SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Trey Olson, 12, was first in line for Vic’s reopening. He waited under gloomy skies and sporadic rain from 9 a.m. until the doors of Vic’s Ice Cream opened at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 2.

Trey said he has been coming to Vic’s since he was just a few months old. His father, Ted Olson, also has deep ties to the shop, having worked there as a teenage server. Ted Olson said he was hired at age 13 by original owner Ash Rutledge.

Founded in 1947 by World War II veterans Ash Rutledge and Vic Zito, Vic’s Ice Cream grew into one of Sacramento’s most beloved culinary institutions. Zito died in 1966, but Rutledge continued working at Vic’s well into the 21st century, even after passing the business to his son, Craig.

Rutledge, who operated the shop for more than 40 years, was widely known throughout Land Park for his generosity and easy familiarity with customers, who often felt more like neighbors than patrons.

“Craig always made you feel seen,” said his son, Matthew Rutledge. “He just appreciated everybody for who they were.”

Craig Rutledge died in March 2024 at age 73. The cause of death was cirrhosis of the liver. He had been hospitalized roughly two weeks before his death.

“It was actually really shocking,” said his sister, Karen Tzikas. “Nobody really expected it.”

Craig Rutledge began working at Vic’s while attending Kennedy High School and never stopped serving generations of Sacramento residents. Born Dec. 26, 1950, to Ash Rutledge and homemaker Joyce Rutledge, he grew up not far from the ice cream shop. He attended John Cabrillo Elementary School and San Brannan Middle School.

“He always dropped everything to help his neighbors and family,” Tzikas said.

The Land Park Community Association (LPCA) said it was shocked and saddened by Rutledge’s passing. A longtime board member of the LPCA, Rutledge was credited with quietly strengthening the neighborhood.

“The community may not know everything he did to support our neighborhood, but because of Craig Rutledge’s time and devotion, William Land Park is a better place to live,” the association said in a statement.

Community events in Land Park and beyond often featured free Vic’s ice cream. 

“He was a soft-spoken guy who cared deeply about the community,” said Mark Abrahams, a former president of the Land Park Community Association.

Former Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg also paid tribute to Rutledge. 

“Vic’s is a Sacramento institution that continues to create good times and memories for so many Sacramento families, including mine,” Steinberg said. “The city and I will keep Craig and his family in our prayers.”

Steinberg is not the first local politician to have a fondness for Vic’s. The restaurant has long been a favorite dining spot of lifelong Land Park resident and 2006 Democratic California gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides. 

Vic’s was also a favored destination of the late U.S. Rep. Robert Matsui and his wife, current U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui. Former U.S. Rep. John E. Moss Jr., who represented Sacramento’s 3rd District, was also a longtime patron. He died Aug. 15, 2022.

The Sacramento Bee reported that “the future of Vic’s had been one of the most intensely followed sagas in Sacramento’s food scene since owner Craig Rutledge passed away in March 2024. By August 2024, the property had been put up for sale.”

That uncertain future changed when members of the Grifone family stepped forward, intent on preserving Vic’s legacy. The new operating group consists of Carlo Grifone and his daughter, Samantha Grifone; Scott Matrenec; and Craig Rutledge’s son, Matt Rutledge.

Carlo Grifone is an owner of the local pizza chain Giovanni’s Old World New York Pizzeria, located at 5924 S. Land Park Drive in the South Hills Shopping Center. Samantha Grifone will oversee the day-to-day operations of the ice cream parlor.

Matrenec is an owner of Frog & Slim on 16th Street and an angel investor with Sacramento Angels, a group of experienced entrepreneurs and executives that has invested in more than 100 companies since its founding in 2000.

Vic’s and Brew Bird share an entryway and a beer-and-wine license, connected inside while retaining separate exterior doors. Together, they represent a thoughtful blend of nostalgia and reinvention.

The adjoining space has reopened as Brew Bird Coffee & Creative, a modern café and pottery studio serving Camellia Coffee Roasters coffee, Bella Bru pastries, and beer and wine, alongside a paint-your-own pottery experience fired in an on-site kiln. Brew Bird’s pottery options range from $35 mugs to $45 planters, with materials and studio time included.

For co-owner Samantha Grifone, the pottery concept had long been a quiet ambition.

Craig Rutledge originally opened the coffee shop in 2013, about a year after Ford’s Hamburgers, a landmark California burger joint, was forced to close following an ADA lawsuit. Ford’s, located about a mile and a half from Vic’s, was indeed out of ADA compliance, lacking sufficient wheelchair access to its restroom. Owner Hank Vereschzagin said he could not afford the necessary renovations to the more than 60-year-old building.

A year later, Vic’s faced a similar challenge. Rutledge purchased the beauty salon behind the ice cream parlor and cut a doorway between the two businesses to create an ADA-compliant restroom. He converted the former salon into a coffee shop.

Meanwhile, Sacramento attorney Scott Johnson, who had filed thousands of disability discrimination lawsuits, later pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return on income earned from those cases.

The reopening drew friends, neighbors and former employees, including Ted Olson. One notable absence was Vic’s first female employee, though her family came during the first week.

Cynthia Borcich said her daughter Angela became Vic’s first female server in 1992, starting at age 14. She worked there while attending C.K. McClatchy High School and Sacramento City College before choosing culinary school in San Francisco instead of a four-year university.

Jeff Cole, who is married to Angela’s younger sister Jenny, said Angela got her start at Vic’s.

“Angela has an extremely successful catering business in Hawaii for the rich and famous,” Cole said with pride. “And she got her start making melted cheese hot dog sandwiches on rye bread at Vic’s in 1992.”

Cole also recalled always ordering a side of potato chips with his sandwich and said Vic’s once had a secret menu that included a Hawaiian drink and an Elvis milkshake made with vanilla ice cream and a scoop of peanut butter.

“You can’t beat Vic’s famous hot dog sandwich,” Cole said. “The dogs are split, served between slices of bread and griddled.”

Mentioning Vic’s tangy red sauce, made from ketchup, mustard and Worcestershire sauce, brought an even bigger smile. 

“I loved dipping my chips and even my sandwich in it,” he said, noting that the exact proportions remain a secret.

Vic’s general manager Dave Gilson has been with the business for nearly 25 years, starting as a scooper before moving into management about 12 years ago.

“Families like Cynthia Borcich’s come together here, and generations are going to keep doing that,” Gilson said. “It’s the experience when you walk through the door. It brings you back. A lot of your happiest memories happened here; after a game, a school play, just being together.”

John Fowler said he first came to Vic’s in 1948 and has been a patron ever since. A lifelong Sacramento resident, Fowler attended Holy Spirit, California Middle School, C.K. McClatchy High School, Sacramento City College and Sacramento State, graduating in 1971.

“I’m happy they reopened; no big changes, and they kept the menu,” he said. The menu is still displayed on a black letter board with white lettering.

The shop does have a fresher, lighter look, with pale green striped wallpaper adding brightness and modern tile adorning the counter.

After a 13-month closure and a change in ownership, Vic’s Ice Cream has reopened at 3199 Riverside Blvd., looking both familiar and refreshed. The counter appears shorter, but the missing end stool allows a wheelchair user to sit comfortably at the counter. A new ADA-compliant restroom has also been added.

The classic parlor remains intact, from the black-and-white checkered floor to the in-house ice cream recipes and longtime staff. Subtle upgrades, including new stools, tabletops, freezers and finishes, were added during the renovation.

“It’s the same recipe, same high-quality ingredients, same person making it,” Gilson said, noting that mint chip is still expected to be the top-selling flavor. Gilson still makes the ice cream in-house.

Over its lifetime, the shop has won numerous awards for its ice cream, including seven consecutive gold medals at the California State Fair.