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Carmel-by-the-Sea, famous for having no street numbers, is adding them so fire engines can find buildings. One of the first went up on a bakery that opened before the town existed.
CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA, Calif. (July 17, 2026)
Carmel-by-the-Sea has never had street addresses. For 110 years, directions have done the work: Ocean 3 SE of Lincoln. That is now changing, for one reason: so emergency crews can find buildings faster. The city has assigned every building a number, and the first numbers are going up across the village. The mail is not changing; it still goes to P.O. boxes at the post office. The city’s slogan: “New Numbers. Same Traditions.”
One of the first numbers up is 376. It belongs to Carmel Bakery, which opened on Ocean Avenue in 1899 and has been baking in the same spot ever since. The bakery is older than the town. Carmel did not incorporate until 1916. The development company that built up the village did not arrive until 1902. The bakery was already there.
Fritz Schweninger founded it. He built the building as a bakery and lived upstairs. Each morning he climbed down a ladder to start the bake. The ladder is still in the building. The building is redwood, and it came through a fire in 1923. The char from that fire is still visible on the beams upstairs.
“This building already survived one fire, in 1923,” said Rich Pèpe, whose family is the fifth to own the bakery. “If a number on the door helps the engines find us faster, I’ll take it.”
The Pèpes came to Carmel by way of Napoli and Hoboken. Rich Pèpe, a baker by trade, asked to buy Carmel Bakery and was told no. The owner, Hector De Smet, said the young woman at the counter would run it someday. So Pèpe bought Wishart’s Bakery down the street in 1986. Two years later, De Smet knocked on his door. The bakery has been in the family since 1988, and the family has owned the building since 2013. The motto: “We bake while you sleep.”
“Our family has owned the bakery since 1988, and it has been operating in the same location since 1899,” said Gian Antonio Pèpe, CEO of Pèpe International. “It is the oldest business in Carmel still standing where it started, and, to our knowledge, California’s oldest bakery still in its original location.”
Today the bakery is known for its pretzels, pastries, and gelato made in house daily. It is run by the same family behind Vesuvio and Little Napoli in Carmel-by-the-Sea and Carmel Bakery at Portola Hotel in Monterey. Hours and current information are at Carmel Bakery hours and menu.
The bakery that opened before Carmel was a town did not get number 1. It got 376. The numbers are on the door now. For the first 127 years, you just had to know where it was.
In the news
- The Carmel Pine Cone, front page, July 17, 2026 (full edition PDF, approx. 30 MB; story on the front page)
- Monterey County Now: “As Carmel prepares for addresses, the city’s oldest bakery takes its number,” by Dave Faries, June 25, 2026
About Carmel Bakery
Carmel Bakery, established 1899 on Ocean Avenue in Carmel-by-the-Sea, is the oldest business in Carmel still standing where it started. It is owned and operated by the Pèpe family, part of Pèpe International, which also operates Vesuvio, Little Napoli, and Carmel Bakery at Portola Hotel.
Press kit
- Download the press kit (fact sheet, spokesperson bio, 12 cleared photos with captions, headshot; 7 MB zip)
- One-page fact sheet (PDF)
- Print-resolution photography is available on request. Installation photos: cleared for editorial use, credit “Carmel Bakery / Pèpe International.”
Press contact
Gian Antonio Pèpe, CEO, Pèpe International
gpepe@pepeinternational.com
(831) 238-7376