Emily’s Bakery closes after 41 years on the Westside
Quick Take
A Santa Cruz mainstay since 1982, Emily’s Bakery closed at the end of July, with a sign at the Mission Street location saying that owners Emily Reilly and her husband, Robert Nahas, have retired.
Since 1982, a sign hanging over the door at Emily’s Good Things To Eat has reminded guests to “Relax. You have plenty of time,” but time has run out for the Santa Cruz bakery. Emily’s Bakery closed at the end of July after 41 years in business on Mission Street.
Owners Emily Reilly and her husband, Robert Nahas, have retired, a sign posted to the door explains. It adds that “an opportunity was presented by a Westside local and longtime regular customer,” although it’s unclear at this time who that is or what their plans for the space are.
The couple is retaining the name and recipes, and hints that they might be available again at some point in the future: “Perhaps a local food truck will offer them one day!”
Lily Belli On Food
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Located on the corner of Laurel and Mission streets, Emily’s Bakery was often the first stop for those traveling along the busy corridor. It was the first bakery I ever visited in Santa Cruz. My dad and I stopped there on a quintessential foggy Santa Cruz morning in early 2007 to grab breakfast before heading up to UC Santa Cruz. We were there to explore the campus in order to decide if I wanted to apply to the university, which I did.
Reilly was a former Santa Cruz city councilmember and was the mayor in 2003 and 2007. While her namesake business became a Westside institution, its history was marred by a sexual harassment suit brought against Nahas by a former employee in 2015. The business settled out of court in 2016.
