Farrells Ice Cream Parlor
 

I hear Farrells Ice Cream Parlor is back in California. Anybody been there? How does it compare to the Farells of yesteryear? I worked at one in Indiana in '73. I ate ice-cream every work day for an entire year! Sometimes the bus boys finished off the left-over ice cream when a party failed to polish off their "Zoo" - can you imagine?!?! (We'd watch to make sure no one had actually eatten out of the big community "zoo bowl"!) :-)

That is wierd, I was just remembering the Farrells here in Miami last week and even asked my husband if he had ever been as a child. It closed about 25 years ago.

Oh my! I went to their website to see where they opened. Santa Clarita - I hope it's still standing after the fire. We're headed to L.A. soon and it's my birthday weekend. I have to stop for a trough but how do we do that when we're bringing the dogs?

I have wonderful childhood memories of Farrells. We went to the Sacramento Farrells, they had two, for every one of our birthdays. As I got older, I could eat a trough all to myself. Do you remember how they sang an "oink, oink" song if you finished a trough?

I remember when an airplane crashed into one of the Farrells in Sacramento - scary, scary. Anyway, thanks for the heads up on an old favorite.

I remember sharing a huge plate of french fries with my girl friends after we were done shopping in the mall. This was in Milwaukee, late 70's, early 80's. On the Zoos!

The airplane crashed into the Farrell's in Hayward Ca.
The place never recovered.

I remember (or think I do) getting a bunch of little plastic animals in my ice cream there.

I have fond memories of Farrells on Van Nuys Bl. in Van Nuys of course.
It was a tradition Glendale Community College to be taken there the night you tried out and were selected to be a cheerleader...what a fun time!! Great memories!

The dish with all the plastic animals was called "The Trough". Unfortunately, after a kid swallowed and choked on one they took that off the menu.

Shadow

I remember Farrells in Minnesota. Good memories! I would love for them to come back all over!

Pildredge: Unless Farrell's is one extremely unlucky company and planes are always falling on its stores -- the only plane crash into a Farrell's I know of was in Sacramento

http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites...crash_site.htm

Now another small private plane did crashland near a Farrell's in SoCal but did not hit the store itself.

I used to race sports cars and it was tradition after every meet we'd all head to Farrel's and have a Zoo.

We had a Farrell's in Missiojn Valley in San Diego when my kids were growing up and it was one of our favorite places when a special treat was in order. Even if you didn't get a banana split or a Trough, their regular sundaes were very large and very good.

Janisj; obviously you are correct and that is a great link for me to play with.
The Farrel's in hayward was right in the flight path of Hayward Airport and I would have sworn that was the one! or perhaps a crash near the Farrel's?
Thanks for the correct info...
I also remember my uncle wore a bright blue "jump suit" to Farrell's once as this was a fad shortly in the early 70's, then he died about 6 mos. later. The things we remember and the tricks our minds play
regards, Pil.

I still have a Farrells straw hat that one of my high-school friends wore when he worked there.

The plastic animals, the "zoo", and my favorite - the Clown Sundae - what great memories.

Oh gosh, I haven't thought about Farrells in ages!! My grandmother got a huge kick out of the way they would sing Happy Birthday to some unsuspecting person. I will always assocaite Farrells with her memory. :-))

PS That all happened in Houston, and I haven't seen a Farrells in TX in at least 20 years. :-(

When the Santa Clarita restaurant opened around 10 years ago, a few friends and I stopped by and had to try it out on our way to a baby shower we were attending in the area. We have all known each other since kindergarten, so we had shared birthday parties for many years at Farrell's. If you're in that area, it's definitely worth a visit. We laughed, ate ice scream and enjoyed some childhood memories.

Oh, I love Farrell's. We had one here in Houston and growing up that was always THE spot to have your birthday party - ice skating at The Galleria followed by ice cream at Farrell's! They had a big bass drum they would play when they marched around and sang Happy Birthday. I had almost forgotten all about it. Would love it if it came back!

volcanogirl, that's exactly the Farrells I was talking about!! That was fun indeed. :-D

Pildredge -
Noooooooooooo...it was Sacramento:

http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites...crash_site.htm
8-|

Just read JanisJ's post showing the same link.

Sightseer, thanks for sharing your story about Santa Clarita.

Fresno, CA in the Fig Garden Shopping Center... always a treat for birthdays, after youth group at church or for after the movies!

I'd go again in a heartbeat!

Yea, P_M, those are some great memories!

Yes, I got that and deferred above. thx

>>Fresno, CA in the Fig Garden Shopping Center... always a treat for birthdays, after youth group at church or for after the movies!<<

LOL Moneygirl - that was my Farrell's too!

Lee Ann

I remember the Farrells in Daly City (just south of San Francisco.) It was THE place to go when I was in high school.

Lee Ann... had no idea we are from the same neck of the woods! I was shopping at Fig Garden last weekend... it's changed a lot in some ways. Can you believe they have a Coach store? :) La Boulangerie is as good as ever!

When I was in high school here in Michigan in the seventies, many of my friends got jobs at Farrell's. New employees had to memorize the descriptions of the various ice cream things on the menu. It seems like someone was always walking around muttering those descritpions as they tried to memorize them!

I remember going to the Farrells in Troy, MI in front of the Oakland Mall quite a bit growing up. The last time I visited one was in my sophmore year of H.S. 82-83 and that was the one in Van Nuys, CA. Great memories for sure that my child and others can't experience today, how sad.

I remember going to Ferrells in the Bay Area somewhere. My husband ate a Trough, we never tackled the Zoo. I didn't think their ice cream was that great, but there sure was plenty of it and I'm a sucker for any ice cream, anywhere, anytime. I didn't realize that Ferrells had left CA.

After Farrell's left Houston, we got Swensen's. The food was good, but the atmosphere just wasn't the same.

I remember that when I was a kid, going to a birthday party at Farrell's was the ultimate at a time when birthday parties were usually at someone's house or the beach and not the extravaganzas they are now.

The Farrell's in Honolulu were closed for a long time, and at least one reopened maybe a year or so ago.

My sister went - for nostalgia's sake - and she says it's "not the same". Or maybe it's that she's not 8 yrs old anymore, facing a huge tub of ice cream aka "The Zoo".

There was one at Northgate mall in Seattle until probably just about 20 years ago. The Van Nuys Blvd. location is the one I remember best, though, because we'd always go there when we visited my "California Cousins".

I tried to tell my kids (now 23 & 25) about Farrell's but hadn't thought about it in years - not since they were small. I used to go to the one in Torrance, CA - and always loved it.

I just attended a Halloween party hosted by a longtime pal who worked at Farrell's while in college. Two other co-workers of his from those days were at the party as well. Funny I should run across this post! He is a total extrovert and had the perfect personality to wait tables there. We always thought Steve Martin ripped off his act from our pal! We used to go visit him and I can recall partaking of our share of ice cream. I remember the guys running around with the Zoo and pretending to spill it and having the bowl of confetti spill all over some poor slob!

I had no idea that Farrells were nation-wide. They just demolished the original Farrells in Portland, Oregon, about a year ago. It closed about four or five years before that, if my memory is correct.

It was a great place to scare the little kids. They always hit the floor when someone started banging on the drum, to deliver someone's free birthday sundae.

And the Zoo sundaes were divine!

There used to be one in Tigard, OR at Washington Square Mall. I remember as a child that it was a big deal to go there with my grandparents on special occassions. I still shop at that mall, but now the space is a Gap (yes, pun intended). It's just not the same, lol!

Another Fig Garden Farrell’s survivor here.

http://www.fresnofamous.com/node/1464

Wow, interesting how stories morph. It was the Farrells in Sacramento that the plane crashed into. I am also amazed it was nationwide.

BashfulLV, We always went to the one in Torrance, too. Good memories there.

The last time I checked we still had a Farrells in Eugene, OR. That is where I grew up and I went back there after seeing the Irish Dancers there a few years ago. I loved the ice cream as a child but remember most the large jawbreakers we would buy afterwards. We would work on them for months. Thanks for the memory

The Farrell's in Eugene is *still* there? That's the one I went to as a kid! Yes, the one in Portland was demolished a while back (I did go there a few times as an adult, and got a kick out of the old-fashioned candy at the counter). I don't remember that they had one at Washington Square. In the mall's early days, they had a little food court, which is now a McDonald's. Hey, as long as there's a Jamba Juice and a Cinnabon, I'm a happy camper.

Bear900, I'm having a childhood nostalgia fit! In fact, I can hear Al Radka's voice in my head right now, singing the Oberti Olives jingle! :-)) Thanks for that website.

Lee Ann