‘Hokey-pokey’ was a slang term for ice cream in general in the 19th and early 20th centuries in several areas, including New York City and parts of Great Britain, specifically for the ice cream sold by street vendors, or ‘hokey-pokey’ men.

Take a look these vintage photos to see how the mobile ice cream vendors have changed over the years.

An old London ice cream cart in 1876

Ice cream vendor in Turkey, 1898

A mobile ice cream vendor in the 1900s

Man with his ice cream cart, New Mexico, 1912

Ice cream seller with horse in the 1920s

Pure Ice Cream vendor, ca. 1920s

Walls Ice Cream vendor, ca. 1920s.

Walls Ice Cream vendor, ca. 1920s.

Noaker’s Ice Cream, 1925

People posing in front of a Dreyer’s Ice Cream truck, ca. 1930s

A young cyclist buys some refreshment at an ice cream stall during the 1932 heatwave

Ice-cream truck during the Feast of Mt Carmel, at the corner of 114th and 1st Avenue, New York, on 16 July 1934

Dixie Ice Cream trucks, 1936

Colville Ice Cream truck being loaded in 1937

An ice cream vendor wearing waders sells Bailey’s ice cream to two women bathing in the sea at Brighton, 7th August 1939

A Sharpless Mack Ice Cream truck departing the plant, Allentown, PA, 1942

Ice cream break for the North High School band, West Springfield, Massachusetts, spring of 1947

Ice cream wagon, Reading, PA, 1949

Good Humor ice-cream truck, Los Angeles, ca. 1949-1954

Swell Time ice-cream, East Fresno, 1950