My friend took me to a time machine on Friday night. It’s called Klavon’s Ice Cream Parlor and it is a portal into a gentler time.
In fact, it appears to have not been updated at all since the doors opened in 1923 when it was an apothecary and ice cream shop. It operated as such until the late seventies.
Twenty years later, descendants of the original owners revived the old neighborhood hangout. It changed hands again in 2011 and is no longer in the Klavon family but continues operating under that name.
Luckily, some things don’t change. The woodwork is magnificent. The lights are Art Deco. They still have the original wooden phone booths, tile floors, tin ceiling and a gorgeous marble counter.
There’s penny candy and cold drinks but the star of the show is the extensive menu of ice cream sundaes, shakes and floats. I tried the Tin Ceiling Sundae – vanilla ice cream plus chocolate sauce, whipped cream and fresh roasted peanuts complete with a cherry on top. My friend had this pretty little thing that’s pictured below.
They also serve some made-to-order paninis, soup and pepperoni rolls.
As you can imagine, I loved it there.
Their location on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh’s popular Strip District means that lots of other people love it too. It was busy the entire time we were there and was still busy when we left a few minutes before closing time.
Want to visit or maybe just drool over their menu? Click here to visit their website.
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