On a stretch of South Fairfax Avenue dotted by Ethiopian restaurants and thrift stores stands a cake maker that has been catering to Hollywood's A-list for nearly 60 years.
Hansen's Cakes has produced thousands of elaborate concoctions, from two-story wedding cakes dressed in butter cream and Grand Marnier frosting to specialty birthday cakes made for the likes of John Wayne, Bob Hope and Johnny Carson.
But five years ago, another cake maker came to Fairfax Avenue -- not just down the street, not just next door, but jammed into a storefront between Hansen's bakery and showroom.
Regal Cake Gallery quickly emerged as a formidable competitor.
The arrangement puzzles and amuses those who come across the battling bakeries. With Regal's display window full of cakes, surrounded on both sides by display windows filled with Hansen's treats, customers often walk into one shop thinking it's the other.
Competition between the businesses has gone well beyond who bakes the best cake.
There have been accusations of recipe thieving, chef pirating and sign trickery; claims that one baker secretly called health inspectors out to the other; even a clash over the display of R-rated cake designs. Both bakers say they are trying to achieve detente -- but admit it's hard.
"The employees between the two shops have a good relationship; we speak to each other," said Jennifer Center, a sales clerk at Regal. "But there's institutional tension between the two. How can you have a good relationship with your competitor?"
The rivalry belies the sugary happiness that both shops exude. Each bakery is filled with cakes of all shapes and sizes -- a champagne bottle with an edible ice bucket, a soccer ball resting on a field of green frosting. A cake castle stands 5 feet tall, with sugar-encrusted spires and a cream ivy overhang.
Kirk Rossberg, president of the California Retail Bakers Assn. and a former Hansen's employee, says the side-by-side-by-side competition is the talk of Los Angeles baking circles, especially because Regal and Hansen's are among only a dozen or so high-end specialty cake shops in Southern California.
"It's gutsy, and pretty bizarre," Rossberg said of Regal. "It's a little surprising to go up against somebody that is strong and has such a well-known cake."
And therein hangs a tale.
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At Hansen's, baking cakes is a tradition that family members say dates to 16th century Scandinavia.
