Tucked behind Saints Cyril and Methodius R.C. Church along the narrow, brick-paved run of Bell Alley, a few steps off 613 Laurel Street, a little coal oven turned out hand-twisted soft pretzels at dawn for generations. Neighbors knew the cadence by heart—mix at 4:00 a.m., first hot tray around 5:30 a.m., a steady stream of regulars through early afternoon, and prices that seemed frozen in time. The place answered to more than one name—Reading Hard & Soft Pretzel Bakery on the paperwork, Bell Alley Soft Pretzels in everyday talk—but to South Reading it was simply “the pretzel shop.”
A wartime start—and an oven that never changed
Reading Hard & Soft Pretzel was launched in 1945 by Joseph A. Dmochowski. According to Berks County deed records, he bought 613 Laurel Street from Joseph and Lucy Albert on March 14, 1946. The Laurel Street bakery predated Dmochowski. The Alberts—the “A” in ATV Bakery—had earlier opened Alberti’s Bakery at the site and later joined forces with their rivals, the Tomasi and Vecchio families, to form ATV Bakery at 36 S. Third St., said Brad Albert, who co-owns ATV with his brother, Joe.
Dmochowski experimented with both hard and soft pretzels that first year, but the neighborhood decided for him: soft pretzels sold out; hard ones didn’t. From then on, “soft” was the house style…