Charles’ 
Slide of the Week: August 2nd, 2008
Soft Serve Family, Somewhere, USA, 1965
Soft Serve is served. The whole family is eating it. And how nice of them to be so fashionably color coordinated while doing so. Daddy-O and Jr. sport timeless classic polo shirts. Mom goes positive and negative in basic black and white. Missy is the most stylish of the brood. Her smart shirtwaist dress features puff sleeves and machine embroidered patch pockets. The baby strolls the town in a simple tee over plaid shorts and knees socks. He has soft serve all over his face. You know it tastes much better that way.
OK, we might as well get it out in the open right now. Soft serve is delicious, not to mention, rarely photographed. Who takes a picture at a soft serve stand anyway? I don’t, do you?
Every four or five months I treat myself to a big half and half cone and mmmm-mmmm is it good! Every time I ask myself what am I really eating anyway? Its not ice cream that’s for sure. Is there is any dairy in it al all? I doubt it. There is no fast food product with more mysterious ingredients.
According to the legend Dairy Queen was the first to serve soft serve. That was in 1938 at an ice cream shop in Kankakee, Illinois. Today there are 5700 Dairy Queens in 22 countries. What McDonalds is to the hamburger Dairy Queen is to soft serve. That would make Dairy Queen the soft serve king.
On August 4, 2007, several of the original DQ stores in Illinois will have a big 70th party celebrating the birth of the delicious sweet frozen taste-treat sensation by selling cones for just 10 cents. If that’s not Americana I don’t know what is.
Here’s to family color coordination, whishing soft serve happy birthday and YOU!
Charles Phoenix
Los Angeles
August 2008
2 Comments on “Soft Serve Family, Somewhere, USA, 1965”
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August 4th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Wow! I just went to the Dairy Queen in Huntington Beach yesterday. Although it happens to be only 3 blocks from my house, I never go there. The last time I went to a DQ was about 10 years ago in Tennessee. I did not get a soft serve cone yesterday, though, choosing the Girl Scout Thin Mint Blizzard instead. It was wonderful! Although, I’m a little sorry I did not go for the cone now. Were you in error when you said the 70th birthday bash was in 2007….could it be TODAY?? I may need to stroll down there again for a 10 cent cone………
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:53 am
Hello Charles,
I have enjoyed your photos over the years, and have, in fact, gone to a show of yours held several years ago at the Egyptian Theatre here in L.A. My one question that recurs each and every time I view another person-filled impromptu snapshot is never satisfied, and so I ask you now: Have any of the subjects of any of your nostalgic photo shoots ever contacted you? I would love to hear of the story if indeed you had heard from any one of the many subjects we’ve viewed over the years. Please let us know either way! And thank you.