- (Taryn Varricchio) Time stands still inside
one of New York City's
oldest ice cream shops.
Customers sitting at the long marble sundae bar
await orders for old-school desserts,
each appropriately finished with a red cherry on top.
This is Eddie's Sweet Shop.
And it's been serving the most legendary
ice cream sundaes since 1925.
(soft music)
- [Elderly Man] It's like going back in time for me.
It's like finding a place that I didn't think
existed anymore.
(music)
- We're in Forest Hills today and we're heading
to Eddie's Sweet Shop,
which is one of the oldest ice cream parlors
in New York City.
They're know for these huge, over the top sundaes
that are legitimately the quintessential sundae
you would imagine in your head.
But there's a ton of shops that sell ice cream
in the city.
So, why has Eddie's stood the test of time?
Let's go find out.
(piano playing)
- [Taryn] The shop is operated out of it's original
corner store location in Forest Hills
for the last 95 years.
It's a Queens institution, but it's well known
beyond the borough.
And ironically, there was never an Eddie.
The shop was previously named Witt's Ice Cream Parlor
before Giuseppe Citrano took ownership and changed it
to Eddie's Sweet Shop in the 1960's.
- It's gone through four owners now, with many
of the previous managers working until they were
ready to retire.
And when it was Giuseppe's turn, he passed the shop
onto to his son Vito.
(music)
- This place, it never went through a change.
And we were very grateful for the other owners never
to put any money into the place and change it.
We used the same dishes that have been used since the 30's.
Even those holders are about from the 1930's.
- [Taryn] Eddie's is known for it's classic sundae
with the works.
Three scoops of ice cream, hot fudge, or strawberry sauce
and fresh whipped cream,
all topped with a cherry.
(music)
- Every flavor is made on-site and from scratch
using the same recipes inherited from the shop's
previous owners.
- [Vito] Mainly we do sundaes here, milkshakes.
Cones are probably one of the least things we do.
- [Lady] I order something every time probably
because everything is so good. And if it's homemade
you have to like try everything all the time.
(music)
- It's almost like luscious.
It's so creamy.
And this whipped cream
is cloud-like.
It's very light, it's not sweet.
(drum beating)
- [Taryn] Perhaps what Eddie's does best is preserve
it's original charm.
The shop sticks to the classics rather than calling
on the newest or trendiest items.
And that's exactly why people seek it out.
It's the kind of shop that appeals to both young
and old,
to those who have known Eddie's for years,
and those just coming across it.
- Everything about this place is old school.
From the minute that you walk in, you see the bar,
you see the sundae bar.
People sit down, they're ordering ice cream sodas.
And then you get a sundae that's literally piled high
like this.
And you just, feel like you're out of a scene of a movie,
that's from, I don't know the 1950's.
It really is, it's like a time capsule sort of atmosphere.
And I think that's what kind of makes this place stand out,
and, I mean it's been here for almost 100 years.
(upbeat music)
- So it seems like too there's an effort to keep things
old school and to keep things traditional.
Would you say that's true?
- 100%, it's so scary to say my father use to say it.
Now I'm saying it.
What I see is, our customers coming in with their children
and now their children are bringing their children.
And what's great about this place, is they can always
say this is exactly how it was when I came as a child.
Or when Grandpa brought me.
- It's what I imagined something to be like back in the
30's, 40's you know.
It's a trip back in time and you've got to experience it.