Martino’s
– A Burbank Bakery Institution
By Herb Vincent, from the July
2006 issue of the Senior Bulldogs News
Martino’s
Bakery Grand Opening
May 20, 2006 marked the
re-opening of Burbank’s well-known bakery which was started in 1921 when Mr.
Victor Martino Sr. and his wife, Eva opened their Burbank Grill. This closed in
1924 and a year later they started making pies in their garage. They moved to
Magnolia and Hollywood Way in 1936.
Amerio Corradi (Burbank High School, Winter 1941
Class) started working after school in his senior year, washing pots and pans
part time after school. He worked full time after graduating in Spring of 1941
and was drafted into the US Army in early 1942.
Vic Martino (also Burbank High Class of 1941)
started to work during summers and after school in 1936. When Victor Sr. passed away in the spring of
1941, Vic started college and upon his father’s death, helped his mother run
the production of pies and a few donuts for grocery stores and a few
restaurants.
Both Vic and Amerio were drafted into the military,
Amerio with the Army Corps of Engineers and Vic in the Air Corps. Mrs. Martino
kept the business going, now making only cake donuts.
At the end of the war, both men returned to Burbank
and joined Mrs. Martino making donuts. Wanting to retire, she turned over the
business to Vic and his sister, Beverlee ‘43. The next location on Magnolia and
Niagara had 4,000 sq. ft, where they made 9,000 dozen donuts a week, primarily
for other bakeries.
Vic’s sister, Beverlee Martino worked for many years
in the store’s retail division and sold her share of the business to Mario
Corradi and Paul Eberhardt in 1948. In
1971 Vic spent two years building the 48,000-sq. ft. facility at Alameda and
Main St., moving in late 1969.
Martino’s started a wholesale division that
delivered bakery goods from Santa Barbara to San Diego and Las Vegas and to
Castaic in the north. They ended up with 64 routes, using semi tractor-trailers
and smaller delivery trucks in the San Diego area.
Vic ran the business and sales and Amerio the
production department with 200 employees. In February 1980 the business was
acquired by Campbell Soup and the Martino’s output was 2 million servings of
pastries daily to 3,500 –4,000 restaurants, becoming one of the largest pastry
bakers for restaurants in the country.
In 1984 they were selling brownies and Danish rolls
to a division of Campbell Soup Co. They froze the goods and shipped them to
Pepperidge Farm’s Division Distribution Center in Connecticut, a semi load a
day.
Yolanda Cortes, who is somewhat of a celebrity in
Burbank, having just won a 1 Million Dollar Scratch-off in the California
Lottery, was in charge of the shipping and packing department for Martino’s
entire production. She had 24 ladies working in this part of the operation.
Vic and Amerio both continued on with Campbell’s as
a part of the sales agreement, Vic for one year and Amerio for almost five.
Vic sold his home in Burbank to Attorney Bob Bowne
and his wife, Dianne and moved to Carmel to build a larger home there.
Yolanda convinced Amerio to open
a new Bakery on Verdugo near Olive Ave. a small retail store.
Five years later they found a
larger place that had been Peppo’s Florist for 50 years.
At the Grand Opening Day, Vic came down from
Washington to wish his former partner all the continued success in the world of
baking.
The new bakery has parking on the side and an
outdoors eating area. If you are anywhere near Burbank, be sure to stop in any
day, except Sunday, and get dozen or so goodies.
NOTE: Vern Martino (Burbank High Class of Spring
1945) and his wife, Sue Samperi (Burbank High Class of Spring 1948) owned and operated
Vern’s Restaurant on South Glenoaks for many years before retiring. The restaurant was a gathering place where
Sue warmly greeted all that entered.
A special thanks to Kay
Stimolo Adams ’42 for suggesting we do an article on Martino’s Bakery. Also
many thanks to Vic Martino and Mario for their help assembling the facts for
this article.