Many New Yorkers will mourn the passing of the Upper West Side’s H&H Bagels. The famed store is closing in the wake of some serious legal tsuris for its owner (though the Midtown manufacturing plant and its storefront will reportedly continue operating).
H&H has been in business since 1972 , and it has been featured in TV shows and movies hungry for a serving of New York authenticity. Indeed, it really is an only-in-New York kind of place: Where else would an iconic and kosher purveyor of that quintessentially Ashkenazi breadstuff be owned by a Puerto Rican?
No, H&H does not stand for Haim & Herschel but rather for Helmer & Hector, as in Helmer Toro, the current owner, and Hector Hernandez, Toro’s late brother-in-law with whom he founded the bagel company.
Back in 1993, The New York Times examined how a kid growing up on a sugar cane farm in Puerto Rico ended up being a bagel maven. “I was born with a certain feel for the bagel,” Toro explained.
Unfortunately for Upper West Side bagel-lovers, he’s also a bit of a goniff.
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