E.S. loved kids, so much so that he had thirteen of them and they all took part in the family business! He eventually passed the operation on to three of his sons who ran the Creamery until they retired. They then passed the family business on to eight of their children.

Melvin Fenton, E.S.’s grandson, is credited for persuading his Grandfather to produce ice cream when he was a young boy. Melvin grew up to become an ice cream maker and is responsible for the creation of our most famous flavors - Toasted Almond, Swiss Milk Chocolate and Rocky Road. The family added the restaurant and soda fountain in 1922.

The ice creamery portion of the business became the prize of the Fenton family's dairy operation and continued in the family until another dairyman, Bill Morison, convinced the Fenton’s to sell to his employer, Golden State Dairy (soon to be Foremost). Morison happened to be married to Virginia Fenton, the granddaughter of Elbridge Fenton. So, the Creamery changed ownership but still remained under the direction of the family for a while. In 1961, Foremost discontinued the full dairy operation at Fentons and moved Fentons Creamery, the restaurant and ice cream production facility, to 4226 Piedmont Avenue in Oakland, where it still is today.

Foremost ran Fentons Creamery as its marquee business for many years until deciding to get out of the Dairy industry all together. In 1987, Scott Whidden, a third generation Oakland-native and ice cream maker since the age of sixteen, purchased Fentons Creamery from what was by then Foremost-McKesson.

Fentons Creamery is once again a family owned and operated business.

Our family is dedicated to the tradition started by the Fenton family, doing all that we can to make every visit to Fentons an event to be remembered.

The wagon, drawn by Virginia Fenton’s two favorite horses, Vanilla and Strawberry, may be gone but not the Fentons tradition and the charm of the Creamery. Fresh ice cream is still made right on site every day and no one ever leaves Fentons Creamery hungry!

We are proud of our Creamery’s heritage and do all that we can to preserve the art of ice cream making. In recent years we’ve seen many other independent ice cream shops close and with them the tradition of producing small batches of fresh ice cream becomes more of a rarity.

Fentons Creamery is dedicated to preserving the tradition of creating ice creams and toppings batch-by-batch, scoop-by-scoop. Mass-produced ice cream may be cheaper but our handcrafted product takes time, skill and lots of love. The proof of our effort is truly in the taste!

In May 2007, after 113 years in Oakland, a second Fentons Creamery location opens its doors in Vacaville, CA at the Nut Tree site, California’s Legendary Roadside Stop! Our reason for choosing this location is pretty simple – The Nut Tree represents nostalgic times much like Fentons Creamery always has. The Nut Tree served and entertained generations for many decades. We are proud to be part of the new Nut Tree and will do all that we can to honor the heritage. Visit the Nut Tree Village.

Fentons Creamery’s fabulous flavors are now available by the scoop in Terminal 2 at the Oakland International Airport.