LATEST SCOOP: CARVEL'S BACK.

Byline: Candice Choi Staff Writer

Carvel ice cream stores, never forgotten by generations of Southern Californians, will return to the Los Angeles region this year in 17 locations, bringing back a favorite absent from the market for nearly 30 years.

The store openings, slated for completion this year, are expected to bring nostalgic natives and East Coast transplants out of the woodwork.

``Even with no advertising, there were lines out the door to the parking lot on opening day,'' said Cathy Nathan, a New York native who opened a launch store in Thousand Oaks eight months ago.

Nathan can spot a Carvel novice a mile away; they're the ones who ignore the shop's trademark soft-serve ice cream and immediately start musing over the hard-serve selection.

``Californians expect hard serve. They get very disturbed and surprised by the soft serve,'' she said.

Longtime fans who've grown up with Carvel request soft serve and the classic favorites.

Two popular choices are the Brown Bonnet and Banana Barge; the latter consist of vanilla soft serve with carmel sauce, chocolate soft serve with hot fudge, a banana slice, whipped cream and a cherry.

Signature ice cream cakes such as the Cookie Puss and Fudge the Whale are in constant demand as well.

``People come in and just expect me to always have them,'' Nathan said.

The Carvels of yesteryear were white, bare-bones operations with no seating area. The new stores will have a brighter, more kid-friendly feel, said Geoff Hill, senior vice president of franchise sales and development.

The advent of chains such as Starbucks have changed customer expectations. ``It's all about the experience now, and we've had to do the same thing,'' Hill said.

Southern California posed an attractive market for expansion for a variety of reasons, the most obvious being the sunny weather.

``The sun's out almost all year long and our stores naturally perform well in those environments,'' Hill said.

The concentration of East Coast transplants was a huge factor as well. Opening stores in Seattle, for example, might not work so well. ``People there might not know what Carvel is,'' Hill said.

Three launch stores opened in Southern California last year; the first one was in Thousand Oaks, followed by stores in San Diego and Azusa.

Carvel is opening launch stores in Denver and Northern California this year as it builds out in Southern California. The chain currently operates about 500 stores in 37 states.

Carvel pulled out of the market in the late 1970s; by 2001, the company was bought by Roark Capital and was concentrated in New York and Southern Florida.

Candice Choi, [phone]

candice.choi(at)dailynews.com