“Behind every  
small business,  
there’s a story  
worth knowing.”  
Paul Ryan

If you drive by 2916 Vicente Street (just west of 40th Avenue) today, you will see a typical Sunset District home — a couple of windows upstairs, with a garage door and a gated entry to the front door at the street level. Nothing about it would draw your attention. It wasn’t always so nondescript. In the 1960s, this location was home to Freddy’s, a popular little shop for an after-school or weekend snack. I wonder if the current owner of the home is aware of its history?

Directly across the street from 2916 Vicente is South Sunset Playground. Just to the west of the playground is Ulloa Elementary School. And just up the street on 40th Avenue is Saint Gabriel School. I’m fairly certain that the bulk of Freddy’s customers came from these three places. The small shop was popular with kids of all ages, and I would guess a few adults, too.

The owner, whose name I will assume was Freddy, converted his garage into a small shop where he served French fries in a brown paper bag for just 25 cents. They were amazingly good. He also sold half-pint containers of Sun Valley Dairy frozen chocolate milk and frozen orange drink for only ten cents. Using a box cutter, he would remove the top half of the half-pint carton, leaving the frozen treat cradled in the bottom half of the container. 

I don’t recall ever purchasing both fries and a frozen drink at the same time. If I got the fries, I wanted to let them cool off just a bit, then enjoy them while they were still hot. When I got the frozen Sun Valley Dairy treat, and most often I’d get the chocolate milk rather than the orange drink, I savored every bit of the frozen product. 

I’m fairly certain that Freddy didn’t open his shop to make money. I doubt that he relied on income from the small business to survive. I think he was just a retired old man who liked kids and wanted to provide some simple, affordable treats. Perhaps it was his way of communicating with the people of the neighborhood.   

Through my eight years as a student at Saint Gabriel School (1960-68), after-school visits to South Sunset Playground and Freddy’s were part of my normal afternoon routine. Once I started high school, rarely did I have the time or interest to spend time at the playground. I left the Sunset District in 1972 when I moved to the Santa Clara Valley to attend college, so I don’t know exactly when Freddy’s went out of business. 

As I mentioned, to see the house today, one would never know that there was such a successful, popular business situated there 60 years ago. No doubt, though, many (if not most) of the kids who lived near South Sunset Playground in the sixties have positive memories of Freddy’s.