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My Ice Cream Man

Wiseguy A

Registered User
Messages
105
Location
City of Angels
Portland City Councilor Kevin Donoghue wants to examine whether ice cream trucks are a community asset or noisy neighborhood distraction.

Donoghue, who represents the East End and Casco Bay islands of District 1, said he has heard complaints from some of his constituents and wants to know what other people think.

"Are ice cream trucks sacred like fresh apple pie and high school football or are they unwelcome nuisances we tolerate?"

http://news.mainetoday.com/updates/026582.html

It's not my intention to debate that issue in this thread, but I would like to reminisce about my own ice cream man from my childhood.

I grew up in Rhode Island, and my ice cream man was a man by the name of Peter Palagi. At least, that's what we called him. The original Peter Palagi, an immigrant from Italy, started selling ice cream in 1896.

PALHORSE1.JPG


By 1930, with the automobile becoming more popular, Palagis Ice Cream Co. made a move to upgrade its equipment and went from horse and wagon to Model-A Fords.

Click here to see the fleet of 1930 Model-A Fords

It is because of the beautiful 1930's trucks that I post this thread in the Golden Age forum. But to me here's the best part:

The Palagi Company ran these trucks summer after summer. The Model-A Fords ice cream wagons became a fixture in many aspects of American life growing up in the Blackstone Valley. They were there when the children were released from school, they were there at the workplace when workers would have their lunch breaks, they were there at the little league games, at the fourth of July parade, at the summer festivals, and when everyone was at home just winding down at the end of their day.

These model-A fords ran for approximately 50 years. All the way to 1980.

I grew up in the 60's and 70's, and these Golden Age trucks were the 'Peter Palagi' ice cream trucks I fondly remember from my childhood.
 

jayem

A-List Customer
Messages
371
Location
Chicago
Who in the world hates ice cream?! Maybe this man is on one of those health missions. You know, the same people who turned the Cookie Monster into the Carrot Monster.

I love the vintage car part, that's definitely something I've never seen. I wish they would've continued doing that.

Our ice cream man pushes a little cart around with serves either Popsicles or this Mexican corn with mayo on it. Our other ice cream man drives a bus and serves soft serve and banana splits. Mmmm....
 

dhermann1

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,154
Location
Da Bronx, NY, USA
I once saw a female stand up comic who started her set with a riff about those ice cream trucks. She sang the song with new words "Here comes the ice cream truck, the ice cream truck from hell . . .", to the familiar melody. I think she considered them terminally fattening.
I find that little jingle one of the welcome signs of spring.
When I was a kid we had the old Good Humor man, with both trucks and hand pushed wagons. Ice cream on a stick! What could be better!?
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,088
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
One of the saddest events of recent memory here is when our local ice cream man started bypassing my neighborhood. For years he was a regular from May to September, but the summer before last he crossed my street off his route because, I guess, the little kids who formed the bulk of his constituency have all outgrown such things as Hoodsie cups, Push-Ups, and root beer popsicles. *I* certainly haven't, but I guess I'm in the minority....
 

Mojito

One Too Many
Messages
1,371
Location
Sydney
I remember the mad scramble for change after school when I lived in Singapore - it was a question of rounding up enough coins before the familiar "ding!" of the Ice Cream Man was heard, bringing his refrigerated box of goodies as a side car to his motorbike. He'd slow down when he arrived at our driveway (and that of our neighbours, who also had kids) - gave us a fair chance!

Earlier than that here in Oz, we had the "Moove Truck". More properly an afternoon milk delivery truck, it made it all the way out on the headland - territory that no ice cream van would venture into. No ice cream with the Moove truck, but if we caught it we could buy flavoured milk of the Moove brand...Chocolate, Strawberry or Banana.
 

Tomasso

Incurably Addicted
Messages
13,719
Location
USA
dhermann1 said:
When I was a kid we had the old Good Humor man, with both trucks and hand pushed wagons.
My favorite was Toasted Alamond. :essen:

truck.jpg
 

David Conwill

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,854
Location
Bennington, VT 05201
Great photo! If you owned one of those trucks today I'm sure you could make a killing going to fairs and big car shows.

1930s_model_a_ice_cream_trucks.jpg


A couple of observations: Only the three trucks nearest the camera are actually Model A Fords (which have been updated with 1935-style 16" wire wheels, a popular upgrade in the tire-scarce 1940s). The fourth from the camera appears to be a non-Ford. Shape of grille shell and headlights make me think Chevrolet, but I can't see enough to tell for sure. The last two are V8-era Fords. The grille shells say '32-'34 (similar to, but different from the popular '32 passenger car shell), but I can't narrow it down much more than that.

-Dave
 
Messages
11,579
Location
Covina, Califonia 91722
Tomasso said:
My favorite was Toasted Alamond. :essen:

truck.jpg
***********
Growing up on the South shore of Long Island in Copiague, I recall these and an earlier vintage truck for the Good Humor Man. They had a 4th of July ice cream called "Red, White and Blueberry" that was the Toasted Almond rival.
Also there was a brand of Italian Ices that was pretty darn good.

We also had Mister Softee in a high bodied truck similar to a UPS or Fedex delivery van that served soft serve ice cream, that was really good too.

I also recall that there were 3 wheeled bicycle Ice Cream Men.

When I was little I remember the G-H Man wearing a white uniform, white bow tie and a white billed uniform cap and it sure seemed impressive to me.


These days there are some trucks that play annoying tunes but they are independants.
 

CaddyKid21

One of the Regulars
Messages
132
Location
New SN: J.J. Gittes
John in Covina said:
***********
When I was little I remember the G-H Man wearing a white uniform, white bow tie and a white billed uniform cap and it sure seemed impressive to me.


These days there are some trucks that play annoying tunes but they are independants.

I wish my ice cream man dressed nice like that, mine wears a tee-shirt, smokes and doesn't speak English, and a drumstick is 3 bucks! And the tunes are terrible...
 

PuzzledPictures

New in Town
Messages
19
Location
Around The World
Around a friend of mine's neighborhood, there's an ice cream truck passing every 2-5 minutes.

And they ALL have a Submarine sound. His house is 20,000 leagues under the sea!
 

Flivver

Practically Family
Messages
821
Location
New England
LizzieMaine said:
One of the saddest events of recent memory here is when our local ice cream man started bypassing my neighborhood. For years he was a regular from May to September, but the summer before last he crossed my street off his route because, I guess, the little kids who formed the bulk of his constituency have all outgrown such things as Hoodsie cups, Push-Ups, and root beer popsicles. *I* certainly haven't, but I guess I'm in the minority....

Root beer popsicles!!! They were a favorite of mine as a kid.

Do they still make them?

I haven't seen an ice cream truck in my neighborhood for several years now. But the arrival of the ice cream truck was the high point of a summer evening when I was a kid.
 

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