The Freezer Ice Cream Stand
- KP
- Aug 6
- 2 min read
If you liked the Hollywood Flower Pot, you’ll love The Freezer ice cream stand… because it’s the exact same building at 1124 Vine Street.
Opened in April 1927, the 14-foot ice cream bucket—with a revolving hand crank (see video below)—sold Samarkand French Ice Cream Supreme, made from the very best ingredients: fresh sweet cream and milk, eggs, cane sugar, and delightful fruits. Customers could choose either a 10-cent “kup” or a family-size tub for 45 cents.
The Freezer was the brainchild of South Pasadena businessman Frederick Schmidt, who quickly built up his sweet franchise throughout Los Angeles. By 1929, the were at least 20 locations, including 1206 Fair Oaks, 658 E. Green, 3675 Beverly, 751 S. Alvarado (seen in video above), 402 S. Western, 3641 W. Pico, 3801 W. Washington, and 7435 Sunset.
Designed and patented by Schmidt, each ice cream stand was identical: made of redwood and 10 feet in diameter, ranging from 13 to 16 feet in height. Inside, there was no plumbing, only Frigidaire freezers “so that Samarkand is kept under the most sanitary modern conditions.”
The ice cream brand was also Schmidt’s: The heir to a West Coast brewing empire, he and his brother-in-law J. D. Rettenmayer jumped industries during Prohibition. In 1923, they launched Samarkand (named after the luxury Santa Barbara hotel), a one-quart “brick” of ice cream only available at select drug stores and confectionaries in Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Once the federal ban on alcohol was lifted in 1933, Schmidt returned to the family business, Olympia Brewing Company. By then, interest in The Freezer had melted—most of the giant ice cream buckets were gone or converted into other businesses.
At least two locations (Vine and Washington) blossomed into the Flower Pot, a whimsical roadside florist with a 10-foot bouquet planted on its roof.
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