Personal Interview: Owner, Sue Clark

Interview with Owner, Sue Clark  3/29/13

Shelby: What has the building been used for through the years?

Sue: It was a printing shop, at one time, and a factory. They were built in the late 1800s and in 1907 they put a new façade on the front of the building. They renovated the upstairs and made it into a living space. I’ll get you a list of everything it used to be.

Shelby: What are some of the original architecture features in this room?

Sue: All of the support beams, which hold up the second and third floor and this feature, which is a little bit unusual. [Referring to Truss beam] The original brick walls. The façade is a reproduction around the windows. You can take a picture of the Clark tiles outside, which is a reproduction. When they cut the concrete out during remodeling “CLARK” was underneath. I thought it was meant to be. All of the beams and wood trims on the second and third floor say “CLARK” too.

Shelby: What are some of the added features that you added to give the building character?

Sue: Well, the tin ceiling. You might want to take a picture of that. The tin ceiling came out of one of the other buildings. The back bar. We copied that from another ice cream shop. The marble and the ceiling fans. The bottle collection we’ve collected through the years and some milk cases. Be sure to take a picture of the ice cream freezer we make the ice cream in.

Shelby: What about some of the pictures on the walls?

Sue: That was an old dairy here in Paducah from the late 1800s to early 1900s. It was Old Blanding Dairy. It was originally City Consumers Ice Co. and it was a distillery until Prohibition. During Prohibition they couldn’t make liquor anymore. So they turned it into an ice company and then a dairy. The picture is of the dairy where [Ron Clark] used to work, which ties it all together.

Shelby: Where did you get some of your inspiration for designing the shop?

Sue: I just saw a picture in a mag which resembled the old ice cream shops. I tried to base it off of that. I tried to use all of the old fixtures like the dipping rail for the scoops. We make the waffle cones, which is from the World’s Fair. They made the first cone there.

Shelby: A lot of things here were collected over the years, right?

Sue: Yes, from being in the dairy industry. Like the old ice cream cartons. The ice cream cart which is something they used to sell ice cream on the streets.

Shelby: What was the purpose of the big windows in the front?

Sue: So they could see us making the cones.

Shelby: What kind of clientele do you see come through?

Sue: Oh all kinds. We have little children come through on Saturday nights and get the hats. Families and older people. One man comes through twice a week and gets 3 dips of peanut butter ice cream.  Also artists from the arts district. We have a couple that comes through every Saturday night in their wheelchairs and just hop right in line.. Teenagers, not as many, since they go to yogurt places.