A
Little History
1998
After making movies and television shows since high school, Jay was looking for
something to do during the parts of the year when movie-making wasn't too
busy. The idea was to build Jay's Shave Ice as a seasonal business in Ocean
City, Maryland where Jay could spend the summers making Shave Ice and lounging
on the beach. While Ocean City isn't Honolulu, it was the next best thing.
By
April, things were moving along in earnest. Supplies
and equipment were being sourced and a deal was in the
works with the land owner of a building along Baltimore
Street in downtown Ocean City. Jay's childhood friend
Gerry had also signed aboard, ready to move "downey
Ocean" and set up shop. The Ocean City storefront
would need a bit of work and renovation to prepare but
was going to feature indoor seating and a relaxed, Hawaiian
atmosphere.
At
the final hour before signing the lease contract things
took a serious turn. The land owner suddenly demanded
triple the previously agreed upon amount for the season's
rental. Things turned tense and the fate of the unborn
Shave Ice shop was in jeopardy. With serious questions
about the integrity of the land owner, a last minute
decision was made to abandon the location. Which also
meant that launching Jay's Shave Ice in 1998 would never
happen.
1999
- And So It Begins
During the summer, fall and winter, Jay went back to work on movies such as "What
Sunday Remembers," "Liberty Heights," and the television show "Homicide:Life
On The Streets." As spring started to come into view, the thoughts of
Jay's Shave Ice were far from the mind of Jay. Preoccupied with the vagaries
of the film production industry, it was Jay's mom who reminded him of his Shave
Ice experiment and urged him to contact the Timonium Shopping Center because
she had a "good feeling" about the location.
It
must have been a mix of luck, fate, timing and the Grace
of God because for the previous five years there had
not been a frozen dessert retailer at the Timonium Shopping
Center. When Jay called and spoke to the center management
he found an agent who had not been interested just a
month before because they were focused on opening Baltimore's
second Krispy Kreme location. After several phone calls
and a couple meetings, a deal was made to lease out a
small section of the parking lot fronting York Road and
next to the newly opened Krispy Kreme.
Bringing
the Jay's concept back to the Baltimore area brought
new challenges and a new partner, Jay's brother Al, into
the picture. By June, construction on the 8 foot by 10
foot stand was underway. The plan was to take a shed
from Home Depot and modify it to serve Shave Ice. The
doorway was moved to the side and an eight foot window
was worked into the front with a drop-down awning that
would also serve as a security device. The stand motif
was simple, white with blue trim and corrugated steel
roof - just like many of the houses in Hawaii.
The
interior of the stand was a simple white with a modern
design touch of corrugated steel lining the back wall
where the menu board was hung. A mandarin red counter
left over from the year before was reconfigured and installed,
serving as a work counter and a serving counter by sticking
out 12 inches. Glass sneeze guards were installed and
a used Hatsuyuki HC-200 ice shaver was installed and
it was just about time to go.
The
stand was constructed in sections that were originally
designed so that it could be disassembled each season
and moved. If you look closely at the wall sections,
one will notice the double studs and bolts that were
meant to be undone and hauled away. As construction continued
with flooring, electricity and everything else, it became
immediately apparent that to disassemble the stand each
season to move it would be sheer lunacy.
Jay's
Shave Ice quietly opened for business on July 19, 1999,
offering 40 flavors and 5 combinations with the idea
of adding new flavors and combinations each week in our
Weekly Flavor Guide. It was a fun opening day with new
customers coming immediately and old friends stopping
by to wish Jay and Al good luck with their new venture.
But
in the reality of the Shave Ice business, July was very
late in the game and business wasn't as busy as the two
brothers had hoped. Still yet, they persevered with the
knowledge that they would conclude 1999 with some experience
and better expectation for the next season.
|
