Leopold's Ice Cream is an

ice cream parlor Ice cream parlors (American English) or ice cream parlours (British English) are places that sell ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and/or frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is typically sold as regular ice cream (also called hard-packed or hard s ...

located in

Savannah, Georgia Savannah ( ) is the oldest city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia and is the county seat of Chatham County, Georgia, Chatham County. Established in 1733 on the Savannah River, the city of Savannah became the Kingdom of Great Br ...

, United States. It was founded in 1919 by two Greek-immigrant brothers,"Road Trip USA: In Savannah, heritage comes in many flavors"
- ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

'', April 2, 2016 George and Peter Leopold,Our History
- Leopold's Ice Cream official website who had moved to Savannah from

Brazil, Indiana Brazil is a city in Clay County, Indiana, United States. The population was 7,912 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Clay County. It is part of the Terre Haute Metropolitan Statistical Area. The current chief executive of Brazil ...

,"100 Years of Delicious Memories"
- ''South Mag'', October 9, 2020 to be near their sister, Demetra, who had married Savannah local George Paul Carellas. The business was closed by current co-owner

Stratton Leopold Stratton Leopold (born 1943)"100 Years of Delicious Memories"
- ''South Mag'' ...

in 1969; he reopened it at a new location 35 years later with his wife.

History

Leopold's original location, Leopold's Purest Ice Cream, was at the northeastern corner of East Gwinnett Street and Habersham Street, a former

fruit stand A fruit stand is a primarily open-air business venue that sells seasonal fruit and many fruit products from local growers. It might also sell vegetables and various processed items derived from fruit. The fruit stand is a small business structure ...

in the Historic District - South, a few blocks east of

Forsyth Park Forsyth Park (formerly known as the Military Parade Ground)''Charles Seton Henry Hardee's Recollections of old Savannah'', Martha Gallaudet Waring, ''The Georgia Historical Quarterly'', JSTOR (1929), p. 34 is a large city park that occupies in ...

."Leopold’s Ice Cream: A family affair"
- ''

Savannah Morning News The ''Savannah Morning News'' is a daily newspaper in Savannah, Georgia. It is published by Gannett. The motto of the paper is "Light of the Coastal Empire and Lowcountry". The paper serves Savannah, its metropolitan area, and parts of South Ca ...

'', March 25, 2010 Peter Leopold, having just returned from serving in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

in France, was speaking to the owner of the fruit stand, a fellow Greek, while waiting for a

streetcar A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

. Leopold inquired about starting a business there, and shortly afterwards he and his older brother, George, bought the store, with Peter and his son, Stratton, living on the second floor. They began selling chocolates, food and ice cream. Basil Leopold joined them in 1925. The brothers utilized the French pot process they had learned from master confectioner James Peter Zarafonetis back in Indiana, making five- and ten-gallon batches of ice cream in-house from their own recipes and using fresh cream, milk and eggs from local dairy farms."Leopold’s Ice Cream: A Century of Tasty Memories"
- ''Deep South Magazine'', September 2, 2020 The brothers remodeled the shop in 1935, modernizing it and launching an improved delivery service. Peter's youngest child,

Stratton Leopold Stratton Leopold (born 1943)"100 Years of Delicious Memories"
- ''South Mag'' ...

, took over the business with his mother, Marika, after his father's death in 1963 (George had died two years previous). Stratton closed the shop in 1969, and left Savannah for

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, via

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he is now a film producer, director and actor. Ice cream and sweet treats continued to be served across town at Basil Leopold's Restaurant, which opened in 1962 at Medical Arts Shopping Center.Pina Leopold obituary
- ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the only major daily newspaper in the metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger between ...

'', September 18, 2011 After her husband's death in 1981, Pina Leopold continued to run the store for a year, before selling the store and retiring. In August 2004, Leopold's moved to its present home on East

Broughton Street Broughton Street is a prominent street in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Located between Congress Street to the north and State Street to the south, it runs for about from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the west to East Broad Stre ...

, in Savannah's downtown, where it is known for regularly having a line of customers waiting outside."Best Soda Fountains in the U.S."
- ''

Food & Wine ''Food & Wine'' is an American monthly magazine published by Dotdash Meredith. It was founded in 1978 by Ariane and Michael Batterberry. It features recipes, cooking tips, travel information, restaurant reviews, chefs, wine pairings and season ...

'' Stratton Leopold hired Hollywood production designer Dan Lomino to recreate his father's

soda fountain A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The device combines flavored syrup or syrup concent ...

from the original store. The ice cream is made, using the same recipes developed by his father and uncle, at a former wholesale florist building at 37th and Price Streets and brought over to the store as necessary. The company also has a kiosk and a full-service shop at

Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport is a commercial and military-use airport in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Savannah/Hilton Head International provides travelers with access to Savannah, Georgia, and Hilton Head Island, South Car ...

. Leopold's signature flavor is

tutti frutti Tutti frutti (from Italian ''tutti i frutti'', "all fruits"; also hyphenated tutti-frutti) is a colorful confectionery containing various chopped and usually candied fruits, or an artificial or natural flavouring simulating the combined flavou ...

, a favorite of Savannah's

Johnny Mercer John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallich ...

, who worked in the shop as a ten-year old, sweeping floors, while former U.S. President

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

's favorite is the butter pecan. Carter wrote the

foreword A foreword is a (usually short) piece of writing, sometimes placed at the beginning of a book or other piece of literature. Typically written by someone other than the primary author of the work, it often tells of some interaction between the ...

to ''Leopold's Ice Cream: A Century of Tasty Memories, 1919–2019'' (Melanie Bowden Simón, 2020)."Southern Routes : New book gives the scoop on the history of Leopold's Ice Cream"
- WJCL, February 6, 2020 The company celebrated its centenary on August 18, 2019, and held a block party the previous day."Leopold’s Ice Cream celebrates 100 years"
- ''

'', August 10, 2019

Gallery

File:Leopold's Ice cream parlor Highsmith.jpg, A line outside the store in 2017

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold's Ice Cream Ice cream brands Ice cream parlors in the United States Restaurants established in 1919 Companies based in Savannah, Georgia Tourist attractions in Savannah, Georgia American companies established in 1919