Saturday morning, around eight-thirty, the line at Back in the Day Bakery already stretches past the front door onto Whitaker Street. This is normal. I learned that the hard way on my first visit, when I showed up at nine and found the case half-empty. Now I get there early, grab a spot on the bench outside if I have to wait, and consider it part of the ritual.
The bakery sits in the Starland District, a neighborhood that’s been quietly interesting for years — a stretch of Whitaker south of the historic squares where old bungalows and shotgun houses mix with small creative businesses. Cheryl and Griff Day opened Back in the Day in 2002, and it’s the kind of place that earns its reputation not through buzz but through repetition. People come back every weekend for years. That tells you something.
Walk in and the smell hits you immediately: brown butter, toasted sugar, something faintly vanilla. The cases run along the left side of the room. There are layer cakes under glass domes, rows of cupcakes frosted in serious colors, cookies the size of small plates, and whatever the seasonal special is that week. The savory case usually holds a few quiches and hand pies. The coffee is good — not precious, just good — and they’ll pair whatever you order without making you feel like you’re in a lecture.
I almost always get the MoonPie. It’s their version: two thick chocolate wafers sandwiching a marshmallow filling, but better than anything you had at a gas station as a kid, rich enough that one is genuinely satisfying. If they have the sea salt caramel cake by the slice, get that too and split it with someone. The frosting is the kind that makes you slow down. On cooler mornings I go for one of the sticky buns, which come out of the oven in waves and disappear fast — they’re wound tight, lacquered with glaze, and heavy in the best way.
The room itself is small and warm. Mismatched vintage furniture, a few small tables, walls painted in muted colors that feel lived-in rather than styled. It never feels like a set piece. People bring their dogs and tie them outside, bring their kids and let them point at the case, bring the newspaper and sit alone for an hour. The staff know the regulars, and they’re genuinely friendly without being performative about it.
Prices are reasonable for what you’re getting: most pastries run between three and six dollars, slices of cake are around seven, coffee drinks are standard café pricing. The cookbook — Cheryl has written one — sits near the register if you want to take the recipes home, though replicating what comes out of that kitchen requires patience I don’t personally have.
If you’re planning a weekend morning visit, get there before nine. Weekday mornings are calmer and still worth it if you’re around. They close when they sell out, which happens, so don’t assume an afternoon stop will work. And if you’re buying something for later — a whole cake for a birthday, say — call ahead. They do that well too, but they’ll need time.
Back in the Day isn’t trying to be Savannah’s definitive anything. It’s just a bakery that does its work carefully, every day, in a neighborhood that suits it. That consistency, over more than twenty years, is the whole point.
