Stella D’Oro Bakery Article

[ndembowski]

I must have not seen this really good New Yorker article about the demise of the Stella D’Oro bakery when it came out 10 years ago: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/02/06/out-of-the-bronx

It is odd that an earthquake in California would be such bad news for the cookie plant.

When the topic of Stella D’Oro comes up, the most common thing I hear from local people are memories of how the neighborhood smelled like cookies.

1977 – Riverdale Press Ad

[Peter Ostrander]

The smell was Anisette toast to be exact.  Today it’s the Yonkers treatment plant.  Ah progress. !

[tfeerick]

Hello, if you have HBO Max there is a great, short documentary about the strike – here is a link:

No Contract, No Cookies: The Stella D’Oro Strike

The woman on the “poster” lives below me and several of the people in the documentary live in my building. Such a terrible situation.

[Thomas Casey]

So I took Sharon to Stella D’Orio’s in 1972.  One of our early first dates, because I wanted to impress her.  Guess it was the right choice, 50 years later we are happy together.  I do remember I was a little pricey, much more than the special

[ndembowski]

The Zambetti family that owned the bakery before it was bought by the private equity company lived at 3816 Waldo Avenue, the “Gardener’s Cottage” that was torn down to make way for the “Waterford” apartment building.  The “Van Cortlandt Park Cultural Landscape Survey” written in 2003 mistakenly wrote that the house was located in Van Cortlandt Park.

The Zambettis must have had a nice short walk to work at the Stella D’Oro bakery.  I wonder if the death of Marc Zambetti in the 1989 earthquake led to the loss of both buildings?

Thanks for sharing that HBO documentary–really quite sad but very interesting nonetheless.

And thanks for the restaurant review, Tom–50 years too late but still good to know.

[Peter Ostrander]

Same name Zambetti but different family.  They may have been related but I am not sure.  The last owner of the Gardener’s Cottage was John Zambetti.  John started as a young man working for Albert Wheeler a local surveyor.  He later took over the business.  His father was John Zambetti a local builder in Riverdale who built  the War memorial Bell tower at 239th St and Henry Hudson Pkwy.

[ndembowski]

Thanks, Peter.  I was confused by the multiple prominent Zambettis of Riverdale!  You are of course correct about John Zambetti–Here’s an ad from the old “Riverdale News”:

Related to the Bell Tower Monument and Zambetti, a while back I received this message from KHS member, Michael Tynan, whose father was another local builder who worked with Zambetti on the monument:

That tower was moved once a short distance to its current location to make way for the parkway, I believe the designer was Baum who designed many houses in Fieldston, the mason was Zambetti and my father made and hung the door … massive oak  with notable wrought (or cast) metal hinges….and likely the interior staircase… the carpentry.

I say “likely” for the interior staircase because only one of my three family members  recently mentioned the staircase while all three of us knew of the door….we estimated the year 1930 give or take. I queried them just a week ago. my brother even recalled a customer coming into our hardware store and mentioning that he saw my fathers name on either the door or staircase….this occurrence was likely during the 1960’s or so during a repair or maintenance period for the tower….that date range is a guess by me…however I do know that my father always put his name on his work..and always in an inconspicuous almost hidden spot …when we worked with him as children he had his helpers sign and date as well….his custom.

Oddly enough when the tower was moved for the parkway my fathers then house..a few blocks south of the tower on the now west side of the parkway lost almost  all of it’s front lawn by eminent domain to the parkway and paralleling side- service road project

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