By Ted Bodenrader

The iconic fixture on Broadway that has affected so many lives is soon to be a thing of the past – and perhaps the future? — Photo by Donald Norton.

Maria Cella once ventured out into the local workforce as a highly ambitious teen, hoping to add a little extra dough to her piggy bank. Little did the then-St. Clements High School freshman know that she’d soon be rolling it too.

“I told the guidance counselor at the school that I was looking for a summer job,” she recalls of that spring day in 1997. “’When I asked if they knew of anything, they sent me to Patsy’s Pastry. I immediately asked my mom to drive me there.”

The ensuing car ride from Medford to East Somerville would forever adorn the face of the Cella family – like a cherry atop a frosted cupcake. When Cella arrived at 182 Broadway, the owners of the reputable downtown bakery, Sal and Vito Ferrigno, would welcome her with open aprons.

“They were amazing to me,” said Cella, now an investments CPA living in Saugus. “They gave me a job and treated me like part of their family. And by the end of the summer, my sister (Teresa) was working there too.”

And over the next 18 years, the entire Cella clan rolled up their collective sleeves and helped to make Pasty’s Pastry one of the premier bakeries anywhere within a 100-mile radius. Brothers Antonio and Angelo soon slung on the aprons, followed by mother Ilaria, an Italian immigrant who landed in Somerville in 1977. Together, they delved into every conceivable function of the Patsy’s operation, from dishwashing to cake decorating to customer service.

Therefore, May 4 not only marks the closing of the Cella’s second home, but also a beloved chapter in the family’s history.

“This [closing] has been a while in the making,” said Maria of Patsy’s grand finale. “Everyone in my family was in denial about it and said it would never happen. When we realized the closing was a reality, we all cried. Literally. It’s very sad.”

After all, Patsy’s Pastry Shop was a place where passion, kinship, and unity came together on a baker’s hardwood worktable, holiday conversations no longer commenced across dinner tables, but rather behind pastry-laden countertops.

“Holidays became my favorite time of year because we’d spent them at the bakery,” said Angelo, who began his stint washing bakeware as a callow 13-year-old, hardly strong enough to lift the pans he was cleaning. “It not only became a bond between the two families, but also with all the regular customers. We traditionally spent more time with them at Christmas than we did with our extended family. When we no longer opened on Christmas, I honestly didn’t know what to do with myself.”

Angelo, who notched a law degree from Boston University, passed the bar exam last summer, an achievement that lead to his current position with Morgan & Lewis LLP. However, one steamy summer day in 2014, he received a phone call from Sal Ferrigno, who was in dire need of a baker. Hence, Angelo immediately dropped the books and hit the biscotti.

“And Antonio did the same thing,” laughs Ilaria of her eldest son. “He became a mechanical engineer, but he loved the bakery so much, he continued to work there on the weekends.”

And when it came time for Maria, the original bakery-employed Cella, to turn in the spatula in favor of corporate endeavors?

“That was a really tough day,” recalls Maria. “We sat down in silence when I told him I was leaving, and he said, ‘I am so sad to see you go. You are like one of my daughters.’ To this day, he’s my favorite boss I’ve ever had.”

The bond between the two families in an unbreakable one, as the Ferrignos have been a constant presence at Cella family events throughout the past decade and a half.

“They are amazing people,” Ilaria said of the family, which includes not only Sal and Vito, but their wives Maria and Rose as well. “They’re all part of our family too. They threw my daughter and son bridal parties, went to their weddings, graduations – everything. I care about them like they’re my relatives. And I care about the bakery as if it was my own.”

“Just the fact that they never fired me tells you something,” jokes Angelo. “I probably cost them a few thousand in burnt cookies and pastries over the years. They were the most patient bosses you could imagine. Incredible people.”

But while the news of the closure struck the entire Patsy’s Pastry fan base like a dough roller between the eyes, the Cella family also knows that the Ferrignos’ permanent vacation is long overdue. Hence, the decision to sell the property in favor of a new residential apartment development has not been met entirely with such stern objection.

“It was the first job I ever had,” said Angelo. “So, sure, of course it’s very sad for all of us. We look at it like the end of an era. But on the other hand, the Ferrignos have a right to enjoy themselves too. They’ve been taking care of their customers for so long, it’s time to take care of themselves. And remember – they are not closing shop because they failed. They are closing because they succeeded.”

Leave it to Ilaria, the matriarchal Cella, to sum up the family experience in her native Italian tongue.

“I have been in America for thirty-eight years,” she says. “I worked at that wonderful bakery for twelve years, and guess what? It was the best twelve years of my life.”