CARVEL, Ridgewood

by Kevin Walsh

I have featured this classic Carvel shop on Metropolitan Avenue near Forest at the Ridgewood-Maspeth border — when plodding around this part of town, I always come in here for a cup of vanilla with chocolate sprinkles. Actually I used to visit the one on Grand Avenue and 64th Street, but it was torn down years ago so some multi-unit housing for the 9 Million could replace it.

I’m showing it again because it’s one of the very few Carvel outfits in NYC that has retained its decades-old plastic lettering and lighted plastic ice cream cones on either side. As you can see, though, the cones are missing and apparently, met with a calamity.

 

Here it is when the cones were intact.

Anyone know what happened here? Were the cones a Hurricane Sandy casualty? And, are there any plans to restore them?

6/26/13

26 comments

Bob Andersen June 26, 2013 - 9:51 am

That Carvel has been there since I was a kid – at least the 1950’s.

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Storko June 26, 2013 - 9:52 am

I was driving on Metro a couple of months ago and when I saw those cones – towering icons of my childhood – decapitated like that, my heart sank. I went inside, bought a soft-serve and asked one of the ladies working there what happened. Sandy was indeed the culprit and she was not aware of any plans to restore them.

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Jonathan June 26, 2013 - 10:02 am

They were there, Oct 2001, according to Google Streeview.

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Jonathan June 26, 2013 - 10:03 am

“2011”, sorry.

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Ivan June 26, 2013 - 10:17 am

I love it how Cookie Puss and Fudgie the Whale have the same form, just oriented and decorated differently.

I used to live around the corner from a Carvel in Jackson Heights, but was too poor to go to. 🙂

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Pat Alaimo June 26, 2013 - 10:39 am

I used to work there while in HS, late 70’s to early 80’s. The owner at the time said he converted it from a walk up outside window to the indoor counter style when he bought it. The cones are motorized and would actually rotate, but I only saw it once because the owner didn’t want to waste the electricity. He also said the site was originally used by a clothes line pole manufacturer. When having the parking lot paved, many old poles were dug up out of the ground. It was the perfect job for a teenager, had a great time and ate more than my share of ice cream.

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Susan June 26, 2013 - 11:55 am

I remember going there w/ my cousin in the 1950s/60s. My aunt lived on Metropolitan Ave. and, when my son was little, we put him in his stroller and walked down there a few times to get ice cream. Haven’t gone in there in a few years since my aunt passed. Good to know it’s still there and not torn down like some other “oldies” in the area.

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Sal June 26, 2013 - 12:18 pm

I miss the Carvel I used to go to as a kid on Flatbush Avenue near Ave J. That one had the cones too.

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queensbee June 26, 2013 - 2:34 pm

there’s one on FrannieLew up in whitestone. the stores may change, but the carvel stays the same!-

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Tal Barzilai June 26, 2013 - 5:47 pm

I did remember seeing on old Carvel stand up somewhere between Bedford Hills and Mt Kisco over in Westchester County, but that place wasn’t used for a while since they moved out of there and was recently demolished.

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Howie Weber June 26, 2013 - 7:43 pm

I grew up in Ridgewood in the 50s and that Carvel predated me I believe. It outlasted the solid brick Herman Ringe building on the other side of Forest Avenue. Given its status as an original design Carvel ( or so we speculate) I wonder if the city should declare it a landmark.

And Ivan I think they also used Fudgie the Whale as Santa Claus at Christmas.

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steve June 26, 2013 - 7:49 pm

Good ice cream, good memories. Looks much that same as it has for many decades. There had been more Carvels around: this was not even the only one on Metropolitan Ave.

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The Cheese June 27, 2013 - 1:09 am

This makes me nostalgic for the commercials on WOR 9/Secaucus with old Tom Carvel himself urging you to get a Cookie Puss for your next birthday.

My childhood Carvel was the one on Huffmann Road in Anchorage Alaska, but the ice cream was the same at any store!

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rm June 27, 2013 - 8:13 am

OMG, this is the Carvel my father worked in as a kid in the very late 50’s, I used to go there with him well into the 80s. It’s lost most of the luster it once had, but it’s great to see this place is still around!

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Gary Fonville June 27, 2013 - 5:53 pm

There’s an “old skool” Carvel’s similar to this one on the SE corner of E.189th Street & Webster Avenue in da Bronx.

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steven June 27, 2013 - 8:28 pm

I pass it every day on my way to work. I hope it stays around for a while but I’m afraid the property will be worth more than the business of selling ice cream. Many of the Carvels had their own parking lots like the one on Union Turnpike in Queens. The owner sold out for a lot of money.

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ron s June 27, 2013 - 9:11 pm

There used to be a Carvel on 31st st in Astoria, but it exploded (actually)

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Maria June 27, 2013 - 10:09 pm

my parents and I just bought a house right on 56th , so my mom’s 2nd floor apt has a great view of the carvel. Sometimes I stalk , sometimes i just want to know if the dunkin donut is busy. Either way I grown up in this neighborhood and It nice to say I look at a landmark everyday, and bonus I can tell most people I live by the carvel and everyone knows exactly where I am…who needs gps. BTW one of the cones was lost in Irene the second was lost to sandy. But its going to stay that way Im sure.

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BST June 29, 2013 - 7:52 pm

I love Carvel so much that my Georgia-born wife had the Beverly Hills Carvel make us a wedding cake with (my favorite) Cherry Bonnet decoration!

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steve July 1, 2013 - 3:47 pm

does anybody remember the carvel ice cream truck along with mr. softee,freezer fresh, bungalow bar,good humor that came around madison st and fresh pond rd in the early 1960’s. how about cotton candy and the many rides by truck.

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Chris in Poway October 11, 2013 - 12:54 pm

That “B” rating in the window is worrisome.

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Art Kurtz September 25, 2014 - 9:25 pm

I go to this Carvel when visiting my cousin in Queens. The “old School” Carvels offer ALL the original products…. The two “free standing” old school Carvels I know of are Metropolitan Avenue (this one) and Avenue Y and Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn. You can get items not available at the newer “corporate” stores at these two- such as number shaped ice cream cakes.

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steve December 6, 2014 - 9:30 pm

does anyone remember in the 60’s carvel ice cream truck. madison park and fresh pond rd.

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Richie December 25, 2014 - 6:54 pm

carvel at Bath Av Bklyn NY 11214 has it all!

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jose ruiz January 5, 2019 - 7:58 pm

Wasn’t there a Carvel on the corner of Bushwick and Metropolitan?

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RM July 20, 2020 - 7:18 am

My grandfather owned a Carvel franchise in the early 60s (I don’t know where) – but my father worked in it and gained 10 pounds over a summer the story goes. Some fond memories as a kid, eating this wonderful stuff at the Metropolitan avenue location pictured. Every birthday someone had a Carvel ice cream cake loaded with extra crunchies in it.

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