Helms Bakery
Olympic Bread sign on the side of the Helms Bakery in Culver City, California.
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| Private company | |
| Industry | Food (bakery) |
| Founded | March 2, 1931 |
| Defunct | 1969 |
| Headquarters | Culver City, California, U.S. |
| Products | Bread, cake |
| Owner | Paul Helms |
| Website | helmsbakerydistrict |
The Helms Bakery in Culver City, California was a notable industrial bakery of Southern California that operated from 1931 to 1969.
In 1926, Paul Helms of New York took an early retirement for health reasons and moved his family to Southern California and its mild climate. Helms started construction on a building between Washington and Venice Boulevards in 1930 and, on March 2, 1931, the Helms Bakery opened with 32 employees and 11 delivery coaches (trucks).
By the next year, the Helms Bakery had become the "official baker" of the 1932 Summer Olympics when Paul Helms won a contract to supply bread for the 1932 games in Los Angeles. His slogan was "Olympic Games Bakers - Choice of Olympic Champions." Four years later in time for the 1936 Summer Olympics Germany asked Helms for his bread recipes to feed to the German Olympic team. His relationship with Olympians continued in later years, the U.S. teams at London and Helsinki requested his bread be served. Early Helms vehicles sported the Olympic symbol, and it also appeared on, and was mentioned in, the Helms logo on the bread wrappers, the company logo and sign.
Despite never being sold in stores, Helms baked products soon became known to millions of consumers. The Helms motto was "Daily at Your Door" and every weekday morning, from both the Culver City facility and a second Helms Bakery site in Montebello, dozens of Helms coaches, painted in a unique two-tone scheme, would leave the bakery for various parts of the Los Angeles Basin, some going as far as the eastern San Gabriel Valley. This is remarkable because the network of freeways had not yet been built, so the trip might take an hour or more. One of these coaches is on display at the Peterson Automotive Museum in Los Angeles,Lyon Air Museum, in Santa Ana, and the LeMay Car Museum in Tacoma, WA.
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