Don's Ice Cream Resume

1956 - Nursed on mother’s milk suffused with all the ice cream my mom ate

1959-73 – Regular visits to Baskin-Robins on Larchmont Blvd in LA

1957 – 2026 – The freezer in my parents’ house always had ice cream -- so for 17 years it was available to me at any time. (It was generally permitted to have spoonfuls straight from the carton in an “emergency.”)

1962-73 – Annual summer visits to the Cedar Glen Malt Shop near Lake Arrowhead

1970 – My first taste of McConnell’s ice cream in Santa Barbara and my discovery of “super premium” (high butter fat content) ice cream. Changed my life!

1973 – Moved to Santa Cruz to discover and frequent Polar Bear ice cream shop

1979-1994  – Founded and operated the Saturn Café in Santa Cruz and brought McConnell’s ice cream to Santa Cruz. Ice cream desserts were the most recognized feature from the Saturn menu. (The Saturn Café key meant multiple flavors were available to me 24/7.)

1992 -During a visit to Florence, Italy, I had five servings of gelato at five different gelato shops on a single day.

1997 – Started “YO’s Dessert Palace” in Santa Cruz, which was a teen job training program housed within an ice cream shop featuring Double Rainbow ice cream.  Double Rainbow was one of the first ice cream manufacturers to perfect the true DARK CHOCOLATE ice cream. (Ultra Chocolate!)

1998- 2000 - YO’s relocated around the corner and re-named itself the Double Rainbow Café… and doubled the ice cream flavors available. (Now even more flavors available to me 24/7)

1998- Met Mary Howe for the first time in the Double Rainbow Café. We got married two years later!

2008 – My daughter Tida and I went to a local tattoo parlor and simultaneously got ice cream cone tattoos.  (Mine is mocha chip on a sugar cone, hers is strawberry.)

2009? – I led the charge at the Santa Cruz City Council to sell a city building on Cedar Street so that the Penny Ice Creamery could locate in that building.

2012- As Mayor of Santa Cruz, initiated and hosted a City employee appreciation event which served free ice cream from three different local ice cream shops to several hundred city employees.

As Mayor of Santa Cruz, issued a city proclamation recognizing National Ice Cream Day.

**I’ve consumed ice cream on every continent (except the iciest one) and in more than 30 countries around the world.