My hometown (Laguna Beach, CA) had two ice cream shops, Baskin Robin's & Swenson's.
Baskin Robin's was the better deal at 55 cents per scoop (square scoops!) and was by far the better deal....especially when my best friends Mom was working behind the counter...she would (almost) always give me a free single scoop of my fav mint & chip.
Swenson's had the bigger scoops at the outrageous price of $1...choc chip being my favorite there, as the had real miniature chips blended in (bubble gum was a close second).
When Dad was feeling cheap (or had more than a few kids with him), we would make a trip out of town to the nearest Thrifty Pharmacy for 35 cent (square) scoops of ice cream... unheard of now!! All 3 places had great ice cream...which makes me a little sad now that I have kids of own, why does ice cream cost so much?? seems like most ice cream shops sell only a specialized product at $3 per scoop or more....and doesn't taste near as good as it used to...outrageous! The only exception, in my opinion, is Gelato...a wonderful Italian ice cream of which I gladly shell out $3 and change for a single little scoop.
I go back to Laguna from time to time, sadly, both ice cream shops are long gone...but we did find a nice little Gelato shop at the end of Pepper Tree Lane (my Dad did all that brick-work), which I highly recommend to anyone who finds themselves in Laguna Beach on a hot day ;)
