Currie’s Ice Cream
The Pacific Electric Fletcher Drive viaduct looms in the background of this street-level view of the intersection of Riverside Drive and Fletcher, famously home to Currie’s Ice Cream (and less famously, Richfield Gas).
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[…] that only left one item of business. To put a nightcap on a perfect day, we stopped in at Currie’s Mile-High Ice Cream, the (surprise!) apotheosis of the ice cream maker’s art. Need I point out that they had the […]
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Curry’s Ice Cream was on Riverside Drive and Fletcher, not San Fernando Rd.
The Glendale-Burbank line northboud tracks bordered my grandfather’s property near the corner of Riverside and Alessandro.
It’s still there as Home Restaurant.
interesting so your father property was near the school on Alessandro, did you happen to attend school there , maybe i attened there with your GrandFather. could be. My first job getting my feet wet into working after HS and John Marshall was Curries in this Picture the Manager was Mrs Fox and i went to school with her daughter Mildred…I left Los Angles for other parts. I have fond memories of working at Curries off of Riverside Drive, and the one in Glendale. So what is your fathers name at the time i went to school at Alessandro my name was Sharon Ritchie, I granduated from JMHS 1962 we might have gone to school together there also. I lived off of Riverside Dr and Glen Eden before the Freeway came through………..anyone from my generation that would like to contact me its trackersea@juno.com
Brings back fond memories. I was 10 used to sell the la Heald Examiner in front. Then would treat myself to a chocolate milkshake. Where I would play favorite song on one of the jukeboxes that were around the counter
When I was a kid we used to get “Currie cones” here that were absolutely delicious. My mom took us on the Red Car line the last day it ran. Thanks for helping bring back a great memory!
Thank you so much for posting. I have lived in Elysian Valley all 26 years of my life and it is so amazingly beautiful to learn about the history! I love my neighborhood and would love to know who the first family to live in my house was.
I grew up here, on Eads and Cabot streets, went to Dorris Place Elementary, Washington Irving Jr. High, and then John Marshall High. We used to to to Curries often in the 1950’s, I was born in 1945. We played at Allesandro playground all summer, and down in the concreted L.A. River. We would climb up into Elysian Park, and watched as Dodger Stadium was being built. My house on Eads was removed and the Golden State Freeway is on top of the neighborhood. There were many little shops and businesses on Riverside Dr: a Safeway, a movie theatre, a tack store, a barber, etc. all gone for the I-5. I was married in St. Anns Catholic Church in 1964, left town, and never returned except to visit my parents in Glendale.
oh my gosh, John Hartz,,,,its like the olden days coming back to life, I remember you for two of the schools you mentioned and the LA river my play ground. you will see my name and we are in the JMHS book I wouldn’t say we were not best of friends but who didn’t know John Hearz? Everyone.. I liked this pix of Curries my first job to get my feet wet in having a job, my father said i didn’t need to work until i graduated from school, and this one was my first one for the summer months later i went to work at Curries in Glendale. Mrs Fox the manager and her daughter Mildred who went to school with us we grew up together…………Hope you are doing well, you must be like me a senior in life, wow a senior again. by the way my name was or is Sharon Ritchie. The quite girl in school, but quite no more I found my voice……….I use to walk the road on Riverside drive to get a scoop of ice cream when I went to Alessandro st school, and Washington Jr High School until they bought up all the land near my home on Glen Eden Street and we had to move but I still lived in the area for attending John Marshall HS class of S62.
Does anyone remember if Currie’s was ever at another location on Riverside Drive? I seem to recall getting Mile High cones from a store on the north side of Riverside as my family walked from Griffith Park to catch the red car back home to Echo Park. Is my memory just wrong, or did Currie’s have another location in 1944-1945?
There was a Curries in the Windsor Hills Shopping Center (Slauson & Overhill) and the cone shaped sign, though painted over, remained for many years after the place closed – was still up in the 1980s.
I think this photo was taken in late 1958, just before the bridge was removed.. If you look closely, ther4e is no trolley wire, the line had been abandoned since June 1955.
I worked at the Slauson Curries for several years part time in between working at the Fox Market next door. Got me through high school cars and gas money. 1955-1957
Yes, Currie’s was a chain. The home of the Mile High cone. The scooper is as an elongated scoop the scoops of ice cream were long oval shapes. I am very old and I remember in my childhood that Curries made their own cones in a small waffle iron. You could watch them being made
I lived on Valdena In Windor Hills until 1958.
My grandmother would walk my sister and I to Curries for Mile Hight Cones or malts. All the high school kids hung out their.
I lived on the cul-de-sac behind that store.
There was a Curries Mile-High Parlor on Riverside Dr just inside Burbank @ Clybourn Ave…Gone now but was a contemporary of Bob’s Big Boy & The Hot Dog Show both established in 1949…
When I was probably 8-10 we would frequent the Curries in Downey California on Firestone Bvd , always liked the special shape of the ice cream wen scoped onto the cone
what landmark was Curries near, Vern, when did they close? I don’t recall it at all… missed that one it seems.
There was a Curries in Monrovia, on Foothill Blvd. near the Aztec Hotel. It opened some time after the PE Monrovia line quit, but there is a story from this area. There was a Bob’s Big Boy on the nearby corner of Magnolia and Foothill. This was where the RTD bus (492?) from LA laid over. One day I went by there and spotted Harry Oswald, whom I knew from Orange Empire, where he was a volunteer motorman. He had a part-time run on the RTD (he was a teacher during the day) and he had been doing this for quite a while. The last time I saw him, he was running a Blue Line train from LA to Long Beach–he had built up enough seniority to bid a job on the first electric railway line in LA since the PE quit. He passed away shortly thereafter, but not before his dream had come true.
I too have been to the one in Monrovia. Best ice cream in the world! Peppermint ice cream on a sugar cone! Yum!
This location of Currie’s Ice Cream brings back a vivid memory from my childhood. My maternal grandmother and my stepfather took me and my sisters for ice cream. When my stepfather attempted to order for us, the woman behind the counter said, “We don’t serve Mexicans.”
My grandmother, who was Italian, asked if they served Italians. The woman said that they did because “Italians were white,” so my grandmother ordered ice cream for each of us kids, and then ordered an ice cream cone for herself with three scoops.
Once she paid for everything, she threw her triple-cone into the face of the woman. It was the first time I had ever heard the “F-word” as a kid…and the last time we ever went to Currie’s.
Times sure have changed…thank goodness.
Wow, what a story, Nickolas! Thank you for sharing. – ed.
When I lil girl every Sunday we would go for a ride and go Curries for Ice Cream,the best Mile High IceCreamCone, don’t know why they went out business late 60s. who remember that place it was in Montebello onWhittier Bl
Bad story with a great ending!
Interesting that sales woman said, “We do not…” Must have been Currie stores’ policy, any Curries in LA Hispanic neighborhoods? Great, grandma!
Seeing the photo of Currie’s Ice Cream brings back fond childhood memories.
My uncle’s 76 Gas Station (Pat Nardoni) was up the street and I remember going to the Currie’s ice cream parlor often . . . “those were the good old days.”
Daniel – Is your uncle still alive? I googled his name along with “76 station” and was shocked this popped up? My father and your uncle were friends…I actually remember him a little.
My uncle died about 15 years ago. His son, Pat Jr. died from a stroke in January 2014.
There was a Curries at Eastern and Huntington Drive in El Sereno. Many PE Blimps sounded that screeching horn at that intersection which I called the PE freeway.
There was a curries at Adams and Victoria or Wellington. The lary a car had a crossover there for cars that turned back at Crenshaw. Their strawberry ice cream was the best. I seem to remember one on soto street in Boyle heights.
When I was very little, living on Oakwood Ave, I remember going with my parents to Curries on Beverly Blvd, just off of Heliotrope in Los Angeles. Good memories, miss those days…
There also was a Currie’s on Western & 84th pl. in South L.A…..the cone has been painted over for decades .the building is a beauty supply store.
how did the Curry folks make their ice cream cones that shape? Was there a special shaped scooper?
Yes, it was elongated, about 3 or 4 inches. It was almost straight but had a shallow side-to-side curve. It would be held vertically and pulled downward to create the tall pillar of ice cream.
I still of curries on fletcher drive and riverside drive. I never knew when it closed though. I went to a few of schools on both sides of the railroad tracks I went to Irving and worked at Van me kamp restaurant on fletcher drive.
You are the second person here who went to Irving – so did I. Never knew of any others til now – we moved after graduation and I went to Eagle Rock for hs. We would go the Currie’s pictured here – so long ago.
i’m trying to recreate from memory the currie’s jingle. here’s what i remember; can anyone email me and tell me if it’s right?
mile high currie’s stores
mile high ice cream cones
mile high malts, double thick
hurry to currie’s double quick
I can’t remember the first two lines, but the last two lines you have are correct. I’m looking for an mp3 of it. If I get lucky, I’ll come back and post a link. 🙂
You’re absolutely right about those words.
The tune never leaves you once you hear it, like Dr. Ross dog food. I remember every word of that jingle and the woof at the end…
Mile high ice cream cones
Mile high ice cream cones
…..
Hurry to Curries in your neighborhood
Curries deserved to go out of business with that jingle.
There was a Curries on Whittier Blvd in Montebello,I think. 4 or 5 years ago, the sign was still there, just painted over. We used to see it when we rode the 72 RTD bus from Pico to downtown LA to go shopping at Bullock’s etc in the early 60’s.
There was a Currie’s Ice Cream store in Glendale at the northeast corner of California and Central Avenues (across from Sears). It closed in 1963 and was torn down to build a Shell gas station (which is gone now, too).
Charley, Yes there was a Curries in Glendale right across the street was Sears and up the street from Curries was a sandwich shop I loved the little area, almost as much as the one on Riverside Drive, That was the last one i worked at in Glendale before leaving the big city. I really enjoyed my time waiting on customers got me out of my shyness . I am not shy anymore. I have fond memories of this time era in my life its too bad that Curries went out of business, wow must have closed in 1963 right after I left. It was a busy place can’t figure why they closed them many people came in for lunch and a little ice cream too……….
There was a Curries store in Westchester and one in Redondo Beach @1958 my dad owned 1 and my grandpa worked in the other one. And I have the scoop!!!!
My father owned a Curries in San Bernardino, it was at 7th and Avenue E (about 1949-50) I have a dish from there. Would love to see a picture of the scoop.
We used to go to Curries in Westchester when we weren’t getting five cent cones at Savon drugs. The Currey was on Sepulveda Boulevard on the end of downtown Westchester toward the airport.
Beginning to look like half the world was at Irving at some time. Yes, then on to ERHS. Frequented Van de Kamps and Bobs Glendale. Even have a ship in a bottle made from Robert (Bob) Wian’s business cards after he left….job reads “Retired Frycook”! Pretty down to earth for a guy who did so well.
Part of the Curries’ jingle was ‘Hurry to Curries in your neighborhood’. There was Curries in Covina on Barranca near the Eastland Shopping Center.
There was a curries on Balboa Blvd up in Granada Hills.. Balboa Thai Restaurant is written over the old Curries sign
My family owned a curries on PCH in Redondo Beach in the late 1950’s.
Anyone remember? Liza Minelli would stop on way home from Chadwick school in PV.
During the 40’s my dad worked for theSouthern Pacific railroad. Whenever we took him to the rr yard mom would buy us an ice cream at Curries. There also was a Curries in San Fernando on McClay next to the Town Theatre. Great memories!
We had a Currie’s in Lakewood CA. For about a year, then poof! Gone
I grew up in Redondo and remember Curries in all the South Bay “beach cities”. Redondo, Hermosa and Manhattan. We’d hang out on the beach all day Sunday, go to one of the BBQ pits for supper, then to Curries for ice cream afterwards. This was in the early 1950’s. Magical times!!!
Amigos,
In the 1950s, our parents used to take me and my two brothers to the “ice cream” store on Riverside Drive across the street and about 100 feet north of Currie’s. The 5 Freeway is there now. The popular store actually sold “ice milk” and not real ice cream. It was really inexpensive and there was always a line at the store. Currie’s sold real ice cream but was too expensive for our family. I think it was forced to close because of “false advertising” or something similar. It sure wasn’t closed for lack of business! Does anyone remember the name of the “ice milk” store or have any photos of it?
My two younger brothers and I were raised on and lived on Mt Washington from birth to adults. We all went to Mt Washington Elementary School and then to Washington Irving Jr High School. I graduated from Irving in 1960. Half my friends went on to Eagle Rock High School and the other half to John Marshall High School. Some of you might remember me. However, our home address required we all attend Franklin High School where I graduated in 1963. We all played football for Franklin and always played against Marshall, Eagle Rock, Lincoln, Belmont, etc. My brother Tom graduated in 1965 and brother Gary in 1966. I joined LAPD in 1967 and my brothers followed in 1968 and 1969.
I now live in both Cabo San Lucas, Mexico and La Crescenta, CA. FYI, I built Happy Ending Cantina & Boutique in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in 2008. Check us out on Trip Advisor. Stop by if you’re ever in Cabo! Gene, “El Jefe.” My email address is HappyEndingGene@gmail.com.
There was a Currie’s in the San Fernando Valley, Reseda, on Sherman Way, near White Oak Ave, back in the 50’s… I think it was in a Von’s shopping center. I used to love their Hot Fudge Sundaes, with the little individual porcelain pitchers filled with their hot fudge. It was such a special treat to go with my mother for one of those sundaes!
I went there too and remember the hot fudge pitcher. NEVER have had hot fudge like theirs again.
What happened to Cirrys Ice Cream, on Valley Blvd, El Monte?
We used to go there in 1947-1948.
We lived in the neighborhoo, when we went to the Dr. she would always give us, as children, a coupon for free ice cream at Curries for being a good child. I also remember visiting Curries because it was close to Roger Yound Village were we temporaly lived as an ex-veteran famil. At the time I was about five or six