The Bakery That Never Closed Its Back Door

For thirty-one years, Rosa Taveras ran a small panaderia on Cypress Avenue in the Bronx. She opened at four in the morning and closed at seven at night, six days a week. On Sundays she rested — but the back door stayed unlocked. That back door was famous in the neighborhood. If a mother ran short before payday, she could walk through the alley, knock twice, and Rosa would hand her a bag of bread and sweet rolls without writing down a thing.…