100 Years in 100 Days: Draeger's Candy and Ice Cream

Shaker Heights Patch is celebrating the 100 years of Shaker Heights history by creating an online scrapbook. Each day for 100 days, we'll feature a photograph that helps tell the story of Shaker Heights.

Today's photo brings back sweet memories of Draeger's Candy and Ice Cream store at 20190 Van Aken Blvd. 

The candy store opened in the late 50s, said Chris Banham, the niece of Fred and Gerry Draeger, who ran the store for several decades. The couple inherited the store from Fred's parents, Marvin and Bette Draeger.

Banham now sells the store's famous hot fudge on Saturdays at Draeger's Hot Fudge in Auburn Township, near Bainbridge. 

Here's how the Cleveland Scene described the original store: 

"Happily for nostalgia buffs, little has changed here (except for the prices) in the past half-century. As always, Draeger's waitresses provide tableside service and set each guest's place with a lacy paper doily and a small glass of water. Sodas, sundaes, and milkshakes are still served in real glassware, with honest-to-goodness metal spoons. And the homemade fudge sauce (the gold standard against which we will always judge all others) still arrives, hot or cold, in tiny individual pitchers. It's a level of graciousness and service that hardly any of today's ice-cream emporiums, no matter how good their offerings, care to emulate."

You can join our celebration of Shaker Heights history. Share your memories in the comments. Or upload your photos and we'll feature them in this scrapbook. Follow #ShakerCentennial on Twitter.