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| Published on: 2010-07-24 | |
| Pastries helped with popularity By Bob Cudmore, Focus on History, Daily Gazette, 07-24-10 When Virginia Vidulich O’Brien was attending high school at St. Mary’s Institute in Amsterdam during the Great Depression, she had an in with the basketball team. Her father John operated Vidulich’s Bakery at 63 Guy Park Avenue and would give his youngest daughter the key to the shop when St. Mary’s played at home. After each game, “Vidge” led a parade of ball players and girl friends to the bakeshop where they enjoyed the many treats inside. “It helped with my popularity,” said O’Brien, who now lives in Saratoga Springs. Her father was a native of Austria who came to America with his parents at age 14 in 1898. Born into a family of seven, he and his wife Josephine Guiffre Vidulich also had seven children. Josephine was a native of Genoa, Italy. According to his obituary, Vidulich was baking in Amsterdam by 1919. In 1930 John and his brother Anthony opened the bakery at 63 Guy Park Avenue. Eventually John became sole proprietor. O’Brien recalled that Izzy Demsky, who became the actor Kirk Douglas, came in all the time for his favorite doughnuts. Doughnuts were cream filled, jelly filled or plain—plain doughnuts were three for a nickel. Vidulich’s also featured charlotte russe, pumpernickel and other breads, sticky buns, coffee cake or kuchen, plus special kuchen for Christmas and Easter. In addition to Vidulich’s shop on Guy Park Avenue, near the former junior high, John Vidulich operated a second bakery for some years on Market Street. His brother Nicholas was proprietor of a bakery at 300 Locust Avenue. In 1953 John Vidulich’s health declined and the bakery was taken over by his son John, Jr. The father died that year. John Jr. relocated Vidulich’s Bakery to the corner of Glen and Lincoln Avenues on Market Hill, also in 1953. A popular item in newspaper ads from the 1960s were Vidulich’s chocolate doughnuts. The bakery closed March 6, 1971 and John Jr. went to work at Dan Dee Donuts at 169 Market St. The matriarch of the family, Josephine Giuffre Vidulich, died that year. In addition to his baking skills, John Jr. was a well-known local golfer. His brother Larry Vidulich was golf pro at the Antlers in Fort Johnson, Amsterdam Muni and ultimately at the North Shore Country Club in the Chicago area. Virginia Vidulich O’Brien, now 91, married her late husband Richard when he was a student at Dartmouth College. Virginia worked for many years in press relations and other jobs for the Saratoga Harness Track. She conducted tours for school children in the morning hours. She received kudos from Amsterdam sports columnist Art Hoefs in 1968 for her role in Howard Tupper’s television coverage of the harness track on WRGB. She is the only woman inducted into the National Harness Racing Hall of Fame. Amsterdam resident Diane Hale Smith recently visited O’Brien and took her sticky buns from Amsterdam’s newest bakery, Dolci on Bridge Street. “They got her personal seal of approval,” Smith said. O’Brien recalled Smith’s mother—Dorothy Bennett Hale—who used to work at Morrison Putman’s Music Store on Market Street and oversaw listening booths where O’Brien and others could enjoy music of the day for free. HISTORIC AMSTERDAM LEAGUE Amsterdamians and Amsterdam expats are forming a new organization called the Historic Amsterdam League. Among ideas discussed at a recent meeting were historic preservation and capturing oral histories from longtime residents. The group plans to seek non-profit status to secure grants. The next meeting of the historical society is scheduled for 7 p.m. on August 11 at City Hall on Church Street. For information, contact city historian Robert von Hasseln at 841-4366. ### |  Listen to Bob talk about Mohawk Valley History each Tuesday morning on WVTL - the Valley's Talk Leader Search Bob's Focus On History Archive to find an old article. |