Beloved ice cream shop re-opens at new locale

by Christina Li

The sign listing its 42 homemade flavors continues to hang in back of the ice cream counter and the familiar old-fashioned black stools still remain in the parlor, but there is something noticeably different with the well-known Joe's Ice Cream.

With an increase in rent, Mutsuhiko Murashige and his wife Aki Murashige, the owners of Joe's Ice Cream, had to decide on whether to close their shop at the corner of 18th Avenue and Geary Boulevard or to move to a new location - they opted for the latter.

Aki said she and her husband's first goal was to find a space for their shop in the Richmond District.

"I didn't want to see that Joe's is gone forever out of this neighborhood," she said.

Aki mentioned it was a matter of luck that her hair stylist filled her in on the vacant building that was just half a block away from the original Joe's Ice Cream.

It was not too long afterward when Mutsuhiko stepped into the shop and saw walk-in freezers and walk-in refrigerators in very good condition.

"I said, 'wow, this is it. This is the one,'" he said.

Jennifer Harper, the nanny of two 5-year-old girls, said that when she first took care of them, they walked to get ice cream but realized Joe's Ice Cream was closed.

"When (the girls) saw that it was closed, they were actually pretty upset," Harper said. "We read the sign and it said that it'd be open in a few weeks, so I explained to them that they were just going to reopen across the street and they were excited."

In early June, after five months of work and renovations, Joe's Ice Cream opened its doors to familiar faces at its new site at 5420 Geary Blvd.

Longtime patron and Richmond District native, Ed Fernandez, said he knew Joe's Ice Cream when it was on the corner of 18th Avenue. He believes the new space offers more room for customers to bring their children in to eat food from "Joe's Grill."

"Joe's Grill" serves American food, including hot dogs, hamburgers, grilled cheese and B.L.T. sandwiches.

"I'm glad they're here," Fernandez said. "I think they have a lot of people coming in. This place has a better ambiance."

The Murashiges have come a long way with their shop since it first opened as Bud's Ice Cream in 1945. In 1959, Joe Politz renamed his store to "Joe's Ice Cream." Soon after, Mike Baum took over and worked at the shop for 15 years until he was ready to retire in 1979.

Before immigrating from Japan to America, Mutsuhiko received a college degree in food science where he learned a lot about frozen refrigeration and how it can change food.

Mutsuhiko said his friend knew about Baum's retirement and mentioned that it was a good opportunity.

"I studied this kind of thing in Japan, so therefore I said, 'OK, sure we'll take over,'" he said.

Aki, who was raised in Japan and already married to Mutsuhiko, immigrated to the United States in 1979 and started working at Joe's Ice Cream just one month after arriving in San Francisco.

"My background has nothing to do with business," she recalled. "I was not so familiar with American food, especially hamburgers and hot dogs, so I had to draw pictures."

After taking over the shop, Mutsuhiko and Aki were given the recipes of 42 ice cream flavors from the previous owners.

Although Mutsuhiko and Aki try to keep the flavors as original as possible, there are times when they must alter the ingredients to best serve their customers' taste buds.

"A lot of the ice cream is kind of popular, then it fades away," Mutsuhiko said. "For example, we used to have butter brickle ice cream. It's very sweet - English toffee kind of flavor - with butter brickle candy inside. Then it got less and less response, so I said, 'right now coffee ice cream is very, very popular,' so I started making coffee ice cream with butter brickle candy inside, called coffee crunch. Then, it started selling again."

Now, after owning Joe's Ice Cream for 31 years, Mutsuhiko said he is at his retirement age, but that his job will only be completed after one more accomplishment.

"I want to pass (Joe's Ice Cream) along to somebody willing to keep it here in this neighborhood," he said. "I have to find the right person."

As for the change in location, Mutsuhiko said he has gotten very positive reactions from his customers and that 99 percent of them like the new location.

Despite the move across Geary, many generations of customers still stop by Joe's Ice Cream for a quick bite to eat or for a scoop of homemade ice cream.

"They brought in their grandson," Mutsuhiko said, as he pointed to Xavier Giovanelli and his wife. "I've seen four generations of families come here all sitting together."

Giovanelli, who has been going to Joe's Ice Cream for more than 30 years, said his guardian angel draws him to the shop. He also noted that Mutsuhiko is a very humble and gentle man. "He's one of those rare people who have a calm demeanor," Giovanelli said.

"He's been very fair with his ice cream. I wish him a lot of luck."

Joe's Ice Cream is located at 5420 Geary Blvd. It is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and is closed on Mondays. For more information, call (415) 751-1950 or visit the website at www.joesicecream.com.