A Swan Song For Long Island Baker

EAST PATCHOGUE, NY — Guy Gagliano gazed down at a sheet cake in the shape of a giant beer mug that appeared to be overflowing with tiny marshmallows before it was packed into a cardboard bakery box on Friday.

It was one of his signature cakes and had the words, “Let’s Toast to Mike,” emblazoned across it in chocolate icing, and what’s special about it is that it was the final birthday cake that he made, ending his run as the owner of the Swan Bakery in East Patchogue.

“Make sure you keep it refrigerated; it has chocolate mousse and butter creme,” he explained to a customer, adding, “That’s the last birthday cake that I made. I am closing after 28 years.”

Jeananne DeFeo, who was waiting to whisk the cake away to a surprise 23rd birthday party for her daughter’s boyfriend in Patchogue, has lived in the area her whole life and was shocked to learn the news.

“I got goosebumps when he said it was the last cake,” she said. “We didn’t know.”

DiFeo was one of many longtime customers — from near and far away — who wandered into the shop for one reason or another only to find out that it was closing in a few hours.

Southold's Mickey Sinclair, who grew up in Patchogue and was in Port Jefferson earlier in the day, decided to stop off at the bakery for a butter creme cake for the weekend.

“Every Sunday we were here getting hard rolls after church,” she said, adding, “I am so happy to be here, but I am so sad.”

The bakery is well-known for its jelly doughnuts, crumb buns, cookies, and other German-style pastries, not to mention as a mom-and-pop operation where you not only pick up baked goods, but other household items like milk, orange juice, butter, and eggs, as to avoid making a second stop somewhere else.

You could dip in for a quick hot cup of coffee and a pastry on your way to work.

And, the bakery was probably one of the only places in Suffolk County where you could find a King Cake around Mardi Gras, Gagliano said.

“I hate to blow my own horn here but, we are world-famous for our jelly doughnuts; I have sent my jelly doughnuts everywhere,” said Gagliano, who lives in Selden. “We make really good German Apple Strudel.”

“We do a lot of what you call comfort food,” he added.

The bakery is also well-known in the area as a place to get hard rolls, raisin buns, pumpernickel bread with raisins, cheese danish, and pecan rings.

“Some other bakeries don’t even make that stuff anymore,” added said. “Ninety-nine % of the things I do, I do from scratch.”

Gagliano, who has been in the bakery business for 51 years, was trained at Eastern Suffolk Board of Cooperative Educational Services and won Outstanding Student Baker in New York State. He previously worked at Cinderella Bakry in North Bay Shore and Benkhert’s Bakery in Centereach.

He and his wife purchased the bakery in 1993, but recently he has been dealing with medical issues, including a bout with prostate cancer, which has been resolved, as well as Psoriatic Arthritis, and he decided to retire.

“So, I would like to walk out of here standing, versus being carried out,” he said. “I am 66 years old, so is my wife. I think it’s time.”

The bakery has been a largely family-run operation with Gagliano at the helm baking behind the scenes, and his wife, Valerie, as well as his children, selling the goods out at the counter in the front. His father, Guido, worked for him for 20 years, starting when he was 70 “and finally stopped working when he was 90 years old.” His mother, Kathleen, also helped out.

“I have four nephews and one niece and everyone worked here,” he added. “You can’t define a family bakery anymore like what we have done here over the years.”

Gagliano said that he has been “absolutely overwhelmed” by the outpouring of support from customers since the family announced the closing early Friday morning.

“People literally crying,” he said, adding, “I really feel like I am losing family members.”

Ellen Upham, who worked at the credited Gagliano for fostering workers who planned to finish their education, something she said the public should be aware of, and also hired people from the community.

“I just walked in and said, ‘Do you need any help’,” she said.

One worker who was helped tremendously by the flexible schedule was Nicole Amato, who has worked for the bakery for about six years, all the way from high school through her recent completion of graduate school.

“This was my first job from when I was 16, and he has been just so good to me over these years,” said Amato, wiping tears away from her eyes. “He let me come work on breaks. He let my sister come and work here.”

One of the things that he will miss the most is the Gingerbread House workshops, which he has worked with the local libraries on since the 90s. In 2019, he did 1,400 alone.

“So, saw these children grow up from being three or four years old into teenagers,” he said. “So, I miss that.”

Gagliano has plans to spend time with his two grandchildren, who live nearby, in his retirement. He will also not be entirely at rest after his retirement, as he plans to get his CDL driver’s license so that he can drive a school bus — something he says will get him out of the house for a few hours a day, and includes weekends and summers off.

“I have worked every holiday for the last 50 years,” he said. “I can’t think when it was the last time that I was off on Thanksgiving or Christmas Day.”

The bakery will be taken over by master cake decorators from up-island, who have plans for a high-end operation at the location.

When Patchogue resident Audra Fischer heard the news that Swan Bakery was closing, he said that she had to make one final run to the place that she got her wedding cake from 21 years ago.

“I had to come by one more time,” she said, adding, “It’s a part of Patchogue.”