Yesterday's post about Baby Bear Bread and various local bakeries made me realize that I'd never devoted a post to just
Hough Bakeries. To rectify that half-baked oversight, here's a baker's dozen of various clippings in chronological order, consisting of articles and ads that tell the story of this beloved institution from his first appearance in Lorain in 1958 to its sad closing in 1992.
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| March 25, 1958 |
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| March 26, 1958 |
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| October 1, 1958 |
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| Feb. 1, 1961 |
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| May 23, 1967 |
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| Sept. 19, 1971 |
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| Dec. 21, 1976 |
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| May 1, 1978 |
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| Dec. 15, 1986 |
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| May 18, 1987 |
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| March 28, 1990 |
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| May 10, 1990 |
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| Aug. 9, 1992 |
For the Brady family, the one at Westgate Shopping Center at W. 21st was a regular Saturday afternoon stop for many years, usually to pick up a kuchen for Sunday morning. I myself later patronized the one at Midway Mall.
I can still taste one specific kuchen with a soft, crumbly white topping on it. Boy, was that good!
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UPDATE (May 3, 2026)
As for where the bakery was located, I'm pretty sure that the Hough Bakeries outlet at Midway Mall can be seen in the vintage postcard below (from the 1960s?). I believe it is the white storefront on the left. Starting from the left edge of the photos, you see Harvest House, Boulevard Shoes, Bentley Ties, Fanny Farmer, Spencer Gifts and then what I believe is Hough Bakeries.
This seems to be supported by this listing of Midway Mall stores circa 1967.
Ah, Hough’s Bakery! We kids would get so excited when my mom would return from shopping at the Shoreway Center with a white box tied with string. She usually brought us cupcakes. Later, my husband and I loved the dark, spicy gingerbread loaf with a thin layer of white frosting. I have tried many recipes since, trying to duplicate the flavor. That was the only bakery we shopped at, aside from Swensen’s in Vermilion, where we’d pick up a sour cream coffee cake.
ReplyDeleteHey Dan- I think I’ve gained weight from your last two posts…21st St. and later Cooper Foster is where I shopped. Chocolate cupcakes were my favorite Todd
ReplyDeleteThe Westgate Hough Bakeries store was our go-to when I was a kid, and I fondly remember that apple kutchen, and the wonderful cakes.
ReplyDeleteAh, the cookies! Nothing like their Christmas coolies.
ReplyDeleteI have a vague memory of getting cupcakes at the Mall... were they inside the mall? Roughly where at?
ReplyDeleteHough Bakeries was inside the Mall. If you went in the main entrance as if you were going to go into Penney's, but turned right, it was about 2 or 3 stores down on the right side, if I remember correctly.
DeleteThanks! I seem to remember getting something at the side walk cafe... and then a cupcake... so that all make sense!
DeleteIt was in the wing facing the old Gold Circle/Kmart. If you were standing in the mall in the front of Pennys walk down that wing towards The exit and it was on the left approximately where the old Indians Team Shop was.
DeleteI had to look up the Cholmondl(e)y Bread. Never heard of it. Sort of a loaf of English Muffin stuff, it looks like. Thanks, Dan, for teaching this backwoods Pennsyltuckain something new!
ReplyDeleteFor some unknown reason, my brain remembers a Hough Bakery on Oberlin Avenue near W. 21st St. Dan, was there a Hough pharmacy in that area?
ReplyDeleteYou're right, Blazer Man, Houff Pharmacy was on Oberlin Avenue near 18th Street.
DeleteFun memories! We used to pick up some chocolate chip cookies for dessert, then go across the street to Arthur Teacher’s or Casey’s for a gyro and a grape soda and fried mushrooms, then sit by the lake, listen to G98 and eat. And when we were at the mall, it was a Baskin Robbin’s ice cream cone, then go to the Hough’s next door for some cookies or maybe a nice chocolate layer cake to take home.
ReplyDeleteWe used to go to Hough Bakeries every Friday at the Midway Mall location and get hard crunchy waffles,getting ready to watch Big Chuck and Li'l John later that night.
ReplyDeleteYep... I think that location in the mall is spot on... it was near Woolworths... and the movie theater when it was inside the mall. Core memory unlocked! lol
ReplyDelete