Serious Eats: New York
Sugar Rush: The Retro Ice Cream Man Cometh
Humor me, won'tcha?
The ice cream man almost always serves as an icy blast from days long past. Especially so if he's rocking an early-model Ford and dressed in retro mid-century togs, as Jay here is, right down to the belt-situated coin changer.
I encountered Jay yesterday in Manhattan on 53rd Street yesterday, just east of the Museum of Modern Art, where a small crowd of looky-loos had slowed down to admire the customized vintage Ford pickup from which he's selling the usual array of ice cream treats. The truck, he said, had been customized for ice cream conveyance long ago and had been recently salvaged from a fleet of retired Good Humor trucks. Though he originally cited 1942 as the model year, a little research tells me it's likely a 1961 or '62.
Jay and the truck's owner plan to salvage more vintage Good Humor trucks from the same fleet and have them prowling the streets of Manhattan this summer, though there's no word yet on what the trucks' stamping grounds will be. This particular one, Jay said, had only been out on ice patrol for four days as of yesterday, and it was just too soon to tell where the hot vending spots would lie. One thing, he hopes, is that the ice cream business will offer more profit than his previous venture—street-fair Italian sausage vending.
Besides its vintage look, one thing that sets this Good Humor truck apart from other trucks, he said, is that all the treats are kept in a cold box in the vehicle's side. That way, there's no hiding a less-than-tidy operation from the public. And this blogger will tell you that the jingling bells mounted above the truck's windshield are a welcome change from the annoying Mister Softee tune that blares from rivals.
Another thing that sets the truck apart is the fact that it sells Creamsicles, which, in this blogger's observation, are a rare find in other ice cream trucks.
UPDATE: A lot of people have emailed me for contact info for this guy, wanting to hire him for events. Well, there's now a vintage ice cream truck available for such occasions: goldcoasticecream.com. —AK, 6/18/2009
Vintage Good Humor Truck
Address: Variable, of course. Try finding it on 53rd between Fifth and Sixth avenues