Washington, DC -
Igloo and Polar Bears

In response to "Suzan 11-12-2000" : I also remember the Polar Bear Ice Cream stands. These were a local ice cream chain. There were perhaps a half dozen or so stands around the DC area. They finally disappeared in the mid sixties, the last one was closed and demolished with the construction of Washington's Metro station in Silver Spring, MD., off Colesville Rd. It stood about where the Z2 metrobus terminal stand is now in the Silver Spring Metro Station. The front of the old stores were marked by two life size concrete polar bears standing on their hind legs, white, sparkled with bits of mirror. Just the place to go on a hot, humid, before air conditioning Washington summer. [James Lehman, 01/29/2002]

When I was little, growing up in a suburb of Washington, DC. Every Sunday my father and I would drive into the city via Georgia Ave. to visit my Grandparents. There was an ice cream shoppe that was in the shape of an igloo with two large polar bears out front. I just loved the place, we stopped once or twice to get ice cream on the way home. I would just stare at the polar bears and the igloo, it had mirror chips in it to look like it was frozen...very "COOL". I haven't been to that section of town in years, is the igloo still standing? It's very close to Walter Reed (I think). [Suzan, 11/12/2000]

[RA: Michael Cornett reports: "it's no longer standing. It was torn down about 1980 and replaced by a supermarket."]