Blog 3481 – 05.15.2025

Never Enough Ice Cream

In January of 1973 I moved from my home town of Chattanooga, Tennessee to Houston, Texas to attend a small Bible College called GBC, Gulf Coast Bible College. I remember being totally fascinated by the sites and sounds of the big city and recall being awed by the Houston Natural History Museum, the Zoo, and the downtown skyline. The Hyatt Regency with its glass elevators with a majestic view of the lobby open all the way up to the revolving restaurant at the top of the building was a site all the college students loved sharing with the newly arriving students.

In the area of Houston that is now called Uptown is located the tremendous three story mall called The Galleria. On the first floor there is as an ice skating rink. It was the first that I had ever seen and in 1973 there was an indoor version of the ice cream parlour restaurant pictured above, Farrell’s. It was a popular spot with its Eighteen-Nineties soda fountain theme. The waiters and waitresses all wore the straw hats and vests of the period and seemed to love their job of serving and entertaining guests. The largest most expensive ice cream concoction they served was called The Farrell’s Pig’s Trough and was delivered with sirens blaring on the shoulders of two waiters and several of the wait staff singing and calling the whole establishment’s attention to the piggy patrons who had ordered it.

I remember Farrell’s as a fun place to spend an afternoon or evening with friends. Over time, I suppose that particular novel approach to dining lost its appeal and the Farrell’s franchises all disappeared like so many others before and since. The Houston Galleria still has the indoor ice skating rink, yet gone is Farrell’s and the opportunity to pig-out with friends over ice cream delicacies like The Farrell’s Pig’s Trough. As the saying goes, there is always room for ice cream and some like myself would add – and never enough.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David James White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O9TSiE35PKzupP8NjHY7QDRKHN4HWngE/view?usp=drivesdk

Never Enough