Speak Out: Willie's Bakery

Replies (24)

• We miss the chocolate chip angel food cakes.

  -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 10:27 AM

• Was that the Dixie Cream donut shop?

  -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 12:19 PM

• Best ever Cape bakery was Martin's bakery on Frederick street behind St. Mary's church and grade school. Believe they closed in the late 50's or early 60's. The banana cake was great, and the pastries light and yummy!

  -- Posted by cloud watcher on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 12:26 PM

• Dixie Cream is right. They use to deliver to stores. They were good too. Lunch in school at Jackson was walking up to Willie's for a cream horn and soda.

  -- Posted by dollbabies on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 1:19 PM

• Yum - cream horns - Hoeckle's are pretty good

  -- Posted by treegal on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 1:46 PM

• Me'Lange wrote:

  "Yes...Dixie Cream had the best glazed donuts."

  ...and the worst location.

  It's difficult to make a success of a donut shop. People going into the business thinking they'll make a lot of dough, but they usually end up in the hole...

  How do you make a go of a business selling a product people only want to buy in the morning, and frequently only on Friday mornings? And where did people get the idea that Fridays were 'donut days', anyhow. Firday's were already 'fish days', you'd think donuts could find a day of their own...

  -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 2:33 PM

• Rick wrote:

  "don't the LEO's keep donut shops in bizness?"

  In the big cities. In smaller towns, there aren't enough LEOs, and the towns don't pay them enough to keep a donut shop operating.

  -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 2:46 PM

• Rick, Remember when local bake shops would leave their goods on top of the soda machine in front of the grocery store an hour or so before it opened? I heard said that sometimes those goodies disappeared before the store owner got there to bring them in.

  No one I knew would do such a thing!

  -- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 6:48 PM

• OJ

  I think you are guily.

  The best ever was Houchins in Sikeston before Bridger bought them out. They were never the same again. John Houchins must have had had a secret he didn't pass on when he sold out. I could eat a half dozen when they came off the frosting machine. Maybe that's the reason I take Lipitor now.

  -- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 6:59 PM

• Ugh, Lipitor - from personal experience, if one can endure the first two weeks of cringing at stairs in any way, shape, or form - life is good, liver continues to test OK, doctor is happy-er, wallet not so much. Better living through chemistry?

  ahhhh, Dixie Cream - the warm donut holes with the glaze that hadn't quite dried-out on Saturday mornings with the chocolate milk half-pint in the wax carton were absolute heaven! ! ! !

  Shapley - your humor has apparently been missed by many, but quite the chuckle here. :-)

  -- Posted by fxpwt on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 7:25 PM

• Few people knew about the Houchins goodies in Sikeston, Regret ate'em all up before they had a chance to distribute. :)

  As a youngster we always awaited my college brother to bring home a flat of days old pound cake and other treats from the commercial bakery outlet in Cape.

  My first real appreciation for bear claws was the Jackson store. I think they hired more help due to the demand I created.

  -- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 8:01 PM

• OJ

  I tried my best. The other place was Kirby"s hamburgers. They are still open and still good.

  FGX

  The lipitor never bothered me. Others had told me the same.

  -- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 8:06 PM

• Gee, now that I think about it, more reason Missouri is a great place! Kirbys was featured on Food Network, we got Lamberts, a great pastry heritage and Strawberry's BBQ. Don't forget the Blue Hole heritage and a little farther out is Bailey Joe's in Ironton and a host of other great places. Should I mention EOS's lental soup.

  Is the East Cape pie heaven still there?

  What'd I forget?

  -- Posted by Old John on Thu, Jul 21, 2011, at 8:31 PM

• "It's difficult to make a success of a donut shop. People going into the business thinking they'll make a lot of dough, but they usually end up in the hole..."

  giggle - liked the pun!

  -- Posted by treegal on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 7:40 AM

• Grazie!

  I remember going to Lamberts when they were still in that little cafe building near downtown. Houchin's Donuts were great!

  -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 8:08 AM

• Spank,

  You're surely familiar with the Wall's Drug Store billboards? They've been around forever, it seems.

  "Wall's Drug Store - Free Ice Water"

  Wall's Drub Store is in Wall, South Dakota, but they have billboards all over the U.S. I think they started that in the 1930s.

  Then, of course, there is "See Rock City" on the roof of barns all over the country.

  -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 8:58 AM

• Shapley, Seems like I remember Lady Bird Johnson had something to do with restricting those big barns of advertising. I always enjoyed seeing them.

  -- Posted by Old John on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 10:25 AM

• Well, now at least I understand why there are so many problems with obesity in America. It's all of the exceptional restaurants and donut shops in SEMO. ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻

  -- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 10:33 AM

• Anyone eat at Duncan donuts in Chaffee? My great uncle used to treat us to fresh fried, just glazed cinnamon rolls when we visited. What a great memories!

  -- Posted by contagious on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 10:45 AM

• Old John,

  I don't recall that. I know Lady Bird was famous for having wildflowers planted along the highways, but I don't remember anything about barn painting.

  Way back when barn painting was in its heyday, companies hired painters to ride around in pickup trucks and look for barns near a highway. They would stop and chat with the owner, maybe even have lunch with them, while the negotiated 'the deal', which usually involved an agreement to paint the whole barn in exchange for getting to paint the sign.

  Mail Pouch Chewing Tobacco still had one such painter employed in the 1980s - the last of a dying breed.

  I think liability rules, anti-billboard laws, and a lack of painters willing to live out of their pickups while doing sales, etc., probably was responsible for the demise of barn advertising.

  You could also figure the Interstate Highway System, the shift from wooden barns to metal-sided pre-engineered buildings, and the move of farmers from living on their farmsteads into the mix.

  It's just another example of 'progress'...

  -- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 10:48 AM

• Shapley, You are correct. I do rembember there was discussion about the right of a barn owner to do as he pleased. There were some exemptions to the National Beautication Act of 65 later agreed to.

  "Also, so-called "landmark signs" (artistic or historic significance), or signs painted on barns were allowed, containing messages such as "Chew Mail Pouch Tobacco."."

  "The Act authorized $50 million for fiscal year 1975.[3]"

  It was a long time in the making and the billboard lobby proved quite effective. The one thing unapposed was fences in front of junk yards.

  -- Posted by Old John on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 11:50 AM

• OJ and Shape.

  The barn on the SW corner of Jackson interchange where the auction is at used to be a Meramec Caverns barn. There were a lot more around but I am having a hard time remembering. I remember the Rock City barns started when you got into Kentucky.

  I have a friend in the billboard business and he said Lady Bird killed the barn painting. Any signs that had a value less than reconstruction cost could not be rebuilt. Myself I like them.

  -- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 4:01 PM

• Nothing will ever beat Willies bakery! Everything there was fantastic. I am glad that I am not the only one who misses it. Hope someday there is a doughnut shop at least half as good...

  -- Posted by FREEDOM_OF_SPEECH on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 10:01 PM

• A cousin was told he had to move his junk cars back so many feet from the highway or put up a fence. He said "Whad'a you mean, them's my good cars!"

  -- Posted by Old John on Fri, Jul 22, 2011, at 11:22 PM