I will tell you, Miss and Mr. Cassette would eat a lot more ice cream if it was made the way they used to make it and if the ice cream shops could look like this again. (eCreamery is pretty darn cute though). I just love the look of this little art deco shop. Everything single element of the design makes me want ice cream and makes me feel like life is good. Featured in this photo is a Reed’s shop clerk dressed in a darling dress. It might be an apron. A sweet auntie. I can’t say for sure. The signs in the window read “Frozen Orange Freeze 15 cents” and “Frozen Lime Freeze 15 cents”. Apparently Reed’s Ice Cream Company opened their Omaha plant in 1929. They did quite the job of marketing themselves, by building 63 (63?!!) neighborhood bungalows and drive-in ice cream shops around town. Omaha wasn’t that big at the time so I am sure people made the Starbucks-on-every-corner type joke about Reed’s back then. Reed Ice Cream Company sold five cent ice cream cones throughout Omaha and Council Bluffs at the rate of about 22,000 cones a day. So yes, that Starbucks similitude is right on and location is everything. From an Omaha World Herald article, “After he closed the store in 1959, Mr. Reed is credited with inventing a machine that would pressure-whip ice cream or yogurt together with various flavorings. He patented this machine and called it Whirl-a-Whip. The Whirl-a-Whip gave birth to what we call Blizzards today.”
Reed’s Ice Cream Shop. 4967 Dodge Street. 1936. (Photo courtesy of the Bostwick-Frohardt/KM3TV Photography Collection at The Durham Museum Photo Archive.)
(Photo courtesy of the Bostwick-Frohardt/KM3TV Photography Collection at The Durham Museum Photo Archive.)
The Reed’s Ice Cream Shop location is now a vape store. I’m not going to get into my thoughts on that one as I’ve never been there and I’m sure it’s pretty great if that’s your bag. I do think that the original Reed’s Ice Cream Shop could really compliment the new Dundee Theatre-Filmstreams venture going up just on the north side of Dodge. This was probably the thinking of the original ice cream shop being just south of the original Dundee Theatre. A delicious, sugarcone-fueled walk home from a flick sounds very good about now.
Caterpillar Vapes. 4967 Dodge Street. 2016
4967 Dodge has been many things to many people since the time of Reed’s. Most recently I remember it as Garage Guitars, which Mr. Cassette would occasionally frequent for strings in a pinch. But this was a while ago. I went into an obsessive moment recently and had to know what had happened to the old Reed’s and what 4967 had been over the years. Apparently four years after this original Reed’s photo was taken, this address became the Pig Parlor Restaurant. By 1954 it was Rudy Catania’s Beauty Shop. LOVE the name and imagery it conjures. I can see Rudy’s black wavy hair and the kind of lady clientele that might have surrounded him. By 1969 this location was the Lucile Duerr Beauty Shop. My all-time favorite listing was in 1977 when the bay became the Barn Door Plants and Gifts. I imagine the Barn Door to have been a real, rustic, hippie den with lots of macrame hanging planters and such. 1989 brought Dundee Auto Value Parts which does not pique Miss Cassette’s interest in quite the same way. By 1990 Church Organs of Omaha had moved into 4967 and was there into the 2000’s. The church organ store finally sounded familiar to me, not that I have ever entered a store like that. It sounds lovely now. In memory I can see the organs lined up as well as the vacuum store, eternally on that east most side, beloved Cecil’s Cafe and there was a vintage clothing store for a while in one of the bays and an art gallery for a short time.
Do you have any fond memories of this little strip of Dodge? Please share. Click on the title of this post to enable comments. Thanks, Omaha friends.
OMG, do you remember the crazy, always-empty, humongous organ store that was once in Westroads? Your “Church Organs” store just reminded me that it existed…
WOW!!! Yes, I had forgotten that. Main floor? Always an older salesperson playing a haunted carnival song. I would love that now, but as a tween it would send us into fits of laughter as we cruised the halls. Thanks for the memory jolt.
Keyboard Kastle
Signage today is so poor compared to the early to mid 20th century. Occasionally, I’ll see some exception, but it’s pretty rate. Truly gorgeous Depression-era lettering you found here.
So many memories on this block of Dodge! On the south side of Dodge, there was a small diner called Cecil’s. My father would take me there for breakfast. The owner and her husband were wonderful! On the north side of the street (and a bit to the east) was Fenwick’s. I can’t put into words how much I miss this restaurant. If you could do a story on its history, I would be forever grateful. :0)
YES!!! Two of my favorites. I will definitely be writing about both. I wrote a tribute to Cecil’s soon after they closed on my FB page. Such a neighborhood loss. I have been researching the Fenwick’s building, which I love, and discovered many things I did not know about. Coming soon…Thanks for your comment.
Great article. My family lives in the house Mr. Reed built in the Wyman Heights neighborhood near Ponca Hills. Great Omaha history.
Thank you so much. I do appreciate your kindness. I will have to look into your neighborhood. I am not familiar with it by name. I have been investigating two homes in Ponca Hills….so stay tuned.
Great article – I love how you are sentimental in your histories, and unafraid of revealing your thoughts and ideas about what you’re learning. Its an interesting juxtaposition to how I write my NorthOmahaHistory.com – which is fully opinionated, of course, but has far fewer responses than what you average!
I thought you’d appreciate my new article with a full history of Claud Reed and his ice cream company. I focus primarily on the North O locations, but include the overall picture too. Its at https://northomahahistory.com/2017/02/01/reeds-ice-cream-in-omaha/
Thank you for what you’re doing – I always look forward to reading your next one.
Thanks, Adam. I will check it out!
My parents told me about Reed’s ice cream stands, which they frequented when they were kids. Apparently, the ice cream came in long cylinders that would be cut into sections, then a section would be placed atop an ice cream cone. Reed’s was way before my time, but I do remember Whirl-a-Whip. There was a Whirl-a-Whip place in the Park Drive strip mall in Ralston, and I would stop by there on my way home from high school. I remember they still had the ice cream in long cylinders. A section would be cut and it would be put into the Whirl-a-Whip machine, along with the chosen mix-ins. The machine would mix it all together and dispense it into a cup or cone. This was before Blizzards at Dairy Queen. I love your blog; it brings back all kinds of memories!
My grandfather Chris Becker was a partner of Claude Reed in Omaha. I remember going to the main plant when I visited from Iowa when I was around 12 and was thrilled to get free ice cream, anything and as much as we wanted.. I loved the malted milk shakes with real malt which no one has anymore. My cousin worked there and we keep trying to find more info about the place. Enjoy your readers comments.
The real malt. You are so right…that is what is missing in our lives! Thank you for commenting.
You can still get a real chocolate malt at Goodrich, which you have to find in a Subway nowadays. They are the gold standard of chocolate malts, which I never realized until I traveled outside of Omaha.
Wasn’t there a Reed’s on Leavenworth, way downtown? As a little girl I remember my dad taking us there om many a summer Sunday afternoon. He would almost always have a clown sundae, usually with butter brickle (which I hated!), ice cream. I was always torn between pistachio, (theirs was awesome!) and chocolate swirl; well, their version of it.
There was a Reeds Ice Cream 24th Street South of Leavenworth. East side of South 24th, near Mason Street as I recall.
Reeds ice cream was whirl a Whip and “do yourself a Flavor” as the rules go the TM stays but you can only keep an invention for 17 years (about) then others can and do copy it.
The whirla whip at one time was up to 2,000 units in most country’s including Japan, Thailand, Mexico, Canada and EU. Mr Reed enjoyed the benefits of his hard work for many years until the late 80’s when he sold his shares to others and retained a royalty of a small % but as the company was building stores the 80’s high interest rates and labor costs did not allow for much profits and once one store failed others followed suit.
The pressure whip style was not copied for the Blizard but yes they copied the idea (not the process) they simply used soft serve from a machine and toppings with a blender stick….
Whirl a whip did not change its process from day one to the end it still used real hard packed ice cream with a mix in and pulling the handle made the drill bit looking stainless steel auger spin and as it did the design caused the ice cream to go up then reverse down until the pulling of the handle to the 100% spot then it had no more options it must be sent to discharge.
That simple concept yet complex in the world of retail ice cream made Whirla whip what it was.. pressure whipped fluffing it up for human consumption.
That stainless part alone hand polished was $490.00 back then. ( I have 20- ). The actual units were generally 2 styles the old cast iron style and the 80’s stainless steal model.
I have most parts often on eBay.
I thought about opening a store in Omaha one day but was wondering where it must be .. as they are not highly profitable so care must be given to the opening in Omaha.
Oddly enough i purchased a whirla whip unit from Omaha in 1985 and had my store in Washington state but it was the owners of whirla whip who told me “Hey you should come open a club here” and I did .. dodge street … club soda for kids it lasted 1 year.. lol
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