It’s a hot summer day and you’re out enjoying the ocean breeze that Long Beach is beloved for, on L.A. County's only dog beach. At a distance, as you sit on the warm sand enjoying the view of the muted waves crashing one-by-one, you hear the nearby sound of bells ringing. Not church bells, but a paletero, waiting to save you and your furry friends from the blazing sun with his icy treats.
This puppie pop-pushing paletero, who would prefer not to use his name for privacy reasons, said he has been rolling his cart along the shore of Rosie’s Dog Beach for the past three years. He sells the classic and nostalgic paletas that everyone enjoys, like "Cry Baby" cherry sour ice, and character paletas ranging from Sonic and The Power Puff Girls to Tweety Bird.
Also in his ice cream cart, modified with four 14-inch balloon wheels to help push its weight across the sand, is a selection of ice cream for dogs, or “Frosty Paws” to be exact. Asked when he decided to include dog-friendly ice cream in his inventory, he tells L.A. TACO he’s been doing it for some time now.
“When we lived in San Diego, I used to do the same thing, sell paletas and ice cream for dogs,” he said in Spanish, as four-legged customers dashed around his cart. “We would also sell at a dog beach, so we decided to continue doing it when we moved here.”
We first heard about the paletero through our LBC-based editor-in-chief. The treats include peanut butter-and-vanilla-flavored ice cream that come in 13 oz. containers, for your pup to enjoy. For dogs that frequent Rosie’s Dog Beach, the paletero needs no introduction, the sound of his bells lures furry customers to him from an inhuman earshot. Some sit patiently next to their parents as they pick and choose their icy treats.