Carol Stein considers herself a baker, and often gets requests from friends and family to bake them a cake. But when it comes to her own birthday or Mother’s Day, Stein prefers to get her cake from Sweet Lady Jane, the bakery famous for its triple berry cake that had been a favorite of celebrities and everyday Angelenos for more than three decades.
So Stein was devastated to learn on Friday, Jan. 5, that her favorite bakery had unexpected closed earlier in the week.
“I always made my husband get that cake,” said Stein. “We celebrated with Sweet Lady Jane for all of our occasions. It’s been part of our family tradition. Everybody is so upset.”
Sweet Lady Jane, founded by Jane Lockhart, opened its first location 35 years ago on Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood. Over the decades, it opened a handful more, with shops in Calabasas, Encino, and San Fernando in the Valley, and in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills on L.A.’s Westside. There were plans to open two more shops.
Those expansion plans, along with a recent renovation at the Encino shop, are why so many of Sweet Lady Jane’s loyal customers were caught off guard when the beloved bakery suddenly announced on social media that all six locations had closed. Its last day of business was Sunday, Dec. 31.
Stein’s daughter, Jen Stein, said as long as she could remember, the family ordered a triple berry cake from Sweet Lady Jane for her mother’s birthday and every Mother’s Day – even if it meant traveling far with it. (Although both Carol and Jen Stein live in Beverly Hills, the family often traveled during Carol’s birthday.)
“When we would go up to San Francisco for her birthday, we would have to order the cake in advance. … That cake has even traveled with our family to Italy,” Jen Stein said, recounting the out-of-country trip the family took one year.
The company said it did not make the decision to close lightly.
“While the support and loyalty of our customers has been…
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