No More Babka? There Goes the Neighborhood

New York Times Blog: By Joseph Berger

Gertel’s, the legendary bakery on Hester Street on the Lower East Side known for its Jewish treats like rugelach, babka and marble cake, has closed its doors.

The closing is one more change in a string of changes on the historic Lower East Side, where hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Russia, Poland, Romania and Italy established their foothold in America and set up hundreds of dry goods and food shops that until recent years gave the area a characteristic pungency. But those shops are being replaced by hip boutiques and voguish restaurants, and only a few survivors, like the Russ & Daughters appetizing store and Katz’s Delicatessen, are left. ...

Reports on various Web sites say that Gertel’s is being replaced by a condo building and that a wholesale operation may continue. Gertel’s last babka was sold to a congregant at a Westchester synagogue, who gave the cake to her rabbi, Lester Bronstein.