Thursday, 4:30 PM
North End bakery still cookin' at 100
(Bill Greene/Globe Staff)
Mayor Thomas M. Menino helps A. Parziale & Sons Bakery mark 100 years
By Michael Levenson Globe Staff
The milestone might go unnoticed in another neighborhood, in another city: A bakery turns 100.
But in Boston’s North End, it is reason enough to take to the streets and party with tray after tray of pizza and focaccia, Frank Sinatra on a loudspeaker, old-timers in folding chairs, and nearly every Italian-American politician in the city trying to out-do one another with praise for the bakery’s crusty loaves of scali.
A. Parziale & Sons Bakery -- started in 1907 by a Neapolitan who immigrated to New York but moved to Boston after deciding there were already too many bakeries in the Big Apple -- celebrated a century of business Wednesday.
Mayor Thomas M. Menino was there in a white apron, holding a tray of slices and calling out, "Who wants pizza?" So was House Speaker Salvatore F. DiMasi, who as a child living in a third-floor apartment, said he bought loaves of scali at Parziale, and then loaded them into a bucket his mother had lowered to the street on a rope. "Best bread ever made in the North End," DiMasi proclaimed Wednesday.
Tucked in a quiet stretch of Prince Street, on the first floor of a brick building where the Parziale family lives, the bakery seems far removed from the bustle of Hanover Street. It has two rooms -- a small kitchen with flour-covered tables and a tiny shop with one glass case of cookies, pizza, and bread.
On any given day, lifelong North End residents who have been coming since they were children stop by to pick up bread crumbs, anise and almond biscotti, and heavy, football-size loaves called bostone.
"What I like about it is, it’s a good, lasting bread," said Pat Ruocco, 83, a customer for 75 years. "It’s a good, crusty bread, and you can’t beat it. There isn’t another baking shop around that even comes close."
In the 1930s, the Parziales served slices of pizza from a push cart in Scollay Square. The price was a nickel. For most of the century, the bakery shared the block with other small, immigrant-run shops -- Gino’s Meats, Russo’s Fruits, and Ischia’s Grocery, most of which have closed. But not Parziale. It made a few concessions to modernity -- adding six-grain bread for the health-conscious set -- but mostly it has been a stubborn adherent to tradition.
"We make the bread today the same way our family has made it for hundreds of years, going all the way back to Italy," said Angelo Parziale, 31, great-grandson of the bakery’s founder, Giuseppe.
To mark the shop’s centennial Wednesday, city officials installed a bronze plaque in the doorway of the shop proclaiming the milestone, 1907-2007, and a blue street sign outside that reads "Parziale Bakery."
Then, they closed down the street and invited the neighbors. By 1 p.m., the street was teeming with children in T-shirts printed with the bakery’s name.
Menino showed up early and helped the Parziales bring pizzas to picnic tables outside. Soon other pols arrived: DiMasi, Representative Anthony W. Petruccelli of East Boston, and Councilor Salvatore LaMattina of the North End.
All tied on aprons, grabbed spatulas, and served slices. Representative Thomas M. Petrolati of Ludlow also attended the festivities.
Perched in a chair and clutching a cane, Romeo Parziale, 85, the last surviving of Giuseppe Parziale’s nine children, marveled at the scene.
"To think I’d be here this long is unbelievable," he said. "I wish more of us were alive to see it."
The Parziales said they fully expect the bakery to carry on for another 100 years. The youngest generation, including Augustine Parziale, 9, is learning to bake bread the family way.
"Without family help, I couldn’t stay in business," said his grandfather, the shop’s current owner, who is also named Augustine Parziale. "We all put the same pride and love into it."
Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com.
