Do you remember Ice Cream Trucks
By Modestah
@Modestah (11179)
United States
March 16, 2008 2:12am CST
driving through the neighborhood slowly.... playing their little tune.... loud enough so you can hear them coming from a couple blocks away.... you get a start in your heart and quickly find mother and while tugging away at her apron or skirt beg for a quarter for the ice cream truck....
Do you remember when they actually would serve hand dipped ice cream? that was the best!
When my eldest was little our neighborhood had an "ice cream" truck but it only sold prepackaged icecream treats and Popsicles...not nearly as special and a lot more expensive... but still an excitement to run out there and greet the friendly driver .... or run after the truck waving your hand and your money till you finally caught up to him a block away.
That icecream truck from my son's youth played the theme song from Sting called the Entertainer - do you recall what the trucks from your youth played? I think ours played the circus clown ringling brothers type theme.
what was your favorite treat to get from the ice cream truck?
ice cream sandwich
bomb pops
fudgesicles
drumsticks (these were always fun but I stupidly would always eat the fudge plug off the bottom first! then the ice cream would drip all over me!
shortcake icecream (I liked these with the crumble coating)
19 people like this
57 responses
@CinderInMySoul (4717)
• United States
16 Mar 08
ah the ice cream truck frenzy. lol. when i was a kid there was this one old truck that would drive thru MAYBE twice a month. but it was creepy. the tape that they played their music from must have been eons old, the sound was so distorted and "stretched out" sounding that it always always made me think of Pennywise from IT!! it was that creepy sounding!
i also remember being able to get my sister and i something for an entire $1.00!!
cant do that anymore!
where i live now there are 2 trucks that come by, one is rarely seen and comes real early afternoon when most of the kids are still in school. and the other you have to be quick to respond to! they go flying down the street and are turning around and heading back up before you've managed to find where you put the ice cream money!
that and to get 4 ice creams (of whatever kind) is always $5.00!! can you believe that?!
personally my favorite was the fudgcicle and the drumsticks too!
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
18 Mar 08
there was a rash of odd ice cream trucks in Santa Ana that were not selling goodies to the little ones but heroin and coke and other crap to teens but they finally all got busted thank God for that. I never go intothe heart of that town as there are too many gangs there and a lot of killings. very unsafe
@my52cents (569)
• United States
16 Mar 08
I liked the orange push-ups the best, and the banana popsicles. I'm not sure I remember that they would actually have hand-dipped cones, just the prepackaged treats. Even where we live we'll occasionally hear the ice cream truck on our street. We're a bit out in the country and haven't had many kids on our street for awhile, but we have more this year so maybe they'll find their way up here more often. I love hearing the music in the distance; always brings a smile to my face. The song isn't very discernible, but it's the carnival type of music that is so identifiable. Good summer memories on a cool late winter day!
@4you4me4us (53)
• United States
20 Mar 08
Yeah that was like so much excitement back in the day! Just to hear the Truck Coming, neat TOPIC by the way!
@desertdarlene (8910)
• United States
16 Mar 08
Oh, yes, I definitely remember that. We had the Good Humor truck and another brand. I used to get at least one a week. I think I liked fudgesicles and bomb pops a lot. Once in a while, I will see one of those hand-pushed carts along our streets such as those that are in Mexico. Sometimes, they sell other things other than ice cream like tamales or cheese.
I live in a busy neighborhood that has a bit of crime, so I don't see an ice cream truck as much as I used to. But, I used to hear them all the time at one place that I lived, in fact, I heard them way too much!
When my dad met my mom, he was a Good Humor ice cream man.
2 people like this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
16 Mar 08
Oh yeah, I remember the hand pushed carts. I saw those a lot as a kid when I was on my bicycle traveling around on other streets. If you were on a flatter street, those guys came to your street too. I lived on this huge monster of a hill that no one was going to push a cart over, even though 20 kids ran out to the ice cream truck each time.
2 people like this
@scorpiobabes (7225)
• United States
17 Mar 08
I've seen the bicycle-powered ice cream carts on the board walk in Ocean City, New Jersey (a similar idea is pictured below). My sister and I loved getting an ice-cold treat to eat while our tootsies were buried in the sand!
1 person likes this
@villageanne (8553)
• United States
16 Mar 08
When I was growing up, we lived so far into the country that there was never a chance of seeing an ice cream truck. LOL Now that I have moved and my kids are grown, there is an ice cream truck does up and down the road about once a month. I would not even know how to flag him down if I wanted an ice cream. LOL
@Ldyjarhead (10233)
• United States
16 Mar 08
I sure do remember them and they're not gone!
I just moved from NC last Aug, but they had one there that came to my neighborhood. My husband and I stopped him one day and got an ice cream, but I couldn't believe the prices. I think we each got one thing and it came to over $5! Won't be doing that again any time soon.
I always like the ice cream sandwiches, or sometimes a fudgesicle.
Ok, now I want ice cream.
2 people like this
@kilani123 (864)
• United Arab Emirates
16 Mar 08
hi there howu all doing i hope that you are all fine
well my freind
seeing this disscusion remembers me with the childhood days when i was racing with the other kids to the ice cream truck just to get my favourite ice cream sandwish that was my best treat that time
what days were that days
thank u for that nice topic u have in here
2 people like this
@Pigglies (9329)
• United States
16 Mar 08
They still have ice cream trucks, just usually only in poorer sections of town around here. I used to live in a poor area as a kid and we had ice cream trucks come by all the time. It was all packaged ice cream I think. I used to like neopolitan ice cream sandwiches and those little faces with the bubble gum eyes. Our ice cream trucks played The Entertainer or Music Box Dancer or sometimes even Sailors Hornpipe (sometimes known as College Hornpipe).
2 people like this
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
17 Mar 08
I would not tire so easy of hearing the Sailor's Hornpipe OR Music Box Dancer.... love those tunes. The entertainer gets on my nerves after a bit - and as the other poster mentioned - when the recording is old and skips....eeeek. I have never seen neopolitan ice cream in the sandwiches - how fun!
1 person likes this
@emeraldisle (13139)
• United States
16 Mar 08
Right now there is one going around the area. Playing the song "Do your ears hang low" and yes it is now stuck in my head :)
I remember them from my youth as well and they played The Entertainer back then as well for me. I loved Bomb Pops. Those were the best. That and drumsticks. I loved them both. When I was growing up I lived in the country so we didn't have an ice cream truck but when I would visit friends in the city it was a great treat to be able to have one. Scrambling to find enough change to be able to buy one wasn't always easy but I think it was part of the joys of being a kid.
@Debs_place (10520)
• United States
16 Mar 08
My parents did not believe in such luxuries when we were kids.
Where I live now, we still have an ice cream truck that comes through..but it is strange, he will come around as soon as it gets even remotely warm out. Then the hotter it gets the less we see him, until it starts cooling off. Then he starts coming around again.
I think he runs out of ice cream when it is hot, then calls it quit for the day.
Oh, he plays music box dancer
Oh, he plays music box dancer2 people like this
@KarenO52 (2950)
• United States
16 Mar 08
I sure do remember the ice cream truck. All the kids would run so fast with their change to get their favorite. I always got the plain vanilla cone. My mom gave me money to get one for her too, and she would share hers with the dog. She would eat half of it, and then hold the cone while the dog licked it. All the neighborhood kids would run around eating their treats.
2 people like this
@worldwise1 (14885)
• United States
17 Mar 08
While some ice cream trucks have disappeared over the years, Modestah, I still see them occasionally in my neighborhood. The thought brings back wonderful memories!
When I was a teen my favorite treat was a concoction called the banana boat from the Mr. Softee truck. When my kids were growing up it was the bomb pops, strawberry shortcakes, etc. I also love the fudge pops.
When I was a teen my favorite treat was a concoction called the banana boat from the Mr. Softee truck. When my kids were growing up it was the bomb pops, strawberry shortcakes, etc. I also love the fudge pops.2 people like this
@xXxMikesWifeyxXx (3072)
• United States
16 Mar 08
Hhaha when we lived in california my dad owned 5 ice creal trucks. i was realy small at the time mabey like 4 or 5. but i sure do remember feeling special cause i got all my ice cream for free.and even somtimes he would give to my friend for free..his trucks played the tunes i guess there like nursery rymes or somthing.. do your ears hang low, do they wobble do the fro?. somthing like that hehe. anyways we still have one around here were i live now wich is jacksonville nc. and hes real expensive... but i do buy from him when he comes around.(wich is not to often). my fav things from my dads ice cream truck was choco tacos:D.
@luvstochat (6907)
• United States
16 Mar 08
I remember those ice cream trucks! You could get an ice cream sandwhich or an ice cream bar for about .25 cents when I was little. When you heard that music playing you started looking all over for a quarter so you could run out and get one. I have not seen an ice cream truck in years though. My daughter calls the Swans man the ice cream man.
2 people like this
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
17 Mar 08
I think Schwanns might do well to pull over and offer individual servings of ice cream to the little street urchins in the summer. Even those little prepackaged ice cream cups with the wooden paddle type of spoon.... or italian ice.
hmmm
I might should look around for someone selling an old postal vehicle and start my own enterprise - revival of the ice cream truck.
1 person likes this
@dragon54u (31634)
• United States
16 Mar 08
I loved the ice cream truck! It was red white and blue with an ice cream cone on top and they dipped the ice cream, too. Also pre-packaged stuff, I loved drumsticks although I saved the fudge at the bottom for last. :-) We didn't get to buy very often because we were poor but when we did it was a huge treat!
We have a couple of them in my neighborhood now, they play Turkey in the Straw and a couple of other tunes. Only pre-packaged stuff and SO expensive!! $1.50 for a Popsicle!! I don't know how the moms and kids afford that stuff.
It's so nice to hear and see the ice cream truck come down my street and all the little kids running out to catch it! Thanks for the discussion, it brought back memories and made me smile.
2 people like this
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
17 Mar 08
as a child I recall my brother and I running out with a dime or a quarter depending on the treat...
we did not get this reward everyday, and I am thinking the truck probably came around twice a week... we probably got permission once every other week.
you were smart to be so patient for the fudge surprise on the bottom of your drumstick!
1 person likes this
@danishcanadian (28955)
• Canada
31 Mar 08
When I was little, we'd occasionally have ice cream stucks going through my hometown, in the summertime. I haven't seen one there in years, and wonder where they went. There is a store next to my favourite cafe where I can get the same kind of ice cream, but I still miss the truck.
1 person likes this
@aretha (2538)
• United States
17 Mar 08
oh the strewberry shortcake,they are so yummy.
when i was growing up we never had one we only seen them on tv. when we moved to oklahoma and they had them i think i was just as excited as the kids to see it. i think he played the circus clown theme too. all he had was the prepackaged ice cream but the kids loved it,he had all the super heros and sponge bob witch the kids loved. the only thing is he seemed to always come right as we where geting ready to eat supper. so we had to make them eat first,they were pretty good about it though. me also had this taco ice cream and it was so yummy it had a waffle cone shell and chocolate ice cream with chocolate syrup. oh so yummy.
it was great seeing the look on my kids faces when they heard that music. it would be a couple blocks away but they would sit right there a wait for him to get there. we always kept money up on a shelf by the door so when he came it would be there.
now that we have moved back home we don't have them anymore so it kinda sucks. i think i would get just as excited watching the kids get excited.
it was great seeing the look on my kids faces when they heard that music. it would be a couple blocks away but they would sit right there a wait for him to get there. we always kept money up on a shelf by the door so when he came it would be there.
now that we have moved back home we don't have them anymore so it kinda sucks. i think i would get just as excited watching the kids get excited.1 person likes this
@Modestah (11179)
• United States
17 Mar 08
oh Aretha!!! that choco taco thing sounds delightful! you smarty keeping the change near the door - though, that kind of takes away from the whole experience... the adrenaline flow - the heart pumping the feet a jumping gotta find money gotta find money woooo wooo wooo will I make it in time.....lol.
1 person likes this
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
23 Mar 08
oh,i miss those!
we used to get lime popcicles (mmmmmmmmmm),
ice cream sandwiches,hoodsie cups..
my grandmother had a sweet tooth from hell,and that guy would screech on the brakes if he saw her come out,automatic 40 dollar sale LOL
she'd stock up for awhile all at once.
um..i think ours played popeye's theme.
what that has to do with ice cream,i don't know.
@scarlet_woman (23463)
• United States
24 Mar 08
i believe so.
oh,she definetly was a trip.
sometimes i don't think she was aware she was 70
something years old then LOL
well..dancing the charleston in the hallway kind of gave her away ;)
1 person likes this
@asawako48162 (3321)
• United States
23 Mar 08
yes, all of what you mentioned..and more..my wife used to sell ice cream out of truck when we first got married and her and her girlfriend did ok...but i did not see the profits from this venture as they ate the profits or just gave a lot away to thier friends and relatives!..they had fun ringing the bell and playing that music on the ice cream trucks...it was Good Humor..lol
1 person likes this
@logansmom (2)
• Canada
17 Mar 08
we didn't have an ice cream truck in my neighborhood when i was growing up. :( clearly i missed out!
1 person likes this
