CAKES & SHAKES

by Kevin Walsh

Old school Carvel with revolving ice cream cones, Metropolitan Avenue near Fresh Pond Road.

C.P. The Celestial Person:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCzvMsIztCM

I once got the old man an ice cream cake for Father’s Day and he didn’t like it.

38 comments

steve June 28, 2012 - 11:20 pm

Because you had to get him a “Fudgie the Whale – for a whale of a dad”.

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steven June 29, 2012 - 6:47 am

I’m suprised that Carvel is still there . The proprety is worth more than the business. I grew up in Queens near Union Turnpike . There was a Carvel there for years that sold out because of the property they owned.

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Keith June 29, 2012 - 8:58 am

It’s so nice to see one of the older Carvel stores! Unfortunately the ORIGINAL store in Hartsdale NY closed a few years back. I miss the old Tom Carvel commercials – a staple of 70’s NYC TV.

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Mark July 4, 2012 - 9:16 am

Yup, nothing defined local NYC TV back in the 70s like Carvel and Crazy Eddie commercials.

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Larry Mac June 29, 2012 - 9:26 am

I like a large vanilla cone with chocolate sprinkles but they do cost considerably more than a quarter these days.

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Heartland June 29, 2012 - 10:49 am

I thought that all the freestanding Carvel stores had disappeared. Nice to know that at least one survived. Would you believe that there were 2 Carvel retailers in AZ? During the 100+ degree summers the cones probably melted before you could finish them. They’ve both gone the way of most Carvel stores, however..

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Heartland June 29, 2012 - 12:46 pm

Further research reveals that there are nearly 200 Carvel stores in NY & here in AZ there are still 2 stores, both in Mesa. If I went there from my home & bought a cake at noon, it would be soft enough to slice by the time I got home (which would take me about 40 minutes).

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Heartland June 29, 2012 - 12:52 pm

Re: my previous comment: Further research reveals that there are neraly 200 Carvel stores (statewide) in NY & in AZ there are still 2 (both in Mesa). A great reality TV stunt would be to buy an icecream cake in Mesa at noon in July & travel about 20 miles with it. If it hasn’t melted by then you win.

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Steve Webber June 29, 2012 - 1:34 pm

My wife and I used to go there once in a while when we lived in Williamsburg. Good to see it’s still standing. The only Carvel’s we have here in the DC area are withing other restaurants, like Jerry’s Subs and Pizza.

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Tal Barzilai June 29, 2012 - 5:36 pm

I know where there is one out on LI that still uses that style. I sometimes went there when I was taking classes over at Dowling College, which is located in Oakdale, NY. BTW, there is also one in Mt Kisco, but Carvel’s moved out of there despite the fact that the structure is still sitting there empty.

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chris June 30, 2012 - 7:20 am

Word I hear is that Dairy Queen is finally moving into NY.

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AlC June 30, 2012 - 10:49 am

What is printed on the cone to the left of the store ?

Is it English?

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Sal July 1, 2012 - 2:12 am

flavor is on the left cone

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AlC July 2, 2012 - 10:27 am

Thanks, been a long time since I’ve seen a Carvel store.

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ron s June 30, 2012 - 12:16 pm

There is a nice free standing Carvel of slightly later vintage in Shirley, along William Floyd Parkway. Has a nice 60’s vibe.

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Fred June 30, 2012 - 12:53 pm

One of my faorite people, Tom Carvel. If I remember correctly, he always said thank you. I remember collecting soda bottles, cashing them in at Bohack, and going across the street for the biggest thing we could get for the bottles we collected.

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ten reni July 9, 2012 - 3:47 pm

if you cashed them in at Bohack and then went to Carvel were you in Whitestone? 14th Ave. I know there used to be a Bohack there and there still is a Carvel. It got modernized in the 80s but it did look like the one above at one point.

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Dave C. June 30, 2012 - 3:02 pm

“Brown bonnet” for me, if I didn’t have the big bucks for a “banana barge”.

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Chris Pollack July 1, 2012 - 1:50 am

So glad the first comment on this was a Patton Oswalt reference. Haha. Love this website even more now.

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James July 2, 2012 - 5:47 am

Awww, who eats that stuff anyway! GET YOURSELF ORGANIZED AND EAT HAAGEN-DAAZ

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Guardian of the Guilded Boiler July 6, 2012 - 6:47 pm

“Organized?” Why? Is Haagen-Daaz (sic) a union shop?

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howie weber July 2, 2012 - 11:24 am

That Carvel has been there at least 50 years from when I was a little kid in Ridgewood. Drove by about a month ago and noticed the Herman Ringe building across forest Avenue was gone. That Carvel is actually on Metropolitan and Forest.

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chris July 2, 2012 - 12:26 pm

I bet Tom Carvel’s homemade commercials on tv did more to turn people off to his product than on.
They were so amateurish and cheap.

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barbiegee July 2, 2012 - 1:47 pm

i think there is a freestanding one at the corner of FLB, and i cant remember, but it is where the #17 bus turns to go to flushing. in whitestone area. (i live in Albany, so, i’m trying to remember!!)

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Howard Fein July 9, 2012 - 10:36 am

There is still a freestanding Carvel at Francis Lewis & 29th Avenue on the Flushing=Bayside border, where the Q16 turns. And it’s still a hangout for muscle cars and their owners.

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Dan July 2, 2012 - 7:21 pm

Thanks for posting the photo. Some years back, I was heartbroken to discover that the Carvel of my childhood (on Kings Highway) finally closed after hanging on for so many years.

Once the weather cools down slightly, I may make the trip to this one just to buy a vanilla cone and a Cooky Puss-to-go. Need to support them with a little business.

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alex July 2, 2012 - 8:50 pm

I worked at a carvel on jamaica avenue in woodhaven all through the 80’s. great job. the cookie puss was chocolate ice cream on bottom. a layer of crunchies (broken up flying saucer crackers) then a layer of vanilla ice cream. the nose was a sugar cone with a scoop of hard mint chocolate chip ice cream and the eyes varied, maybe two cookies most times. also used the same whale shaped mould to make fudgey the whale, tom turkey and santa clause. also the owner, mr. Hurr a devout korean christian, kept a kosher store. had a separate mini fridge for the workers to keep our lunch in. no meat near the milk products! store closed in the early 2000’s. too bad

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Gerry July 3, 2012 - 10:40 am

Right across street from firehouse, right?

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Kevin Walsh July 3, 2012 - 4:46 pm

Yes

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ron s July 3, 2012 - 10:58 am

It was interesting to see how they used the two shapes (Fudgie the Whale and Cookiepuss) to make all sorts of other characters, mostly by turning the shapes upside down and then redecorating. I forget what the whale was when placed vertically, but it may have been some character with a hat.

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ten reni July 9, 2012 - 3:48 pm

santa?

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Storko July 5, 2012 - 12:57 pm

My dad remembers this Carvel opening sometime in the ’50s. I used to go there in the early ’70s after an afternoon of playing in Grover Cleveland Park. I’ve been to many Carvels but this one will always be my favorite.

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Allan Youngstein July 7, 2012 - 7:57 pm

I used to work at the Korvettes in Scrasdale.This old guy would always come into the store and talk to us.One day after I finished a converastion with him the store manager said what did Tom Carvel have to say.I said who.He the guy you where talking to is Carvel.I spoke to him many times I worked there and had no idea who he was.

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John Tambini July 8, 2012 - 10:50 pm

I wonder what happened to the land Tom Carvel had up in Poughkeepsie. I remember taking a drive up there with my dad in the 70’s and we’d see his property with 2 giant ice cream cones in the entrance. I think is was some sort of golf course or club.

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Adam August 2, 2012 - 10:32 am

I was sad to see the freestanding Carvel on Steinway Street between 28th and 25th Avenue in Astoria close several years ago. Nice to know this old-school Carvel is still there!

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Slynchify March 11, 2013 - 12:32 pm

The cones are broken off now. I’m not sure when it happened but sometime after the summer – possibly during Sandy?

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Robert Levinson June 26, 2023 - 5:20 pm

In the ‘50’s my dad drove me, my brother and a few friends to our local Carvel on Coney Island Ave and Ave X in his 1941 Chevy. What a blessing. Bob.

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A Werthmann December 6, 2023 - 10:58 pm

My Carvel memory was at the corner of Sea View Avenue and Rockaway Parkway in Canarsie in Brooklyn by Jamaica Bay. My grandmothers house was next to the establishment but as I recall it in 1950s New York this was the place to be and as a budding preteen I so wanted to be part of the teen scene but there was always reasons why that wasn’t a good idea. Now my family house is gone and the Carvel is a CVS but you can’t take my memories away. A simpler time.

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