By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
CHELSEA — After nearly 50 years and countless croissants and cups of coffee, a popular Chelsea bakery space is closing for good.
Les Desirs Patisserie, located on Ninth Avenue between 24th and 25th streets, the latest bakery to occupy that space, was a hangout for the senior community in the neighborhood.
“It is very sad,” Les Desirs owner Jean Pauget said. “There was nothing I could do.”
The community rallied to save the shop, with more than 700 locals signing a petition. But Pauget said the landlord, Penn South housing cooperative, was not willing to renew his lease because they did not think he could afford the new rent.
Les Desirs was once called Cake Masters, owned by a German family, and has existed in various iterations since the 1960s at 239 Ninth Ave.
French-born Pauget revitalized the business in 1999, bringing new management and his homeland's baked goods to the masses in Chelsea and beyond.
Pauget trained as a pastry chef in Paris. He was brought to America by local businessmen in 1979, who wanted him to help them capitalize on the new popularity of French-style bakeries locally.
By 1985, Pauget opened several offshoots of a Washington D.C.-based bakery called French Bread Factory that Pauget said produced some of the first croissants locally.
He soon became the head of baked goods at Le Croissant Shop brand — a popular chain of stores that had more than two-dozen stores in 1980s
But when the brand went bankrupt, Pauget used it as an opportunity to start his own shop.
“I took over the place and made it my own,” recalls Pauget of Les Desirs. “I rebuilt it and made it profitable.”
Les Desirs offered more than a dozen different varieties of croissants and Danishes from apricot to prune flavors. Pauget said customers came from far and wide to try his tuile — a delicate, soft cookie that he learned to make in France. His delights also sold at the Yale Club and Hotel Pennsylvania in Manhattan.
Pauget, 62, said he hopes to stay in New York. He also wants to visit Paris, when he finishes moving out of his Chelsea shop.
“The bad news is a lot of people tell me they don’t know where to go now,” said Pauget. “The good news is that I can retire.”
