A French Gothic Cathedral in Newark, Then Bread Baked Every Hour
A French Gothic interior finished in 1954, with a 36-foot rose window the cathedral calls the largest of its kind in the Catholic Church in the Western Hemisphere. A mile north, Calandra's has been pulling hot loaves out of the oven every hour since 1962.
📍 Two stops on Newark's high ground
⛪ The French Gothic nave on the city's highest point
The Rectory entrance on 89 Ridge Street is the way in, and entry is free. Visiting runs 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday and Saturday. Lunch closes it 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. Monday to Thursday and noon to 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday, so come in the morning. Sunday is for Mass at 8:30 a.m., 10 a.m. in Spanish and noon, and the doors close at 2 p.m., so visit quietly or come another day. Look up before you sit down, because the vaulting and the 36-foot rose window are where the size really hits you. A tour follows the first Sunday noon Mass, next Dec 6.
🥖 An Italian bakery running since 1962
From the cathedral door the walk is about a mile north, roughly twenty minutes at an easy pace, and the destination has been baking on First Avenue since 1962. The shop trades 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. every day, so the timing rarely fails. Hot bread comes out on the hour, which is why regulars time the visit to the top of the clock rather than to the end of the afternoon. Mondays and Wednesdays take 20 percent off for seniors, except during holiday weeks, so skip it around Thanksgiving and Christmas.
🗺️ How the two stops fit one morning
From Penn Station, NJ Transit runs to Newark Penn, then the light rail to Park Avenue, a short walk up the hill. Start at the cathedral between 9 and 11, before the lunch gap, and give it forty minutes. Neither stop needs a ticket or a booking, but a wedding or a funeral can close the cathedral on any day, so call 973-484-4600 first. If the doors are shut, walk the Branch Brook Park paths next door or wait it out at The Newark Museum of Art, open noon to 5 p.m. Thursday to Sunday, then end at Calandra's.
