Nearly every morning for the past 32 years, Bill Thee, owner of Thee’s Continental Pastries at the Original Farmers Market, began his day at 5 a.m., baking the croissants, cakes, and pastries for the day.

Bill Thee, owner of Thee’s Continental Pastries at the Original Farmers Market, said Saturday will be his last day in business. (photo by Edwin Folven)

Now, Thee has sold the bakery, and Saturday will be the last day of business. Thee said the bakery is closing because the space will be used as a bakery for Short Order, a new gourmet hamburger restaurant that is opening in the Market. Thee added that he has no plans to reopen the bakery at a new location, and acknowledged that he had a “good run” at Market.

“I am very thankful for all of my customers who patronized me,” Thee said. I have really enjoyed my time here.”

Thee said he was inspired to go into baking by his father, who owned a wholesale baking company in San Gabriel. He later decided that he wanted to pursue the family business, but in a different way than his father.

“I started working at my dad’s place when I was eight years old, and after I went off to college for a couple of years, I decided I wanted to give retail baking a try, instead of wholesale. First I trained for a while at a trade school, and spent a year in Germany and Switzerland, and then when I came back, the opportunity at the Market opened up.”

Thee said he took over the space in 1979 that had previously been occupied by Clara and Joe’s and Humphrey Bakery, and went to work perfecting his signature pastries and cakes. One of the items made popular by Humphrey Bakery that Thee continued to make is the pink elephant cake, which has a bottle of champagne in the middle, and pink elephants as part of the decorative icing. Other customer favorites over the years were the alligator coffee cake, made using butter, brown sugar and pecans; and the monkey bread, a rich egg bread that can be pulled apart and eaten. Thee said the monkey bread has been featured on the Food Network show, “Unwrapped”.

“One of the other things we were especially known for is the princess torte — a whipped cream torte with raspberry and banana cream, and covered with green marzipan,” Thee said.

During the past 32 years, Thee said he has grown to know many of his customers personally, which is one of the things he liked best about owning a business in the Market.

“I have many multi-generational customers who tell me they remember coming here when they were kids, which is great,” Thee said. “There is always something to see, it’s great for people watching. It’s more than a cross section of Los Angeles, it’s really a cross section of the world around here.”

Thees is located in stall 316 in the Original Farmers Market, 6333 W. 3rd St. for information, call (323)937-1968.