Quick Take
After nearly five decades of baking bagels in Santa Cruz County, Bagelry founder John Hamstra has retired and handed the business to former employee Sidney Grant and his wife, Tal Cameron. The new owners say they intend to keep the local institution unchanged, from its menu and affordable prices to its longtime staff.
When John Hamstra, founder of the Bagelry, picked up the phone to talk about his retirement — the downtown Santa Cruz café buzzing in the background — he already had a headline ready: “Bagelry to begin 50th year. Founder to flee.”
The half-century milestone marks a transition for the Bagelry. Founded in 1977, the business, which includes a bakery and three cafés, turned 49 on Aug. 11. At the beginning of the month, Hamstra officially retired and sold the business to Sidney Grant, a former employee who has worked at the Bagelry for six years, and Grant’s wife, Tal Cameron.
Over nearly half a century, the Bagelry has become a local institution with storefronts in Seabright, downtown Santa Cruz and Soquel. Its expansive list of freshly baked bagels, homemade spreads and creative combinations is part menu, part Rorschach test. Are you a Lox Deluxe on an everything bagel kinda person, or a sucker for the Tofu Tom, a vegan spread with sundried tomatoes?
Whether you were a college student craving a Scrambagel on whole wheat, or a worker on their lunch break in the mood for a salt bagel with Moxie – a mix of cream cheese, black olives and green onions – generations have been drawn to the low-key spot for a hearty, inexpensive meal.
Grant, a former attorney, eats a pesto bagel with smoked salmon Pink Flamingo cream cheese nearly every day, he said. He visited the Bagelry often while growing up in Santa Cruz, and is mindful of its legacy. “It’s a huge responsibility, but it’s also a huge honor,” he said. “We’re trying to keep the Bagelry that everyone loves.”
He plans to continue operating as the Bagelry always has, with a focus on keeping prices “as low as we possibly can,” he said, and supporting the many longtime staff members who make and serve around 3,000 bagels daily.
“We have people who’ve been working here about as long as I’ve been alive, and I’m just going to let them keep doing their thing,” said Grant. “They know what makes the Bagelry special.”
Hamstra still has a big role in the business, and is consulting Grant during the transition.
The menu will stay the same, except for one addition. “I’m adding pickled onions, because I want pickled onions on my bagel,” said Grant.
Hamstra was a 24-year-old recent UC Santa Cruz graduate when he and two former business partners decided to open a bagel shop in 1977. At that point, he had tried his first bagel only a few years earlier, made by a friend. There were just a handful of bagel shops in the entire state, Hamstra said, and none in Santa Cruz.
Inspired, Hamstra and his friends based their recipe on the one his housemate had shared with him, received a single day of instruction on dough-making and baking, and decided they were ready to open the doors. “I’m willing to reveal that youth and ignorance served us very well,” reflected Hamstra.
The original 1,000-square-foot Seabright shop was next door to its current location in the Midtown shopping center. They intended to use the narrow space exclusively as a bakery, but customers wanted prepared food. When the Santa Cruz location on Cedar Street, next door to Kuumbwa Jazz Center, opened a few years later with a kitchen, the menu began to expand. In 1989, a third Bagelry café opened in Soquel.
For the first 17 years, the Bagelry did not toast its bagels. “The answer to customers at the time was, ‘You don’t toast today’s bagel. That’s what you did with yesterday’s bagel,’” said Hamstra. It wasn’t until Noah’s Bagels arrived in the 1990s and began promoting its toasters that the Bagelry had to change in order to stay competitive.
After five decades, Hamstra’s go-to bagel order is unconventional: peanut butter and black olives on a sesame bagel. “Shock your readers!” he joked.
Despite his unusual taste in bagels, Hamstra knew he wanted Grant to take over his business. Three years ago, as he planned for his retirement, he approached Grant about the opportunity. “His love of making bread was a landing spot for him as he moved away from practicing law, and he’s got good sense and a good set of skills for what we’re doing here,” Hamstra said.
Hamstra said he plans to travel and spend time with family during his retirement. He’s walking away with a lifetime of memories: “It’s been a very rewarding experience. Every day, you see that you’re making people happy and satisfying some of their needs.”
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