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G & G Bakery On Avenue L


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I believe it was located at the corner of Avenue L and 13th? in Galveston. Years ago, I believe it closed down but did eventually reopen. The last time I was in Galveston it had closed again.

Anyone remember this wonderful old bakery?

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Anyone remember this wonderful old bakery?

Wow, I sure do miss it.. I was born and grew up on the east end of the Island and the G & G was a big part of my childhood years. Every day at 4pm my grandmother would give me 50 cents and send me there to pick up fresh hot French bread. It was always ready at 4 on the dot and rain or shine I rode there on my bike to pick it up. I can still remember the smell of it. On occasion my Mom would take me there for eclairs, cookies, birthday cakes, etc.. Now it's a daycare center but if you look real closely you can see "bakery" behind the new sign. I can see how it couldn't have survived the bad economy of the past few decades but I wish it could have.

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Wow, I sure do miss it.. I was born and grew up on the east end of the Island and the G & G was a big part of my childhood years. Every day at 4pm my grandmother would give me 50 cents and send me there to pick up fresh hot French bread. It was always ready at 4 on the dot and rain or shine I rode there on my bike to pick it up. I can still remember the smell of it. On occasion my Mom would take me there for eclairs, cookies, birthday cakes, etc.. Now it's a daycare center but if you look real closely you can see "bakery" behind the new sign. I can see how it couldn't have survived the bad economy of the past few decades but I wish it could have.

Yes! The French bread was one of the main reason for our visits there. For years, it was a tradition for my mom, sometimes my sister, aunt and grandmother and I to visit Galveston. This was long before The Strand ever came about. Usually, we would poke around the stores and such downtown, have lunch at Fishermans Wharf (fantastic seafood poboys) and always a trip to G&G Bakery to buy up a bunch of their wonderful French Bread to bring home.

Those were the days! :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

How "sweet" to find this topic! And it was started on Oct 24th, the day after we celebrated my father, Milton Graugnard's, 85th birthday! I'm sharing your kind words with him today. I know it will warm his heart.

I am Debra, his youngest daughter, and I too greatly miss the bakery. I have such fond memories of "growing up" there! I have 4 sisters and 1 brother, and we all worked there when we were younger, as did some of our cousins.

My sister and I had wanted to take on the bakery after my father and his brothers retired about 20 years ago, but it was important to my father that we graduate from college and build careers for ourselves. The neighborhood was getting a bit dangerous at that time too. My father and his brothers had been robbed at knife- and gun-point a few times. I think he worried about our safety. And, yes, he worried that my sister and I might kill each other if we tried to work together day after day. :rolleyes:

It was hard to let it go. Milton, Ronald and Henry III were the third generation of bakers in their family to run the bakery. Their great-grandfather, Henry, Sr., had started the bakery in Galveston after coming to America from France around 1886. At the time the 3 brothers retired, the business was over 100 years old and still quite successful.

Initially they sold it as a bakery, but the new owners didn't last very long, so they took it back and ran it as a scaled down operation from the original.

It's now used for a few purposes - a daycare, a bird-house manufacturing business, and a second floor apartment behind that great curved glass tile wall.

Twenty years later I still dream about re-opening the business, if not there, somewhere. I've traveled around quite a bit, and when I happen upon a bakery, I have to take a look inside. It's hard to find the variety, abundance and quality of goodies that they used to have. They made everything from scratch on-site, fresh each day. That rarely happens any more. (My father says that the main suppliers of ingredients don't even provide the basics of flour, sugar and such in bulk any more. Now everything comes as a mix.)

One more thing I have to mention - the brownies! Did you guys miss the brownies? We had people who came regularly from near and far to get the brownies! Oh, and the wedding cakes... I could go on...

Thanks for making my day! :D

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  • 7 years later...

Seems I'm several years late... I grew up eating the French bread from G & G.  My grandfather's name was Dominic Macaluso.  He and my grandmother lived on 19th Street and even into his 90's he would go every day to get a load (or two) of the French bread.  NOTHING I've tasted anywhere has ever come close to the heavenly fragrance of that bread.  And of course, it was perfection.  So crusty on the outside and soft on the inside.  I have been longing for it and am always searching for a good loaf of French bread, but I'm afraid G & G spoiled me and I'll never be satisfied again.

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So, it looks like we have alot of family connections here YEARS a part. My name is Adam, and I am the great nephew to Pauline Macaluso, wife to Anthony Macaluso, sister to Estelle Davis, Bernard Davis and the boys who delivered the bread for G & G and I am a direct decendent of the Graugnard/Davis families. My dad grew up on the corner of 13th and L. Bernard and my grandmother Estelle used to ALWAYS bring me donut holes from the bakery when I was a kid every time they came to visit until it closed. This is unbelievable. I don't know if anyone will see this. I hope that all of you do. 

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  • 3 months later...

I have fond memories of G and G Bakery on 13th St, in Galveston, TX during the late 1970’s. I had moved to Galveston from Vermont, talk about a “culture” shock.  My favorite place to get any pastry there, especially the Neapolitans., haven’t had one anywhere as good and theirs.  I would get a sugar high, just walking in the door, what a sweet aroma, and a sweet memory!         Wish there was a living relative that had some of the favorite recipes and start a small bakery shop again!

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  • The title was changed to G & G Bakery On Avenue L

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