Sun 27 Apr 2008
The Demise of ‘Great Scoop’
Posted by TJ under Great Scoops, Hawthorne
Those patronizing the Hawthorne train station have one less option for coffee, ice cream and “Wolverine” comic books, as “Great Scoop Ice Cream Parlor & Cafe,” located right next to the station, appears to be closed.
Don’t let the name fool you–Great Scoop wasn’t really a cafe (though there were a few tables) and I don’t recall ever seeing anyone walk out of there with ice cream. Great Scoop was a down and dirty deli (emphasis on ‘dirty), but at least half the space was dedicated to dusty sundries– comic books, Yankee memorabilia, those Kevlar balloons, that sort of thing.
The owner was a portly fellow with a long gray beard — imagine Jerry Garcia as a Hell’s Angel. He’d lurk outside the deli some mornings; over time, he came to recognize me, racing for the train, and said hello. (In a town where you don’t know a soul, that’s actually kind of nice.) Once, I missed the train and went there for an egg and cheese sandwich and coffee, and read the Post at one of the little aluminum tables. (It would’ve felt showy to read the Times or Journal there–Great Scoop was that kind of joint.)
The Jerry Garcia biker guy had a quirky sense of humor that you could pick up on instantly. In a tiny garden outside the deli, he’d erected some cardboard tombstones on which to announce the day’s specials. It must’ve been Halloween season when he put them up, but the tombstones stayed up for some time, often with different sandwiches advertised in chalk. As Christmas approached, one tombstone teased a sandwich called the Three Wise Meats. For better or worse, you just don’t get the Three Wise Meats at your local Subway.
Hawthorne’s tiny downtown had no less than four delis, if you include the lovely Ms. Winzig’s joint (she’s an 85-year old, formerly world renowned opera singer who took a leave of absence to battle cancer last year). Indeed, four delis in the span of about two blocks. So it was probably just a matter of time before it lost one, and Great Scoop was probably the logical choice.
If another food joint goes into that space, I hope they carry on a local tradition and offer the Three Wise Meats.
May 4th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
As a lifelong resident of Hawthorne, I have known great scoop since its opening. “Jerry Garcia” used to operate it as exclusively a card and comic shop called Let’s Deal, but decided to change it over to a deli because it wasn’t making a lot of money. Having commuted from Hawthorne to the Bronx every day for high school, I would stop there for a coffee and sandwich all the time. Please keep up the great work, i love reading this site, and now that I go to school in California, it makes me nostalgic about the days of commuting.