Santa Cruz icon Marianne’s Ice Cream opens new Westside location
Quick Take
Marianne’s Ice Cream on Fair Avenue in Santa Cruz is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and offers around 115 flavors of ice cream in single servings and in containers to-go from all three of brands made on site — Marianne’s, Polar Bear Ice Cream and Treat Ice Cream. The company says it is planning a grand opening for later this summer.
Here’s the scoop: Santa Cruz icon Marianne’s Ice Cream opened a new ice cream parlor on Fair Avenue in Santa Cruz on July 1.
Ice Cream On Fair is open daily from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and offers around 115 flavors of ice cream in single servings and in containers to-go from all three of brands made on site — Marianne’s, Polar Bear Ice Cream and Treat Ice Cream. The company says it is planning a grand opening for later this summer.
Guests can choose from more than a hundred flavors of ice cream, including Old Tyme Vanilla, Lemon Custard, and 1020 — caramel ice cream with a chocolate swirl.
Co-owner Charlie Wilcox says samples are always welcome. “We always encourage people to taste something new. Often they’ll still order their tried-and-true favorite.”
Notably, fans of Polar Bear Ice Cream can now enjoy a fresh scoop of their favorite flavors on the Westside when it used to only be available at the Capitola shop and at the grocery store.
The company has already been producing ice cream for the last two years inside the 13,000-square-foot building, which houses its offices, a manufacturing facility, warehouse and freezer.
The facility produces more than 125 ice cream flavors on a regular basis and boasts a catalog of almost 300 recipes. Marianne’s serves around 85 flavors at its locations in Capitola, Seacliff and its original location on Ocean Street in Santa Cruz, where it has had a line out of the door of its barn-red-and-white building since 1947.
The local company was founded by Tom Baker and named after his daughters, Mary and Annie. Sam and Dorothy Leiberman purchased the company in 1958. After a 55-year career, the Leibermans sold it to Wilcox and Kelly Dillon in 2012.
“We see Marianne’s as a really important part of the community and are really happy that the community supports us as well,” says Wilcox.
Marianne’s Ice Cream has expanded considerably in the care of Wilcox and Dillon. In 2014, Marianne’s merged operations with Polar Bear Ice Cream, another Santa Cruz company founded in 1975. In 2021, the Mauseth family sold beloved San Jose brand Treat Ice Cream to Marianne’s, with whom it’s always had a friendly relationship due to their decades producing ice cream on opposite sides of “the hill.”
Wilcox says he and Dillon are often asked if they have plans to expand the Santa Cruz company beyond the Bay Area — the answer is, no. “The way we make the ice cream – without stabilizers and emulsifiers – doesn’t travel well through the industry supply chain,” he explains. “It’s an all-natural mix that doesn’t withstand temperature changes well. It’s fresh and special.”
Quick Take
The president, notorious for his love of ice cream, did indeed sample a Santa Cruz favorite, and his team also chowed...
So, what’s Wicox’s favorite ice cream? “That’s like asking a painter, what’s their favorite color?” he says. One unsung hero – ginger ice cream.
Asked how much ice cream is made at the new Fair Avenue facility, Wilcox simply says, a lot! “We can make as much as [our customers] want.”
Mariannesicecream.com 1201 Fair Ave, Santa Cruz. (831) 457-1447.
