Novelty architecture, a once-popular building design trend, has a few remnants still standing across the U.S. and locally. Blending interesting structures with the commercial entities that housed them — Atlantic City’s Lucy the Elephant, for example — was a sure way to lure customers, especially those in cars. The art has passed, for the most part, but a local vlogger found two Montgomery County examples that survived.

What’s with Dave Today went searching for vestiges of a chain of local ice cream stores whose remaining shops still feature their original, distinct profiles.

The roofline of each is shaped like a giant cup.

Dave reports they were constructed, “…by Leavengood Dairies back in the 1940s. [And] three of them currently look like cups. They served ice cream; that was the purpose of these.”

Fans of this type of advertising who want to view these in-county cups can find them at:

• Mannino’s Pizzaria, 903 N Charlotte St., Pottstown
• Rita’s Water Ice, 427 Pottstown Ave., Pennsburg

The pizzeria version is one Dave recalls from his childhood. His great aunt lived in Pottstown, and she would bring him there often when he came to visit.

“They were just a cup with a sliding-open window on them, that was about it. And they served ice cream out of them, their dairy ice cream.”

More on these local examples of novelty architecture is at the What’s with Dave Today vlog.