The original Grossinger’s the day it closed in 1991.

Born from a curse of broken eggs and a stroke of good fortune during the dark days of the Great Depression, Grossinger’s Bakery was an Upper West Side institution that proudly served Hungarian tradition and treats for over 60 years. Its closure in 1991 took with it decades of old-world delectables and a true family business, both rare finds in today’s world.

Herb Grosinger (no, not a typo; please read on), the son of the bakery’s founders, revives some of the special stories and people that kept the business chugging along for all those years in his new book, Breaking Eggs In New York City: The Story of Grossinger’s Bakery and the Family That Built It.

The Grossinger parents and the Grosinger sons.

Herb’s father, Ernest Grossinger, arrived in America from Hungary in 1914 at 15 years old, compelled by the threat of war and having to eat traif, i.e. non-Kosher food. Just before he set sail, he accidentally broke a basket of eggs carried by a woman. She cursed him in Hungarian. “You will always break eggs. Your children will break eggs.”

Roughly ten years into his life in America, Ernest toiled in different bakeries doing pretty much that. His first job on the Upper West Side was at G&M, an Austrian-Italian bakery at West 77th Street and Broadway. His big break awaited just down the street.

Toward the end of the Depression, Ernest was working at a French bakery named Le Blanc at West 76th Street and Columbus Avenue, while the owner struggled to pay the rent. The frustrated landlord gave Le Blanc the boot and turned the business over to Ernest for $800. The landlord even offered to throw in the space next door, a vacant diner that became the site of the Cherry Restaurant, but Ernest turned it down.

He opened Grossinger’s Bakery in 1935 at 337 Columbus Avenue. He and his wife Isabella moved into apartment 4A at 60 West 76th Street, above the store, with their three-year-old son Gene. Blanche, Ernest’s sister, lived on the third floor.

All would work at the bakery, including eventually Herb, the couple’s youngest child, whose surname is spelled with one S like his brother Gene’s. Herb explained that the alternate spelling is the result of a compromise between Isabella and Ernest when choosing between Grousinger (the phonetic spelling given to the family name at Ellis Island in 1902, because Ernest’s father had a Hungarian-Yiddish accent), and Grossinger (the correct spelling.) So, Herb’s grandfather was Grousinger, Isabella and Ernest were Grossinger, and Gene and Herb are Grosinger!

Breaking Eggs In New York City is narrated by Herb, whose experiences span more than half a century. He remembers worshipping at the West Side Institutional Synagogue on West 76th between Columbus and Amsterdam, and sometimes at a “very Orthodox” synagogue in a West 73rd Street brownstone behind the Dakota. He played stick ball on West 77th across from the American Museum of Natural History, before heading to Jack’s Candy Store, a.k.a. Jack’s Optima Soda, for egg creams.

“Everyone knew everyone,” he said. Mom-and-pop shops were the norm and included a shoemaker named Teddy, Bon Ton Meat Market, and Hollywood Delicatessen. 72nd Street was home to four family bakeries: Cake Masters, Bloom’s, The Éclair, and the Royale Pastry Shop. Cushman’s, Lichtman’s, and Party Cake were also bakeries sprinkled around the area.

“It felt like I lived in a small town in the middle of the city,” Herb added. “Grossinger’s and other small neighborhood merchants provided stability, reliability, and some measure of solace.” Perhaps none more than Isabella Grossinger herself.

For Isabella, Grossinger’s “was her validation and also her emotional salvation.” She lost most of her family in the Holocaust and, then, her husband Ernest in 1972. She worked 11-hour workdays, six days a week for 48 years. Even when she was off, she wasn’t. She had a phone line rigged to ring in the family’s apartment so she could take customer’s orders at any hour.

Herb, Isabella  (glasses) circa 1980 with journalist Judy Licht at flagship.

Isabella may be the original source of the adage, the customer is always right. “You don’t count. I don’t count. The customer counts,” she would say. According to Herb, the bakery was her favorite son; so fully dedicated to the business was she that two heart attacks could not keep her away.

When she passed away in August 1983, dressed in her blue uniform ready for another day of work, the neighborhood mourned. As the New York Times told it, her funeral at the Riverside Chapel about a block away from the bakery “was a neighborhood affair….She was just a 75-year-old woman who ran a bakery, but to friends and customers who gathered for her funeral yesterday or stood silently in front of her store, Mrs. Grossinger was something more.”

Businesses like the ones Isabella Grossinger cultivated are hard to come by nowadays. Herb’s narration captures the feeling of a time gone by. Before social media, mobile phones, and even credit-card machines (the store did not get one until 1977), bakeries like Grossinger’s were part of the fabric of daily life. They were every day stops for necessities like bread and baked goods.

Herb continued his parents’ legacy for nearly 30 years. He ran the bakery side-by-side with his mother after his father passed away. At that time, Herb was married, living with his wife and children in Brooklyn, working as a stockbroker. He quit Wall Street and invested himself fully in the family’s bakery business.

Grossinger’s under Herb’s leadership opened a second store in July 1981 at 570 Columbus Avenue and West 88th Street. For $15,000, he bought out Peter’s Bakery, the former site of Candi-O-Plastic.

But all good things must come to an end. Amid a “tidal wave of unchecked rent increases,” Herb and New York City Councilmember Ruth Messinger put up a valiant fight to keep commercial rents affordable for small businesses. The wave was too powerful. The lease for Grossinger’s flagship store at West 76th was not renewed in 1991, the landlord opting to rent to the Gap at the expense of five total store fronts, including Cherry Restaurant and a clothing store named Putumayo.

The store near 88th Street stayed open until 1999, its closing also memorialized by the New York Times. But, though the brick and mortar are gone, some of the tastes of Grossinger’s are not. Herb still sells cheesecakes, lemon ice cream souffle, and, of course, Grossinger’s famous praline ice cream cake, taking orders by phone and email.

He never thought of looking for a new location. Instead, he’s thinking of turning his family’s story into a TV series or movie. Who would play him? He hopes it would be one of his favorite customers and once a Grossinger’s regular, Dustin Hoffman.

my parents were a team.My father produced the cakes ,my mom greeted and satisfied the customer”s there vwere 3 spelling”s for Grossinger.The correct one(Mom and the bakery, my Dad(Grousnger and my name Grosinger. it was confusing on Myra and my wedding invitation_and still is!

I’ve been living on the UWS since the 70’s and I would just like to say that families and businesses like yours are a true blessing.

Your family shared countless mitzvahs and immeasurable joy with New Yorkers for decades. It was and is greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much for everything!!:)

All good things come to an end, most regrettably Yes, my father in law owned Bodenstein Bakery at about 187 at in Washington Heights. That too is gone. No more great bakeries are left.

And no great bagels, except for Mark’s Off Madison.

If you mean old-world Jewish bakeries, yes, there are none left in Manhattan. But a little outside Manhattan, there are a few…check out Sander’s bakery in Williamsburg, established in 1959 by Hungarian Holocaust survivors. Challahs, cookies, cheesecake, all done the old way and the prices are ridiculously low. No $3 cookies here. I think I had a slice of cheesecake for less than that.

I just finished Herb Grosinger’s charming memoir about his family’s bakery and about growing up on the UWS. I loved this book! And I had already cast Mr Hoffman to play Herb in what would making a very charming movie. Glad to know Herb agrees.

A bit later, our neighborhood bakery for 30 years was the wonderful Soutines on w 70th. Our wedding cake, all our kids birthdays, B’nai mitzvah. These places are missed in the neighborhood.

I remember it. Soo good. We used to go there sometimes after school. Can you put the phone and email for orders?

Sure! 212-362-8672 or email grossingerscakes@gmail.com

It really makes you wonder what out neighborhoods would look and feel like without decades of predatory rent increases on businesses and people.

I loved Grossinger’s! We celebrated every event with a cake from Grossinger’s. The Upper West Side was so much fun back them. Everyone I knew was a starving artist; breakfast at Cherry Restaurant was a treat. And then Ruskay’s opened on 75th and Columbus – where most recently the Duane Reade closed. Ah yes, those were the days!

How about The queen of the cheesecakes “Miss Grimble” in the upper 60s on Columbus Avenue in the mid 1970’s that was another wonderful bakery for the best cheesecakes in the world way before juniors was discovered. She was knowing for the different variety of cheesecakes my favorite was the marble and the red raspberry. I can never forget! Inviting people for dinner on a Saturday night making sure we have a miss crumbles cheesecake for dessert. It was so true everybody knew each other by their first names and their dogs. Yep, The late 60s and 70s were bitter sweet here on the Upper West Side. It was a well-kept secret for many years.

On a rainy day like this, I could go for a fresh sourdough loaf to accompany some soup. Thanks for the great story

I’m pretty sure Putumayo was on the northern corner of Columbus and W 76th. Grosingers and Cherry Restaurant were on the south side of 76th. It was a travesty when that whole block turned into the Gap and Express (or was it The Limited back then?) Gap became Chase (now vacant) And The Limited/Express became Duane Reade (now vacant). For a while an unmarked narrow restaurant called Memphis (owned by Carly Simon) was between the two. It later became some clay glazing thing, and it’s now part of the restaurant called Asset.

Grossinger’s Bakery was the first bakery and only bakery I went to when I moved here from Westchester in 1968 when I graduated from high school. I sure miss their ice cream cakes. Another place I ate dinner many times on the next blocks over West 76th & Columbus Avenue the Cherry Diner it was the only place to eat that was decent on the upper west side back then.

I loved Grossinger’s on Columbus and miss it more than ever. Lovely Challah and other baked goods.

Herb and I were in the same class in JHS. I know him as “Hebbie”. I remember the great cakes. It was a sad day when they went out of business.

Reading this lovely piece brings back bittersweet memories of my father and grandmother, refugees from Nazi Germany who loved all these UWS bakeries including Grossingers which they considered The Place to get cakes for all occasions. I think these stores reminded them of their home and life in a small town in pre-war Europe.

please provide the phone number and email to use to order from Herb what he’s still making.

When my husband and I first moved here from Hartford, in 1983, I asked our doorman where I could buy a cake for the only person we knew in Manhattan. He told us that a lot of the residents went to Grossinger’s on Columbus & 88th. It was perfect as our friend lived on 88th off Columbus. My first time there I was treated like I had been a customer for years. After that we would be there at least once a week for perfect rye breads, delicious sweet treats and crispy, crunchy chocolate chip cookies. The closing of that store in 1999 was not just a bakery closing it was the end of an era.

I’m relatively new to the neighborhood and unfortunately never knew from these bakeries. I am mourning however, the loss of My Most Favorite Food which recently closed. Their kosher baked goods were delicious. Luckily, they are still doing an on line business but I will miss the “Brick and Mortar” space.

I grew up on West 82 St/WEA, my mom would buy delicious baked goods at all those bakeries. G&M had the best tart like cookies with raspberry centers surrounded by plumes of chocolate, it was my special treat. Grossinger for their apple strudel. Weren’t they on the corner of 86 and Amsterdam? I remember when Zabars was a hole in the wall store your mom would send you to get milk on Sunday’s.

86th & Amsterdam was Lichtman’s, miss it still!

Comment 18 mentioned apple strudel at 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue. That was Lichtman’s Bakery started 1947 by Louis Lichtman, younger brother to Alex Lichtman who owned Herbst Bakery in Yorkville on the East Side. It began on 87th and then moved a few later to the better 86th St. location. Also had cherry, nut, poppyseed and cabbage strudel and great chocolate or cinammon babka/kuglof, and challah, and gypsy squares (rigo jancsi). My brother, Ron, and I, Harvey, used to make deliveries up those old service elevators in the West Side’s pre-war buildings. Louis LIchtman, my father, semi-retired in the 1980’s, disappearing for a few winter months to Florida, while Harvey, me, ran it until 1987 (many people were unaware of that because my father loved to go out front to the counter to talk to customers and we had such nice women working at the counters) when the rent was raised 5-fold, and the store then stayed empty for 2 years, replaced by a bathroom renovating store, then a coffee and cake cafe, and now empty. Harvey went on to teach history at nearby Brandeis High School for 24 years. My father died in 1990. There is pretty decent strudel and babka at Andre’s Hungarian restuarant and bakery (getting it from it parent store in Forest Hills), The woman who began Andre’s had worked at Herbst and Lichtman’s, a long time ago. And let us not forget Gary Greengrass who still works maintaining the dynasty of Barney Greengrass, The Sturgeon King If Herb is bothering to read the comments, he was a nice guy. Hi Herb! Thanks to the neighbor’s who patronized us. By the way, Silver Moon Bakery on Broadway and 105th is not that old Hungarian style but has some pretty good stuff, but more expensive than we used to be, but what isn’t. Oh, and thanks to my daughter who reads WestSide Rag even though she is a Long Islander now (can’t blame her after she gave me a grandson). The bakery closed when my son was young but I think it helped inspire him to become a better baker (at home) than I was. This has become a bit of stream of consciousness and life moves on.

Miss a never seen elsewhere pastry from Lichtman’s. Possibly called something like ‘grillage’ or ‘Griliasch’ which was like a nut brittle cup filled with some kind of buttercream, with a shortbread-like bottom. I’d love to make them myself but never could find a similar recipe. They were delicious!

Harvey-it brings tears to my eyes thinking of the raisin cake/ kutchen that my grandma bought faithfully every time we visited with her. I even went a few times as a toddler when she stole me and we spent the afternoon together. Everyone in my family reminisces over that irreplaceable treat!

Any chance the recipe can be found? A couple of home bakers would be overjoyed?

Loved the praline icecream cake for special occasions

i grew up with herb and played stickball together…my mother loved their praline ice cream and corn bread..i still live in the neighborhood and have always told my kids about grossingers…i still miss going in for a treat and lunch at cherrys with my father …herb your mother was the best

In the late 90s, I would regularly get what called a cinnamon sugar stick (I am sure there was another name for it) every Sunday from the 88th street location on my way with my son to the flea market. In the school yard on West 77. It was a dark day when Grossinger’s closed..I always wondered what happened to the interior ….

Luckily I moved to the neighborhood in time to overlap briefly with the Grossingers bakery at 87th/88th and Columbus. I favored the apple strudel. Really, everything they put in that now sadly anachronistic string-tied box was delicious.

I loved going with my Mom or Dad to pick up our bread from Grossingers! Every week we would get a wonderful loaf that I have never seen elsewhere – a kind of corn/rye loaf that they sliced in the magical machine right in front of you! And – they always gave me one cookie of choice – most often the chocolate hazelnut pirouline!

i grew up with herb, playing stick ball, my mother loved their praline ice cream and corn bread i still live in the neighborhood and my children have heard about grosingers.miss having luch with my father at cherrys and then a cooky at grossingers…would like to hear from herb

Hi! My Dad would love to chat with you about the old neighborhood! You can call him or email him herbgrisinger@gmail.com

Gusta Schnitzer Jakubowicz worked at Grossinger’s as well as Gruenbaum & Eclair at the time. Upper West Siders remember her enthusiasm, smile & generosity. Gusta came from a family of bakers in Poland where they owned a bakery. My mother & siblings worked there. Adrian’s bake shop in Bayside was owned by the Schnitzer’s, our cousins. Seinfeld referred to that bakery in his episodes of the marble rye bread & chocolate babka. Yes, the Praline cake from Grossinger’s was delicious!

Thank you Grossingers for bringing on Rabbi Marmorstein so that we could all have the best kosher goodies ever The kids loved it , always got gifts of cookies Those were the days my friends We miss you always

I remember Gusta well! She was full of beans and hard working! I listened to her stories and learned from her. (I’m Herb’s daughter)

Can someone explain to me how property owners can indiscriminately raise the rents that all too often drive small business out of business? Also, how do they afford to keep the stores empty until they find a high-paying tenant?

This brought back so many memories of my time living on the UWS (75th between Broadway and West End). We were regulars at Cherry Restaurant for weekend breakfast. Also, Friday night dinner at the Museum Cafe, 79th and Columbus was a weekly routine after a hard workweek and a celebration of the weekend.

I always bought the Praline Ice cream cakes and traveled with them wherever our family lived. They were better than “apple pie.” Where can one get in touch with Herb?

Hi! You can get in touch with my Dad, Herb, by going to the website, GROSSINGERSCAKES.com or calling him at 212-362-8672

This is a wonderful family story to. Tell. This. Family. Worked. So. Hard. During the. Depression. & WWII TO. present day. Their bakery. Was legendary.☺️❤️

My grandmother worked there for many years. I had my first job at the 88th street location at age 15 making black and white cookies. I can still taste the delicious cheese cake.

Hi Adam! What was your Grandmother’s name? I am Herb’s daughter and probably worked there when you were there, too!

Hi Liz — Gusta Jakubowicz. She was famous for giving out cookies to kids

I remember both of the Grossinger bakeries and it is delightful the history has been recorded. Like many who dabble in genealogy, I remain unconvinced by the lore of name changes at Ellis Island. Alas, this seems to be one more validation that it is but an urban myth.

A few minute diversion to the NYPL this afternoon to use Ancestry Library Edition netted the passenger list of the Patricia arriving in NYC on 29 March 1902 and listing a Jewish (“Hebrew”) passenger called Márton Grósinger. This was the list of names used by the immigration officials at Ellis Island, compiled by the shipping line in advance of arrival.

It appears that in 1911 he made his way back to Hungary and applied at the US Embassy in Budapest for a passport to return to the US with his wife and his minor son, Ernest, born in Hungary on 30 November 1898, with his name now listed as Martin Groussinger. The application information crosschecks with the 1902 passenger list excepting for the name spellings. It references a US Naturalization on 8 December 1908 that may provide more hints as to precisely when he changed his name.

By the 1930 census, they are Grossinger (fabulously with Ernest enumerated as “Occupation:Baker”, “Industry: Pastry Cakes”) living with his parents on E. 12th Street. In the 1940 census, head of house Ernest, now married to Isabel(la) and with a 1 year old Herbert are living on W 76th Street, with his parents also living with them. The 1950 census is made public in a few months.

I grew up in Newark, N.J. We always bought our seeded rye at Grossinger’s on Bergen Street – excellent!

I bought a lot of birthday cakes and loved Grossinger’s. I also had many meals at the Cherry Restaurant which was next door to Grossinger’s. I really miss both of them. Those wonderful days are gone! Nothing today really replaces both of them!!!

My family lived on Central Park West and 75th Street. Had arrived in the USA in 1941…originally from Czechoslovakia. My Mother shopped at Grossingers.. I reamber the bakery most of all…bought the very best Kaiser rolls for a nickel…remember the drug store with the soda fountain…the candy store and an excellent hardware store…still best of all th ice cream cake…which I enjoyed many times after having moved out of the neighborhood.

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