We All Scream For Ice Cream!

(All of us at the Biz are thrilled to have our second guest post, this one from first time author Frankie The K, a lifelong Coal Regioner and a big fan of the Biz!. This article is the first in a series of 3 from Frankie The K.)

Boston may be the “ice cream capital of the country,” but when it comes to that delicious confection, the Coal Region area in Pennsylvania is no slouch.

In this article I will attempt, as best I can, to write about the many businesses in our area that have, or have in the past, sold ice cream and other tempting delights.

Mt. Carmel

I was raised in Mt. Carmel, so I am most familiar with the ice cream places there, so that’s where we’ll begin. Most of the places in Mt. Carmel no longer exist, but I remember them well from my childhood in the 1950s.

I Scream For Ice Cream

Any article about ice cream in Mt. Carmel must start with Langis’s, that wonderful eating place on the southwest corner of Oak and Third Streets.

When you walked in the door, to the left would be the shelves that sold sheet music, magazines and comic books. Across from the shelves were glass cases containing the candy that Langis’s made in their basement.

I particularly remember the milk chocolate Easter figures that they sold. They also made their own ice cream, and that was excellent! There was also a soda fountain next to the magazine racks because they also sold sandwiches, hot dogs, and such.

Langis’s Favorite Customer

The back half of the store had rows of wooden booths for the customers who wanted to enjoy their ice cream (and the other food made there) in relative comfort.

Over the years the wooden sides of the booths had been carved up with initials, messages and secrets, and the undersides of the tables were the repositories of decades’ worth of chewed gum!

When you appeared ready to order, the waitress would come and greet you with that famous Coal Region question: “What are youse having?” I often had the urge to say “weze are having…” but never got up the courage.

The Black & White

Langis’s sold all kinds of ice cream and milkshakes and sundaes and banana splits, but MY FAVORITE was always “The Black & White.” The B&W was one scoop of chocolate ice cream and one of vanilla, covered in delicious marshmallow cream sauce, chocolate syrup, and topped with ground peanuts and a maraschino cherry!

As a drink I would order a vanilla coke. That was a fountain coke with a bottom layer about 1/3 of an inch thick of REAL vanilla. Drinking and eating those two things were the closest I came to heaven as a young guy!

Outside of Langis’s was the hangout for the local youth (pronounced “yoot” by many coal regioners), but we never blocked the sidewalk and always moved along when one of the local police told us to go.

Across the street from Langis’s, on the northwest corner of Third and Oak was the Rea & Derick drugstore, which also had a soda fountain. After seeing a movie at the Victoria Theater (affectionately called “The Vickie” by everyone), which was was one half-block to the west on Third Street, we would go to R&D and sit on a stool and get ice cream or a soda.

It wasn’t as really as good a place to take a date like Langis’s—mostly because there were no booths—but it was good for a quick stop to boost your sugar level.

I don’t recall if either Woolworth’s or Newberry’s Five & Dime stores had soda fountains, so I’m not going to say they didn’t. If anyone knows different, please let me know in your comments!

Martz’s and Mauer’s

In an alley bounded on the east by Fourth Street, on the west by Fifth Street, on the north by Market Street, and on the south by Hickory Street, there was a tiny walk-in store run by Martz’s from Shamokin that scooped out cones, but mostly quarts of ice cream.

The place was so small that only two people could enter at a time. My clearest memory of this place is the time my sister went to order a hand-packed quart of vanilla and chocolate, and asked the older gentleman to please put the chocolate on top.

Ice Cream Children

Eyeing her with a sour face, he said, “What do you want me to do with the bottom, throw it away?” Despite that we continued to patronize the store.

Across the viaduct that entered Mt. Carmer from the north was Mauer’s ice cream place. In addition to ice cream it sold some groceries.

I remember Mauer’s sold eggs by the dozen because one day, when I was a senior in high school, several friends and I (including my future wife) purchased a few dozen eggs.

We were students at Mount Carmel Catholic and we were preparing to drive to Shamokin to bombard the students of our bitter rival, Our Lady of Lourdes High School, who hung out at a place called Al Povish’s on Market Street.

We eventually made several passes of Al’s, flinging eggs and having them thrown at us in return by the Lourdes crowd. My friend’s Chevy station wagon was pretty messed up by the end of the action (oddly—or not oddly—no police ever got involved), so we went to my girlfriend’s house in “the Heights” to wash off the car.

My parents weren’t too thrilled about this escapade and I paid for my participation by being grounded for a week!

I can’t think of any other ice cream places in Mount Carmel, so let’s go on to other venues.

(Ed. note: Parts 2 & 3 of this series will appear later this week!)

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