The Homeboy Bakery….. Rising from Hope and Ashes

In the late 90’s, the Homeboy Bakery was something of a miracle. It was part of the Homeboy Industries jobs program started by Father Greg Boyle to give jobs to guys who wanted out of gangs. The bakery was housed in an 80-year-old building on Gless Street in Boyle Heights, nestled between the twinned housing projects of Pico Gardens and Aliso Village. Most of the eleven gang members it employed had formerly been enemies. Now they worked side-by-side baking loaves bread. Nothing Stops a Bullet Like a Job was the Homeboy motto, and the bakers were emblematic of the principal at work.

Not that there weren’t problems. Due to the age of the building, things were always breaking. And in May of 1999, the bakery’s well-like former homeboy/manager was murdered a block and a half away from the building, temporarily shattering the morale of the bakers. Yet, still somehow in spite of the problems, in spite of the tragedy, the enterprise started to thrive. Guys got along against all odds. And more than 3000 loaves of fragrant, good-tasting bread were turned out every day, with production continuing to rise.

Then around 2 am on a Friday morning in October of 1999, someone noticed flames coming from the bakery. By the time firefighters arrived and managed to put the blaze out, it was too late. The building and all the baking equipment was all but destroyed.

Wild rumors flew among residents in the surrounding community that the fire was some kind of sabotage. It was gangsters from across town, they whispered, or maybe it was some rogue police officer who resented the work with homeboys. Although arson was investigated, the truth turned out to be nothing so sinister or dramatic. The old building had faulty wiring, and that had sparked the fire.

Father Greg called all the bakers at home to warn them of what had occurred. He reached all but one. The straggler arrived by bus, then walked to the bakery from the bus stop, dressed smartly in his bright white uniform. When he saw the wet and smoldering rubble that had once been his place of work and safety, he stopped abruptly and stood stock still, gaping at the charred wood and melted plastic as if at an impossible mirage. Then he began sobbing. “It was my job,” he sobbed. “It was my job.”

“It was like my family,” said another stunned baker who had insisted on coming to see with his own eyes that the bakery was really gone.

The bakery was insured, but not for enough to replace it. The women of the community approached Father Greg and said they would do bake sales to raise money. The homeboys volunteered to do car washes. But it would take 10,000 bake sales and car washes to make a dent in the problem. Various other strategies were explored. Finally Boyle and his non-profit board decided to go for broke. No more rickety old buildings. They would build brand new beautiful bakery on land that they would purchase outright.

That of course, would require money—a lot of money. It took seven years to raise the nearly $12.5 million needed to fund the project. The money came from corporations, foundations and from private donations. Finally, on a cold morning last March, homeboys and homegirls gathered with Fr. Greg, Antonio Villaraigosa, Sheriff Lee Baca and others, and broke ground for the new 21,000 square foot building to be built at Bruno and Alameda streets, two blocks from Union Station. The bakery was to rise again.

This time, the building would also house the offices for Homeboy Industries , which includes a job training and placement service, counseling, and tattoo removal, the Homegirl Cafe (employing at risk girls), and a small retail store featuring Homeboy merchandise.

Tomorrow, Tuesday October 2, at 12 noon the bakery and the rest of Homeboy Industries will hold its grand opening at 130, West Bruno Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012. All the usual LA luminaries will be there. But, more importantly, so will the homeboys and homegirls—both present employees and those from the past who want to pay their respects and celebrate a victory hard won.

So, if you want a close-up and personal experience of a truly hopeful moment in the ongoing history of our city, com’on down.