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It’s hard to think back 15 years and try to remember how I got the idea for the Oakland Bakery story. It may have been because of the popularity of his noodles. At the time I lived a block away from the Courier Cafe and would go there for breakfast every week. They had the Oakland noodles in their display case at the cashier’s desk. I do remember seeing the Oakland Bakery name on the bags.
Looking at the story again (I haven’t watched it since that episode ran in 1992), I’m struck with a little bit of nostalgia for that sort of mom-and-pop business that has been largely put out of business by people shopping at Wal-Marts and other “Superstores,” and admiration for all the people like Happy Ethington who could work hard at the same job for 37 years, day in, day out and still take pride in their work.
A subject like a bakery was also great to shoot and edit because there was a process that was repetitive. It gave you a chance to catch the same actions again and again if you needed to and then select the best shot of that action for editing. I am amazed at how we did so many stories in 1992 when I look at the technology we have today, which makes it so much easier and faster in many parts of the process. But the interviewing, logging the interviews and writing the story seems pretty much the same—the hard work of finding the story in your subject and paying attention to detail to a thousand details.
Segment duration: 06:31
Producer: Jeff Cunningham
This segment is filed in these categories: Business • Food/Restaurants
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