Northwest labor press., June 06, 2014, Page 4, Image 4

Oregon Historical Society exhibit
features first black-owned bakery
A retiree of Bakers Local 114
The Oregon Historical Society
opened a new exhibit May 23 featuring
the first black-owned bakery in the
state. The exhibit tells the story of Hur-
tis Hadley, a retired mem-
ber of Bakers Local 114,
and his wife, Dorothy,
who opened Milwaukie
Pastry Kitchen in 1977.
Hurtis Hadley joined
Bakers Local 114 in 1965
and served for many years
on the local’s Executive
Board, and as a trustee.
He retired in 1997.
Raised in Oregon and
a graduate of Portland’s
Jefferson High School, Hadley, 71, said
he found his passion for baking as a
teenager working as a busboy and
waiter at Meier and Frank. The pantry
chef was short-handed one day and
needed an assistant. Hadley accepted
the job.
A year later he was hired as a
baker’s helper at the Bohemian Restau-
rant and Bakery in downtown Portland.
While there, Hadley said in his biogra-
phy, he faced prejudice as the owner
enrolled all the minority bakers in the
Cooks Union, rather than the proper
Bakers Union with the white workers.
“This realization came when I
reached retirement age and found out
that I had to make up five years because
of being enrolled in the wrong union,”
he wrote.
After five years at Bohemian, and
with little opportunity for advance-
ment, Hadley heard that Albertsons
was hiring apprentice bakers. He ap-
plied and was the first African Ameri-
can to be accepted into Oregon’s three-
year baker apprenticeship program.
Because of his experience at Bo-
hemian, he completed the program in
two years, making him the first African
American in the state of Oregon to be
state certified as a journeyman baker.
As part of the apprenticeship pro-
gram Hadley attended Portland Com-
munity College, where he earned an as-
sociates degree in Baking Technology.
He worked at several Al-
bertsons in-store bakeries be-
fore accepting a job in the
company’s merchandising de-
partment. He had his eye on
becoming a district manager,
but was told at the time, “Ore-
gon isn’t ready for a person of
color in that position,” he said.
Hadley spent 10 years with
Albertsons before returning to
work at smaller independent
bakeries. In 1977, he and his
wife decided to open their own busi-
ness. Milwaukie Pastry Kitchen was a
full line bakery that offered specialty
breads, assorted pastries, and creative
birthday and wedding cakes. Hurtis did
the baking and Dorothy, a former li-
censed cosmetologist, managed the
front of the store and coordinated the
catering service. The shop’s slogan was
“Put a little Soul in your Roll.” The
bakery became a casualty of the Rea-
gan Recession, and in 1985 it was
forced to close.
Hadley returned to Albertsons,
where he became the first African
American in Oregon to be hired as a
bakery manager for the company. The
grocer later promoted him to bakery
store trainer, where he headed up the
Oregon division.
After learning that he didn’t qualify
for a pension, Hadley said Local 114
found him work, first at Franz Bakery
in Portland, and later at Oroweat in
Beaverton. He retired from Oroweat in
1997.
At a reception May 23 at the Ore-
gon Historical Society, Brian Carter, di-
rector of Museum Services and Educa-
Hurtis (right) and Dorothy (center) Hadley are joined by Terry Lansing,
financial secretary-treasurer of Bakers Local 114, at a reception at the Oregon
Historical Society featuring the Hadleys and Milwaukie Pastry Kitchen —
the first black-owned bakery in Oregon. Hurtis is a Local 114 pensioner,
having retired in 1997. Also attending the reception was Laurel Koch,
longtime financial secretary-treasurer of the Bakers Union, who retired in
2004. The baking utensils on display are original to the bakery, which opened
in 1977, Hurtis Hadley said.
tion, said he heard the story of Mil-
waukie Pastry Kitchen from Dorothy
Hadley. Carter was new to the job, hav-
ing been hired away from the North-
west African American History Mu-
seum in Seattle, when Dorothy
approached him in March 2013.
Dorothy Hadley told the Labor
Press that she had heard there was a
new director at the Historical Society,
and that he wanted to trace the histories
of more black Oregonians.
Hurtis Hadley said his wife spent
close to a year researching the history.
“She talked to the right people. One
thing led to another ... and we’re a part
of history now.”
“I listened to their story, and learned
a lot from our conversation,” Carter
said. “Out of that discussion came this
exhibit.”
The exhibit will run for the next six
to eight months in the Madison Room,
which is used for meetings and small
receptions, with an adjacent terrace and
view of the South Park Blocks.
Admission is free for residents of
Multnomah County, and for active and
retired military personnel and their
families through Sept. 1. Saturday, June
21, is Community Day and admission
is free for everyone. Otherwise, general
admission is $11 for adults; $9 for sen-
ior citizens and students over 18; $5 for
youth 6 to 18; children under 5 are ad-
mitted free.
P ROUDLY S ERVING
P ORTLAND W ORKERS
F OR O VER 32 Y EARS
PAGE 4
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JUNE 6, 2014