Just yesterday when I was nearly done with a hot and sweaty 2-hour training ride on my bike in Liberty State Park in Jersey City I saw the Mister Softee truck. I rode over and bought a chocolate cone and was in ice cream heaven. I groaned with pleasure as it cooled and relaxed me for the hilly ride home. Perfect.
5
The noise these trucks make is horrendous.
Mr. Softee paid a visit to my daughter's wedding 8 years ago by request. It was in Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan.
7
I post a pic of on Facebook a Mr. Softee truck in the beginning of spring and at the end of summer. When I first and last see one marks the first and last days of the spring/summer season. All is right with the world. It's like Mallomar season or seeing a robin. I'm also very superstitious about baseball. Your average native New Yorker.
7
Remember the old time, zany Scorsese NYC movie - with creepy Mr Softee truck - stalking the main character on deserted nighttime’s Manhattan streets? Oh yeah !
1
After Hours maybe.
1
I love this story and the comments too! We heard the music on our street in Queens, we begged my mother for a few cents, we rushed outside from the kitchen table into the evening light. There were fewer parked cars in the old neighborhood, and fewer cars speeding down the street, so the crowd of kids that suddenly clogged the street was in little danger. We all had to stand in the street, study the choices and make the big decision. I think all the old-time ice cream vendors loved kids and ice cream. What a shame if some of them don't care enough now!
4
Loved Mr. Softee and the sound of that bell, "bong, bong, bong". We would stop dead in our tracks. A few of us would yell "STOP" and another would run to the house to get money from Mom. This takes me back to cart wheels on the front lawn or kickball in the streets of Hicksville NY.
5
Could someone send this piece to Donald Trump and teach him something about the immigrant work ethic (writes the daughter and wife of immigrants to US)?
31
Not to be a killjoy, but these trucks pollute horribly. This may be even more true of the unbranded soft ice cream trucks also on our streets. A compressor runs full time, and the motor that powers it spews high-emission smoke constantly. A truck like this used to park right outside my child's school every warm afternoon, and the fumes were overwhelming.
And then there's the fact that many of the soft ice cream machines are poorly maintained: <<Dirty tubes can lend the ice cream unpleasant off-notes and aftertastes>> this is also a public health hazard.
I'm all for kids enjoying the ice cream truck, and for people making a living, but that shouldn't come at the expense of public health.
Regulate these trucks properly.
3
I'm the friendly man who sells Good Humor,
The ice cream kids all favor.
Made with pure sweet cream and fresh fruit only
For that creamy-tasting real lip-smacking flavor.
I've got ice cream on a stick
"Can I have a little lick?"
I've got Humorettes and ice sticks that are whopping
I've got cups large and small
"I like chocolate best of all"
Even sundaes topped with rich, delicious topping.
I'm the friendly man who sells Good Humor
The ice cream kids all favor
Made with pure sweet cream and fresh fruit only
It's the ice cream with that real Good Humor flavor.
Oh boy!
3
I heard the ice cream man and missed the handle on the storm door rushing to get out of the house. My hand went through the glass and I still have the scar 53 years later. One Sunday in church when my brother was around 2 1/2, he heard the bells during the Eucharist and yelled "the ice cream man!!". Even the priest laughed.
27
I always had a scabbed knee running to get money for Good Humor, Mr. Softee, or Freezer Fresh growing up on Staten Island. And I was always thinking ahead and wanted 2, one for later. No ice cream fool here.
5
Summer memories of waiting for the Mr. Softee truck at around 3 in the afternoon in Richmond Hill: We could hear the jingle around the block, which meant our block was his next stop.
Go into the house for some money from mom - usually a quarter could get a decent size cone. The most expensive item on the truck was a Banana Boat costing a whopping one dollar. That was Mr. Softee's version of a banana split - served in a plastic blue boat - outstanding. I maybe had 4 or 5 of them in my life - $1 for ice cream was a rare occurrence.
After Mr. Softee, back to playing stickball on the street.
20
What a terrific story! It reminds us what a family business should be about. Respect for the product, customer, ops ... and one another. Kudos to the Vasquez family! Their success is hard earned.
38
My favorite "truck" ice cream is a strawberry shortcake bar but I think that's Good Humor.
9
He could never, ever be as good as Cubby Cone (Lou). Best ice cream truck driver ever
1