Summer visits to Papa's Ice Cream Parlor in Lake Luzerne, NY are among my fondest memories of living upstate. Lake Luzerne is a village in the Adirondack foothills where the Hudson and Sacandaga rivers meet. Along the Hudson, before the rivers meet, just upriver from a small falls, there is a house with a big porch overlooking the Hudson. That's Papa's.
Papa's was an old school ice cream parlor, even though it was only established in the 1970s. Teenage waitresses working their summer jobs would wear tees saying "Papa's Girl," serving ice cream and soda fountain treats in glass dishes. At Papa's you could sit on the shady dining porch overlooking the river, chow down on a barbecue chicken sandwich, and then contemplate the most important choice of the day: what to eat for dessert. I always chose fruit flavors. My dessert of choice was a brownie sundae with cherry ice cream. Heaven on earth.
Papa's was only open in summer, and each year I dream of visiting. I had my heart set on actually getting to Papa's this summer and I was crestfallen to learn that it is no longer open. Though, I suppose, I'm not totally surprised. In 2002, the original Papa's caught fire and the Gardner family rebuilt their restaurant on an adjacent lot. In 2008 Papa's was sold. Now the building and business are for sale again. Here's hoping someone brings Papa's back to life.
One of the nicest days I ever spent with my friend PD was one Fourth of July more than a decade ago, punctuated by my first trip to Papa's. We walked down to the river and watched boys jumping (terrifyingly) off a bridge into the deep water below the falls. We ate lunch on the porch and gorged ourselves on ice cream. We went back to Saratoga Springs and watched fireworks.
The pencil cup on my desk is a mug from Papa's, a reminder of the sweet things in life.
Photos via Flickr user, warsze
2 comments:
You're missing some good Americana over here....
Lovely post, Haha
The reason Papa's couldn't survive under the new owners is that from day one of the sale. Edie Gardner Barber the daughter of Fred Gardner and the cook at Papa's and the one of the new owners who was an alcholholic, ran off together and destroyed everthing in their path. Having done this the other new owner was left to pick up the pieces of her personel life and the restaurant. The other daughter that was also still employed there at the time did everything possible to make the new owner of Papa's fail. The daughters and the rest of the Gardner family could not get past their father selling the place and did everything possible to resist any change that the new owner needed to make. It is due solely to these daughters and their selfish acts that Papa's is closed. Recently it was sold and is supposed to open again with a new owner. I hope that this owner does not allow the Gardner family to participate in anyway or it will be doomed again.
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