Bakery awarded by Senator

NEWPORT BEACH — State Sen. Tom Harman has an apron at home with the word “girlyman” printed across it, a sly reference to one of his governor’s favorite gibes. So when the staff at Wonderland Bakery asked Harman to don an apron with pink trim and a portrait of a young blond woman on the front Friday morning, he didn’t put up a fight.

Harman recently chose Wonderland Bakery as the winner of the California Small Business Award for his district, which stretches from La Palma to Dana Point. The awards ceremony is set for Sacramento in May, but Friday, the senator stopped by the bakery to congratulate the owners in person.

“I know I’ll be back,” Harman said upon seeing the brightly colored interior of the store for the first time. “My wife and daughter will definitely be here, too.”

This year marked the first time Harman participated in the Small Business Award program, in which senators honor one enterprise within their districts. His staff first read about Wonderland Bakery in a magazine article and was impressed by the store’s community outreach as much as its business savvy. Wonderland served as “Sweet Ambassador” for the city’s centennial celebration, and the bakery recently held a tea party at South Coast Plaza for young cancer patients.

Friday morning, Harman and his aides stopped at the bakery at 1314 Bison Ave. to meet mother-and-daughter owners Sondra and Allyson Ames, who presented the Republican senator with a bag of treats and stood in pictures with him.

“May I tell you, Senator, that we do political cookies,” Sondra said as they toured the kitchen. “And we can personalize them as well. We could do an elephant cookie in red, white and blue.”

MICHAEL MILLER may be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.