The East India Ice Cream Parlor
For those of you who have been in the area for a while, East India Ice Cream Parlor might ring a bell. It was located on Park Avenue’s restaurant row in Winter Park just up the street from the Rollins campus. With their fantastic ice cream creations, delicious pastries, great coffee and wonderful sandwiches, it was a place to go to in that part of town! There was never a time that I went there that it was empty. It was very popular with people of all ages and appetites of all types. Who or what does not like ice cream?!! Particularly on weekends, my friends and I would go there to enjoy coffee and some Mogambo Extravaganza or other items on the menu.
So, it was a disappointing moment in my life when East India finally closed their front doors but I’ll always remember it fondly.
Read about the closing of East India
READ Orlando Sentinel article “Piece of Winter Park Dies With East India”, September 15, 1989.
Excerpt:
“Margo and Doug Pertz, who ran the business since 1979, lost their lease – even though they said they were willing to pay quadrupled rent being demanded by the Jacksonville landlord. They got the news in writing last Saturday and locked the doors Sunday night.
Instead, the property owner has granted a new lease to Amy Elliot Lutz, former general manager of the Park Plaza Gardens restaurant, and David Albertson, who owns several Park Avenue properties. Lutz, who will pay $28.50 a square foot for the ground floor and half that amount for the balcony, said she plans to reopen the business around mid-November.”
Comments from the original Orlando Memory Site
Ice cream in Winter Park
No description has been added yet
Ice cream in Winter Park
No description has been added yet
Comments from original Orlando Memory site
No description has been added yet
As a child and lifetime resident of Winter Park for all of my 61 years. East India in my youth was not only the GO-TO place….we didn’t have an over abunndance of choices back then as people do now in this over populated enclave. It was the ONLY place around that even served such an original consept such as Oreo Cookie Ice cream. THEY INVENTED IT!!!!!! Oreo stole their idea and have made millions without a Dime in royalties to the family or heirs of the true invenors. I will only say that the recipe that The East India served was far superior and you had to be there to indulge to ever know the difference compaired to the corporate knockoff of an original..
Greetings Todd! I could not agree with you more. I wish I had photos of the shop to add to the post. I love ice cream but am very particular. I knew I would always love ice cream from East India Ice Cream Parlor. We hope you continue to share your memories with us on Orlando Memory. THE ORLANDO MEMORY TEAM
Growing up in the country (Oviedo, FL) in the early 80’s, my father would occasionally say “Let’s go out for ice cream.” this would either be a drive to Baskin Robbins on the corner of Redbug and 436 or to East India on Park Avenue where we would stand in line with parlor palms and exotic decor. Taking our ice cream cones and window shopping along the closed shops. Wonderful childhood memories. So happy to see this article when I searched for East India Winter Park. Thank you for keeping the memory alive!