Actually Gaylord's survived into the 80's. Uncle Gaylord himself worked the last shop which was located in Petaluma (at the southern end of Petaluma Blvd. South, until about 1983 or 1984.
Near the end, you could get a great bowl of chilli there to go with your ice cream and heart burn. They also had $1 milk shakes during the year before they finally closed for good.
Gaylord Willis was the founder of Uncle Gaylord's and I have heard that after he sold out he moved to Arkansas. He wrote a book on ice cream making in 1978 which is long out of print, but I see a used copy offered on Amazon.com for $199.99!!
Uncle Gaylord's is long gone, but for something just as good, try out Screamin' Mimi's Ice Cream in Sebastopol.
There was an Uncle Gaylord's in San Rafael on 4th Street. It closed many years ago and the last time I saw the place it was some kind of deli. But I remember getting ice cream there all the time. There was a shoe store across the street and after my mom and I shoe shopped (ooh, I remember her buying me some clogs there...) she would always get me a big vanilla cone. It was the best ice cream that I can remember. Once I remember getting a double scoop. They were huge. The top scoop fell off and I cried. But, I picked it up, wiped off the dirt and finished the whole thing... all the while vanilla ice cream dripping down my hand. It was great!
The Mill Valley Uncle Gaylords was in the same complex as El Paseo. It was in a location that was subsequently occupied by the Dipsea Cafe before it moved to it's current location off Shoreline Highway
I remember when Buds moved into the spot occupied by Herberts Sherbet in Corte Madera (after I think Herb was murdered) , I remember a Gaylords in Fairfax I think, where was the Mill Valley store?
Does anybody remember Uncle Gaylord's Ice Cream shop in Mill Valley? I believe it was one of a small chain of ice cream shops in the Bay area. It had a very delicious icy ( not creamy) homemade ice cream. I believe it went out of business in the late 60s-early 70s. Much better stuff than Coldstone's, Double Raiinbow, etc.
