The Geldner family has a long history with Greenlee's Bakery, which has been in operation since 1924 in its present location at 1081 The Alameda, San Jose, in the Rose Garden neighborhood. While the newer wholesale food branches and the chain supermarkets continue to provide competition, Greenlee's offers an old-fashioned family tradition that's been a constant through the years.

Peggy Vallecilla of Willow Glen and Manny Becerra, who both work for the city of San Jose, can't help but pick up a morning cup of Java City coffee and some baked goodies.

"I come into a bakery, and I get a burrito," patron Frank Montelongo says, laughing. The San Jose Water Company employee says, "The food and the service here are both great."

Once or twice a week, Montelongo stops by Greenlee's early in the morning with co-worker Joe Escobar to order a chorizo breakfast burrito and homemade salsa. The breakfast burritos--in ham, bacon, chorizo or sausage varieties with egg, potato and cheese, wrapped in a flour tortilla--were created by Rosalinda Geldner, who owns the bakery with her husband, Norbert.

Emmett Greenlee, whose son later took over the business, started the bakery and coffeehouse, says Janette, Rosalinda and Norbert's younger daughter. The Geldner family sold its Cambrian Bakery on Woodard Road and purchased Greenlee's Bakery in 1981, when it was up for sale. The two daughters have childhood memories of growing up in Greenlee's.

"I love to see the customers," says Janette, who works in the bakery. "I see the returning faces. I hear the stories about how The Alameda used to be different and what people like coming here for. It's a wonderful atmosphere to work in."

A visit to Greenlee's is a morning tradition for nearby residents, retirees, gas and electric workers, San Jose fire and police department officials and city employees.

Next door at 1077 The Alameda, the Geldners' older daughter, Rosalena, runs Café Rosalena, another successful eatery on the strip.

"It's like a neighborhood family," Janette says.

Many customers also drop in from schools such as St. Martin of Tours School and St. Leo the Great School in San Jose. By 8 a.m. on most mornings, there's usually a long line of customers.

And if cinnamon bread isn't what customers are looking for, there are mini chocolate eclairs, blueberry muffins, seasonal Halloween sugar cookies and gingerbread, and loaves of all kinds lining the bakery's shelves. There's lemon, blueberry, poppy, orange, carrot, chocolate chip and banana nut bread providing a wide variety from which to chose.

Andrea Anderson, a legal assistant with Pahl and Gosselin, a law firm on Santa Clara Street, picked up an assorted variety of muffins, Danish and turnovers on Sept. 30. Anderson said they celebrate everyone's birthday in the office once a month with Greenlee's sweets.

It's also a place where languages and cultures are intertwined. Norbert emigrated from Germany in 1967. Rosalinda came to the United States from Mexico when she was 12 years old, and speaks Spanish with many of her customers and employees. Rosalinda brought her breakfast burritos to the business, while Nobert is known for his cinnamon bread recipe.

"We used to make as many as 19 wedding cakes a week," Rosalinda says.

But today, the bakery's focus is on producing an average of 2,000 loaves of the cinnamon bread a week for local farmers markets, Zanotto's Family Markets and the Greenlee's storefront. That number more than doubles during the holiday season, from October through January. However, it still makes about four to five wedding cakes a week.

The secret to the signature cinnamon bread's success is all natural, homemade ingredients. Janette says it's real butter, eggs and milk that customers taste in the mix. The cinnamon bread's creation is a 3-hour process from start to finish.

Rosalinda describes it as a very hard, mass-production process, because, she says, it takes "time to bake, and time to cool down."

But it's also why longtime Rose Garden resident Sam Schaeffer, who lives just around the corner from the bakery, comes in to get a loaf of the bread a couple times a month.

"I've been coming here since 1950," he says.

Schaeffer also remembers his mother-in-law once buying six to 12 turkey pies from Greenlee's at a time. Jokingly, he adds that it was probably "just to make sure I married her daughter."

The turkey pies are a little-known secret that customers can order from Rosalinda or Norbert as a special request.

"We always keep them in the back," Rosalinda says.

Rosalinda and Norbert are usually hard at work in the bakery making cakes and pastries. The baking staff begins as early as 2 or 3 a.m. with the Danish, turnovers, coffeecakes and popular burnt almond cakes.

Janette and other familiar faces of employees such as Juanita Enriquez and Daniella Langarica are usually in the store's front assisting customers. There are about 10 people who operate the bakery, some of whom have been working there 15 to 25 years.

A large oven, approximately 80 years old, pumps out all the baked goods. But the bakery is due for a new oven, which the owners hope will be installed before Halloween. Janette says they'll have to shut down the bakery for a few days while the new oven is being installed.

But the cinnamon bread will be back a few days later, smelling better than ever.

Greenlee's Bakery, 1081 The Alameda, San Jose, 408.287.4191