Hot licks

Victoria Green is breaking the glass ceiling on one of the last male-dominated occupations in America—the ice cream man. Operating under the proletariat motto, “Bringing ice cream to the people,” and the business name Miss Vic’s Lics, Green drives a 2004 Chevy Express cargo van, converted earlier this year in Crewe, England, into a technologically advanced ice cream truck, which made its debut at last weekend’s A Taste of Chico. The truck was painted by local artists Norm Dillinger, Robert Carter and Pamela Ortega and features Snowflake the albino gorilla on one side and four racially diverse mermaids on the other. To contact Miss Vic call 514-5427.

What made you do this?

I just wanted to have a fun job, work my own hours and get back into the downtown and all around Chico.

So you’re just in this for the money?

[Laughs.] No! But it’s amazing I’ll make as much money as I would have at work.

What is your favorite ice cream treat?

The Itzakadoozie is a pretty good one. These are fantastic.

What song will you play to attract customers?

Let me play it for you. It’s kind of a music-box effect and it’s really sweet. It’s not “Turkey in the Straw.” [She turns the button on a control box fastened above the driver’s seat, and the chiming melody begins.] It’s only one song. One long song.

You’re fighting a stereotype here. There are songs titled “The Ice Cream Man.” How do you break that stereotype?

By being the nicest ice cream lady in Chico. My daughter’s going to help me. A nice couple of gals.

Do you resent it when people refer to this position as ice cream man?

Oh no, no, no. But I am breaking a stereotype.

What neighborhoods will you work?

Every neighborhood I can get to. I keep having people come up to me and asking, “Are you going to come to my neighborhood?” I find out where they live and I say, “Sure I’ll be there.”

When does the season end?

I think I’ll wrap it up around Halloween and then begin again in March so I have a good eight months. If I sell two a minute—I worked this out with the Small Business Development Center at Butte College—six hours a day, five days a week, I can make some good change.