Getting the scoop on the ice cream man

BY TOM THOMAS

To many who frequent Summer Delights, the Takoma Park ice cream parlor, the smiling man behind the counter is known as the ice cream man. To those who really know him well, he's much more.

Not only is Greg Moorin an ice cream artist, he can also advise you on dry cleaning or automobiles. He was once a bushelman (more on that later), and he played the bassoon and clarinet well enough to be offered a schol-arship to the University of Maryland. He can even deliver a baby in an emergency. He looks like he belongs on a Harley–in fact, his first date with his wife, Laurette, was on the Harley he once owned.

Summer Delights, now in its 20th year, originally opened as a semi-retirement business for Greg's father, Bernie, across from the Flower Theater in Silver Spring. Greg, who then owned the nearby dry cleaners, managed to convert his office into an ice cream hothouse.

"Surprisingly, in spite of the ice cream machines, it got really hot in there," Greg said.

Before ice cream, Greg and his parents operated as many as four dry cleaning establishments. Three of the four were dry stores, meaning that clothes had to be sent out to a plant to be cleaned. The fourth in Bethesda had a plant in back, servicing not only the family's four stores, but also 14 dry-store clients. Greg ended up owning only one family store–Takoma Laundry on Laurel Avenue.

As a bushelman, a term used in dry cleaning, Greg did everything from hem up trousers to modify lapels on suit coats. To beat the heat in the shop, he used to thread the needle at 2 a.m.

He also worked in places few have visited, mending or cleaning draperies in Presidential cabinet members' homes and offices, in the White House, and in secret rooms at the Pentagon.

Initially, Summer Delights was to be an open-air shop on The Deck by the Post Office on Laurel Avenue, so Greg could stay close to Takoma Laundry. But Pepco refused to provide an outdoor electrical hookup, which brought Greg to his indoor location, next to Video Americain on Laurel. In a move some might consider questionable thinking, he opened in the off-season, on December 15, 1999.

Summer Delights is still a family operation. Laurette has fun making cakes. Rachel, their teenage daughter, dips ice cream when she's not performing on the Blair High School pom squad. Bernie, who operated the original Summer Delights for 17 years, still does the books and hangs out on Sundays to greet customers who remember him from the years on Flower.

Greg's life has taken him far from Flower Avenue, though. When he graduated from Blair High School, the University of Maryland offered him a music scholarship. But he decided the Navy band offered greater opportunity, so he enlisted. But with the war in Vietnam, he never auditioned for the band.

Instead, he trained as a medical corpsman and was assigned to the huge Naval hospital in Philadelphia. He worked in pediatric wards and operating rooms, seeing newborns with defects such as webbed shoulders. He even worked in the delivery room assisting in births. His superiors decided he was good with people and assigned him the onerous task of telling and consoling parents when their sick children died.

"Seeing kids enjoy ice cream is more pleasant," he said.

Greg spent his last two enlisted years on Okinawa with the Third Marine Division. He provided extensive care to the wounded, supervised 40 men, and managed the proper dispensing of morphine and other drugs.

"Nobody ever went to the brig for stealing drugs on my watch," he said.

Greg celebrates his birthday this month. As a child, Greg's birthdays felt a bit empty, since all his friends were away on summer vacations. But two years ago, Laurette and several regulars remedied that with a 50th birthday party in the store. Greg's friend Emily Van Loon even sent out invitations on neighorhood e-mail listservs.

"It took 50 years for me to get a decent birthday party," Greg said.

Something he considers "no big deal" is his position as president of a local Corvette club. He once raced his dark red '87 Corvette across Tennessee to see Graceland. Why is he an Elvis fan? People say he looks like the singer.

Since opening Summer Delights, he's not only constantly on the move, but he keeps moving the equipment and counter around. He has most of the walls filled but the wall to the left has been waiting on a mural. Regarding the details, he says, "It's a secret," but he did reveal that a local artist is donating the mural because of Greg's support of the community.

His focus on kids is irrefutable. Last year he employed 20 teenagers, some of whom are back this year. He also hosts a local chess club, sponsors the Babe Ruth Baseball League, and lets kids get creative with his storefront window.

"The window's exclusively for the kids," he said.

Greg brings considerable experience and creativity to the ice cream business. Now that Summer Delights makes its own ice cream, Greg is often creating new flavors. His most recent is Sweet Lulu. A photographer once told him that his darkroom was where he created outstanding work, so Greg says, "my ice cream machine is my darkroom."

Greg also does "market research"–watching customers to see what they buy and what they like.

"We have such a diverse population here, I can satisfy the tastes of almost everybody," he said. "People from the south like peach or praline. People from the Caribbean like banana or raisin."

It may have taken 50 years for him to receive a decent birthday party, but don't feel sorry for the ice cream man. He's surrounded every day by ice cream, cake and many, many friends.