Road Food: Cinnamon Rolls
In beach town once known for clams, sweet treats are the big draw
You can smell it for blocks—sweet cinnamon and fresh-baked bread. A line of people snakes through the door to the bakery. The sign in front advertises: “CINNAMON ROLLS * ESPRESSO * HOT COFFEE.”
What’s a hungry visitor to do on a sunny morning in downtown Pismo Beach? The answer is obvious: Get in line at Old West Cinnamon Rolls and start salivating!
For years, we’ve been visiting this little town on California’s central coast halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. It’s got a charming downtown with excellent beach fare and plenty of fun diversions—a wide, hard-packed sandy beach you can walk along for miles, caves to explore when the tide rolls out, even occasional striped shells from the elusive Pismo clam.
Yet, in all the years we’ve been visiting Pismo, we’ve somehow mustered the will power to resist the siren call of cinnamon, never giving in to the impulse to purchase a single paper tray with one of those sugar, nut or raisin-encrusted rolls, slathered with whipped cream cheese frosting.
This time I finally surrendered, intending to take only a bite or two. Of course I ate the whole thing and licked my fingers clean afterwards.
How did I hold out so long?
“I’m always on a diet,” I explain to co-owner Cindy Parkhurst when she takes the time to talk to us as my husband Jeff captures the scene on his iPhone. He opens season IV of his PhotowalksTV travel series with an episode about Pismo Beach.
Cindy stares at me in disbelief.
“Oh, you silly!” she says. “Just walk a little more, right Michelle?”
She darts a glance at one of her workers, Michelle Rasgado, who is arranging a pile of beach clogs of various colors and sizes that are also sold at the store, along with cute little bottles of cinnamon and honey and packages of the store’s trademark cinnamon roll mix for the DIY set.
“I would eat one every day if I could,” says Michelle, who claims she tries to resist but often fails.
“Just keep moving,” says Cindy, a slender woman with wavy salt-and-pepper hair. “Then you can eat as many rolls as you want!”
Easy for her to say! I imagine the buns have a gazillion calories, but as I take bite after bite of mine, I don’t really want to know.
What is it about cinnamon buns and Pismo Beach that go together, Jeff asks.
“There aren’t a lot of things you can get straight out of the oven anymore,” Cindy says. “They’re fresh, just the way Mom used to bake ‘em.”
Well, not my mom—apple strudel and coffee cake were more her thing. The matriarch who came up with the cinnamon roll recipe is Cindy’s mother-in-law, Betty Clemens—and she is a local girl, which answers the question of why Pismo Beach and cinnamon rolls. According to the company’s website, Betty whipped up the first batch in her kitchen in Shell Beach, just a few miles north of Pismo Beach, almost 50 years ago.
The rolls actually began with a bread that came to be known as “Joe bread.” It was named for Betty’s youngest son Joe, now co-owner with Cindy. In those days, Joe’s picture appeared on the bread mix Betty began selling at local fairs, where she also sold hot dinner rolls for 25 cents apiece. The website picks up Betty’s story:
“She had a rickety table made from a door and some screw-on pipes for legs, an oven that held at least 24 dinner rolls, a sink, and her one commercial piece of equipment—a 20qt. Hobart Mixer—the pride of the business that made her feel she was professional. And she had a cash register. She was assured that was a necessity.”
When a little girl asked Betty for something sweet, she whipped up her first batch of “Fair Famous” cinnamon rolls.
Three generations later, the only brick-and-mortar location the company has is in Pismo Beach, but the rolls continue to be sold at fairs, festivals and the occasional rodeo throughout California and in Yuma, Ariz. (You can find the 2022 event schedule on the company’s Facebook page.)
You can also order the rolls online—choosing among signature varieties—plain, walnut, almond, pecan, and raisin-walnut—plus frosting (a must!). In-store and at-the-fair variations sometimes include maple bacon, crumb, and frosting & cherries.
Old West does list other baked goods on its website, including brownies, muffins, carrot cake, and seasonal goodies like pumpkin bread—but it’s those cinnamon rolls that bring in the crowds.
Cindy says the company has gotten offers to expand beyond Pismo and to sell its mix in Costco, but prefers to remain small, feisty and family-owned.
“How much money do you need to make? We’re fine. We love our little business. We really do.”
I couldn’t resist taking home a package of the mix, which at $5 seems like a bargain—it makes 12 rolls! But, as I’m afraid I’d eat every last one, I’m waiting for a special occasion when I can give them all away!
I also purchased a couple of small jars of the cinnamon, a very potent blend from Indonesia, Cindy told us. Aside from spicemeisters Schilling and McCormick, she claims Old West is the biggest importer of cinnamon in the U.S.
“Between the bakery and all the fairs we do, I can’t even tell you how much cinnamon we go through,” she said.
Well, there’s no arguing that the spice carries the sweet smell of success—and deliciousness.
We’re heading back up the coast today and I know we’ll be stopping for one of those rolls along the way—followed by an extra long walk on the beach!
Thanks for reading this “on the road” edition of Ruthtalksfood. Don’t forget to check out Jeff’s episode about Pismo Beach, including a visit to this very special bakery. And please stay tuned for more posts from the road.
OMG Ruth, I’m drooling 🤤! Hope you and Jeff are well. ❤️
I love, love cinnamon rolls and I may have an opportunity to visit Pismo Beach this summer. If I do I will definitely check Old West Cinnamon Rolls out. Thanks for putting this place on my radar.