 
Jokerman
Member
Username: Jokerman
Post Number: 88
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 5:19 pm: |    |
If you grew up in the "Ruts" of NE Detroit (boundaries: 8 Mile, 7 Mile, Gratiot, Kelly Rd.) in the fifties and sixties you must remember Danny the Ice Cream Man. He seemed really old. He would push his cart all over the neighborhood (Burbank, St. Jude's, McGregor, Heilman Park etc.). I think he was Italian. His famous words were, "Strawberry, orange, banana, grape, sky blue ..."
Does anyone know who he was, where he lived, or what happened to him?
There also was Louie the Ice Cream Man. He drove a truck. No one liked him as much as Danny. |
Jokerman
Member
Username: Jokerman
Post Number: 89
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 6:51 pm: | |
Someone has to remember Danny! |
Patrick
Member
Username: Patrick
Post Number: 4422
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 16, 2007 - 7:51 pm: | |
My dad does....will get more details from him shortly... |
Jokerman
Member
Username: Jokerman
Post Number: 90
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 1:29 am: | |
bump |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 23
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 9:53 am: | |
I remember more of the Good Humor man coming around the neighborhood. Did Danny frequent Heilmann along crusade near Liberal and Manning near the hub of all the Heilmann activity? |
Jokerman
Member
Username: Jokerman
Post Number: 92
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 11:43 am: | |
Danny would push his cart all over the NE Ruts. He would be at Heilmann He would manage to be by St. Jude after school and also at Burbank after school. He pushed that cart for miles every day during the spring, summer, and fall. |
Kellyroad
Member
Username: Kellyroad
Post Number: 24
Registered: 04-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 12:13 pm: | |
Your really jogging my memory Jokerman. I lived a couple of blocks south of 7 Mile. I vaguely remember Danny. Didn't he sell ice cream on the Maddelein side of St. Jude? I graduated in 67 (from SJ). What years was he around? On a related note do you remember the guy who sold the Sunday Free Press from the back of his station wagon after Mass right in front of St. Jude Church? He did this for many years during the 60s. |
Gtat44
Member
Username: Gtat44
Post Number: 138
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 2:02 pm: | |
I remember the man that sold the paper, he did it right on through the early 80's. He sold it right on the corner of Redmond and 7 Mile. Where all the newlyweds would have their pics taken after coming down the big steps. Remember the Good Humor guy too. The one that rang the bells near his rear view mirror. What about the fruit and veggie guy "Free Stone Peaches 2 lbs. for one dolla!" |
Jokerman
Member
Username: Jokerman
Post Number: 93
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 7:27 pm: | |
Don't know anything about the Free Press guy, but Danny did not have any particular spot. He was all over the neighborhood, from 7 Mile to 8 Mile, from Kelly to Hayes. I don't remember when he was not around in the fifties. He was always there. He retired in the late sixties or early seventies. He seemed very old, even in the fifties, But, who doesn't look old to a ten year old? The Saint Jude playground is still probably covered with many multicolored stains from dropped and melted popsicles sold by Danny. A single was 5 cents and a double was a dime. They weren't the skinny kind that you had to break in half. They were the full-size rectangular shaped ones. |
Pinewood73
Member
Username: Pinewood73
Post Number: 39
Registered: 07-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, May 17, 2007 - 10:25 pm: | |
Wow now you guys have me wondering if Danny ever drove by my house on Pinewood in '73 |
Jokerman
Member
Username: Jokerman
Post Number: 94
Registered: 07-2005
| | Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 11:52 am: | |
Pinewood73: Danny did not drive. He pushed a little white ice cream cart around. He pushed that cart all over the neighborhood. I can't believe that more people from this neighborhood bounded by 7 Mile, 8 Mile, Kelly, and Gratiot don't remember Danny. He was an institution in the fifties and sixties. All the kids knew him. |
Rhymeswithrawk
Member
Username: Rhymeswithrawk
Post Number: 742
Registered: 11-2005
| | Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 1:20 pm: | |
Someone has to remember Danny!
Sure, I remember him. Always spouting off about "KING KWAME" and playing the race card at every chance. Didn't know he delivered ice cream, though. |
Detroitpetanque
Member
Username: Detroitpetanque
Post Number: 1
Registered: 09-2006
| | Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 2:40 pm: | |
As I recall, there was a Knife Sharpener man who played the same jingle on his truck as the Ice Cream man, so you can imagine the horrified looks kids would have when they ran, fists full of change, to a truck whose open windows had all sorts of scissors, cleavers, and long knives swinging from hooks. |
Gibran
Member
Username: Gibran
Post Number: 374
Registered: 02-2007
| | Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 2:50 pm: | |
too funny...Freddie selling icecream |
Patrick
Member
Username: Patrick
Post Number: 4428
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, May 18, 2007 - 2:51 pm: | |
Jokerman, you probably went to school with my mom or dad, or one of my aunts and uncles. My mom said the kids would mess with him and take his bell every now and then. He lived on Carlisle with his son or daughter. My mom lived on Collingham and dad lived on Rossini. I think she said he was Greek, but not sure on that. |
Bulletmagnet
Member
Username: Bulletmagnet
Post Number: 478
Registered: 01-2007
| | Posted on Saturday, May 19, 2007 - 9:16 am: | |
Welcome to Detroitpetanque. I recall all kinds of street venders from my yoot. There was the fruit truck guy calling out "..apples, bananas, sweet corn, freestone peaches.." and the various Good Humor men.."jing-agin-a-jing".. and the knife guy with th PA, "Sharpin' ya knives!"..and the guy with the home made airplanes built with bottle caps and beer cans. He would fly them over head and they would make a cool buzzing sound. This was on Farmbrook and E. Warren, so he may not have gotten that far. I remember the free 'fizzies' that the GH Man gave away one summer. We would pop them in our mouth whole and look like mad grape dogs. |
Newport1128
Member
Username: Newport1128
Post Number: 4
Registered: 05-2007
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 7:33 pm: | |
I grew up around the Jefferson-Chalmers area in the 1950's and 60's, and we had "Uncle George" as our ice cream man, in addition to Good Humor trucks and even the tricycle carts. Uncle George was a bald guy with a moustache, glasses, and a deep voice. He would hand out cards that entitled you to a free ice cream if you got 10 punches on your card. It was a big day when the first "Mister Softee" truck arrived on my block..except you got tired of the annoying music they played. The tinkling bells of Uncle George were much more pleasant...and we heard them distinctly, even when the door and windows were closed! |