The vintage neon clock on the deco glass brick wall of Tony’s Ice Cream in Gastonia NC clearly showed that it was breakfast time, so we stopped by this family owned and operated business for our first roadfood meal on our retro road trip through North Carolina.
Tony’s has been serving the Gaston County area since 1915, and since 1947 they’ve operated out of this yellow brick building right on the main drag in town. They also make their own ice cream here too, just 20 miles or so outside of Charlotte and a short hop off of 85.
We parked in the handy parking lot and entered through the side door to find a line of folks waiting for their breakfast fix. I was immediately taken with the tile walls, well kept chrome & red leatherette booths and Formica tables, many of them filled with families and local folks.
We were still getting our sea legs, this being one of our first food stops on our big retro road trip, so we decided to share a standard breakfast sandwich on toast. Looking at the menu now I wish we had thought to get country ham, or a biscuit or something more adventurous, but am relieved that we didn’t get the liver mush!
After placing our order (and trying to ignore the looming vintage scale behind us) we waited at the window for our number to be called, and tried not to get in the way of folks coming in the door. I wanted to grab some photos of the outside of the building so I met RetroRoadhusband out in the car where we unwrapped our delicious amalgam of egg, cheese and the everlovin bacon on white toast.
Mmmm look at that piece bacon sticking its tongue out!
This was to be one of many meals on the road, and I knew I had a burger in my future, so I graciously allowed RetroRoadhusband to polish off most of this sandwich. Next time we’re going through town I’m definitely getting an ice cream, no matter what time of the day it is!
Tony’s Ice Cream
604 East Franklin Blvd.
Gastonia, NC 28054
(704) 867-7085
View NC – North Carolina Retro RoadMAP in a larger map
About Mod Betty
Helium Design
Holy Moley … I am IN LOVE with those booths. I’ve never seen that design before!
I know, aren’t they the coolest? I had to move quickly to get a shot of them sans people!
Any idea what the history of this building is? Looks 30′s vintage, sort of industrial, maybe a bus stop or even a soda bottling plant?
Here’s a night shot of same building found on Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/leohohmann/4609174032/
ooh what a nice view! It’s always interesting to see what places look like at different times, vantage points. Thanks George!
I’ll see if I can find out!
Holy cow! I go through Gastonia on my way to Charlotte several times a year. Now I know where I’ll be eating next time!
It’s a cute place and the folks were nice – both in line and working there- hope you enjoy it if you go!
My Dear Retro Roadmap Readers –
In an effort to reduce comment spam by bots on my site, I’ve closed the comments on this post.
But the last thing I want to see happen is that it stops the conversation on this topic, especially if you have something you want to add!
So if you want to comment on this post all you have to do is email me at modbetty AT retroroadmap DOT com and let me know what you want to say and what post it goes with. I’ll make sure your info gets matched up and added to the conversation!
Thanks for understanding!
Your hostess, Mod Betty