Where's an Ice Cream Truck When You Need One?
Alissa Grosso
I grew up in the New Jersey suburbs where ice cream trucks regularly roamed our neighborhoods in the summer months. These days, I live in a more rural part of the Garden State, and so it’s been a long time since I’ve seen an ice cream truck in the wild. If you’re concerned about this life of hardship and deprivation, I will say that there’s an ice cream stand about a mile and a half from our house so we’ll probably get by.
Still, it’s not quite the same as being a little kid and hearing the song of the approaching ice cream truck. When you heard that little jingle it was imperative that you grab money and race outside as quickly as possible. Shoes? There simply wasn’t any time to waste putting those unnecessary accessories on!
Provided you had the money and made it out in time to catch the ice cream truck, then you had to hope that your favorite frozen treat was in stock. My all-time favorite was a strawberry a shortcake ice cream bar. Judging by how often those things were sold out, I suspect this was a LOT of people’s favorite ice cream treat.
I grew up in what I think of as a big ice cream household. My parents are huge fans of ice cream still. We went out regularly for the stuff. As a kid I remember Carvel, Friendly’s and Howard Johnson’s as places we regularly got ice cream. For seven-year-old Alissa the height of dining excellence was HoJo’s where I would enjoy a plate of fried clams for dinner and a dish of black raspberry ice cream for dessert. No matter where we went for ice cream, black raspberry was my number one pick. It remains my very favorite flavor of ice cream.
Of course, this being New Jersey, at least once every summer we would make our way “down the shore” and head to the beach followed by an evening on the boardwalk. For us the boardwalk was almost always Seaside Heights. When we were on the boardwalk by far the best frozen treat was a Kohr’s frozen custard (aka soft ice cream) cone. My favorite variety was a strawberry banana swirl cone. I just found and went to the Kohr’s website, and I was disappointed to see that it looks like the strawberry banana swirl is no longer available. What a pity! Today’s kids don’t know what they’re missing!
Well, kids of all ages, I hope that if you live in an ice cream truck area that you make it out to the truck in time, and that your favorite treat is in stock! And wherever you are I hope you can enjoy your favorite ice cream and keep your cool during this hot week!
— Alissa
Weekly Inspiration
What I’m Reading: Wired July/August 2024
What I’m Watching: Atlas
What I’m Listening to: “Second Hand News” Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs
Find out more about my books at alissagrosso.com
Find out more about my digital art at alissacarin.com
My apologies for the typos and such this post is almost certainly riddled with.
First of all, Alissa, that is a great photo of you!! Second, we love ice cream in our household as well. I have many favorites and your parents took us to that great ice cream parlor in FL. Boy was that ice cream good and so inexpensive. Keep enjoying. Aleta
We have ice-cream trucks in our area. "Pop Goes the Weasel" is their song of choice; I'm not sure why! The last ice cream I had was at a very good place called O Wow Cow.