Lee Lee's Baked Goods • 1965

Alvin Lee Smalls, a South Carolina native working in a hospital bakery, discovered a rugelach recipe in a 1964 newspaper and spent months perfecting the flaky, buttery pastry at home before opening his Harlem shop. The result: layers of tender dough rolled with chocolate, nuts, and jam that transformed a traditional Jewish treat into an iconic neighborhood staple. Decades later, the rugelach still draws lines down West 118th Street.