Does anyone else besides me remember Mell-o-Rolls? When I was a babe, my Mom would take me for a walk in a stroller. A favorite destination was the Sugar Bowl. The Sugar Bowl was an oceanside refreshment stand down Breezy Point where we would spend the summers. My brother would sit in front of me in the stroller. It was a tight fit. He is ten months younger than I am and we didn't have a double stroller as you see nowadays. So the two of use would be squished in the one stroller.
Mom would push us south on Reid Avenue and we would stop every once and awhile so Mom could chat with someone who was hanging out there laundry or just sitting out on their front porch. These were summer bungalows and they sat close together and there was only one road into the place. Everyone knew everyone else. They had all been coming here every summer for a generation or more. My family started going there in the late 1800s. My Mom met my Dad there. It was a great family sort of place.
As we walked past the various bungalows, all types of shapes, various colors, some with porches, some with decks, some up a half flight of stairs, some low to the ground but none on the ground. This place was completely sand. There was no grass. All the bungalows were built on cinderblocks and it just depended how high the builder had gone. The houses lined both sides of the sidewalk. You couldn't drive to your place. There was a parking lot at the front of the Point and you unpacked your car and wagoned in your stuff. You didn't have to worry about traffic. What a lovely place! Trees would overhang the sidewalk along most of the walk so it was shady and we were not roasting even on the hottest summer days. When we would get to the intersection of Oceanside and Reid, the trees would end and it seemed the world would open up. In the middle of the two sidewalks a large stretch of sand, ocean and then blue blue sky would come into view. My brother and I knew we were in for a treat.
We would play in the sand. My Mom would dig a hole and let the water fill it. Then she would build a wall in the front to protect it from the waves. My brother and I would splash around in our private pool and make decorations with the wet sand on the "castle" that surrounded us. Our fun and laughter only interrupted occasionally by Mom reapplying suntan lotion. A quick rinse in the ocean--Mom supervised, of course--and Mom would change our wet suits for dry ones under a large beach blanket. She'd pack everything up and we would troop through the sand with Mom dragging the stroller. If it was an extra special day... If we had been especially good... If we had not fought or teased each other ... If... well, then, she'd say, "ice cream anyone?". We would both shout It was practically harmony, "Please, please!" She would laugh and say, "Since you've both been soooo polite". We would hop in the stroller and instead of heading straight down Reid for the walk home, Mom would make a left turn and roll us up the Sugar Bowl ramp. The Sugar Bowl is the type of place that really doesn't exist anymore. It had a wooden deck that was ocean battered and rather beat. Beware of splinters on bare feet! Inside the double doors you had a choice. There were swinging doors to the left that was the bar. There were swinging doors to the right and that was the concession stand area. The floors were black from decades of sandy footed customers making their way through. It would not pass health inspections nowadays. The smell of stale beer wafted up from the floor in the entrance way. At the concession stand side there were hot dogs and hamburgers and sodas of various kinds, there was a stand with a variety of candies displayed. But the best treat by far, the one I can close my eyes and still taste was the Mell-o-roll ice cream that was made by Borden's. It came in vanilla. I don't know if that was the only flavor but it was the only flavor we had and to this day it is the only vanilla ice cream I have ever liked and enjoyed. The ice cream came in a roll. It looked like the cardboard center of a toilet paper roll. The ice cream came covered in paper. There was a special cone that had a rectangular shaped receptacle for the ice cream at the top. The clerk would hand you the cone and the paper covered ice cream. You would unwrap the ice cream and PLOP it into the cone yourself. When I was a babe, my parent's always did it for me. I can still remember the day I was offered the opportunity to try and do it myself. I felt so grownup. It was wonderful. The best part of the Mell-o-Roll was the taste. It was rich rich rich and so smooth. I miss the way it would melt in your mouth. The best part about it for my parents, I'm sure, was due to the special cone you didn't have to worry about drips as the ice cream was totally inside the cone. The ice cream would drip but inside the cone so you would have that lovely vanilla taste all the way down to the last bite of cone.
I don't remember when Mell-o-Roll went away but it has been decades and the memory still lingers on. I also remember I didn't half mind being squished in with my baby brother on the trip home with my ice cream in hand as I had on the way there...lol.
Where did it go, my wonderful Mell-o-Rolls? I suppose it doesn't matter as I will always have its memory in my mind.
