Monday, April 15, 2013

I Was A Pig At Greenwood Dairies

Greenwood Dairies

I have always loved ice cream.  Once in a while, back in the 1950's and 1960's, on a hot summer night Dad would take us for a car ride.  Forty minutes north from our home in Northeast Philadelphia was Langhorne, PA -- home of Greenwood Dairies!

Greenwood was famous for their huge portions; a "single" was actually about a dozen regular scoops crushed together into something huge -- the size of a cantaloupe?  Imagine a little kid with an ice cream moustache, dwarfed by his cone with one or two "Greenwood" scoops piled on top!

Years later, my friend Eddie occasionally got the keys to his father's Rambler.  John, Neil and I would pile in for the drive up U.S. Route 1.  I was now able to handle a three-scoop cone or one of their giant sundaes.  Neil was another ice-cream chowhound, but Ed could manage only normal portions.  My cousin John had a big appetite but he didn't like ice cream, choosing their pretty-good Philly steak sandwiches instead.


The "Pig's Dinner" was served in a glass boat.  FIVE of those huge balls of ice cream plus every imaginable topping.  Originally, if you finished unassisted you got it for free.  Later the prize became one of these buttons:  


This is photo of an actual Greenwood Dairies button that I re-discovered a few days ago.  Yes, it's true.  I was a pig at Greenwood Dairies! (more than once)


There's not a whole lot of information about Greenwood on the Internet, not even a photo of the old building.  I discovered that the dairy closed in 1985, followed by the restaurant two years later.  One person remembers that his parents surprise-ordered a Pig's Dinner for him when he was ten years old!

The following is from page 104 of the book Images of America: Levittown  (This book is one of many available on the Internet because of Google's archive project.)


Now, if you go back to the previous blog posting, you'll see a photo of me in a burger eating contest at Boomerangs.  This proves that I'm a multi-disciplinary pig, capable of consuming mass quantities of many things including beef burgers, ice cream, and beer!

20 comments:

  1. i was a pig numerous times during the 60's. A fantastic place. Great ice cream.

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  2. Hi George! My next-door-neighbor has often reminisced about being a pig at Greenwood Dairies. As you were a pig more than once, any chance you came across a second one of those buttons... that you might part with? I would love to be able to give one to my neighbor.

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  3. Where was the picture of the milk truck taken? When was it taken? I was a milk man at Greenwoods for a while. It was a great place to work for kids.
    Ray

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  4. Sorry Sondra that's the only "Pig" button I have. Could you print out this photo and glue it on top of another pin?

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  5. Roy I came across that picture of the milk truck with a Google search.
    Yeah, I remember seeing the same kids working the dining room and take-out counter year after year.

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  6. That is not a picture of the "Pig's Dinner". It was served in a wooden trough and was much bigger than that.

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  7. That is not a picture of the "Pig's Dinner". It was served in a wooden trough and was much bigger than that.

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  8. I remember it so well! If memory serves me right, a pig's dinner had 13 scoops of ice cream. I never knew anyone that could polish one off. It was a real treat to go there in the 60s.

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  9. Diane & Kathleen are correct, in the 60's I ate quite a few of the Pigs Dinners, and did have the buttons. The trough was about 12" long, and they gave you a big spoon to use. As a teen, I used to go there most Saturday Nights after going to Hiway Pool, and the Go Carts. Remember those ???

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  10. Diane & Kathleen are correct, in the 60's I ate quite a few of the Pigs Dinners, and did have the buttons. The trough was about 12" long, and they gave you a big spoon to use. As a teen, I used to go there most Saturday Nights after going to Hiway Pool, and the Go Carts. Remember those ???

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  11. I ate hot fudge sundaes my choice they came in a quart carton .it was 1966. I was hoping they survived I am ready to drive from Alabama to renew my love affair.

    So

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  12. I LOVED THEIR CHOCOLATE BUTTER FUDGE ICE CREAM!!

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  13. Mom and Dad would take my 2 sisters and I, to Greenwood Daries now and then as a treat. Those cones were sure big. Great memories. Bill James Oxford circle

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  14. I took that photo of the Greenwood Dairy truck years ago. After they had closed.

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  15. There is a site on FB called I grew up in Nottingham (Bensalem) there is a few newspaper images of Greenwood Dairy on there.

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  16. I ordered a cone of coffee icecream...and, I swear this is true..
    They gave me vanilla icecream with whole coffee beans!! Wonder
    if Greenwood ever figured out how to make it correctly?

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  17. I grew up right down the road from Greenwood dairies use to walk there just about everyday. Would get the pkg dinner once a week.wasso said when they closed

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  18. Good memories when little I remember my brother finishing the pigs dinner it was huge. Miss you Greenwood 😘 dairies

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  19. We used to walk on down from nearby Levittown and put pennies on the commuter train track to be squashed behind the dairy. My WW II friend used to wait until a strong young male would be at the counter. and then order those huge cones to take them back for his family.

    Once, I got a newspaper delivery route, and could afford a Pig's Dinner...LOL. A rather deceitful friend of mine wanted me to sneak out the restroom window to avoid paying, but I refused, as I was an honest young kid.

    I now live by the Canadian border in Maine, and am age 71, and happened on this website by chance. MEMORIES LAST A LIFE TIME! What a great place was Greenwood Dairies! Roger.

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  20. Didn't the old Greenwood Dairy building catch fire?

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