Great mid-70's shot
Elizabeth Spoon a.k.a. "The Ice Cream Lady"
Spoon's opened on Hawthorne Lane in 1929 and was owned by Whitney and Elizabeth Spoon. Elizabeth earned the nickname "The Ice Cream Lady" from the generations of families that flocked to Spoon's for all of her homemade flavors. The Spoons would sell the business in 1978 and food was added to the menu. Ice cream was still served but not from Elizabeth's famous recipes. The standing building is all that currently remains of the Spoon's legacy and ice cream.
In the 50's and 60's growing up in Charlotte, Spoon's was THE PLACE for ice cream. Other places served ice cream, but Spoon's is where we went for special occasions.
ReplyDeleteMike S.
Today, it would be called artisanal ice cream, but back then, it was just called homemade. How about being able to walk in and ask the owner to make your favorite flavor of ice cream next week? Yup, Mrs. Spoon would do it. Amazing.
ReplyDeletelove finding this history just by searching for spooons
ReplyDeleteCharlotte has "lost" a lot of old businesses I remember as a kid. I was in the area the other day and I didn't know where I was at, the changes Charlotte has made. Street names have changed, houses torn down, only to be replaced with condo's, neighborhoods changed. I wanted to see if Stanley drug was still standing, but I didn't wanta take the chance of it not being there.
ReplyDeleteI remember Spoons having the "BEST" homemade ice cream ! I'll cherish my memories..
I used to ride my bike to spoons when they sold ice cream in their home off Graham Street. A large cup for a nickel!!
ReplyDeleteMy grandmother lived in an apartment building on 5th Street in the 1950's and she and I would walk down the sidewalk to Spoons when I visited. Those are very precious memories to me. She died when I was 10.
ReplyDeleteEd Finman. We lived in the Hawthorne apts so we'd walk to Spoons often. I especially remember the time we walked there in the rain. I said something about how much it was raining & Mrs. Spoon exclaimed, "isn't wonderful how it turns everything green! I love the rain!"
ReplyDeleteMy brother, Steve and I used to work for Ms. Spoon in the early 1970s on Hawthorne Lane when we were teenagers. We lived in the Elizabeth area when it was still a working-class neighborhood. My fondest memories were making the ice cream during the week (five gallons at a time) and making ice cream sandwiches on Saturdays and Sundays. I loved waiting on customers. We also made really good hot dogs! Ms. Spoon was a wonderful person to work for and a good friend. -Bryan McCuller
ReplyDelete