Having grown up in Bergen County in the early 80s, one of my fondest memories is of an ice cream parlour that used to reside just off the food court at the Paramus Park Mall.

Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour was a theme restaurant, designed to look like an old-fashioned ice cream parlour from the Turn of the Century, with Tiffany Lamps and barrels upon barrels of penny candy. Waiters and waitresses were dressed in pin-striped vests, old fashioned ties, and cane hats. Whenever someone ordered one of their giant sundaes (called the Pig Trough) bells and whistles and sirens would go off when the server brought it to your table.

It was the kind of place parents took their kids for birthday celebrations, which was Farrell's specialty, really.

In 1985, the corporation decided to minimize the old-fashioned theme, and turned it into a standard family restaurant. Upon the failure of this idea, the Paramus Park Farrell's, and other locations across the country closed down.

I have been thinking about Farrell's often recently, especially when I see how different the Paramus Park food court has become--and perhaps out of a nostalgia that comes with turning 30.

After doing a Google search, I have found that there may be a light at the end of the nostalgia tunnel, as there are plans to revive Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour. There are two locations already: one in California and one in Hawaii, with plans to expand (hopefully eastward).

To give you all a sense of what the Farrell's experience was like, here are some links that I found about the history:

This site really captures the atmosphere of a Farrell's dining experience.
http://www.happyitis.biz/

And this is the corporations website
http://www.farrellsusa.com/

And this is a pretty nifty site for the Hawaii location
http://www.farrellshawaii.com/default.asp