Encounters with ice cream stand tall among my strongest childhood memories. I’ll never forget the rush of excitement that accompanied the approach of the ice cream man into our neighborhood, bells ching-a-linging on his white truck with its freezer packed with an array of wondrous frozen treats.
An illustration of Elsie the Cow, the Borden Dairy mascot, adorned the truck’s side, reminding us of her vital contributions in helping satisfy my and my friends’ collective craving for creamy sweets. Those brief stops of the ice cream truck on our street presented my first decision-making experiences: Fudge bar? Ice cream cup? Popsicle (orange, lime, cherry or grape?) Or ice cream cone in the snug paper wrapper?
Ice cream delivered direct on a hot summer day. There was nothing like it.
Several familiar dairies churned out ice cream for us in New Jersey, but the PenSupreme brand sticks in my mind. (Consulting Google, I discovered the company still exists, based in Lancaster, Pa.). I especially liked their vanilla and chocolate ice cream cups, the chocolate providing semi-sweet contrast to the vanilla’s pure sweetness. And if you let it sit just a little bit, the creamy melted-ness made it even more fun.
We had a local Dairy Queen, a little walk-up business that quickly dispensed soft-serve cones, dishes and milkshakes for consumption in your car. You could take them home, but they’d be soupy by the time you arrived.
But my most vivid memory of all is of Costa’s ice cream parlor, on French Street in downtown New Brunswick. My mom was the kind of person that never met a stranger, so she and Mrs. Costa had struck up a friendship. Seems like mom, my sister Ida and I visited there at least once a week, maybe more often.
There were “5 &10’s” in town – Newberry’s and Woolworth’s – predecessors of today’s huge department stores. They featured soda fountains that served not only ice cream and shakes, but also hamburgers, grilled cheese sandwiches and fries. However, for me Costa’s was the best: cozy, friendly, casual.
I remember dishes of ice cream, served in icy tin bowls, or real milkshakes made with one of those machines with a steel rod that spun milk and ice cream together in tall metal mixing cups. The creamy, frothy drinks it produced never failed to delight.
Costa’s was more than an ice cream store, however. It was a “variety store,” selling an assortment of stuff ranging from toys, baseball cards, and cheap jewelry to handy household items, combs and brushes, and my favorite – comic books. Back then Superman, Popeye, Archie and Little Lulu comics only cost 10 cents each. Once in awhile they arrived at the store in “giant” sizes, priced at 25 cents apiece.
I was an avid book reader, but comic books were my special vice. Whenever I was ill, perhaps with a cold or a virus and had to stay home from school, my mom would drive to Costa’s and soon return with an armload of comic books. Made it almost fun to get sick!
For me, Costa’s was mostly a place to receive stuff. But one Christmas it was where I found something neat to give. “Christian home” was not a term we ever used to describe our family surroundings. But my mother loved records (the old 33 and 45 rpm vinyls, played on real record players) with hymns sung by people like Tennessee Ernie Ford and Teresa Brewer. She also liked religious artwork.
So leading up to that Christmas, I had diligently saved my weekly allowance (I think I got 25 cents a week) and went to Costa’s to buy a replica of Leonardo daVinci’s “The Last Supper” that had been hanging on a wall for sale there. The artwork had a light mounted at the top of the frame so it could be viewed at all times, day or night.
Mom loved that picture and for years displayed it proudly in our living room, visible day and night for all to see. The original painting by da Vinci is world famous, of course, even subject of some controversy today, thanks to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. But all I knew back then was it seemed like a nice picture of Jesus depicted in a familiar Bible scene.
One other thing: In da Vinci’s painting, no one’s eating ice cream.
Aloha;
I found your article googling Costaʻs Ice Cream. A tour of the factory in Woodbridge when I was a kid still brings back sweet memories. Costaʻs ice cream was the BEST! –Now in Hawaii –a long way and many years from New Jersey.
I also found your article by googling Costa’s Ice Cream. I’m a direct descendent of the Costa’s family and there is little ever spoken about the family business, much in part because of the way it ended. Regardless it is nice to hear good things about a business my relatives seemed to so much enjoy.
Isaw your comment. I was googling Costa Ice cream. This was the brand that was featured in our local soda fountain-Hy Lee’s- in Bogota, NJ when I was growing up. What did happen to them?
I don’t recall Costa’s in New Brunswick as the brand of ice cream. It was a variety store – with a soda fountain, comic books, toys and various knick-knacks – that was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Costa. At least that’s my recollection. There was a local ice cream parlor (that’s what we called it, anyway) that sold Pensupreme Ice Cream. My favorite was the vanilla-chocolate. Do you remember that brand?
Sorry I didn’t respond to your comment earlier. You talked about the family business, “the way it ended.” I don’t know anything about that. I remember dishes of ice cream in those aluminum bowls, milkshakes, and comic books. Those were the days!
My father was a My father was a distributor for Costas ice cream in Brooklyn, New York when I was a little girl in the 1950’s He brought it to New York,it was a very good ice cream.
I also googled- I was curious because I have an ice cream scoop we still use with “Costa’s Ice Cream” imprinted on it. I am also originally from northern NJ- Union. Great reading about your memories!
I lost touch with a Costa family member so never realized a hope of visiting COSTA Ice Cream. I am sorry that it is no more. I hope “how it ended” has been overcome.
I remember Costas Ice Cream Factory, very vividly. My grandmother worked there for 23 years and it was like one big family. My mom and I, many times would pick her up after work, because she didn’t drive. When I got to Costas, I would run in because as a 7 yr. old boy, was very fascinated by those fast machines, plus the ladies always gave me free ice cream. Their Brown Cows were the best. Those ladies I could never forget, they were the kindest people you could ever meet.
I am 54 years old and never forgot that big family that worked there. I remember there names as follows: Edith Sanderson, Ethel Hermann, Veronica Gatyas, (my grandmother) Rose Clark, Rose Donelly, Grace Mehm, Anne Brinkman, (shop steward) Joan Burk, Rose Gatyas, Goldie, Mary Kubak, Kaye Green, Mary Pavlak, Ann McGoff, Winnie, Vita, Eugene Gatyas, (forklift operator) Betty Moffet, Glenice, Gazelle, little Jimmy, (machine operator) Sal Costa, (one of the owners) Ann Sab and Millie. I probably could recall some more but these were the ones who come to mind.
Costas went out of business in 1977. It was located on Rt.1 in the Avenel section of Woodbridge, NJ. Some of the workers went over to Haagen Daz in Woodbridge, afterwards. I wish there were more pictures of the plant. If anybody has any, please contact me at petekerekes@gmail.com I could never forget those times.
I think I remember one thing about the Costa’s Ice Cream cups with the wood spoons. My mother used to get them for us in the mid 60’s when I was 6 years old. Weren’t they white with pink and light blue on them? If so, every time I see something with pink and light blue together, I get a flashback of those delicious ice cream cups.
I don’t remember the wooden spoons at Costa’s, but do remember them at another ice cream store in New Brunswick. I think it was the PennSupreme ice cream shop (might be spelled PenSupreme), and I always liked getting vanilla-chocolate ice cream in those little cups.
i have an old costas ice cream ice pick. is there any value on it?
David, frankly, I have no idea of whether an old Costa’s ice pick has any value. If you were to find the right person, perhaps, but it’s obviously a very limited market.