Ice cream: your doctor may hate it, but your city loves it

Sunday is National Ice Cream Day, which is great for fans of cold desserts. But it’s even better for urban places, because ice cream is a great tool for placemaking.

One of the best ways to create a busy, active sidewalk or plaza is by putting food there. Especially ice cream (or gelato, frozen custard, frozen yogurt, and so on). Why? People of all ages can enjoy it, and it’s generally cheap enough that most people can afford to eat it.

Most importantly, ice cream melts. You have to consume your ice cream soon after buying it, meaning that people tend to linger outside of ice cream shops.

Of course, ice cream doesn’t automatically make a place great. But it definitely helps. Here are a few tips from great ice cream stores and great places around the DC area and beyond.

Provide outdoor seating.

“Make your own” frozen yogurt places are a dime a dozen these days. But you’ll always see people hanging out in front of FrozenYo in Columbia Heights. It’s because there are lots of places to sit outside with your frozen yogurt, from tables and chairs to ledges and even a grassy lawn.

Have big windows.

Like any good storefront, ice cream shops benefit from big windows, which break down the barrier between inside and out. People inside still feel a connection to the street, while people on the street can see what’s going on inside. And if there’s ice cream inside, people are likely to come in.

Dolcezza Gelato, which has locations in Logan Circle, Bethesda, and elsewhere does an especially great job of this. Their spin-off location in Fairfax’s Mosaic District, Mom & Pop, is basically a glass box in a plaza, which makes for great people-watching whether you’re inside or out.

Have a walk-up window.

I scooped my way through college working at Gifford’s Ice Cream, the now-defunct local chain that began in Silver Spring in 1938. Customers could either come in through the door or at a walk-up window on the sidewalk. As Dan Malouff notes, walk-up windows give people walking by something to look at while putting more “eyes on the street,” which deters crime. They’re also great for people with dogs or strollers or anything that might be difficult to carry inside.

Keep it local.

Local shops like Gifford’s, Dolcezza, or Moorenko’s seem to be one of the few places a teenager can still get a summer job, which is a big deal for placemaking. Knowing the kids behind the counter gives their friends, parents, relatives, neighbors, teachers, and so on more reasons to visit, which builds community ties.

These rules work in suburban settings, too.

Creating street life can be challenging in suburban places where most people get around by car. But ice cream stands seem to be the exception.

Goodberry’s is a chain of frozen custard stands in Raleigh (and in Canberra, Australia) whose locations consist of walk-up windows in big parking lots. But there’s also a little plaza closer to the street with some picnic tables. Even from a car, you can see the activity happening here, which draws people in.

Closer to home, Jimmie Cone in Damascus has a similar setup. As a result, fans call it “the closest you could get to having a local pub setting” in an otherwise dry town.

Together, these things can help to make a great place where people want to gather and have a good time. Ice cream isn’t a necessity, but to mix food metaphors, you might call it the cherry on top. What’s your favorite ice cream and placemaking experience?