gridlore: Doug looking off camera with a grin (Bosch)
Douglas Berry ([personal profile] gridlore) wrote2005-08-20 07:59 am

Civilization has collapsed

SOUR ENDING: Parisian bread becomes toast as label's owner closes bakery

The bankrupt Kansas City firm that owns three Bay Area bakeries killed one of the oldest names in San Francisco's sourdough French bread business Friday.

It was the last day for the Parisian sourdough bread bakery, which had been producing San Francisco's signature bread for 149 years.

"It's a sad day for the industry, a sad day for San Francisco, and a sad day for all those people losing their jobs,'' said Lou Giraudo, whose family owns the Boudin bakery chain and once owned Parisian. The family sold Parisian in 1993 to another firm, which later sold it to Interstate Bakeries.

Boudin's bakery, founded in 1849, is the oldest sourdough operation in the country, but Parisian, which first started baking sourdough bread based on a recipe from French bakers, was established in 1856, the year San Francisco's government was taken over by vigilantes.


Parisian simple was sourdough when I was growing up. Seeing that white bag with red and blue stripes meant that we were having steak with garlic bread to mop up the marinade, or spaghetti, or just making cheese sandwiches with thick slices of french bread.

Damn Interstate Bakeries. You run a profitable empire into the ground, and rather than stop making fucking Twinkies, you destroy a San Francisco landmark.

Oh, there was on line in the story that made me laugh..

Twinkies, a product noted for its sweetness, also had a role in San Francisco history. Former Supervisor Dan White claimed to have been on a sugar high induced by Twinkies when he fatally shot Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk in 1978. The so-called Twinkie Defense got White a lesser sentence and caused considerable outrage at the time.


Yeah, I'd call a two-day riot where thousands of gays burned police cars, threw rocks through city hall windows, and smashed hundreds of store fronts "considerable outrage."

[identity profile] sinboy.livejournal.com 2005-08-20 07:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Parisian iswas good, but the Acme Bread Company is better.

[identity profile] sylvan.livejournal.com 2005-08-20 07:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh that is so sad! I too have similar memories of the sourdough bread. (and now of course I want some!)

They also flipped a police cruiser... I wish I could have been there. And not have been 6.

[identity profile] sossity.livejournal.com 2005-08-21 12:47 am (UTC)(link)
and boudin wouldn't buy the brand back? hmmm... crappy business all around, i say.