Community celebrates renaming of street to honor Betty and Lloyd Adams' legacy

For each vote to be unanimous, I think really is just a testament to who my parents were and what they meant to this community.”

Brandon Adams

Lloyd’s Carrot Cake is no stranger to large crowds, especially around the holidays, but perhaps the largest gathering yet took place on a clear, bright Sunday afternoon in mid-September. This crowd wasn’t there for cake but to cheer on speakers from around the community celebrating the achievements of Betty and Lloyd Adams.

In a burst of soap bubbles and applause, the cover was pulled from the street sign at the east-west crosswalk between West 251st Street and Manhattan College Parkway, unveiling its new name: Betty and Lloyd Adams Way. 

Among the attendees were friends and relatives of the Adams family, alongside local leaders, neighbors and loyal fans of the famed carrot cake, all eager to honor the couple whose sweet creation has united the community for years.

The initiative to rename the street began in 2020, following the death of Betty Adams. Since losing her husband in 2007, she had hoped to see a sign honoring his life’s work called Lloyd’s Carrot Cake Way.

Brandon Adams, the couple’s son, took up the cause, and the community was quick to lend its support. In addition to backing from the Riverdale Kiwanis Club, Riverdale Neighborhood House and Main Streets Alliance, 150 residents signed a petition for the street’s renaming, many adding personal notes about what the business meant to their lives.

The decision to honor the couple rather than the business itself led to the motion passing unanimously through Community Board 8 and, ultimately, the City Council, aided by a new law championed by Councilman Eric Dinowitz.

“There were so many steps and so many votes,” Brandon Adams said, “and for each vote to be unanimous, I think really is just a testament to who my parents were and what they meant to this community.”

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz agreed, saying Betty and Lloyd’s co-naming application stood out to his colleagues from across the city.

“When I go down to city hall…my colleagues are very upset when I don’t bring carrot cake,” he said. “The cake is very well known. She was very well known, not just for her business, but for what she gave back to the community.”

Lloyd, hailing from St. Thomas, and Betty, from Costa Rica, met in Harlem in the 1970s, where Betty was pleasantly surprised to learn that the 6-foot-4 Lloyd could bake. After an injury cut short his basketball aspirations, Lloyd began baking in his apartment for friends. Noticing a lack of carrot cake options in the area, he and Betty opened a storefront on Broadway in 1986, shifting from selling to restaurants to directly serving customers. The scent of sugar, spices, and baking carrots often drifted across the street into Van Cortlandt Park, drawing people in.

Over the years, Lloyd’s Carrot Cake became a fixture in the greater Riverdale community and beyond, with features in the New York Times and various magazines, as well as being a favorite of many celebrities. The cake has traveled as far as China, Nigeria and the Philippines, brought by customers eager to share it with their families.

“I didn’t know Lloyd, but I knew Betty,” Eric Dinowitz said, “At every single community event, she was there supporting anyone who would give back to the community.

Johanna Edmondson, Democratic state committee member and founder of Female Fight Club, also shared a personal connection with Betty. A longtime customer of Lloyd’s Carrot Cake, Edmondson befriended Betty during the pandemic while exercising on the steps of Van Cortlandt Park just across from the bakery. Betty eventually became Female Fight Club’s first sponsor and the group later honored her with a plaque for her dedication to the community.

The couple’s daughter, Lilka, thanked her parents for instilling in her the values of Lloyd’s Carrot Cake. She said the bakery was never just about serving customers — it was about warmth, intimacy and building lasting relationships.