All this was happening in 1912, and the pastry shop never closed since that day.
Although the current owner Maria Carmela Lucciola is not a descendant of Egidio, she keeps his original recipes and takes good care of the store, out of respect. 

Arthur Avenue has long ceased to be solely the province of Italians, as it was for about three-quarters of a century, but places like Egidio's have endured as treasured repositories of the neighborhood's authenticity.

Egidio Pastry Shop has sat on the same block of East 187th Street near Arthur Avenue for more than 100 years, since the Southern Italian immigrant Don Pasquale Egidio - who came to the New World in 1909 - started his business where a community of Italian immigrants was putting down roots.