La Guli Pastry Shop, Astoria, Queens

In honor of St. Joseph's Day yesterday, (Feast of St. Joseph), which is celebrated on March 19th to honor the legal father of Jesus and patron saint of carpenters (as well as acting as Father's Day in countries including Italy 🇮🇹 , Spain 🇪🇸 and Portugal 🇵🇹), we are highlighting La Guli Pastry Shop in Astoria, Queens where you can get sfinge, a pastry dedicated to St. Joseph's Day.

La Guli Pastry has been family owned and operated since 1937. When we photographed this #storefront in 2009 for our book, "Store Front II- A History Preserved" we interviewed the 2nd-generation owner Rosario Notaro, who shared with us some history about his #pasticerria. Below is an excerpt from the full interview which appears in our book. “My father, Paolo, immigrated to New York from Palermo, Italy and he and his brothers, who had a background in the pastry business, opened two Italian pastry shops in Manhattan in the 1920s. My father saved all of his money and moved to Astoria, which was considered the wilderness back then. He bought the building and opened this pastry store in 1937 using all of his old family recipes, which were passed down from generation to generation. Everything here is handmade on the premises and we are known for our authentic Italian pastries including cannolis and sfogliatelle that you rarely find in other stores.”