Ice Cream Trucks?

[jjkrkwood]

In LA on the west side there was the Helms Bakery Truck..can still smell them to this day.

 

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/31/1d/1f/311d1f19b447e4285e618bd1e49fd0f6.jpg

 

That looks like Dunkin Donuts on wheels.

[+ Gar1eth]

This last summer, the smoke and heat from the forest fires all around Portland made the hot humid afternoons unbearable - we hired an ice cream truck to come by one afternoon to give all the guys in the service shop a cool refreshing treat. Cost us around $400, but everyone had a smile on their face that afternoon!

 

I live in Tacoma. It was so weird seeing the smoke on the horizon and smelling it when it wasn’t in our immediate vicinity. Of course when I lived in Corpus Christi, one year northern Mexico was burning-at least two hours away-and you could smell the smoke then too.

 

Gman

[+ Gar1eth]

In Culver City there was the Helms Bakery Truck..can still smell them to this day.

 

http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/31/1d/1f/311d1f19b447e4285e618bd1e49fd0f6.jpg

 

 

 

Defunct in 1969

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helms_Bakery

 

Gman

[bigvalboy]

That looks like Dunkin Donuts on wheels.

 

It was wonderful...Helms Bakery was in Culver City and they would go through the neighborhood just like an ice cream truck. They had donuts, bread, bagels, pies, cakes and cookies, all made fresh in the factory a few blocks away.

Edited February 19, 2018 by bigvalboy

[bigvalboy]

Defunct in 1969

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helms_Bakery

 

Gman

 

It was a sad day when they closed. The old Helms Bakery Trucks have become very collectable.

 

Helms Bakery 1941 (I of course wasn't born yet)

Edited February 19, 2018 by bigvalboy

[craigville beach]

The milkman, the ice cream truck, the knife sharpening guy ... all of an era past.

 

we also had: the fish vendor (on fridays), the "Cushman" bakery truck.

[rvwnsd]

Tastee Freez is what I believe you’re referring to

 

True dat! As a kid, it bothered me that they spelled it incorrectly.

[+ Avalon]

I remember a milk man and a bread man.

 

And there was a "Jewel T" man. I remember he sold dishes.

[+ Gar1eth]

I remember we had an old box than had been for the milkman but have no recollection of us ever getting anything in it. This was early 70s but the development only went up in 1967/68. So maybe they had it for a couple of years then stopped as supermarkets were built.

 

There’s an organic dairy that delivers in the Seattle-Tacoma area. And the people signed up do have metal boxes on the their porches.

 

 

The milkman, the ice cream truck, the knife sharpening guy ... all of an era past.

 

What always impressed me was how perfectly in tune and in step they always were. I wonder when they found time to rehearse or whether the trades people were all just naturals. Maybe it was a job requirement.

 

 

Gman

[+ purplekow]

Remember those? I hear one outside right now. When I was a boy I'd buy from them.

I worked one summer as a Good Humor Man. I thought it would be a fun job, but I worked on commission and as a first year driver, I did not have a set route. Each work day I would go to the truck depot, get my ice cream out of my locker in the freezer, load up the truck and drive for 12 hours. In and out of the truck was great for the legs. Problem with not having a set route was timing. People were used to the truck arriving at a certain time, but I did not know the route, I had to continually check the route sheet and as a result I was off on my timing. I would get to a hot spot only to find Bungalow Bar truck there or a Mr. Softee. I would have to take a detour and then not know where I was going. Once my truck broke down, fortunately it was at a part so that turned out to be a great day. Harder job than you would think. Most annoying, people who could not decide which ice cream to get.

[Gadfly22]

I only remember the clear bottles at first, then paper cartons.

Anyone know if you can still buy bags o'milk in PA? I did at a farm in PA about a decade ago. Can't remember exactly where it was but when I saw it I had to do a double take - milk in a plastic bag. Who knew?

[+ Gar1eth]

I worked one summer as a Good Humor Man. I thought it would be a fun job, but I worked on commission and as a first year driver, I did not have a set route. Each work day I would go to the truck depot, get my ice cream out of my locker in the freezer, load up the truck and drive for 12 hours. In and out of the truck was great for the legs. Problem with not having a set route was timing. People were used to the truck arriving at a certain time, but I did not know the route, I had to continually check the route sheet and as a result I was off on my timing. I would get to a hot spot only to find Bungalow Bar truck there or a Mr. Softee. I would have to take a detour and then not know where I was going. Once my truck broke down, fortunately it was at a part so that turned out to be a great day. Harder job than you would think. Most annoying, people who could not decide which ice cream to get.

 

 

I’m glad you weren’t involved in the NYC Ice Cream War.

 

http://thecomeback.com/food/nyc-area-ice-cream-truck-businesses-are-spying-on-each-other-in-mafia-like-fashion.html

 

Gman

[+ g56whiz]

The milkman, the ice cream truck, the knife sharpening guy ... all of an era past.

 

What about Fuller Brush?

[+ g56whiz]

For years I lived in a fifth floor co-op at the corner of 85th and Columbus. Every summer afternoon one of those damn ice cream trucks would park at the hydrant under my living room window and that damn speaker would blare that same damn 3 measure ditty for and hour or more. Fortunately I didn’t own a gun.

[wklucas]

In addition to a home-delivery milkman, we had a separate guy who delivered gallon size glass jars of various juices & many flavors of fruit punches....

also an old guy who showed up on the street every few months with a pushcart that had tools & "machinery" for sharpening household (kitchen, etc) knives - stop him when he was going past your house & bring out any needing any sharpening....

also the clothes cleaner's truck who stopped by twice a week on a regular route to pickup & deliver back any items for dry cleaning.....

in the present, just about the only services regularly still contracted for - the landscapers/gardening crew & the pool maintenance service.....

inside housekeeper is a live-in.....she rarely wants a day off.....I travel so much which really makes her job / workload much easier than it might be.....plus she considers both my secretary & my personal assistant as part of her team to assist with some stuff.

[+ Pensant]

Now I find them very creepy. Like something out of a Stephen King story.

[RandyC]

Milkman, Dugans bread man, Fuller Brush man, Avon Lady.... I think my mother still has some Fuller brushes.

 

The milk box sat on our front porch just to the right of the door. If you got in trouble during the warmer months you had to sit on the milk box as a punishment. It was agony because you could see all your friends out in the street playing and riding bicycles. They would call for you but you couldn't move an inch off the milk box or you'd be in worse trouble.

[MikeBiDude]

I fondly remember Fuller Brush, Helms Bakery, Adohr Milk (milkman would knock and come right into house and stock fridge!), and ice cream trucks. To this day the ice cream truck jingles (albeit a bit more irritating than in my youth) make me think of summer and the sound of bare feet slapping on the concrete sidewalks running to the truck “MOM can I have a dime?”

 

Today I have (authentic) local tamale and fresh fruit vendors roaming the streets near my home, both have *excellent* products!

[bigvalboy]

Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedias... (Yes my dad bought them)

[MikeBiDude]

Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedias... (Yes my dad bought them)

And “World Book”

[+ g56whiz]

Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedias... (Yes my dad bought them)

 

If I remember correctly, the Funk and Wagnalls came as a supermarket promo. You spent so much and for 99 cents you got the next volume. Kept you shopping at the same store each week. We later graduated to World Book. They lived in my bedroom (I was an only child) and I’d read them like a novel. No Treasure Island or Gunga Din for this smartass!

[+ g56whiz]

I walk the earth due to a delivery service. My parents met at a laundry outside Boston were he was a delivery man and she a dispatcher.

[+ bashful]

supermarket promo

 

S&H green stamps. I had paste them into the books.

[MikeBiDude]

S&H green stamps. I had paste them into the books.

And Blue Chip?

[bigvalboy]

If I remember correctly, the Funk and Wagnalls came as a supermarket promo. You spent so much and for 99 cents you got the next volume. Kept you shopping at the same store each week. We later graduated to World Book. They lived in my bedroom (I was an only child) and I’d read them like a novel. No Treasure Island or Gunga Din for this smartass!

 

The Funk and Wagnalls came to us by a door to door salesman. The big rival at the time was the Britannica Encylopedia, which was clearly better and more expensive. I think the grocery store promotion came sometime in the 70's at a time when encyclopedias were losing popularity.