Almost every Saturday my Aunt Ann and I would ride the bus to downtown Pittsburgh to shop in “town”. On our way home we would always get off the bus near the Bloomfield Isaly’s. We ended our shopping days with chocolate milkshakes and cheese crackers. How I loved those trips and looked forward to that milkshake!
My father used to take me to the Isaly’s store in German Village, Columbus, OH. We always had the same lunch, a ham sandwich and a vanilla phosphate drink. Whenever I now eat Isaly’s chipped chopped ham, it brings back that wonderful memory of my father and me having lunch together.
Starting round 1962,my dad would take me and my little sister to Isaly’s after he did the grocery shopping. I would always get a chocolate skyscraper ice cream cone ,and she would get a chocolate milk shake. It was a rare and Very BIG treat for us!! We loved the skyscraper ice cream cones, but they occasionally toppled off the cone.
We grew up eating Chipped Ham from Isaly’s…
Thanks for the memory!!
I live far away from Pittsburgh now, but when I was a little girl in the ’70′s, one of the best times of my week was going to Isaly’s for a Sundae! My parents and I would go to church in Bellevue PA Sunday mornings, and then they would take me to Isaly’s afterward. As a teenager, my mother and I would go shopping to North Hills Village, and we would usually stop in to eat at the Isaly’s in the mall. Sometimes for dinner, sometimes for a sundae… I loved all the different flavors they had! And then when I babysat the little children next door, I used to take them to Isaly’s for ice cream. These are all very precious memories!
I remember growing up as a kid..my grandparents lived in Charleroi, Pa. There was an Isaly”s store in downtown Charleroi that my grandmother would take me to for Ice cream. It was a special time shared with her. We would bring chipped ham home to make sandwiches, it was the best chipped ham ever. I have not found any that compares. Thanks for the fond childhood memories!
Until I moved away from Washington, Pa. I had Islay’s Chipped Ham everyday. I ate it my entire life growing up. It wasn’t til I moved around the country that I figured out not all Chipped ham was the same!! Let alone no one else knows how to “shave” it like you!! My father still lives in Washington and every 6 months we either go up to visit or he comes down. There are only 2 things I want him to bring.
1) 5 lbs of Islay’s chipped hamand2) Sarris’ Chocolate from Cannonsburg
I have to now fight of my husband and oldest child (12) to try to make the 5 lbs last past a week and a half!!My youngest (2) is like me, she loves it fried up and either as a sandwich or with scrambled eggs!!Oh HOW I MISS ISALY’S!!!
Thank You for being a part of all my childhood memories!! At all family gatherings, birthdays, picnics, holidays and of course, SUPER BOWL there was ALWAYS a crock-pot full of Isaly’s BBQ chipped ham!!
Come to think of it since leaving Pa. I don’t eat many cold cut sandwiches.You ARE the BEST!!!
I lived in Aliquippa and there was an Isaly’s store just a block from my home on Moretta Road across from Laughlin School. I always got a cone that was the new style shaped like a pyramid and it was rainbow ice cream. I remember always buying chipped ham to take in my lunch everyday. I still love it and when I used to have super bowl parties I had a friend that would go home from St. Louis every weekend and bring me 5 pounds of it and I’d freeze it and take a little of it every week to have in my sandwiches then too. NO ONE makes it like ISALY’S does, NO ONE. Now, I”m going to a super bowl party this weekend and have no Isaly’s chipped ham. How sad..
My grandparents and 4 of their children, and a million of my cousins, all live in the Pittsburgh area. As a kid, I am 54, my family would come to visit. I always heard about Isaly’s and loved their Klondike bars. It wasn’t till my brother and I (he’s 48) were arguing about Klondike bars that I thought to look up your website. Lo and behold another wonderful memory came to me. Isaly’s chipped ham. I had forgotten about that wonderful taste. My Uncle would bring some home and it was gone in a second. I was sad to see I cannot get it here in Texas. Someday I want to bring my husband and daughter to Pittsburgh and we will be buying Isaly’s chipped ham for sure.
My name is Lynea and I grew up in Swissvale in the 1950′s. Gosh going to the Isaly’s in Swissvale was a treat. But the really big treat was to go to the Carnegie Museum in Oakland and to the Big Isaly’s afterwords. How utterly fantastic. I rented an apartment in Swissvale with my small son and the Isaly’s was just across the street. My mom stopped in their every day after work to have a cup of coffee before catching the bus up the hill to her house. Adam, my son and I would make a point to stop in and visit. Today, I was remembering the deviled crab tins you could get from the deli.
I live in California now and the picture is of all the family. We all remember Isaly’s nostalgia.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. The kids in the neighborhood repeated that mantra whenever the ice cream truck arrived with sounds of nursery rhymes announcing its arrival. Kids begged to go to Isalys for ice cream, saying they were screaming for it. During an exchange of emails, Cynthia and I shared some stories from days gone by, back when we were high school friends. I told her how Mom and I wrapped Klondikes in dry ice to take them to Chicago, whenever we flew there to visit with my Uncle Carl and Aunt Betty. The senses are powerful tools for triggering memories. Memory sense impressions help to store memories. The efficiency of human memory recall is astonishing. Just the sight of those Klondike ice cream squares conjures up memories from past enjoyments. Unwrapping the foil that covered the bars signaled a delight was on the way. The smell and taste, starting with the texture of the chocolate coating, then the smooth vanilla ice cream, led to sounds of enjoyment.
Relax and remember past memories by concentrating on the senses used at the time, coupled with the emotions of the events. Discover a fascinating journey to the land of memories, especially when you compare them to the memories you are creating today, for tomorrow. The brands have changed, my interests have changed, and times have changed. Sense memories have probably magnified the positive effects of the ice cream bar. However, I’ll always enjoy the memory of I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream. Isaly’s ice cream!
