Fosters Freeze is a chain of fast-food restaurants in California. Its first location, on La Brea Avenue in Inglewood, California, was opened by George Foster in 1946 and is still operating.
In 2015, my wife and I brought our then newborn daughter to Northern California to meet my grandparents. The trip, including the drive, was difficult.
On the drive back home, we stopped at a Fosters Freeze along I-5.
The chain's name refers to its soft-serve ice milk and milkshakes. Its marketing slogan is "California's Original Soft Serve." Its mascot is Little Foster, a smiling ice cream cone.
“Along I-5” was as suitably nondescript as most people would venture. But the Fosters Freeze was in Fresno County, technically Firebaugh.
George Foster moved to California after World War II to open outlets for Dairy Queen, since he owned the development rights in the state. However, state laws protecting the dairy industry prevented the use of dairy in restaurant names. So instead, in 1946, Foster opened a restaurant named after himself, Foster’s Old Fashion Freeze. (The apostrophe was later dropped.)
Being late summer, we sweated walking to the entrance, as flies buzzed past our heads.
In 1951, he sold the chain's 360 locations for $1 million. By 1987, it had been reduced to 189 locations.
But we found refreshment inside. In those days it didn’t take much.
We ordered a hamburger, milkshake, and a fish filet sandwich, then sat at the corner table near the door.
El Pollo Loco signed a master franchise contract with Fosters Freeze in 1994, allowing service of Fosters Freeze soft-serve ice cream in El Pollo Loco locations. In 2002, 163 El Pollo Loco locations sold Fosters Freeze products, and their overall sales increased by three to six percent. The contract ended in 2014.
Suddenly our daughter started wailing. As my wife and I were new to parenting, we grew embarrassed and didn’t waste any time finishing our lunch.
The historical significance of Fosters Freeze restaurants attracts patrons and has united community members to preserve them.
We made it back to Southern California, proud of ourselves for having done the trip. But our memories became dominated by what happened afterward:
My mom was upset that we hadn’t brought our daughter over to her and my stepdad’s house during our NorCal visit.
A few weeks later, my grandparents moved out of their house and into a Veterans Home.
In 2006, residents of Menlo Park presented their city council a petition with about 400 signatures to prevent the demolition of their local Fosters, although it finally closed in 2015.
Recently my dad moved from Long Beach back to Benicia, my hometown. Also, a dear childhood friend whom I have known since kindergarten returned from a three-year working trip in Japan to live in Benicia again.
So, during spring break, I suggested a NorCal road trip. My son was keen to join me.
The Santa Cruz location is listed in the city's historic building survey.
In 2015 the concurrent suchness of our son existed within the cells of our bodies. Now in 2025 he is six years old.
In 2015, a restaurant franchise investment group bought Fosters Freeze. It modernized the brand and operations; sales have increased every year since then. As of 2021, the company plans to add locations for the first time since 2006.
There was once a Fosters Freeze in Benicia. Three Benicia Fosters Freeze memories:
The Benicia Fosters Freeze is the first place my dad brought me to have a banana split. I thought it was delicious, but I could not finish it. There was a sign on the trash can that said THAHK YOU (instead of THANK YOU), which my dad pointed out and we laughed at that together.
Before my parents were divorced, but after my mom had met my would-be stepdad, the Benicia Fosters Freeze is also where I joined my mom and would-be stepdad’s date, and met my would-be cousins. I pointed out the THAHK YOU sign, which produced more confusion than amusement.
In the 90s, after California banned smoking indoors, the Benicia Fosters Freeze was a place where people still smoked inside, anyways.
As of March 2025, there are 62 Fosters Freeze locations, all in California.1
I had so much fun with my son in Benicia. He loves that park with the concrete slide near Mathew Turner Elementary, so we hit that up on the first day, shortly after driving into town. We stayed with my mom and stepdad, and together we went to Loma Linda Farms in Vallejo and visited Mare Island. Of course, we also visited with my dad. And we hung out with my dear friend recently returned from Japan, and his family.
After we left Benicia, driving home to Torrance, my son and I stopped to get gas somewhere along the 5. There was that Fosters Freeze again, technically in Firebaugh.
The windows were smashed out. It was covered in graffiti. The “rs” from a neon “Fosters” logo was removed to accommodate a realty sign.
I pulled up to what had formerly been the drive-through.
“Would you like to get out and take a closer look?” I asked my son.
He replied in the affirmative, so we grabbed our cameras and walked up to the entrance of the building.
My son took the color photos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosters_Freeze
I tell my kids, probably too often, about my Benicia memories of dipping Foster’s fries in the milkshakes.
Thanks for writing this, had me feeling all kinds of stuff regarding similar memories of lost times and places .