Definitely go for a Push-up or a Bomb Pop. Those were my favorites.
My dad kept a thing of change by the front door for us. We were always playing out front with the neighbor kids, all day, all summer long. We would hear the music, come sprinting up the walkway, grab a handful coins and yell, “Stop! Stop!” Sometimes we’d have to chase after him for half a block because he didn’t hear us or something. Heaven on earth for a bunch of lower middle class, ethnically mixed kids growing up in 1970’s San Jose, CA. We may not have had much money, but our folks always had change for the ice cream truck.
I grew up in a rural area and we didn’t have ice cream trucks. The only experience I had with them was when we visited our cousins who lived in a suburb downstate. They had an ice cream truck that made regular stops near their house and we were all allowed to go out and get an ice cream when we visited.
I once remarked to one of my cousins that it must be nice to have ice cream all of the time. He told me that while the truck was there all the time, the only time they could go get ice cream was when we were visiting. So it was just as much a special occasion for them as it was for us.
I think I usually went for a Fudgsicle or a Drumstick or maybe a giant Mr. Freeze (I think the U.S. equivalent is an Otter Pop); I think they were all in the 25 to 50 cent range. I never encountered a Rocket Pop until I was past the age for ice cream trucks.
Once in a while, in the late afternoon or early evening, a rather seedy-looking van with faded pictures of various treats will drive up and down my street, playing a vaguely electronic version of “The Entertainer.” I’ve never patronized it.
These days a lot of the actual ice cream is higher quality because there are so many adults buying it now … I have a half a dozen things I rotate and get … the choco taco … which is a better version of a drumstick shaped like a taco the big Mississippi mud sandwich which used to be a chocolate sandwich with syrup and brownie inside but they’ve taken out the brownie chunks … the banana bomb or rocket pop …once in a while ill get nostalgic and order a pink panther lemonade pop or something shaped like sonic the hedgehog …
the thing i miss? the old wwf ice cream bars … they’d advertise them and you could only get them at the matches… out ice cream guy had a
anything made by blue bunny tends to be good…but the average ice cream bar/sandwich runs about 2-2.50
Now the popsicle type of “confections” usually licensed and fruit-flavored characters run from 1.00-1.75
repost since i timed out of the edit window… These days a lot of the actual ice cream is higher quality because there are so many adults buying it now … I have a half a dozen things I rotate and get … the choco taco … which is a better version of a drumstick shaped like a taco the big Mississippi mud sandwich which used to be a chocolate sandwich with syrup and brownie inside but they’ve taken out the brownie chunks … the banana bomb or rocket pop …once in a while ill get nostalgic and order a pink panther lemonade pop or something shaped like sonic the hedgehog …
the thing I miss? the old WWF/E ice cream bars … they’d advertise them and you could only get them at the matches… well one ice cream guy had a friend that worked for one of the arenas in la/oc they went to 3-4 times a year and they just kept a bunch there and every so often they’d clean out the inventory and hed buy them for a reduced cost and hed sell them through relatives trucks … funny thing is they weren’t all that impressive tasting but yeah as fans we ate a lot of them and at 1.25 in the 80s they were expensive
anything made by blue bunny tends to be good…but the average ice cream bar/sandwich runs about 2-2.50
Now the popsicle type of “confections” usually licensed and fruit-flavored characters run from 1.00-1.75
Actually tho if i really wanted to cheat id just buy from the distributor that everyone rents the trucks from …
I’m not sure if I ever got anything from a ice cream truck – maybe once or twice. I do remember the snack shack next to the city pool that definitely had candy and I am pretty sure had ice cream treats.
last year or the year before ago I got an ice cream treat from a tricycle with a big cooler.
I was a little kid in Manhattan, and I got an allowance from a pretty young age. I also always had emergency bus far and an emergency phone dime, which were not to be spent on anything else! (My mother put them in a sealed envelop, with “for emergencies” written on it.) Anyway, what I spent my allowance on was up to me, but it was all the money I got, so no use ever asking for any more, no matter what. I did have one rule. No more than one ice cream truck treat a day. They were ubiquitous in Manhattan. Trucks, plus the bicycle vendors. I could have eaten ice cream bars five or six times a day if I’d had the money, and been allowed to.
Sometimes I was saving for something, and that meant that I couldn’t buy ice cream.
I remember my allowance was 50 cents a week starting when I was 5, and was upped a quarter a year, until I was 11 and had a paper route, and didn’t need an allowance anymore. My parents made me save $25 every month in the bank from my paper route, but depending on how I did in tips in a particular month, I had anywhere from $35-60 of my to to spend as I liked. In 1977. That went really far back then. In December, I once had a whopping $200, with all the holiday tips. I didn’t tell my parents how much I had.
I still ate ice cream from the trucks only once a day.
Back then, it was like, a quarter for something with actual ice cream in it, and for the Popsicles, just a dime. The Push-ups and Fudgsicles were 15 or 20 cents.
I did so much walking and bike riding when I was a kid that I could eat ice cream once a day and still be skinny.
I’m from an even earlier generation. When 'i was a kid, ice cream trucks didn’t play any songs – they had a bank of five bells on a bar, and these jingled as the truck drove along.
And the truck didn’t have an interior from which the ice cream was dispensed, as in a food truck. The back of the truck was a big refrigerator (or maybe a container chilled with dry ice) and it had three thick insulated doors with refrigerator-door-like handles that the Good Humor Man would open and reach into to get your ice cream. The Good Humor Man wore an immaculate white uniform with a white peaked cap, like the stereotypical Milk Man, and he wore a change dispenser on his belt.
Besides the Good Humor truck, there was also the Carnival truck, which was almost the same thing, except that the painted designs on the ruck were different. Carnival was better for ice popsicles. I liked their “sky blue” pops (which were actually raspberry-flavored, but colored blue to distinguish them, I suppose, from cherry popsicles.)
And it was either “fudgicle” or “fudgsicle”. We used both.
On the beach (Jersey shore), there were some Good Humor Men on the beaches themselves – they wore the outfit and carried a small insulated box by a strap over their shoulder. It was chilled by dry ice, which made the popsicles and fudgesicles a bit too cold, so they’d stick to their wrappers (which you couldn’t get completely off, leaving bits of wrapper to be gotten out of your mouth later) and to your tongue.
My brother and I never got anything from the ice cream truck either, for the main and simple reason that we had no money. I mean, our family had enough money, but we personally only had money if we found it on the ground.
Ice cream treats were cheap at school (I want to say 25 or 50 cents) and we were allowed to get them if we finished our lunch. I always went for the Nutty Buddy.
Bomb pops. Rainbow snow cones. Drumsticks.
In the mid-late 70’s, my neighborhood was packed with kids. There were 12 on my block alone, next block over had about the same. At least one morning per week, the ice cream truck would go by, usually stopping in front of our house (in the middle of the block). If my dad hadn’t taken all of his change out of his change dish that morning, I was set.
Now, living in a fairly kid heavy neighborhood, I can only think of two times an ice cream truck has gone through in the 14 years I’ve lived here.
I know I can go to the store and buy bomb pops and drumsticks, but it’s just not the same.
We had the same type of Good Humor truck when I was a kid. Came every day at about the same time. We were faithful - once in a while a competing truck would come through and we would just ignore it, waiting for our ice cream man. (ETA: Although when I would visit my grandparents in West Philly I was not opposed to something from the Mr. Softee truck…)
Pretty sure the bells were operated by the driver pulling a cord, there was always a distinctive pattern to the ringing (ding-ding, ding-ding…ding-ding, ding-ding…).
And yes - Toasted Almond was the tops. Just last week I found Good Humor Toasted Almond bars at the supermarket (had frequently seen Strawberry Shortcake and Chocolate Eclair bars, but never Toasted Almond) and grabbed a couple of boxes. Yes, they were as good as I remember…
I was a fan of the aforementioned Bomb Pop, and something else that I haven’t seen since I was a kid- it was called “Froze Toes” and was some kind of fruit-flavored sherbet/sorbet bar in the shape of a foot with a gumball as the big toenail.
Have you eaten Food-Truck food? The food trucks in our area responded well to quarantine, offering contact-less interactions. Drive up, order and pay online, describe vehicle and where you are parked in your order. Masked and gloved dude approaches vehicle and puts food inside, depending on which door/trunk is open.
We’ve recently had Indian food (Billu), Sushi, Cousin’s Lobster, Pittsburgh Tortas, Tanzanian cuisine (Kilimanjaro Flavour Truck), Greek food, Hunky Food, Barbecue, and more.
In the spirit of the OP, I don’t remember ice cream trucks. My home town wasn’t big enough for one. I’ve seen them in larger cities I have lived in, of course. The prices are what (gulp!)?
Once I remember my mom bringing home some frozen treats from the supermarket. The brand: Good Humor, which I’d never heard of. Quite good. But we had other brands available so they had to be worked into the rotation.
I feel so comforted – I am NOT the only weirdo who never ate Good Humor treats.
We should form our own club. Initiation consists of loving your ice cream treat virginity!
That’s a good point, too. Actually, I was wondering if they would simply not appeal to any adult who has become accustomed to HaagenDaz and Ben&Jerry and Magnum level of ice cream quality. Do you need the nostalgia tweak to make them interesting?
But I will persevere in the quest. We’re supposed to be having a heat wave come up the next few days. I will do the dangerous trek to the grocery store and explore the depths of the freezer section. From the above comments I absolutely need Toasted Almonds and Bomb Pops and Fudg(s)icles. Maybe Chocolate Eclaires, too?
In a bunch of British tv shows I’ve seen kids and adults eating what looks like just a slightly miniaturized ice cream cone, with the top sort of molded into a swirl shape. Do those have a special name?
If they turn out not to be to my/hubby’s taste after all, I can probably unload them on the neighborhood kids.
There are usually one or two ice cream trucks that come through my current neighbourhood but I haven’t seem them this year at all, no huge surprise.
It is strange, they usually show up in the spring, when it looks like ice cream weather but it is still usually too cool for ice cream. As it gets warmer they show up less, I assume there are better, more profitable locations for them to be at.
