Matthew Kang is the Lead Editor of the Southern California/Southwest region, and has covered dining, restaurants, food culture, and nightlife in Los Angeles since 2008. He hosted a YouTube show called K-Town, covering Korean food in America and has been featured on Netflix’s Street Food.
Last week, 10 Los Angeles-area Rite-Aid pharmacies, many of which feature Southern California’s iconic Thrifty Ice Cream counters, were announced to be closing in June as part of a nationwide reduction following Rite-Aid’s second bankruptcy filing in as many years. More than 300 pharmacies are scheduled to close out of the company’s more than 1,200, leaving many to wonder about the future of its Thrifty Ice Cream brand.
Thrifty began as a West Coast pharmacy chain in 1929, sourcing ice cream from local vendors and selling scoops for 5 cents before producing its own in the 1940s. In 1976, the company opened a large factory in El Monte that still makes around 60,000 gallons of ice cream a day. Thrifty was acquired by Rite-Aid in 1996 but retained many of its ice cream counters…