By ELAINE CHOI Palisadian-Post Intern Some of the fondest memories of childhood are those visits to the ice cream parlor when you watched through the glass as the server scooped out your favorite flavor, pressed it down into the cone, smiled and handed you this special treat. Palisadians have now been enjoying this tradition at the Baskin-Robbins store on Swarthmore for 50 years. With 31 ice cream flavors available from the nearly 1,000 choices that are continually rotated across the country, a customer can try a different flavor every day of the month. Of all those flavors, Mint Chocolate Chip and Jamoca Almond Fudge reign as the town’s favorites. Among the youth, flavors inspired by movies and holidays are the most popular, including the new Shrek flavors and rainbow sherbet. New flavors are constantly being invented and recreated such as the Donkey Gone Bananas Sundae, Fiona’s Fairytale (pink and purple swirled cotton-candy flavor), Puss in Boots Chocolate Mousse (white chocolate mousse, milk chocolate and chocolate ice creams loaded with chocolate chips and chocolate-covered pretzels), and Shrek’s Swirl (green-colored grape sherbet and purple-colored green apple sherbet loaded with popping candy). Baskin Robbins first opened here on March 31, 1954, nine years after the chain’s first store debuted in Glendale. There are now over 4,500 locations throughout the world, making it the largest chain of ice cream specialty stores. In the U.S. alone, more than 150 million ice cream cones are served every year. Chris Fracchiolla, a father of two and a Palisades resident since 1994, bought the store three years ago after a career in playwriting (notably ‘Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding,’ co-created in 1988 with his wife, Nancy Cassaro). ‘I wanted something else in the community that was especially around kids because I work a lot with kids,’ said Fracchiolla, who is a Sunday school teacher and children’s nursery leader at United Methodist Church. ‘I heard the store was for sale and it just felt like the right thing for me and my family. We have always loved this community and the ‘small-town’ qualities. For us the store has always been a kind of ground zero for that good old-fashioned Palisades feeling.’ The dieting craze that is sweeping the country has had little impact on his sales because ‘people still love their ice cream,’ Fracchiolla said. Nor did the Haagen-Dazs store on Sunset have much effect; in fact, ever since Haagen-Dazs closed in February, there has been virtually no change in the number of ice cream cones or cakes sold at Baskin-Robbins. Another popular ice cream franchise, Cold Stone Creamery, which opened in 1988 in Tempe, Arizona, and has grown to 650 stores nationwide, has also had little local impact because the Baskin-Robbins store here has been the Palisades tradition for such a long time. ‘Our store has become a hangout for kids,’ Fracchiolla said. ‘There’s also a lot of Pacific Palisades loyalty, so people continue to keep coming here. He added, ‘We have a big business in cakes too, especially for birthdays and graduations.’ June was especially busy because of all the end-of-the-year school parties and graduations. More than 120 unique cake designs are available, with different sizes to suit any occasion or celebration. In 2000, Baskin-Robbins launched its freeze-frame cakes to turn any picture into a cake design using edible ink and paper. Well before going into the ice cream business, Fracchiolla and his wife Nancy wrote their off-Broadway play, ‘Tony ‘n’ Tina’s Wedding,’ which follows the nuptials of two working-class Italian New Yorkers and their wacky, diverse families. Among the bizarre events that take place, the father of the groom gets in a fist fight with the mother of the bride as the newlyweds take off together. The production ‘has played around the world as a cult classic for 15 years,’ the Hollywood Reporter noted a year ago. The Fracchiollas have two children, 8-year-old Alice and 10-year-old John, who attend Palisades Elementary. Nancy is still an actress (guest appearances in ‘Nip/Tuck’) and writer (co-credit on the screenplay for ‘The Devil and Daniel Webster’) while Chris has become more involved in volunteer work. He helps run two after-school programs, and has also been coaching a Palisades Pony Baseball team (the Baskin-Robbins Indians) while staying involved in Cub Scouts. To celebrate his store’s 50th anniversary and maintain its ‘good old-fashioned’ feeling, Fracchiolla has begun a history wall at the store. Anyone with copies of photographs or favorite recollections of the store are encouraged to bring them to Chris.
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