The Helen Bernhard Cakes shop used to operate out of this Dutch Colonial house on NE Broadway between NE 17th and 19th Avenues. The bakery is still in business but runs out of a shop which would be just out of the picture frame to the left.
(City of Portland Archives)
Vintage Portland 
The Dutch Colonial and the house to the right are still extant.
http://goo.gl/maps/JHKMQ
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My husband and I were close friends of Muriel and David Bernhard for years until he passed away. Our daughter was in class with their youngest son.
David was the son of Helen. I remember the early morning hours he kept and how big his hands were from all the kneading he did over the years. He was a gem of a fellow and dearly missed.
Always like the way people let the vines grow on their houses.
As a native NE Portlander, all decorated birthday cakes HAD to be from Helen Bernhard’s. Yummmmm!
Looks like our Number Man has company.
The guys to left seem to have a friendly dog, Measuring tape & rolled up papers, Blueprints maybe ??
Since the 1920’s-that’s a lot of M&M cookies. The more the merrier. This a brief history from the bakery website:
http://www.helenbernhardbakery.com/about-us/
John says:
Notice the beautiful trees around the area!!! No more.
Heh, no one wanted to post the Street View?
http://goo.gl/maps/T4Puq
I Love that place. Takes me back to bakeries from my childhood. Their eclairs are to die for and their service is always great. Whenever I am in NE I have to go there.
I love the house next door, windows open to catch the fresh summer breeze, awnings rolled back and the woman tending her garden. Agree the vines are amazing as are her zinnias! She’s probably cutting something fresh to add to the pot for dinner.
Notice the newspaper on the step to the bakery and pretty sure there are two men near the dog. One of them hung his coat on the bakery street sign. Great photo of a wonderful bakery! So glad it’s still around and the houses.
It’s a shame about the “modern” addition to the original house. It’s much more charming in the photo, with the nice columns and the porch.
There sure is a lot going-on in this photo. I wonder who belongs to the coat hanging next to the number man. There is a rolled-up newspaper on the top step of the walkway and is that a ghost working on the back porch of the home next door? The small house, on the left, seems to have been converted from a garage, I imagine, because of the driveway that leads directly to the front door. A friendly greetings from a neighbor hood dog and I can hear the giant old fashion wooden screen-door slamming with each and every caller that pays a visits to the baker. On this day the sun is shining and all is well in the world.
I’ve never been lucky enough to stop at Helen Bernhard’s.. One day…. I hit 60 last December, and for two years, promised myself a delectably decadent chocolate cake from JaCiva’s, and at birthday time, I was wheelchair bound, couldn’t get out there. Soon as my hip is functional, I’m going! And next will be Helen Bernhard’s! Mom always said it was “too expensive” for anything, especially if it were for me.
Helen Burnhards shop was designed by Richard Sundeleaf, see p 21 of this great 1940 publication: https://archive.org/details/architectenginee14341sanf
in reference to [dragynaynd comment April 20, 2016] Helen Barnard Bakery freezes daily, most items that are not sold. Sunday all the frozen leftover items are sold at 1/2 price, including their cakes. They open at 8:00 am and the cakes are a fast moving item.