“BIT” of Telluride history gone up in smoke
Jerry Greene’s Brooklyn-inspired “Baked in Telluride” or BIT went up in flames Tuesday night (February 9, 2010). Greene opened the bakery on Fir Street in 1977, making it the oldest dining establishment in Telluride. Initially a New York style bakery that served up homemade bagels, pizza and bread; pastries and foods with a Latino influence were added in the 1990s.
BIT was operated out of the historic Tomboy Warehouse that Greene leased from the Zoline family. Joe Zoline, the founder of the Telluride ski area, purchased the building from the Western Colorado Power Company in the early 1970s, about the same time he acquired the Telluride Transfer, Stronghouse and other buildings in that neighborhood. According to Billy “Senior” Mahoney, when the power company owned it, you could drive a truck into the front of the building. Parts of the structure were possibly over 100 years old. Dry wood beneath an old oven was determined to be the fire’s cause.
Greene and his bakery were profiled in Telluride Magazine’s 20th Anniversary Issue, winter 2001-02.—MDuffy