Charlie's is owned by Matt and Rosemary Lopez, who've also owned next door Taza de Cafe for the past six years. "My wife has a crazy sweet tooth and ever since she was a little girl, she's wanted to open an ice cream shop," Matt told us when he announced their plans. The couple started building out their parlor in February, hoping to open by the first week of May.
On May 19, the Lopezes held their grand opening party, which was also a fundraiser for scholarships and schools supplies doled out by the Society for Mutual Protection of United Workers, and they hoped to be up and running at that time. But they had to push their actual opening date back.
Charlie's was stuck waiting for a final inspection, which, luckily, was conducted just in time to avoid another three-day delay: "It came down to the wire having to wait for all of the inspectors to sign off on our cards and rushing down to the Webb building before the city furlough day on Friday and the holiday on Monday," says Lopez. "If that wouldn't have happened today then we wouldn't have been able to open till next Tuesday."
Charlie's should be turning out shakes, sundaes and soft-serve by late this afternoon.
