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Roberta
and Ephraim Martin purchased the building four years ago from her
parents, Robert (deceased) and Darlene Veff of Lincoln. They changed
the name of the shop from R & D’s Dairy Bar to Martin Moo Moo’s
Ice Cream Shop and painted the "little brown house" white
with black spots in honor of Roberta Martin’s lifelong love of
cows. Roberta’s father had painted the shop brown and white to
represent the flavors of ice cream that they served. Roberta Martin
stated, "People began to refer to the building as the little
brown shack." She felt that it sounded too mom-and-pop, and the
cow concept was born.
[A new look for the millennium – Martin Moo Moo's
Ice Cream Shop, 1130 Broadway St.]
The
cow theme has also made its way inside the shop by way of
black-and-white checkered floor tiles and with cow paraphernalia
lining the walls and hanging from the ceiling. Mrs. Martin said,
"Most of the cow stuff has been given to me by my
customers." Her cow collection is varied and extensive at the
shop and at her home.
Although
the building is still small, they have added onto it twice. For a
while there was a small arcade room, but the 1980s brought with it
home arcade games like Nintendo, and it became cheaper for kids to
purchase game cartridges and play the games for as long as they
liked at home. The arcade room was closed in 1990 and the space is
now used for storage, according to Martin.
[Ephraim and Roberta Martin, inside Moo Moo's Ice
Cream Shop, know their customers by their candy.]
"We
are proud to boast that we have Lincoln’s largest banana split. We
use two bananas and five scoops of ice cream. Penny candy and our
grab bags are also big sellers. The kids like the suspense of the
prize that is in the bag. Our customers buy candy for a penny as
kids and ice cream as adults. We serve our customers what we would
like to be served."
(To
top of second column)
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Even
though Roberta and her husband own the shop, she still counts on her
mother, Darlene Veff, to help out in the shop when needed. "She’s
always there for me. She’s an important part of our operation, and
we wouldn’t be able to do this without her. We often get our
after-school rush before our high school help can get here, so I
call mom and she comes right over," said Martin.
As
a result of the recent mild winters, the ice cream season has been
extended. This year they opened in early March and last year they
closed in November. The building is not heated, so they can’t be
open year-round. Roberta spends the winter months being a housewife
and loving it.
[Ephraim and Roberta Martin, inside Moo Moo's
Ice Cream Shop, show off some of their cow paraphernalia given to
them by their customers.]
The
ice cream shop lore included its own little mystery for a while.
When her parents purchased the shop, there was a large, square hole
cut out of the wall behind the cash drawer, and everyone had always
wondered why. They eventually learned that for years the cash drawer
was always coming up short, and one day they discovered that the
money in the drawer had been falling out of the back of the drawer
and into the wall. When the drywall was removed, they found that
about a hundred one-dollar bills had fallen to the floor, and the
mystery was solved.
The
site of Martin Moo Moo’s Ice Cream Shop was built in the mid-’50s
by Albert Edward Barnes from Atlanta, whose father owned and
operated the Barnes White Dairy in Atlanta. Albert Barnes called his
business the Lincoln Dairy Bar and operated it for eight years
before selling it. Since that time it has had several owners.
[Kym
C. Ammons-Scott]
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