Ditmas History: Bakeries & Barry Manilow

Today, the bustling north side of Church Avenue is home to Hair Town Beauty Supply, Prospect Medical Care of New York, and Mr Lee Cleaners–but it turns out a few decades ago, you could have gotten yourself some world (or at least borough) famous rye, and maybe even run into the Mandy Man himself.

This July 1962 photo from Brooklyn Visual Heritage shows, not surprisingly, a treeless block. It looks like the only building that’s gone through a drastic change is the now-Bank of America on the northeast corner of Ocean–some windows were covered, some expanded, the door moved to Church instead of Ocean, and the brick smoothed and painted over, but the businesses are certainly different than they used to be.

For one, the giant awnings are gone–and several of the storefronts on the block are now vacant. When we walked by today, gates were down from 1913-1917 Church, the former Star Fish Market and M&M Furniture spaces had For Rent signs up.

Brooklyn Visual Heritage lists a few businesses on the block in 1962, though it’s hard to see in the photograph online. Apparently 50 years back, Diora Hairstylist and Sinai Take Home Foods were some of the stores on the strip, as was Dubin’s Bakery (in the former M&M space at 1917 Church), which seems like it had quite a devoted following.

The most interesting, though maybe not most reliable, online source for Dubin’s info is this great forum thread from a couple years back on RoadFood.com. In it, current and former area residents including a woman named Nancy who says her grandfather opened the bakery in the 1930s reminisce about everything Dubin’s-related from pecan rings and almond horns, to their second location at 1926 Kings Highway, to their abrupt closing after Passover in 1981, to the chatty saleswomen who worked behind the counter at the Church location, one of whom was Barry Manilow‘s aunt.

Another poster, Jonathan, says Barry was his neighbor in an apartment house on E 21st Street between Church and Caton until he began playing for Bette Midler–and while he says he doesn’t remember Barry or his mother Edna talking about Dubin’s, one can only hope Barry’s aunt brought some cakes challah home from time to time.

The bakery is also mentioned in a 1983 New York Times piece called In [sic] You’re Thinking of Moving to Flatbush, which talks a lot about the same stuff we’re still talking about today–the debate over neighborhood names and boundaries, the Kings Theatre, the Japanese house on Buckingham, being “a neighborhood in transition,” Slopers moving here, Mary Kay Gallagher, and jaw-dropping housing costs. In this case, “jaw-dropping” means $100-150k for a house and $250-395 a month for a one-bed apartment. Ouch.

Leith Anderson’s 1992 book, A Church for the 21st Century (sadly not all about Church Avenue), mentions the shift in neighborhood demographic led the former Dubin’s to become Gig Young’s Jamaican Bakery, which may or may not have moved to Crown Heights at a certain point before closing for good.