Patsy’s Pastry Shop, a Broadway institution, will be closing its doors on May 4.

By Ted Bodenrader

Patsy’s Pastry Shop has been delighting the taste buds of Somervillians for four decades and counting, whipping up delicious cakes, cookies, and pies for townspeople sweet of tooth. Since December 13, 1968, its trademark cherry-red awning has invited pastry buffs in for a taste of the good stuff, its glassed fixtures teasing customers with all kinds of guilt-filled pleasantries, everything from chocolate éclairs to deep-fried cannoli to banana cream pies.

But like that final sliver of rum cake, this 47-year run, too, will soon come to an end, as Patsy’s plans to serve up a turnover of another kind. Come May 4, the family-owned bakery will permanently close its doors at 182 Broadway, soon to transform into a state-of-the-art residential facility. This summer, where local residents once indulged in apple tarts and lemon squares, developers of Cambridge’s YIHE Group will be constructing a 55-foot dwelling consisting of 19 residential apartment units, plans that have been in the works since early 2013.

Thus, the bakery’s faithful will have a final opportunity to file into its doorway for one last pastry fix.

“It hasn’t been an easy decision,” says Sal Ferrigno, who, along with brother Vito, co-owns this storied gem in East Somerville. “We’ve been in business for a long time, so it’s naturally hard to walk away from. But there comes a time in your life when you get a little older and your priorities change a bit.”

The interior of Patsy’s, a place of heavenly memories on earth.

Not all has changed, however, as Ferrigno still gets nostalgic when reminiscing about the bakery’s conception nearly a half-century ago. The business was initially founded by Sal’s father, Patsy, for whom the business was named, as a means for financially backing their primary business – a canteen truck operation outside Boston’s Prudential Center. When the bakery’s profits exceeded those of their mobile food trucks, the Ferrigno family permanently swapped the spatula and tongs for aprons and baker’s mitts.

“My wife Maria was the first one to work here,” recalls Ferrigno. “She was pregnant with our second child at the time, but she jumped right in and got to work.”

“I remember the day we opened like it was yesterday,” adds Maria. “It was a Friday the thirteenth, but our luck ended up being very good.”

Shortly thereafter, Sal’s brother, Vito, married Maria’s sister, Rose, and the four delved mitts-first into their bakery enterprise. The all-in-the-family dynamic has proved a winning combination for the operation, as the Ferrigno clan instantly became as much a part of Broadway as its signature birthday cakes.

For the next four-plus decades, the Ferrignos routinely labored through grueling 12- and 16-hour shifts, many of which included weekends and holidays – whatever it took to appease its devout faithful. “This is how we spend our holidays,” explains Maria. “We work there, our kids work there – it’s what we’ve always done.”

While Maria has downgraded her involvement with the bakery in favor of tending to their small grandchildren, she described herself as “their spare tire” who will always have her “hands in the dough.” However, she marvels at the workmanship of husband Sal, whom she likens to a well-oiled machine. “I really don’t know how he does it,” she says. “He’s like that Energizer Bunny. He’s just keep going and going and going.”

“Looking back, it sure was a lot of hard work,” says Sal. “So, yeah, I suppose in a way we’re really looking forward to the closing. Vito and I started doing this when we were still in our twenties and we never stopped once.”

With such dedication, Patsy’s Pastry Shop has become the premier local bakery of its kind, earning the endearment of its regular patrons, many of whom did not digest the foreclosure news as easily as the bakery’s chocolate mousse.

“This is a local business, not really a tourist attraction, and so ninety percent of the people who come in here are regulars,” Sal explains. “Some of them have been customers for forty-five years and are used to getting our pastries on a regular basis. Sure, everyone is very upset about this, but what can you do? That’s life.”

Although he’s well prepared to say no mas to the baking industry, Sal is also quick to admit that a dramatic comeback isn’t entirely out of the question. Yes, there remains a morsel of hope for local indulgers that Patsy’s Pastry Shop could one day make an illustrious return on Broadway.

“I suppose nothing is set in stone,” Sal admits. “The new building (contractors) have decided to have a store of some type on the downstairs level. We have the first option on the store, if we want it. If we’re all still healthy, and we want to make a go of it, it’s something that we could certainly consider. Who knows? But then again,” he laughs, “none of us have been on a vacation for a very long time.”

While a debate is afire of whether the shop’s foreclosure is temporary or will remain permanent, others contemplate which of Patsy’s favorites they’ll be most yearning for come May 5. Will it be the strawberry shortcake? Chocolate ganache? Or perhaps the almond biscotti?

“Actually, I think they’re going to miss my brother Vito the most,” Sal cracks. “The customers all say he makes the best custard pie in the world.”

While his scrumptious pie will soon be just another treasured memory left behind, Maria is torn between her emotions surrounding the May 4 closure. “I suppose it’s bittersweet,” she says. “It’s a different chapter in our lives that’s going to start. I don’t know what the future years will hold, but I hope they’ll be as wonderful as the last forty-seven.”