THE VALLEY CAKE SHOPPE - (Part 2) Refuge for a liitle girl in 1949

The response to Orin Manitt's story, Bakery Barrage, [January 20, 2011] was gratifying and I was especially pleased to hear from the Titus family. I now have some of their history on file for future use with LOST VALLEY projects. One boyhood memory shared by Murray Titus, was a detail I might have guessed. There were windows in the basement of the Valley Cake Shoppe which gave staff a view of Union Station. As they prepared the day's breads and pastries they could watch the morning trains arriving or pulling out. His Grandfather and namesake Murray S. Titus, was a true entrepreneur, opening his bakery in the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The bakery always thrived with a walk-in trade, but by the 1950s many Saint Johners owned cars, and the supermarket bakeries cut into Mr. Titus' profits. By then the baker was doing most of the baking himself, with a lady named Doreen running the shop at street level. Doreen was popularly known as "Dot" by families in the Valley. It's a safe bet that Mr. Titus had his finest wares on view in the shop windows as the King and Queen drove by in June 1939. What a thrilling day the Royal Visit was for Valley residents.

The McCullum Grocery, holding down the corner of Wall Street and Paradise Row, operated for many years. The parade of 1970s vintage cars in these photos show just how busy the intersection was, right up to the time of the Urban Renewal demolitions.

My parents are wintering at Lake Havasu, Arizona, but my mother was so enthused when she read Orin's story that she phoned to remind me of her favorite story of the Valley Cake Shoppe. I agree that it is worth sharing.

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"When I was in Grade 6 at Holy Trinity School [c1949] I had no bicycle, and took every chance to borrow one. I was very jealous of my older brother Gordon and my sister Mary. They had been given new CCM bikes for "grading" at Holy Trinity. One morning my mother wanted someone to take a bag of my father's shirts to CITY LAUNDRY on City Road. It was my chance to ride a bike. "I'll go." I took my time up Paradise Row, but after turning the corner I soon had to make an extra effort to get up over the hump of the Wall Street Bridge.

I was straining on the pedals and I forgot the white shopping bag. It got caught in the spokes."

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The bicycle lurched and little Joyce Brown was thrown down onto the deck, falling hard on her chin. The impact knocked her out. When she regained consciousness, she was inside the VALLEY CAKE SHOPPE, laying on the floor with her feet against one of the glass display cabinets. Adults in the shop wiped away the blood from her chin and offered comforting words her until it was clear the shock and most of the pain was gone. When she left the bakery she made her way home to 92 Paradise Row.

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"When I rounded the corner at McCullum's store I was walking the bike, and I still had the that bag of Daddy's dirty shirts under my arm. From McCullum's I bawled all the way home. I was pretty sure I was going to "get it". My mother heard my crying as I crunched up the gravel driveway, and met me at the backdoor. All I could get out was, "I broke three spokes out of Gordon's bike!" Momma didn't care about that. She lifted my chin to have a look. "Well, you don't need stitches."

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Joyce Brown remembers the bakery as "Dot's". She was the tall, friendly , dark haired woman who was good to Valley kids. "Once in a while Dot would give you the extra donut, and announce cheerily... "There, the baker's dozen." That's how I learned that expression."

The favorite treat for families in the neighborhood was a dozen squares from the Valley Bake Shoppe. My mother made a nickel for every run up to the bakery for some of the childless older women who lived on lower Paradise Row, including "Maggie" who lived in an attic room. Murray Titus, who learned a few bakery skills from his grandad, including wrapping bread, says his favorite treats were the chocolate chip cookies and the Long Johns.

The last sign hung above McCullum's Grocery before its closing and demolition was a SPRITE, supplied by the local Saint John bottling company.