Winter ice cream sodas - more than ice cream

A vanilla soda with chocolate ice cream is not the typically desired treat on a storm swept day in Ocean Grove, NJ http://www.oceangrovenj.com/ unless like me you are about to return to Europe where the treat is impossible to come by.

The combination has been a favorite of mine since the time I would go to Torre’s in my hometown of Reading, MA. Torre's was an old-fashioned ice cream parlor with dark booths. The smell of ice cream and hot fudge permeated the air. If I ever defected from my soda, the sundaes were served in silver dishes with hot fudge spilling over onto the matching silver saucers. Saturday afternoons after football games or on Friday nights before Rainbow I would treat myself to one or the other.

Years later, my daughter would spend summers in Ocean Grove, bleaching her blond hair white and changing her skin to the color of chocolate ice cream. I would visit on weekends, and a trip to Nagle’s for a soda was a necessity. Two decades later on a return visit to this mile-square town with its Victorian houses, a trip was equally necessary.

Entering is entering a time warp. The floor is a black and white mosaic. An old fashioned soda fountain with a bar and stools is along a windowed wall-filled with clear, blue and green glass jars. On one counter is a 1937 winner certificate from the Racing Forum given to Sea Biscuit hangs as well as the colors his jockey wore in a race. Under glass each table has yellow newspapers from the 30s and 40s. Houses for summer rentals are listed. The price of food and are other goods are what we would pay in sales tax on the same goods today.

Nagle’s was there long before I was born. The chocolate ice cream and vanilla soda existed long before I was born. However, the one that I had on a cold day was more than a just a soda, it was a memory that tasted damn good.