siren song to everyone in its path, and when customers stepped out their doors, they’d be greeted by the “Helmsman” neatly dressed in a white shirt and khaki pants.
The driver often knew your name, and he would open the back of the specially outfitted panel truck, exposing a stack of long wooden drawers with window fronts. When the drawers were pulled out, they displayed a mouthwatering selection of fresh baked goods including doughnuts, bread, rolls, cookies, brownies, pies and cakes. Some trucks even carried milk and butter.
Drivers operated under the motto “Daily at Your Door,” and direct home service was the company’s primary business model. Helms would give customers a dark blue placard with a bright yellow “H” that the customer would place in their home’s window, letting the driver know to stop there.
Helms’ home delivery service offered customers a convenient alternative to making frequent trips to the grocery store for fresh bread and baked goods.
The Helmsmen were private operators, and they paid a fee to buy an established delivery route. In 1965, Helms advertised routes for $700, with a guaranteed weekly pay of $130 plus commission.
Paul H. Helms (1889 – 1957) was born in Ottawa, Kansas, to Rev. Dr. Elmer Helms and Ora Ella Hoy Helms. Helms graduated from Syracuse University in 1912, and he joined the Hall Bakery Company around 1914. Paul married Pearl R. Ellis in 1914, and in 1916, Paul H. Helms Jr. was born.
Around 1914, Buffalo grocer Frank L. Hall asked Paul Helms to help him develop his new bakery business into a large-scale home delivery business similar to a bakery that Hall had seen in Cleveland. Helms went to Cleveland where he studied the bakery operation, and he returned with a plan to develop Hall’s Bakery delivery service.
Hall built a large bakery building and purchased a fleet of horse-drawn bakery delivery wagons, and the company served Buffalo residents long after Helms left for other ventures. Not surprisingly, Hall’s delivery wagons were painted bright yellow, and customers were given placards with a large “H” that signaled the driver to stop.
Helms became an effective promoter, and when the Hall Bakery won a prestigious bread baking award in 1922, Helms seized the opportunity to promote the company’s bread as “Gold Medal Bread.”
In 1925, Helms became head of the mammoth General Baking Corporation in New York. Paul Helms gained fame as a wealthy east coast “Bakery Magnate,” heading a huge bakery conglomerate headquartered in New York City.
Helms resigned from his East Coast bakery role in 1926, and he moved his family to Los Angeles where he became involved in local finance and business.
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With baking still in his blood, Helms sensed an opportunity for a large-scale bakery delivery business in Southern California, and in 1931, he built his first bakery at 8800 Venice Boulevard, in Culver City.
Helms’ expansive 46,000-square-foot Art Deco-style building began bakery operations in January 1931. By September 1931, the company had started construction on a 21,000-square-foot addition that would be used as a wrapping and shipping room.
The Helms company began with a small fleet of specially built delivery “coaches” that were designed to efficiently carry baked goods and act as a rolling billboard for their products. Helms’ original fleet used custom trucks from Twin Coach and later, DIVCO coaches were used. The fleet switched over to GMC panel vans in the 1950s.
Paul Helms was a master at promoting his business, and in 1932, Helms Bakery became the official baker of the 1932 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The success of that association helped establish the company’s reputation, and the bakery continued to use its Olympic connection in its advertising for many years.
The Helms Bakery sponsored popular local TV and radio shows, and advertisements appeared everywhere—from bus benches and billboards to Rose Parade floats.
In 1948, Helms opened a second large bakery in Montebello, supported by numerous distribution centers throughout Southern California. One of those facilities stood on the northeast corner of Mt. Vernon Avenue and Birch Street in San Bernardino, where the building still survives today.
In addition to his contributions as a businessman, Helms was a well-known civic leader and philanthropist, sponsoring numerous sporting competitions and long-term sports programs.
Paul H. Helms Sr. died on January 5, 1957, at age 67, but the bakery business continued to operate, run by family members.
In 1969, Helms Bakery secured a contract to furnish specially packaged bread for the Apollo 11 moon mission. The company proudly adopted the advertising slogan, “The First Bread on the Moon.”
On November 22, 1969, Helms Bakery ceased operations and the business was permanently closed. Paul H. Helms Jr. described the reason for the closure; “The irreversible reality was that this form of merchandising is no longer needed by the consumer.” Helms said; “the modern housewife has fully embraced one-stop, drive-in shopping at stores which are open seven days a week and frequently 24 hours a day.”
The original bakery building on Venice Boulevard was adapted for use as retail shops, restaurants, and furniture showrooms in the early 1970s, and is now the centerpiece of an area called the Helms Design District. The building was designated a historic landmark in 1997.
Today, many longtime Southern Californians still remember the distinctive whistle of the Helms Bakery truck echoing through their neighborhoods. Restored Helms delivery trucks have become prized museum pieces, and Helms memorabilia remains highly collectible.
For those who grew up during the bakery’s heyday, the arrival of the Helmsman wasn’t simply a delivery — it was a cherished daily tradition that symbolized a very different era in Southern California life.
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Mark Landis is a freelance writer. He can be reached at: [email protected]