The Ice Man Goeth by CoreyBlack
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Description
Back in the stone age (the 1970s) when I was a kid, we had ice cream trucks and "Italian Ice" vendors. The ice cream trucks were the standard Chevy, Dodge, or mostly International Harvester commercial vans equipped with freezer compartments and PA systems that played tinkling melodies of Old Standards. They played them loud enough to be heard 4 blocks away so as to attract the attention of all the kids in the neighborhood. As a kid this didn't bother me. In fact, it was a signal that now was the time to hit my mom up for 15-cents, if I wanted an orange Push Up before I had to come in for the evening.
Now, however, the same vehicles make me slightly homicidal. I see them rolling by like childhood phantoms in what look like the same vans of 35+ years ago (I think they are the same vans) blasting the same monotonous tunes over, and over, and over--in this case, endless repetitions of Music Box Dancer--and I wish I had an AK-47. It's kind of like being trapped in a garage with a wailing car alarm.
But back to the Italian Ice vendors. These were older and terribly dignified Italian gentlemen who pushed carts with clanging bells on them. The carts contained crushed ice that would be scooped into a paper cone and then lovingly smothered with the flavored syrup of your choice. The Italian Ice guys were mysterious and slightly intimidating in their showmanship and Old World ways. The Americans in the ice cream trucks (with a few friendly exceptions) seemed bored, and vaguely angry that they were actually driving an ice cream truck for a living. Anyway, we had two choices...surly ice cream or mysterious Italian Ice. Both tasted pretty good.
I don't know where the Italian Ice guys went, but you don't see them around any more. All I see now are a much smaller fleet of elderly ice cream trucks and mostly-Mexican guys pushing the same clanging carts that once contained Italian Ice. They now hold the exact same thing the ice cream trucks to. I mean, where's the really awesome Mexican ice cream in those flavors like Rose? My inner child feels very cheated by this; he stomps his Keds-encased feet and yells: "I want my Italian Ice. And if I can't have that, then at least give me some of that good Mexican stuff!"
I ambushed these startled fellows outside the Kimball Avenue/Ravenswood/Brown Line station in the Albany Park area of Chicago on June 14, 2007.
Comments (10)
auntietk
I believe the ice cream truck that cruises my neighborhood plays "The Sting" as it trolls for children with pocket change. I often wonder about that ... Excellent shot! I'm sure they wondered why they were photo-worthy. It's no mystery to me ... this is great!
Seaview123
Very nice looking image!
beachzz
There's one of those annoying ice cream trucks that cruises thru a friend's neighborhood. It plays----talk about making someone suicidal---"It's A Small, Small World", a song that is absolutely impossible to get out of one's mind once one has heard it too many times. Oh no, it's happening... Anyway, having spent a lot of time in Mexico, I see these all over the place. But they're also here in the US, (well, duh>>!!), and their products leave something to be desired. Great shot of a couple of guys who probably never knew they'd become famous!!
Chipka
I grew up on the Deep South Side of Chicago and so rather than Italian Ice, we had the cheap knockoff "Sno Cones" which usually attracted yellow jackets. That was the best part about them. One never ate the yellow jackets, mind you, but once, this annoying kid (even I hated him with a passion) didn't notice the yellow jackets that took an interest in his dual-flavored sno cone...and well...lets just say that his upper lip swelled nicely. He learned, that day, that yellow jackets are repeat stingers and unlike bees, they survive to tell the tale. So what does this have to do with this picture? Absolutely nothing. But hey, I made an insect reference and used italics, so that has to count for something, right? Oh, and I have a theory as to why ice cream trucks all look old. It's because they were old when they rolled off the assembly line. They have built-in-old. Anyway, I love this shot and the way everything is so urban. The older guy with the cowboy hat knows he has rockin' fashion sense, and I like the way my eye is drawn immediately to "LA REYNA." Out of every exquisite detail to pick from in this image, I settle on words. Go figure. But yeah, I love everything about this shot. You captured the mood of that day, I suspect, or at least the mood of that moment in time. And yeah, I remember those Push Ups too...they're still my favorites, but they defy science. They're orange flavored on the outside with vanilla ice cream on the inside...which begs the question...how do you get a citrus flavor and dairy to mix and actually taste good without curdling?! And why doesn't that particular trick work with orange juice and breakfast cereal that only just beginning to go pleasantly soft in a bowl-full of milk. The mind boggles! And so after going on, on, on, and on about random stuff, I'll stick a sock in it and just say that I really like this image. Oh, and before the sock is stuck in fully, one hasn't lived until you've heard an icecream truck playing either the theme to Doctor Zhivago or The Godfather. Yeah...South Side ice cream trucks STILL play those tunes.
durleybeachbum
HOW DOES Chip do that rambling and make it interesting? We get put into homes for the elderly and confused here if we do that! Anyway the cycling icecream people are nearly all gone here, but they were indeed Italians. My Great Grandfather had tenants who did this job as far back as the 1890's, and they used glass containers which one licked out. This glass was then diddled about in dirty soapy water and presented to the next customer! Hmm! 80 years later, and 250 miles away, at a school parents evening, I was chatting to a pupils dad and we discovered that HIS great grandfather had been that tenant! HOW about that!
jmb007
bonne photo!!
flavia49
wonderful capture!!
watapki66
Wonderful photo
sandra46
great shot!
myrrhluz
I just had Italian ice (chocolate) a couple of weeks ago. But it was in a famous NYC confectionery establishment, the name of which I have forgotten. It was very good and gave me at least a modicum of energy to walk the Brooklyn Bridge after having been on a pizza walking tour. It took two sour apple martinis to placate my feet after the bridge. Excellent capture of the two vendors. The dapper older gentleman seems to be posing for a magazine spread, a studied pose of easy relaxation. The younger man does seem a bit bemused at your interest. Wonderful reflections! My eyes are drawn to the lattice like shadow inside the building, partly because of its pretty design and partly because I'm not sure if it is a shadow at all. My eyes are also drawn to the solitary figure with the walking stick. Wonderful image! Great lines and reflections!