Over the summer I had great fun sharing some Boston area locations from the 1970’s move The Friends Eddie Coyle (here’s a link to my original post “1970?s Boston Movie Fun – Name That Location! The Friends of Eddie Coyle”.)
Well I wasn’t the only one who had fond memories of the locations this movie used, as I recently got a wonderful email from a member of the family that owned the P.J. Pastry Shop in Dedham Square – as seen below in the opening credits:
I thought it would be great to add this note to the cache of information about not only Eddie Coyle but also Dedham Square. As I’ve mentioned, both my parents grew up in Dedham, and we would call my younger sister “PJ” when she was young, so I’ve got a soft spot for the info below as well!
Hello Mod Betty!!
I can’t tell how excited I was to see my family’s bakery in your blog “1970’s Boston Movie Fun — Name That Location! The Friend’s of Eddie Coyle.” My grandfather Paul Sivacek Sr. opened the store in 1933 with partner Jacob Umsheid (my grandfather “Paul” was the “P” in PJ & his partner Jacob was the “J”). My father, Paul Sivacek, Jr., took it over in the early 1970’s with his brother Edward (my uncle) and ran it until the late 80’s/early 90’s.
It was then took over by another baker who called it “Dedham Bake Shop” and within a few years, it was occupied by “Diana Gaikazova Designs”, who since has moved across the street & runs the renamed “The Heart of the Square” next to the historic Dedham Community Theatre. Currently, the space once occupied for over 60 years by PJ Pastry Shop is now a personal fitness center called “The Body Workshop.”
We all (including family & current occupants of Dedham) miss a bakery in the Square!
Thank you so much for remembering PJ Pastry Shop in the movie and posting it in your blog. I have never seen a picture of that before and it brought back fond memories. Keep up the good work, and again, thank you for your memorable post!
Please let me know if you have any questions or curiosities about the bakery — I’d be glad to answer them!
Sincerely,
Kristine
If anyone has a question about the bakery I’d be more than happy to forward it to Kristine. And Kristine, thanks so much for adding your little bit of history to this topic! I’ll also be putting this email in the comments of the original post.
It’s kind of cool to realize that we all can contribute something to the common knowledge on a certain topic – from fuzzy pictures of old neon signs to family remembrances of local stores. Yay for all of us!
Kellie Devens (Smith)
February 15, 2011 at 9:26 pmHello Mod Betty,
I read the above post and it hit very close to home. It has brought back a lot of sweet memories… I worked for Paul Jr. and Eddie Sivacek at the bakery for about 7 years from my Jr High School years untill they sold the bakery. I would love to get in touch with Kristine and catch up. It would be nice to see what her and family have been up to all these years. Kristine and I worked together many a Saturday and Holidays. I often think of her family and P&J. I am still good friends with other old P&J staff and we often talk about the fun times we had there when were were in our teens. (Mary Heyn and Milena Musto). My Mom this past Thanksgiving talked about how she has not been able to find a good Hermit cookie since Paul sold the bakery =) If you could please pass this note on to Kristine that would be great. I would love to say Hello.
Sincerely,
Kellie Devens Smith
Mod Betty / RetroRoadmap.com
February 16, 2011 at 7:29 amKellie- how cool that you have such fond memories of PJs’ – thanks for adding your stories to the list of Dedham Square history. Thanks for sharing- and now you’ve got me hankering for a hermit- and no one in PA knows what I’m talking about 🙂
Kellie Devens (Smith)
February 17, 2011 at 12:03 amMod-Betty
Funny the things we take for granted… such as a great bakery. I now live in VA and I can not find any of the goodies I fell in love with working at PJs. I have tried my hand a making Hermits at home and they don’t even come close to the chewy goodness I enjoyed at PJs. It was a great bakery run by an even sweeter family.
Sincerely,
Kellie
Colleen Campbell-Merkle
September 23, 2011 at 7:59 pmHi! Wondering if somehow you can put me in touch with Kellie.?? We have known each other since we were little, but haven’t seen each other in years! I would love to say Hi & catch up. :o)
Thanks so much.
Colleen Campbell-Merkle
Mod Betty
September 26, 2011 at 3:41 pmHello Colleen – I’ve posted your request here in the hopes that Kellie sees it, in the meantime I’ll look for her email address. Fun stuff!
Dedham Kid
November 12, 2011 at 7:03 pmI can remember as a kid going into P&J with Mom. Such a great place! I was always amazed at how the women would grab the string from the gold globe-like thing hanging from the ceiling, and wrap the packages as fast as they did. When I was 15, I worked at Nancy’s Variety down the street. Good times back then!
Mod Betty
November 13, 2011 at 4:42 pmOh what a neat memory- thanks for sharing! And I totally know what you mean about that gold globe thing with the string in it. I can’t remember where I was recently, but they had one of those, and it totally took me back!
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