Bakeries

Interstate Bakeries Corp., the nation's largest wholesale baking company, agreed to buy Drake's bakery, adding the maker of Devil Dogs and Yankee Doodles snack cakes to a lineup that includes Hostess Twinkies and Wonder Bread. Terms of the all-cash transaction with Drake's owner, Culinar Inc., a closely held Canadian company, weren't disclosed. Drake's, with a bakery in Wayne, N.J., has annual sales of $115 million, mostly in the Northeastern U.S.

ART Frances Anderton, the host of KCRW's "DnA: Design and Architecture," hosts two conversations with figures from L.A.'s top museums and culinary scene, including LACMA Director Michael Govan and famed pastry chef Sherry Yard. A pop-up gallery housing cutting-edge designs will also be featured as well as music by KCRW's Liza Richardson. Ticket holders get a complimentary Father's Office beer or a Helms Bakery cookie. Helms Bakery, 8758 Venice Blvd. #100, L.A. Noon. Sun. $10 to $15. (310)

Afghanistan's hard-line Taliban rulers reversed themselves Thursday and said the United Nations could reopen bakeries that employ widows and feed the poor in the fundamentalist Muslim country. The decision came a day after the Taliban shut 25 bakeries and told the 360 women who worked there to go home. The regime generally forbids women to work. Taliban Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakel, who was in Kabul, the capital, gave no explanation for the change of policy.

A man was killed and five others were injured Thursday afternoon when a vehicle slammed into a bakery in Glendale, authorities said. The man, who was not immediately identified, was trapped under the vehicle at Oledina's Cake Factory in the 1100 block of East Broadway, where he was pronounced dead, officials said. The man apparently was hit while getting a cup of coffee, officials said. Five others were hurt in the crash, including one who was taken to a local hospital, according to Brandy Villanueva, a Glendale Fire Department spokeswoman.

FINALLY, the frenzy over all those cute little cupcakes that had taken hold of Los Angeles by the sweet tooth seems to have waned, and here to help fill the void is the real deal: big, beautiful, serious layer cakes. You can find a fantastic, sophisticated cake lightly spiced with cardamom, layered with delicate pistachio mousse, decorated with fresh roses and coffee berries and edged in lemon leaves at an unassuming cafe in a modest East L.A. neighborhood.

Efforts to save the facade of the old Van de Kamp's bakery in Glassell Park, dubbed the Taj Mahal of Los Angeles bakeries, may be successful if the trustees of the Los Angeles Community College District approve a plan this week to lease classroom space there. On Wednesday, the trustees of the nine-campus district are scheduled to vote on a proposal to lease the former bakery for a satellite campus for Los Angeles City College. Several of the district's top officials support the idea.

She began her career as an apprentice baker more than 30 years ago, but she was recently named West Germany's Businesswoman of the Year. Of course, being the boss's daughter may not have hurt Marlis Blohm-Harry, but even her competitors agree that she is in large part responsible for turning the family name into a household word in northern Germany. Harry Brot (Harry Bread) is the region's most popular brand, with sales last year of more than $70 million for 130 million pounds of bread.

Kaye Bass has baked her way to success. She took over a faltering cookie shop on Balboa Island in 1983 and created her first Katie McGuire's Pie and Bake Shoppe. It was so successful that she ran out of pies during her first weekend in business. Little did she know that she had stumbled onto a recipe for success. Restaurant-bakery combinations have turned out to be one of the hottest dining trends of the '90s.

State Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) is seeking state funds to purchase the site of the historic Van de Kamp's Bakery in Glassell Park for possible use as a Los Angeles Community College District satellite campus.

There's a lot more rising in this old Gless Street bakery than the rolls of fresh Italian bread that fill the room with the steamy warmth of hot dough. At Homeboy Bakery, which has just reopened after years of roller-coaster finances, new hopes are sailing high.

Butterfly Bakery Inc. notes on its website that all of its goodies are "made with 100% love. " Federal regulators say that recipe also includes plenty of sugar - even in food advertised as "sugar-free. " U.S. District Court Judge Dennis M. Cavanaugh approved a consent decree of permanent injunction against the Clifton, N.J., business this month, shutting down its operations until the bakery complies with U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeling requirements. FDA and state officials tested muffins and snack cakes from Butterfly over several years and found that many were misbranded, the FDA said this week.

When it comes to finding narrative inspiration, saxophonist Chris Potter could hardly have tapped a source that runs closer to the human DNA than Homer's "The Odyssey. " Maybe best known for his work backing bassist-bandleader Dave Holland and even Steely Dan on the band's 2000 album "Two Against Nature," Potter has reached a new high with "The Sirens," which was released on ECM earlier this year. A sprawling, evocative record, the album was the centerpiece of Potter's Thursday night concert at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood as part of the Jazz Bakery's Moveable Feast series.

Perhaps you're thinking about sweets and Thursday's big event -- Valentine's Day. Well, it's possible to find romance even in the gloomy Pacific Northwest, especially when chocolate frosting is involved. Portland, Ore., has a reputation as a growing gastropolis, with foodies from around the country converging on newly opened gastropubs, communal-table style restaurants -- and bakeries . During a recent visit, it seemed as though a visitor could purchase pastries on every other corner.

PORTLAND, Ore. - Is it possible for an Angeleno to leave home and find love in a region where sunshine is merely a rumor and 50 shades of gray are a daily atmospheric reality? It's helpful if the pursuit of that bliss involves a white-hot controversy that upon occasion dominates headlines and ensnares academics, government officials and medical researchers. I am speaking, of course, of carbohydrate love. Portland - where the constantly caffeinated seem to have an ever-growing selection of pastries to consume with their coffee - is a logical destination.

Fresh off an eclectic monthlong residency at the Blue Whale, Grammy-nominated keyboardist John Beasley leads this funk and soul-jazz-oriented trio joined by bassist Daryl Jones and drummer Ronald Bruner Jr. The trio, titled 3 Brave Souls, will be joined by a pair of vocalists in Nayanna Holley and Dwight Trible, who reliably can take any song directly into interstellar space. The Jazz Bakery at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City. Fri., 8 p.m. $25. http://www.jazzbakery.com .

The brother of music legend Nat "King" Cole, Freddy Cole upholds a rich family vocal tradition with an equal facility with elegantly swung jazz as well as blues and classic pop. The Jazz Bakery at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City. 8 p.m. Sat. $30, http://www.jazzbakery.org.

Fire officials on Sunday were investigating a blaze that caused $1.5 million in damage to a Glendale bakery. About 50 firefighters battled flames at the Armani Bakery in the 3600 block of San Fernando Road for 40 minutes Saturday night, Glendale Fire Department dispatcher Lori Fitch said. The roof of the building collapsed, but firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze, Fitch said.

The new project that helps employers find authorized workers came too late for Sharon and Bernie Galasso. The Galassos are former owners of Bivona Bakery, a Santa Ana shop that has had an unusual run-in with the INS. Their 64-employee shop was inspected by immigration agents in January. As the Galassos tell the rest of the story, INS agents later told them that 42 employees were not authorized to work.

Born in Lebanon and based in Paris, acclaimed trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf uses a quarter-tone trumpet to meld the sound of jazz with the sonic building blocks of Arabic music. Though such a meeting could sound jarring to the uninitiated, Maalouf makes it sound intoxicatingly natural on his moody new album "Wind," a recording inspired by Miles Davis' soundtrack work for Louis Malle's "Elevator to the Gallows. " The Jazz Bakery at Theatre Raymond Kabbaz, 10361 Pico Blvd., L.A. Thu., 7:30 p.m. $35 http://www.jazzbakery.com.

The new La Brea Bakery is now open in the Rita Flora building at La Brea Avenue and 6th Street. The bakery has relocated from its original spot inside the erstwhile Campanile, which has been taken over by chef Walter Manzke . In a rush move after the closure of Campanile, the bakery, which was founded by Nancy Silverton and later sold to Irish food company IAWS, has set up shop with "new and old elements that will be temporary in nature," the...