Our 14 favorite ice cream shops in Los Angeles you need to try this summer

Next up is the incredibly cool ice creaim spot, All Chill Ice Cream nestled in Leimert Park. Described as a “hip-hop ice cream shop,” this neighborhood gem doubles as a museum/art gallery, showcasing niche memorabilia and rare artifacts from hip hop history — think a real life N.W.A tour jacket, old-school collectible action figures and iconic band posters.

The creativity at this shop is at an all-time high, with flavors like vegan cognac + currant, strawberry cucumber balsamic and lemonade + peach tea. Helmed by wife-husband duo, Genelle Brooks-Petty and Julian Petty, the couple makes it a point to live by the company’s motto of “culture, community and cream.”

This space encapsulates everything you want out of a local ice cream shop, serving up good vibes and delicious desserts.

Jeni’s Ice Creams has built a cult following for a reason. Every flavor is absolutely swoon worthy. Created by Jeni Britton Bauer, the James Beard Award-winning author of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams at Home, it’s clear that she’s cracked the code on perfecting ice cream.

From the addictively good (and completely dairy-free) caramel pecan sticky buns flavor to the inventive everything bagel flavor, the creative concoctions at Jeni’s show how much love, intention and most importantly — fun — the team puts into the menu.

Remember the lovable scene in It’s a Wonderful Life where a young George Bailey talks up his future love at the old-school ice cream parlor? That may have well been shot at Fosselman’s Ice Cream Co., a classic ice cream shop based in Alhambra that’s been in business for over 100 years.

Fosselman’s is a relic of the past while simultaneously evolving and reflecting the present, with a dedication to creating delicious flavors that represent the diverse neighborhood they’re proudly a part of.

Flavors like Oaxacan chocolate, horchata, dulce de leche, taro, ube and red bean have been perfected and added to the menu at the request of their Latino and Asian customers. The third-generation-owned company has a dedication to using only the finest, locally sourced ingredients and you can taste it in every scoop.

Decadence reigns supreme at McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams, a 70 year-old, 3rd generation, family-run operation located inside the Grand Central Market in Downtown Los Angeles.

McConnell’s keep their recipes as classic as can be, using the tried and true combination of milk, cream, eggs and cane sugar, along with naturally delicious add-ons depending on the flavor: jams, preserves, chocolates, caramels, coffees, fruit, nuts, a splash of booze when needed, cookies, crumbles and crisps.

If you’re feeling indulgent, don’t miss out on the salted caramel chip, but their dairy-free flavors are deceptively creamy and delicious too. You’ll also want to try their home-baked cookies, perfectly crisp on the edges and soft and chewy inside.

Biting into Awan’s Indonesian-inspired, plant-based ice cream feels like biting into the smoothest, creamiest cloud on a sultry summer day. The name holds true — awan translates to “cloud” in Indonesian — with its gelato-like texture and heavenly taste.

The base of their recipes are made with Kara coconut cream, Kara Coconut Water, Balinese vanilla bean, organic cane sugar, sea salt, non-GMO glucose syrup, carob bean gum and seasonal ingredients.

While it’s not technically ice cream, we promise you’ll be hooked after one scoop. We recommend trying the Dayglow coffee flavor or lavender vanilla bean.

Welcome to the mecca of soft serve. Everything at this lovely family-run shop is made in house — from the soft serve itself to the toppings. Run by chefs Warren and Rose Schwartz, the couple creates flavors that act as homages to their childhoods and the places that shaped them.

As a Korean American who was raised in South Florida, Rose was inspired to create a yuzu honey flavor, along with a cortadito flavor as an ode to the Cuban culture she was surrounded by in Florida. And as the name suggests, Magpies offers the most ridiculously good soft-serve pies that combine the perfect amount of sweet and savory notes.

No L.A. ice cream round-up is complete without Salt & Straw, a small-batch and chef-driven ice cream shop that originated in Portland and made its way down to California.

The company is dedicated to partnering with local makers, farmers and chefs to bring their wonderfully funky creations to life. They’re constantly releasing new recipes, but if you happen to stumble across the cinnamon & honey fried chicken flavor, be sure not to miss it.

On a scorching summer’s day, nothing beats the heat like a brain-freeze-inducing tropical paleta from Mateo’s Ice Cream & Fruit Bars. This Los Angeles gem was founded by Oaxacan native Priciliano Mateo in 2000 and now has four outposts in the city, with the original found in Mid-city.

Their selection is vast and varied: fruity, icy popsicles with flavors like sapote negro, tamarindo, mango con chile and guanabana to creamy, milk-based ice cream with flavors like leche quemada (smoked milk), mezcal, rompope con pasas (eggnog with raisins). With over 29 paleta flavors and 25 types of ice cream, there’s something for everyone at this Los Angeles staple.

We love the old-fashioned ambiance at Mashti Malone’s, unequivocally one of the best ice cream shops in Los Angeles. If you head to their website, you’ll find them proudly proclaiming, “2,500 years in the making” — a cheeky ode to their Persian history (a bit of trivia: the first Persian empire, The Achaemenid Empire, was founded around 550 BCE).

Mashti Malone’s recipes are inspired by the traditional Persian ice cream with natural ingredients: sugar, rose water, vanilla, saffron and pistachios. You’ll find flavors like the famous rosewater sorbet, ginger rosewater, saffron rosewater, orange blossom and Turkish coffee. You can also indulge in a scoop topped with baklava. Put Mashti Malone’s inventive creations at the top of your list.

KITH Treats rose to fame for being one of Kimye’s favorite dessert shops. This high-end streetwear shop that doubles as an ice cream parlor has become a celebrity hot-spot, and it lives up to the hype. Cereal is king here, with a menu that boasts over 20 cereal flavors that you can mix into a luscious ice cream swirl.

Think all your childhood favorites: Rice Krispies, Apple Jacks, Cocoa Puffs, Trix, Froot Loops, etc. If you’re in the mood to relive the taste of your youth, KITH is the spot.

Honeymee’s addictively creamy, real milk ice cream drizzled with 100% pure honeycomb is a true treasure. You’ll only find two variations of ice cream here: the true milk ice cream and the ceremonial matcha true milk ice cream, but the real kicker is in the toppings.

You can get yours with classic Ghirardelli chocolate syrup, Ghirardelli caramel syrup, raw honey or the fan favorite Yuzu Affogato — a combination of honey, yuzu peel, yuzu pulp and corn flakes. It’s every bit as sweet and tangy as it sounds.

Paradis Ice Cream is the Danish ice cream legend that first opened in  2000 in the city of Aarhus, Denmark. The team at Paradis has perfected the art of hand-crafted ice cream, with over 50 locations in Denmark and four locations in Los Angeles.

The ice cream is made daily in-house with flavors that consistently rotate, but our favorites are the amareno chip, avocado & lime and cajeta & toasted coconut. Any ice cream aficionado will agree that Paradis is one of the best ice cream shops in Los Angeles.

Wanderlust Creamery is gaining quite a reputation around L.A. for its globally-inspired scoops. With 8 locations across L.A. County, you can always find a spot to grab a delicious cone or cup. Wanderlust Creamery was founded by a food science graduate passionate about travel and flavor chemistry. Their flavors rotate regularly, but our favorites include ube malted crunch, pandan tres leches, and Japanese Neapolitan (matcha, sakura, Hokkaido.) Grab a split scoop, so you can sample two global flavors in one go!