La Estrella Bakery’s goodness is expanding on Tucson’s west side | Subscriber

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The family who run La Estrella bakeries in Tucson. From left Isabel Montano, Marta Franco, Jorge Franco, Antonio Franco, Sandra and Erica Franco at their newest location, 901 N. Grande Ave.

Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star

The La Estrella bakery will open its third location on Saturday, July 31, right next to its bakery in the west of the Mercado San Agustin.

But the new location in the old El Rio bakery at 901 N. Grande Ave. is much more than just a business for the Franco family of La Estrella: it is a homecoming.

When the founders of La Estrella, Antonio and Marta Franco, emigrated from central Mexico to Tucson in the early 1970s, they settled with their two children – after all, they had two more who were born in Tucson – in a small apartment on North Grande im Barrio Hollywood across the street from the bakery that belonged to her uncle Sabino Gomez.

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Both Franco worked for Gomez; Marta came at 4:30 a.m. and Antonio took the night shift at the bakery from 2 a.m. to 9 a.m., remembered her daughter Erica Franco.

“That meant my father had to get us ready for school so you can imagine how straight my ponytail was,” she said, laughing.

Antonio Franco learned to bake from his uncle, who opened El Rio in 1971. The 3,800 square foot building across from St. Margaret Mary’s Catholic Church and the Grande Tortilla Factory is in the heart of Barrio Hollywood. Every evening Erica and her siblings waited for the tell-tale scent of pan dulce fresh from the oven to waft from the bakery to their front door, and “we knew it was near for my father to come home,” recalled Erica Franco.

La Estrella Bakery opens its third location at 901 N. Grande Ave. in the Barrio Hollywood neighborhood.

Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star

“I always pretended I was sleeping in the living room so my father would pick me up and take me to bed,” she said.

After an apprenticeship with his uncle, Gomez offered to rent the bakery to Franco and his wife for two years. There was enough time, said Erica Franco, that her parents save money on a down payment on a building at 5266 S. 12th Avenue and open their flagship bakery, La Estrella, in 1985.

In 2011, the family opened their second bakery in the Mercado District, 100 S. Avenida del Convento, about a mile and a half from Barrio Hollywood.

Gomez ran El Rio for decades before selling it in 1999; The bakery finally closed in 2018. Gomez, who died in 2017, had told his wife that if she ever wanted to sell the building, offer it to the Franco first and keep it in the family.

Steve and Cecilia Romero buy some goodies at La Estrella Bakery, 901 N. Grande Ave. in Tucson. The family has opened their third location in Barrio Hollywood and will be inaugurated on July 31st.

Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star

Two years ago, Gomez’s widow approached the family to buy the building. Erica Franco, who runs the bakery with her three siblings, said they hadn’t thought of opening a third location but “things happen for a reason”. Her father’s emotional attachment to the building convinced the siblings that it was the right time to come home, she said.

“A lot of people think that because La Estrella is on the south side, we’re from the south side,” said Erica Franco, who now lives in neighboring Menlo Park. “Barrio Hollywood is our neighborhood. We grew up in Barrio Hollywood. It’s like going back to the barrio, back to the nest. “

“When we lost El Rio Bakery, which was truly an iconic business for our neighborhood, it was a loss for our neighborhood in terms of the local culture here,” said Patrick Valencia McKenna, president of the Barrio Hollywood Neighborhood Association. “An authentic Mexican bakery supplies us with a lot of the things we use. Losing that was a cultural hit for us, and we were very concerned about what might happen in its place. … It just makes a lot of sense that (La Estrella) stands in the place of El Rio. “

In total, the Franco family invested nearly two years and more than $ 300,000 in the building, taking the time to renovate the interior, including working on the original ovens where Antonio Franco learned to bake. They painted the building white with blue moldings, and Erica Franco said they plan to have local artists help paint a mural on the side of the building that tells the story of the barrio as remembered by the Francos from their childhood.

Gloria Inigo, left, is shopping for a few goodies while Jailene Castillo is serving her at La Estrella Bakery, 901 N. Grande Ave.

Mamta Popat, Arizona Daily Star

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com. On twitter

@Starburch

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