Patrons treat Stan’s Donuts to sweet tribute for 50th anniversary

Rick Ramirez remembered walking down the streets of Westwood nine years ago, distraught over his son’s emergency open-heart surgery, when he came across Stan’s Donuts.

As he walked through door, the owner smiled at him and asked him how he was – Stan Berman’s kindness and positive personality made Ramirez think that everything was going to be OK.

“He had no idea what I was going through. I didn’t know he was Stan himself, but he made me feel so good,” Ramirez said.

He and his wife have been customers ever since, going to Stan’s Donuts every time they visit Westwood.

Ramirez and his wife were just two of hundreds of Stan’s Donuts customers who came to celebrate the shop’s 50th anniversary in the Village on Saturday morning. Their son is now a second-year at UCLA. To celebrate the landmark moment for the staple Westwood business, the office of Mayor Eric Garcetti declared May 3 as Stan’s Donuts Day for the city of Los Angeles.

Berman opened his business in January 1964 after coming to California to help a friend in his bakery.

As part of the celebration, Berman set the prices for regular doughnuts back to what they cost 50 years ago – 10 cents each. The first 300 coffee buyers received a free Stan’s Donuts mug and the first 500 customers were given free 50th anniversary T-shirts.

The two-day celebration began on Friday with a presentation in front of the city council and continued on Saturday with speeches in front of Berman’s shop and was planned by the Westwood Community Council along with Garcetti and L.A. city councilmember Paul Koretz.

Berman was also presented with a plaque declaring his shop a monumental business, an award only given out to a handful of other businesses in L.A.

Steve Sann, chairman of the Westwood Community Council, said he thinks Berman deserved the plaque because of all that he has contributed to Westwood and Los Angeles.

“Having these unique family-owned small businesses in the Village adds an incredible dimension and a personal touch,” Sann said.

Berman came to California from Philadelphia, where he started working in his father’s bakery at the age of 12 or 13. He said he is a third-generation baker.

“I come from a long line of bakers. My father had a bakery, my grandfather had a bakery, all in Philadelphia at the turn of the 20th century,” Berman said. “When I was born, they brought me home to the bakery – it’s in my blood.”

When the opportunity came for him to own his own doughnut shop, he said he jumped at the chance. After staying at his location on the corner of Broxton and Weyburn avenues for the last 50 years, his favorite aspect of his job has consistently been his customers.

“The people! Oh my god, the people here, they’re not only beautiful, smart and nice … every one of them is something special,” Berman said.

Berman’s wife of 61 years, Ina Berman, said she did not always support her husband’s desire to own the shop. She had reservations when he first decided to open the bakery because it meant giving up his other baking job.

Now, she said could not be more proud of his decision, beaming and wearing one of his 50th anniversary T-shirts.

“I’m excited, exalted and so thrilled with what Stan has done with his life, our lives and what he has become,” she said.

In addition to his wife, other members of Berman’s family came to celebrate, including several children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

A main reason why the shop has been a success for the past 50 years is Berman’s commitment to his business, said Evan Gaines, Berman’s grandson.

“Without Stan, (the bakery) wouldn’t exist. Every day before noon he is in here, you can talk to him,” Gaines said.

He worked with his grandfather at Stan’s Donuts during summers with his older brother for a few years and said the bakery will be part of his life forever.

“We would sell doughnuts and try to be even a little bit like Stan, but simply couldn’t,” Gaines said. “He is the kindest, gentlest, most wonderful man I know and always has a box of doughnuts waiting.”

Pablo Pech, a baker who has worked at Stan’s Donuts since 1980, said Berman makes him feel like family, making him never want to leave.

“That’s why I have worked with him for so long. He’s like my father,” Pech said.

Berman has been using the same recipes, down to the same kind of flour, for all 50 years to maintain the same high quality, Pech said.

Berman said he felt honored by not only the presentation made to him in front of the city chambers, but by the number of people coming to support him and his business on Saturday.

“A small businessman never thinks about things like this happening,” Berman said.

Ramirez said he knew that he would be a lifelong customer because Berman had touched his heart when he was going through a difficult time.

“I fell in love with the guy, he’s like my dad,” Ramirez said. “He’s always so giving that I thought we should give something to him.”

Before Berman went back into his shop to keep baking, he thanked the community that gathered around him once the presentations were over. As his voice started to waver, Berman could only say thank you.

“I’m all choked up. I am so honored and so in love with all you people,” Berman said. “My life has been a dream.”