A tale of ingenuity and rum raisin ice cream

I planned to title this entry “How I learned to love rum raisin ice cream”. But for my taste, rum is put to better use in Daiquiris and Mojitos. Nonetheless, the thought of rum ice cream brings back a fond memory.

On my first visit to the Chrysler Building’s Cloud Club, I stepped into the main dining room and started taking as many photos as my allotted 10 minutes would allow. Seeing I wasn’t going to break anything, the security guard wandered off.  After a minute, he called from a distance, “Do you like rum raisin ice cream?”

Having ice cream wasn’t at the top of my to-do list at that moment but I said “sure”. The club had one of those waist-high freezers with the doors on top. To discourage ice cream theft, a lock had been fashioned using a pipe threaded through the handles on the freezer doors. This pipe was secured on each end and looked formidable. Not so. Someone had figured out that with a few turns, the pipe unscrewed and was easily removed.

I didn’t know it then but that was the only time I would see that kitchen. For a while, the club was used for special events like antique shows and during one of those I thought about rum raisin ice cream.

Antique Show in the Cloud Club - early 1980s

I wandered off to the kitchen but everything was gone.  Except those amazing windows.

To see the club in better days, go to http://www.decopix.com/Cloud_Club/