Food of the Seventies, Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours
I also have food pages for the 80s and 90s.
Picture Gallery
Loading images, if this message doesn't go away you may need to enable javascript in order to see pictures
No pictures available yet!
Description
This was a nationwide chain in the 70's. We never got to go to a party to try the "zoo" but we always watched others enjoy it as we were having ice cream there. When I think of my childhood it includes memories of Farrell's
Links for more info
The following are links about Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours you may find interesting. Also check out the other pages.
- No links have been submitted for this page yet.
Submit a link to more information about Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours
User Stories and Comments
The following are comments left about Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours from site visitors such as yourself. They are not spell checked or reviewed for accuracy.
These places were amazing and magical to a kid. I loved when our Dad took us there. It was almost a Willy Wonka type experience for us! The big huge lollipops and candy they had by the registers on the way out. I sure they still had them. My sons would have loved them!
I never got to go to the parties either, I remember sitting at my table wishing I knew who ever's party it was.....do you remember they would come out with the sparklers and banjo to sing to the luckiest birthday person in the world. This world was a better place with Farrel's in it!!
I loved these places! I always got a sasparilla to drink and a patty melt. Then I watched wistfully as all the "Zoos" went by on their personal litters accompanies by the giant Farrell's drum (nope, never got that party either. Who got these?). Then, at checkout, a GIANT jawbreaker that I would lick and gnaw on for weeks and leave sitting around the house in a wad of paper towels, waiting for my next gnaw. Ahhhhh, the 70's.
I use to want my birthday there every year. i use to hate when they would sing and run around hitting a drum and carrying that huge bowl of ice cream on a stretcher type thing..does anyone remember the ribbons they would give out that said "i made a pig of myself at Farrell's"...lol..couldn't go home without the huge jawbreaker and the candy buttons..
I had the joy of going here when I was young-In Georgia. The Giant Jawbreakers!!! That was a great memory. Huge smiles
What an awesome place. And I DID have a birthday party there - which was unheard of, since we live a very small town just north of Tampa FL. It was my 11th birthday. And that huge ice cream platter was great - it was full of every different kind of ice cream. YUMMY!
I used to remember staring out the car window as we drove by this place on Telegraph rd in Michigan. It was an old fashioned kind of place, red and white. I think I was jipped, I remember my brother having this huge jawbreaker and he would never tell me where he got it from. That means my parents took him there and never took me! He also got all the inheritance when my parents died. They hated me! lol
FARRELLS IS ONE OF MY BEST CHILDHOOD MEMORIES I LOVED IT THERE WOULD BEG FOR THE PIG TROTH AND NEVER FINISH IT AND THE ZOO WITH ALL THE PLASTIC ANIMALS I THINK MY POARENTS STILL HAVE SOME
Although I personally never set foot inside a Farrell's once in my life, I remember seeing the one in Eugene, Oregon with regularity and was constantly regaled with stories about the drums, banjo, sparklers, gurneys with ice cream on them, the Zoo and the Pig Trouph. It looked just as Paul M. described it, and it closed sometime in 2007, only to be replaced with an upscale pizzeria. And about those jawbreakers, I have found them in such places as the Sweet Factory candy stores in malls, vending machines, Baskin-Robbins, and occasionally in convenience stores.
lol lol
As a kid, I remember having and attending several birthday parties at the Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour in Detroit, MI on Telegraph Rd. and I-96. I really enjoyed the big drum and banjo when the employees would come out and sing, the huge dish of several ice cream flavors and the huge candy baskets. Detroit kids today have no idea what a birthday celebration was really like. Detroit misses The Farrell Family.
I used to go there for my birthday when I was a kid. . . remember getting the whole works. Sparklers, big bass drum, siren, everything.
I remember going there for birthday parties..always got the same thing..THE GIBSON GIRL! (which would probably explain the diabetes now! LOL)
Of course I loved watching the 'Zoo" Birthday Parties, but the 'clown sundaes' with a grilled cheese (complete with a toothpick American Flag) and fries, topped off with a small lollypop with printed flower on it (at the register on the way out) was good enough for me! Wow! I can still taste that grilled cheese and clown sundae -- the best!!!! Why do these novel, magical places go out of business...?? it's a shame. I'm glad to have the memories, anyway.. and don't forget those stirofoam Farrells hats!
YES, YES, YES!!! One of the great 70's dining experiences! One of the highlights of my education was a kindergarten field trip to the Farrell's in Oxmoor Center. We got some free ice cream, but I really wanted one of those skimmer hats. They are still around, in SoCal and in Hawaii. There seems to be a effort underway to revitalize this concept, as there are some websites devoted to all things Farrell's. Bob Farrell, the restaurant's namesake, now does customer service training videos for companis such as Kroger.If you live in SoCal, drop in and tell us if its still as great as I remember.
All of these comments bring back fond memories. I was lucky and did have a "Zoo" birthday and it was the BEST THING EVER! I mean who wouldn't love a big platter FILLED with ice cream and toppings! It was a very magical experience and one that I still remember some 38 years later.
Submit a story or info about Farrell's Ice Cream Parlours
Music Poster Books
,Check out ChuckyG's reviews of books about concert posters and other music picture books.