Leopold's Ice Cream

Leopold's original location, Leopold's Purest Ice Cream, was at the northeastern corner of East Gwinnett Street and Habersham Street, a former fruit stand[5] in the Historic District - South, a few blocks east of Forsyth Park.[4] Peter Leopold, having just returned from serving in the First World War in France, was speaking to the owner of the fruit stand, a fellow Greek, while waiting for a streetcar. Leopold inquired about starting a business there, and shortly afterwards he and his older brother, George, bought the store, with Peter and his son, Stratton, living on the second floor.[5] They began selling chocolates, food and ice cream.[5] Basil Leopold joined them in 1925.[6][5]

The brothers utilized the French pot process they had learned from master confectioner James Peter Zarafonetis back in Indiana, making five- and ten-gallon batches of ice cream in-house from their own recipes and using fresh cream, milk and eggs from local dairy farms.[7]

The brothers remodeled the shop in 1935, modernizing it and launching an improved delivery service.[5]

Peter's youngest child, Stratton Leopold, took over the business with his mother, Marika, after his father's death in 1963 (George had died two years previous).[5][8] Stratton closed the shop in 1969,[5] and left Savannah for Hollywood, via New York City, where he is now a film producer, director and actor.[9] Ice cream and sweet treats continued to be served across town at Basil Leopold's Restaurant, which opened in 1962 at Medical Arts Shopping Center.[10][5] After her husband's death in 1981, Pina Leopold continued to run the store for a year, before selling the store and retiring.[10]

In August 2004, Leopold's moved to its present home on East Broughton Street, in Savannah's downtown,[2] where it is known for regularly having a line of customers waiting outside.[5][11] Stratton Leopold hired Hollywood production designer Dan Lomino to recreate his father's soda fountain from the original store.[11] The ice cream is made, using the same recipes developed by his father and uncle,[4] at a former wholesale florist building at 37th and Price Streets and brought over to the store as necessary.[5]

The company also has a kiosk and a full-service shop at Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport.[5]

Leopold's signature flavor is tutti frutti,[11] a favorite of Savannah's Johnny Mercer, who worked in the shop as a ten-year old, sweeping floors,[7][1] while former U.S. President Jimmy Carter's favorite is the butter pecan.[5] Carter wrote the foreword to Leopold's Ice Cream: A Century of Tasty Memories, 1919–2019 (Melanie Bowden Simón, 2020).[12]

The company celebrated its centenary on August 18, 2019, and held a block party the previous day.[5]

• 
  A line outside the store in 2017
• 
  Leopold's Ice Cream, original Savannah location at 720 Habersham Street in 2021
• 
  Gwinnett Street view in 2021

• Official website