Grunnings in South Orange.
I never got a chance to experience Grunnings. From what I’ve heard, it was a local ice cream shop on South Orange Avenue in South Orange. I’m told it was a destination for families and local teens to get a bite.
So, why am I writing about a topic I know nothing about? Well, I just keep running into people who tell me “Grunnings this, and Grunnings that”. It seems like a place that people can’t let go. A piece of their past that just won’t go away.
I would love to find out more about Grunnings in Maplewood. Perhaps get a couple of photos. Hear some personal stories. Learn more about the experience.
Clearly, this establishment had a serious impact on local residents. So what made this place so special.
Tell me.
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There were two Gruning’s in South Orange; one in the Village, the other at the top of SO Avenue by the South Mountain Reservation. That site is now an ugly condo.
There is scattering information online, the best I’ve found is here:
http://www.griswold.com/Grunings.htm
I remember that menu well!
The one on the hill had large painted murals of 50’s era CHS students. Out the back windows there was a great view, where you could see for miles towards Newark and the Verrazano Bridge. The ice cream was amazing and I remember especially the hot fudge sundays. The place just had great atmosphere and was perfect for burgers, ice cream or whatever you might want after your little league game.
I remember Grunnings from 1988. I was a nanny in South Orange and met there regularly with other nanny friends and young children to enjoy the lattice fries and fantastic ice cream! It was a really special place, very friendly and traditional.I am English and at the time this was a real example of an American eatery. We loved it!
I grew up in South Orange. We would go to both Grunnings frequently. The ice cream was excellent. They also made their own candy. Chocolate. My best friend and I would stop in the village for a drink on the way home from school. We would sit at the counter and she would get a cherry coke and I a vanilla. It was the old fashioned soda fountain. The burgers had a special taste to them too. Too bad it is gone.
Grunnings is a mythological place for many who grew up in South Orange and the surrounding towns. There were other Grunnings branches in South Plainfield, Montclair, and Millburn, NJ but the South Orange Village one and the one “on the hill” were the archetypes. To this day, its ice cream is the standard by which I judge all other ice creams. If you happened to go into the store as the ice cream was being made, sometimes they’d give you a sample when it was still soft and fresh out of the machine. I remember fondly Ernest, Frank, Frank, and Will and the candy maker, a kind lady whose name I don’t recall. All were lifetime Grunnings employees in an era when one could make a living working full time in such a simple establishment. It started in the 1930’s I believe as a family business of Mr. Herman Grunning Senior and then in the 1970’s was taken over by his son who was also a lawyer. The coffee ice cream there was my favorite and forever the fond memory of drinking yummy black and white ice cream sodas there with my favorite aunt, now passed, will remind me of “home”. It was the place that as a young child I lunched with my mom and grandma feasting on special time with them and great burgers and home made soups. When I was a student at the local Marylawn of the Oranges High School, Grunnings was the place to go after school, after school dances, or for lunch on days off…Many in my family worked there at different times of their live and I myself worked there as a cashier during summers when I was a student at the College of Saint Elizabeth. I have a full and happy life in Upstate New York now but still I remember Grunnigs for so much more than just the food. Everyone should have a Grunnings in their life!