Today was ice cream day at our town library

mhardy6647

They do this every summer; it's a hoot for all concerned.

DSC_5156 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

As you might surmise, I had my GH favorite -- Toasted Almond.
I always do. That was my father's favorite, and, eventually, mine, too.

This year, I had one was also in honor of the late and much-missed George Grand, who many of you probably know was "Toasted Almond" on AK.

DSC_5167 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

msg

Doc, do you live in a small town?
I like these small towny feely photos I see you post up from time to time.

treitz3

This thread title cracks me up. It reminds me of my Cousin Markie's town in Virginia that is so small, local newspapers headlines read as....

"Local pig gets sold"

Too funny man. Glad you enjoyed the ice cream and I dig the GG remembrance. Cool truck.

Tom

vmaxer

Nice, cool truck indeed.

Willow

We have an ice cream truck that drives around . It's creepy, it plays music sounds like a bad horror movie but it's actually Xmas songs and other stuff. Almost Chester mo- Lester type...

mhardy6647

msg wrote: »

Doc, do you live in a small town?
I like these small towny feely photos I see you post up from time to time.

Yes, lord... we live in a small village in a small town; there really ain't many big towns in New Hampsha.

mrbigbluelight

We didn't/don't have any Good Humor trucks around our little berg, but we do have this

tonyb

Now either would make a great second vehicle for me.

mhardy6647

Saw this while we were there, too -- first time I've seen one in the... umm... flesh.

DSC_5171 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

http://www.kalkhoff-bikes.com/en/e-bike-info.html

westmassguy

We has Good Humor and Mr. Softee when I was growing up in Springfield. Out here we don't have any of that.
When I lived on Long Island, we had Mr. Softee and Italian Ice.

dromunds

That is one sweet frickin' truck

mhardy6647

Note the license plate.

DSC_5164 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

mrbigbluelight

Uber cool. That gentleman has spend a couple of dollars into restoring that work of art. I'm afraid I'd have to have a couple of armed guards stationed around the truck whenever I took it out of its climate controlled garage.

tonyb

Man, I want one....bad. Notice that kid in the black and green shorts to the left of the truck. Dad just told him he has to settle for a bomb pop. lol

mhardy6647

my wife looked like sorta that when the ice cream guy told her he was out of ice cream sammages.

BTW, I thought about asking the ice cream guy to pose next to his truck for a photo -- but I thought that might seem too weird. :-|

BlueMDPicker

mhardy6647 wrote: »

BTW, I thought about asking the ice cream guy to pose next to his truck for a photo -- but I thought that might seem too weird. :-|

Here he is with his assistant.

mhardy6647

:-)

txcoastal1

Willow wrote: »

We have an ice cream truck that drives around . It's creepy, it plays music sounds like a bad horror movie but it's actually Xmas songs and other stuff. Almost Chester mo- Lester type...

Well with a name like Mr Softee, creepy is what I first thought

tonyb

xcapri79 wrote: »

Those neighborhood ice cream trucks are what makes America great!

And lemonade stands, the old bread carts that used to roll down the street along with the guy who would sharpen knifes for you. It's called entrepreneurship. Something we frown on now, make harder, and barely teach about.

Now, who wants to fund me for the first Gilato truck ?

gudnoyez

https://youtu.be/vS-s_xcmwaU

mhardy6647

When I was a kid, in South Baltimore (Brooklyn, actually) where I went to grade school, in season the "A-rabbers" (who werent' Arabs at all, just entrepreneurs, generally African-American) would come through the back alleys in the early afternoon on (if memory serves) Mondays, hawking their wares from horse or mule-drawn carts. "Straw-berries! Peaches! 'loupes!" in a loud, resonant, characteristic sing-song voice that I haven't heard for a long, long time.

This thread just jogged that fairly ancient (mid-1960s) memory.

EDIT: Heh. The good ol' interwebs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabber

schwarcw

My brother drove a Good Humor truck during his college days. Most of his days were 15 hours long. He had a specified route. On his route was a housing development that was under construction. He stopped there frequently to sell ice cream.

He would keep a six pack of beer for himself wrapped up in a jacket in the back away from the dry ice so it wouldn't freeze by the time his day was done. One day as he was shuffling the ice cream around in the back of the truck, one of the carpenters in the housing development saw the beer. As you might imagine a cold beer on a hot afternoon for a construction worker was pure bliss. He offered my brother $2.00 for a can of beer. This was back in the 70's when a six pack was about $4.00. He sold the carpenter the beer. Next day, several carpenters wanted beer instead of ice cream. At $2.00 a can his margins were much higher than ice cream. He started taking a case of beer under a blanket, then two cases. He made much more money from beer sales in about 1/2 hour to construction workers than ice cream sales to kids for the whole day. His best Summer as a Good Humor driver! When your a college kid, you can take chances. In those days he probably would have been scolded by the police if he was caught. Today, he would be jailed.

boston1450

^^^^ That there is funny. God bless him for helping out the workers

tonyb

schwarcw wrote: »

My brother drove a Good Humor truck during his college days. Most of his days were 15 hours long. He had a specified route. On his route was a housing development that was under construction. He stopped there frequently to sell ice cream.

He would keep a six pack of beer for himself wrapped up in a jacket in the back away from the dry ice so it wouldn't freeze by the time his day was done. One day as he was shuffling the ice cream around in the back of the truck, one of the carpenters in the housing development saw the beer. As you might imagine a cold beer on a hot afternoon for a construction worker was pure bliss. He offered my brother $2.00 for a can of beer. This was back in the 70's when a six pack was about $4.00. He sold the carpenter the beer. Next day, several carpenters wanted beer instead of ice cream. At $2.00 a can his margins were much higher than ice cream. He started taking a case of beer under a blanket, then two cases. He made much more money from beer sales in about 1/2 hour to construction workers than ice cream sales to kids for the whole day. His best Summer as a Good Humor driver! When your a college kid, you can take chances. In those days he probably would have been scolded by the police if he was caught. Today, he would be jailed.

That's how the roach coaches were invented on construction sites. lol

Mark, that pic reminded me of the old market carts as we used to call them. Had a little of everything on them. Always admired those guys with push carts or any kind of cart.

To me, that showed determination, ingenuity, imagination, doing what was needed to survive while performing a service. Isn't that the name of the game ?

However, you only think like that when your forced to.