*ice cream truck theme soundbite*
Roy Sally: Oh that looks good, lemme get a number 49! 49.
Sally: I just turned all the way around the corner to come catch him. I seen him on the other street over there and I’m like damn I just missed him.
Roy Sally couldn’t help but give in to his frosty cravings despite the gloomy cold afternoon. So he waved to stop El Renegado Ruiz, a bright red ice cream truck that just parked on Holmes Avenue in South L.A.
Sally: Hey, this is convenient, its right here in front of your house. He’s clean, sanitize just like Baskin Robbins. It’s just it’s at your door.
Armando Ruiz has been making people smile for the past 32-years... serving up ice-cream, chips and even hot pockets since 1992. He owns the El Renegado Ruiz.
Armando Ruiz (translated from Spanish): In this area I work I’m known as El Renegado.
He says everyone in the neighborhood knows him as el renegado, which literally means the “renegade” but in slang basically means the bad-tempered.
Ruiz (translated from Spanish): I don’t know why they gave me that name. They would say i would be grumpy and mean with the kids then they called me Renegado.
He says he doesn’t know why they gave him that name but he thinks it’s because he acts a bit grumpy and mean with the kids. But of course, it’s all in fun.
Ruiz (translated from Spanish): Because the color red is one of those colors that’s been special, when I was young I had a red car and it’s just my favorite color. And my kids favorite color is also red.
And you can’t miss Armando’s bright red truck. He says it’s his favorite color. He had a car that was red and it’s his kids favorite color too.
*Customer ordering chili cheese order soundbite*
At 16 feet long and 12 feet high, the truck also has colorful murals as well. On one side of the truck, Disney characters like Bambi, Minnie Mouse, and the seven dwarfs are splashed on the entire left side of the truck. On the other side is the order window. Customers are treated to a menu that’s about twelve feet tall with 72 menu items like banana splits, ice pops and chili dogs.
*customer soundbite: You got chili on that, aww yeah that’s some business haha*
There’s also a menu for Mexican candy and another mural of two children riding killer whales. This is what customers are greeted to like 21-year-old Chino. The truck is now parked right outside his home, a mostly Hispanic neighborhood.
Chino: He’d been passing through my house, he’d been there since elementary so I’ve been buying from him ever since… During the summers, you know, getting the best ice cream out here and just supporting him, you know, I’m gonna support him ever since that’s why I don’t leave him.”
*Chino Ordering soundbite: And a blue Gatorade… gracias Chino*
In 1985 at the age of 17, Armando first began his frozen journey with his mom who owned her own truck – only it was white. He helped her everyday inside a 10 foot long truck, about half the size of his own.
Ruiz (translated from Spanish): My mom encouraged me to start my own business to get ahead for my family. That was the motivation, to work with her for 6 years so then I could be on my own. She that helped me start my business.
Armando says it inspired him to go out on his own. So after six years of working with her, he started his own ice cream truck business to better provide for his family.. But he didn’t always work alone. For five years, Armando had some help.
Ruiz (translated from Spanish): When my kids were much younger in school, my two boys would help me out and work in the truck. They did it for about 5 years. Later they didn’t want to work anymore because during the summer it would get really hot inside the truck.
He says when his kids were much younger and in school… they would help him out. But during the summer, the heat inside the truck became too unbearable for them and they stopped helping him. And in some ways, maybe that was for the better.
Ruiz (translated from Spanish): When I first started I was robbed 5 times at gunpoint. Now not anymore because I’ve been working here for 32 years. Everybody around here knows me now and it’s much calmer.
Armando’s early years weren’t easy. The long hours and unsteady income were challenging. He was even robbed five times at gunpoint when he first started. but after working in the same neighborhood for 32-years, it’s become much calmer because everyone knows him. like Ana Gomez, who has known Armando for more than a decade.
*Gomez ordering soundbite*
Ruiz (translated from Spanish): Ever since I moved down here, which has been around 10 to 12 years… so on and off when I hear it come by I come out here and wave him down… you could go from the chili cheese with any kind of chips you want from waffle cone special. You could get even the palate mangonada and character popsicles.
*Milkshake soundbite*
Countless people he’s served can attest to Armando’s generosity in the community, and for some like Steven Wilson, ice cream became the start of a near three decade bond.
Steven Wilson: He used to come by and he had the Squeeze pops. I tell him, I go. I go how many go in a box? He goes, I don’t know. 15-16? I don’t know. So I said you bring me a box and I’ll pay you for it. That’s how it started. One summer he came and I just started buying ice cream from him and it never stopped. … I’d say that was probably about 28 years ago.
Armando says he has about ten years left before he’s ready to park his truck for good and long time customers like Steven are not ready to let go.
Wilson: He’s a pillar in the community. I put it that way because you don’t buy we don’t buy off everybody’s ice cream.
Since his start with his mom back in 19-85, Armando says this the only job job he’s ever known. and he’s never abandoned the clients he’s served for so long. Not even for a single day.
Ruiz (translated from Spanish): My favorite part of the job is when they tell me that I gave them good business and thank you. When they tell me how beautiful my truck is.
Armando loves his work. and you can tell. He says his favorite part of the job are when people thank him for his hospitality and when they tell him how beautiful his truck is. So rain or shine, when Armando’s customers hear that iconic jingle echoing from down the block, you know they can always count on waving it down for a frozen treat or a hot meal. at least for another ten years.
*Customer soundbite: Say bye nieve, bye nieve*
For Annenberg Media, I’m Brandon Garcia.