Daily At Your Door

How many of my blog readers in southern California remember the Helms Bakery delivery trucks in the 1950s and 60s?

Gone, like our Good Humor Ice Cream man, the Helms Bakery truck was a part of my growing up in a small suburb in So Cal.

I don't remember our Helms man's name...but I can still...50+ years later remember exactly how he looked. He was tall with olive colored skin and jet black hair...with a wide smile and sparkling eyes. And so kind to everyone.

Mr. Helms-Man would pull on a handle inside the truck that would sound the whistle announcing his arrival on Rex Road...and all the moms, children, and anyone else who was home that day would stop what they were doing and come outside to the truck. There the neighborhood people stood like a Norman Rockwell painting.

The 'magic' happened when Mr. Helms-Man leaped from the truck, swung open the double back doors and the deep drawers slid out filled with candy, donuts and freshly baked bread! Two of my favorite candies were the Pixie Sticks (paper straws filled with a Kool-Aid type powder like filling that would make your lips pucker and produce an instant sugar rush!), and the waxy bottle shape containers filled with a fruity juicy drink -- we would bite off a piece of the wax, drink the juice, then chew the waxy container!

What a healthy group of neighborhood kids we were..wired on sugar :)

When I was home from school sick (but not THAT sick) Mom would go out to the Helms truck and buy us each a chocolate donut to have as we watched I Love Lucy or Sheriff John's Lunch Brigade on television.

I would love to own a vintage Helms truck today...I would probably make it a traveling 'arts and crafts supply' truck...blowing my whistle and selling art supplies from the large wooden drawers ...Daily At Your Door...what at-home-artist wouldn't love that?! OK, and maybe Pixie Sticks! :-)