Walter Lappert retired to Kauai thinking to pass his golden years in relative obscurity and peace, but instead, he went on to found an ice cream empire – Lappert’s ice cream shops are found all over Hawaii. We stopped frequently for ice cream during our travels because, um, important research? Yes, that’s it, plus, the need to keep our blood sugar up because of the hard work. Yes. I liked the trademarked Kauai Pie, J. always went for the Kona Coffee, though he also liked the tropical fruit options – I seem to recall some excellent mango ice cream.
We stayed in Poipu on Kauai, the resort-centric village on the south coast. Just inland from Poipu is the former sugar plantation village of Koloa and in Koloa there’s a lively Lappert’s. We were driving out of Koloa one afternoon? morning? it’s all a blur now… and J. wanted to stop and take a photo facing towards Mt. Wai’ale’ale. We pulled up in to a cemetery on a rise to the right of the highway and J. wandered to the edge of the plateau to take his pictures. I strolled between the headstones, getting a feel for the history of Koloa in the last names, Portuguese, Philippine, Spanish sounding mixes… and there, in the middle was old man Lappert’s stone. It’s a low to the ground granite number and gives the dates of his life – he died in 2003. The stone had the logo for his shop on it – Lappert’s smiling profile and a couple of ice cream cones.
His epitaph? “This is not a bad location.”
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For the record, our favorite island ice cream was not Lappert’s. It was Dave’s Ice Cream purchased at the Kamoi Snack Shoppe on Molokai. The Lappert’s, however, is mighty delicious.
[tags]ice cream, Hawaii[/tags]
Love this story. 🙂
For a truly cool confection, island style, you must experience Uncle Aaron’s shave ice, a pop-up stand located in the parking lot of Kapaa Big Save, the Kauai equivalent to Red Apple. Well loved by the locals, Uncle Aaron as he affectionately called by everyone, young, old, local and visiting, concocts his own tropical flavored syrups to drizzle over the crowns of his luscious ‘snow cones’ (for you haoles). He also douses the delights with condensed milk — so ono! And his prices, so reasonable, we always give him an extra generous tip because he is such a big hearted guy, embodying the aloha spirit. Say hi from Lei Ann and Tom (Curtis’ Seattle cousin)!