Oh, how I remember CC Browns!  Divine hot fudge.  I was lucky enough to have a mother whose old friend, Bea, was the manager at CC Browns. We would often visit her when the shop was closed and she would be doing all the things that manager’s do when they "close up shop".  She was never too busy to invite me (age 6) behind the counter which seemed like a fairy tale to me.  I would pick out a bunch of things and she would put together a sundae that was like no other sundae.  It probably wasn’t really that good but to have the privilege of being the only one in the shop was staggering. When CC Browns closed, Bea was no longer with us nor was the recipe for the hot fudge.  Sadly, you can buy it in any supermarket now (not good) but nothing will ever top being the "only one".

Gifford’s in Silver Spring, Maryland and Bethesda, Maryland;  both right outside of our Nation’s Capital.  High ceilings, lazy fans moving, those same ice cream parlour chairs (we used to call them coca cola chairs?) and tiny little round marble tables.  Swiss Chocolate ice cream, and many other flavors, made right on the premises.  Hot nights in the days before a/c, whole families walking downtown just to cool off there.  Creme de Menthe parfaits in tall glasses eaten with an iced tea spoon.  Glassed in shelves filled with their homemade chocolates and red checkered napkins in huge baskets full of their creamy soft caramels in twists of bright yellow waxed paper.

Where did it all go?  WHY did it all go?  Everything evolves;  everything changes.  But some things that are missed should have stayed around to become cherished experiences of later generations.