Uwishunu.com

Next time you find yourself roaring through Center City and rushing through the Reading Terminal, slow down as you pass Bassetts Ice Cream counter and take quiet notice. The customers settled onto their stools and leaning over the 115 year old counter represent all strata of Philadelphia society. The well to do and not so, the young and very young and the old and very old, and all ages in between. All races and ethnicities, shoulder to shoulder, share more than just their love of real Philadelphia ice cream. They are sharing a delighfully serene moment while the world rushes past them, and basking in the continuity of their personal histories as Philadelphians.

At Bassetts counter, no one is in a hurry. They are enjoying an ice cream break. The slow melting of the ice cream dictates how fast you should be eating, but other than that, you are at peace with the universe.

Freezing weather doesn’t stop folks from wanting that moment to themselves, though the summer heat drives people differently, of course. People who cannot meet for lunch can still meet for dessert, and they do. People seek out Bassett’s for a special family moment, as we did when we brought our older son to that long counter after his first day of school.

In the late 19th century, Philadelphia ice cream had such a reputation that makers in other cities would promote their product as ‘Philadelphia ice cream.’ Every neighborhood had an ice cream shop of some sort, all supplied by area dairies. L. D. Bassett, a Quaker school teacher and farmer out of Salem, New Jersey, began making ice cream in 1861, opened a popular parlor on Market above 5th in 1885, and set up production and that marble counter top in the brand spankin’ new Reading Terminal in 1893. Bassetts is the real thing, and spending those quiet few minutes at their counter, savoring the best ice cream in Center City, is one of those subtle luxuries that makes Philadelphia great.

Bassetts
www.bassettsicecream.com

Reading Terminal
51 N 12th St, Philadelphia, PA 19107
(215) 922-2317
www.readingterminalmarket.org