Ah yes, summertime as a kid: Playing kickball in the street, putting off running into the house to use the bathroom until it was almost too late, skinning knees on the sidewalk… good times, man.
The absolute best part of childhood had to be The Ice Cream Man. We’d hear the bell from two streets over and immediately make a mad dash to the house to beg our moms for a buck. “But MOOOooommmmm! I didn’t get to buy anything last time! Pleeeease?”
I had three favorite treats-- Orange Push Ups, the Super Bomb Pop & a Giant Snow Cone with a rock-hard gum ball at the bottom.
What were your favorite treats brought to you by the Ice Cream Man?
Sorry if we’ve done this before. I figure, heck, we’ve got new members… Maybe they’ll like to participate.
They still make it down our street these days (well, summer anyway) with the most godawful “music” blasting out loud enough to be heard in Lima, Peru. It has been many moons since I stopped one to see what they’re offering now. Used to be a big thing long ago, though.
I vaguely recall some kind of red, white, and blue item. I think that was my favorite. It’s difficult to recall because I never saw much of the Ice Cream Man after age 5 or so.
We never had one in my neighborhood when I was growing up. I live in the city now, not far from a park/playground, and the trucks go up and down my street in the evenings and on weekends during the summer months.
Unfortunately, they don’t have the innocuous jingles of the old days; now they are obnoxious 30 second clips that recycle ad nauseam. One day I got a look at the driver and he was a middle aged man with an absolutely haunted look in his eyes. I wondered what would happen to someone who had to listen to that for hours at a time, day after day. And then I realized that these are people who are in constact contact with children…
We moved to San Diego from Japan when I was four years old. I met a neighbour kid who was five days older than I. He lived with his grandparents, who told him that the little truck that drove through the neighbourhood was ‘The Music Man’, and that he drove round playing music so that little boys would take their afternoon naps.
And then I spilled the beans. I wonder if they ever forgave me for that?
It’s been a long time, but I think my favourite item was the orange Push Up.
I also liked the Drumsticks and the vanilla ice cream in the chocolate shell. I remember the Bomb Pop (red, white and blue ice). And I liked Otter Pops. But mom bought those at the market so I didn’t get them from the ice cream man.
They always made my lips bright red; made me feel like I was wearing lipstick!
If they were out of those I’d get the Three Stage Bomb Pop (the red, white and blue ones). By the time my daughter was old enough for them they had renamed them something more patriotic and they’d shrunk to half the size.
I could NEVER choose! I was the one that kids all pushed aside because I’d stand there for an hour reading all the descriptions and imagining what each one would taste like, how long it would take me to eat it and whether I’d tried it last time and liked it. Eventually I’d pick what I saw another kid eating that looked good.
I liked the drumsticks, and some strawberry thing with crunchy bits on the outside. Mmmmm…
An ice cream truck that comes to my office serves the best goddamn soft ice cream in the universe! We turn into five year olds with just the sound of their music.
Hehehe, I had to replay that clip as soon as I saw this thread.
My favorite was the minnie mouse pops, with strawberry sherbert and gum balls for eyes.
One year, the girl serving the ice cream was a conservative jew, who had come from israel a few months before. I remember us chatting quite often, and during one of the spring/summer holidays, we brought her challah and matzo ball soup. I wonder how she ended up, since that was the only year we saw her…
I wish the ice cream man still came around. Last time we saw one was 6+ years ago…
Scooter Pie/Crunch? That’s what we always called them.
Growing up, I lived mostly in an old estate type place that had been converted to apartments, so we never saw the ice cream man. He used to come to my cousins’ neighborhood, but we were never allowed to buy anything. Dammit.
Living in Houston, our ice cream men also sold Mexican candy. My favorites were Lucas Acidito, a mix of sugar, salt, citric acid, and chili pepper, and also sweet tamarindo paste. Ice-cream-wise, they were all pretty much the same to me. Probably that strawberry-crunchy-thingy mentioned a few posts earlier.
I used to love the chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches, with the chips all around the edges of the ice cream. The ice cream truck used to stop right outside my house when I was a kid. He’d come around 1:00pm, and that music was like a rallying cry to gather all the neighborhood kids for after-lunch-till-the-streetlights-come-on playtime.
Johnny LA, I love that story. You were *born * bad, huh?
I wonder if they ever forgave me for that?