Nabolom Bakery & Pizzeria set Sunday, Oct. 18, as its last day. For that final weekend it planned to open Friday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., according to a sign in the window that Berkeleyside's Nosh reported three days before the end.
Nabolom covered a lot from one counter on one corner of Russell Street. Its pastries, breads, cookies and pizza now have to be found at eight shops on Ashby, College and Domingo, and their hours don't line up.
Two bakeries under one name
Nabolom actually lived twice. Berkeleyside's 2015 history of the bakery says four women who had left Say Cheese! opened it on Russell Street in 1976 with a $5,000 loan. It ran as a worker collective with six to 10 members. Workers could become members after six months, everyone held equal shares, and over the years decisions moved from majority vote to consensus.
That first version ended on Sunday, Aug. 2, 2015. Four of the 10 members had left within three months, and the rest couldn't staff the shop. A former member told Berkeleyside that the immediate problem was staffing, not money.
The second version opened on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. Julia Elliott and Sabra Stepak had bought the recipes, and they reopened Nabolom as owners rather than as a collective. They also added vegetarian pizza, as Berkeleyside reported at the time. That decade is why one shop could send you home with a Danish in the morning and a pizza at lunch.
What the counter actually covered
Berkeleyside's list of what Nabolom was known for reads like a whole neighborhood's order: "cinnamon twists, cheese Danishes, challah, multigrain bread, and peanut butter, chocolate chip, and Snickerdoodle cookies, among other goods." The 2026 closing report repeated that list, along with the pizza.
Spread that order across the shops still open nearby and it splits up like this:
| What Nabolom sold | Where the closest match is now | Address |
|---|---|---|
| Cinnamon twists, turnovers, early-morning sweets | Dream Fluff Donuts | 2637 Ashby Ave. |
| Bakery-case pastries with coffee | Cafenated Coffee Co., stocking Starter Bakery | 2960 College Ave. |
| Bakery-case pastries with coffee | Souvenir Coffee, stocking Midwife and the Baker | 2701 College Ave. |
| House-baked goods and a sit-down breakfast | Baker & Commons | 2900 College Ave. |
| A dedicated neighborhood bakery | Fournée Bakery | 2912 Domingo Ave. |
| Breakfast bread in sandwich form | Boichik Bagels; Elmwood Subs | 3170 College Ave.; 2992 College Ave. |
| Pizza | State Flour Pizza | 2985 College Ave. |
According to the 7x7 Elmwood guide published Sept. 29, 2026, Dream Fluff's case includes cinnamon twists next to maple bars, old-fashioneds, turnovers and buttermilks, and the shop has been a neighborhood favorite for decades. The same guide says Cafenated recently moved into the big corner space at Ashby and College and sells Starter Bakery pastries. Souvenir roasts its own coffee and sells pastries from the organic bakery Midwife and the Baker. Baker & Commons is in the historic Ozzie's Soda Fountain building, and 7x7 calls it probably the most popular lunch spot in the area, known for house-made baked goods and sandwiches on Acme bread. Longtime residents may still think of that address as Elmwood Café. Baker & Commons reopened the space under new owners in May 2018, Berkeleyside reported.
For pizza, Derek Lau opened State Flour Pizza on College in 2022. 7x7 says his long-fermented crusts stand out in a neighborhood with plenty of pizza. The newest name on the list is Elmwood Subs, which Nosh reported on Oct. 15 had opened at College and Webster. It serves breakfast bagels and avocado toast alongside its subs.
The challah and multigrain loaves are the hardest part to match. No shop in this group lists them as a specialty, so plan on asking at the counter.
The hours don't match anymore
Once the order is spread across several shops, the clock matters. Nabolom gave you one set of hours to remember. The places that replace it run from a 4 a.m. donut counter to a bakery that's closed two days a week.
Here's how a Saturday morning lines up, earliest opening first, using each shop's own posted hours:
- Dream Fluff Donuts, 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. on weekends. On weekdays it opens at 4 a.m. and closes at noon.
- Fournée Bakery, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. It's closed Monday and Tuesday.
- Baker & Commons, from 7:30 a.m. every day. It stays open until 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and until 6:30 p.m. the rest of the week.
- La Farine, 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily at 6323 College Ave. This one is just over the line in Oakland's Rockridge.
- Souvenir Coffee, from 8 a.m. on weekends and 7 a.m. on weekdays, until 7 p.m.
- Cafenated Coffee Co., 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends and from 7:30 a.m. on weekdays, according to Visit Berkeley's listing.
The trouble spots are early in the week and late in the day. On Monday or Tuesday, Fournée is closed, and Dream Fluff's case is done by noon. A late pastry run on those days ends up at Baker & Commons, Souvenir, Cafenated or La Farine. Each of these hours comes from the shop's own site or a directory listing, so check the current posting before you plan a morning around it.
Boichik needs its own note. 7x7 says the original College Avenue shop still gets lines down the block on weekends but usually has no wait during the week. So if you're after a bagel instead of a pastry, a Tuesday morning is often an easier visit than a Saturday.
A loop that starts on Ashby
The Ashby end of the neighborhood is the closest thing to Nabolom's old one-stop counter, because three useful storefronts sit within a few doors of each other. Dream Fluff is at 2637 Ashby. Casa de Chocolates is at 2629 Ashby and sells hot chocolate and a frozen version, including a vegan one, at its outdoor tables. Donato & Co., at 2635 Ashby, is the dinner option on the same short stretch, with house-made pasta and gelati from chef Gianluca Guglielmi.
A Saturday loop could go like this:
- Start at Dream Fluff on Ashby for cinnamon twists before they sell out.
- Walk to Ashby and College for coffee and a Starter Bakery pastry at Cafenated.
- Head north on College past Baker & Commons at 2900, then continue to State Flour at 2985 if you want to pick up pizza for later.
- Finish at Book Society, 2945 College, a 21-and-over bookstore with a self-service wine dispenser and themed book clubs.
If you'd rather go the other way, Fournée on Domingo Avenue is in the Claremont area, and La Farine is up College in Rockridge. That's the same stretch where Rockridge is losing Wood Tavern while its regular events carry on.
The Elmwood has lost a beloved shop before. 7x7 notes that Ici Ice Cream had a cult following when it closed in 2018. Today the same stretch of College has Miharu Ice Cream at 2965, Tara's Organic Ice Cream at 3173 and a Humphry Slocombe at 2948. For a wider look at food openings across the city, see our Berkeley food map from this summer and our Berkeley neighborhood guide.
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