The Man Behind the Lemonade: A.C. Is Still a Coconut Grove Legend at 80

For nearly 50 years, A.C.’s Icees has been a Coconut Grove ritual. At 80, the man behind the truck with the blue-and-yellow striped umbrella is still serving delicious frozen lemonade to generations of Miami families.

On a warm afternoon at David T. Kennedy Park, his white truck with images of lemons depicted along the bottom sits exactly where it has for nearly half a century. Runners loop along the waterfront path, kids chase dogs through the grass, and a small line forms in front of the window where frozen lemonade has been served for generations.

Inside the truck, Allan “A.C.” Cohen greets customers who often feel less like strangers and more like extended family. Tanned, laid back, and with his signature long hair grazing his shoulders, A.C. has been serving his signature frosted lemonade at Kennedy Park since 1978. In that time, A.C.’s Icees has become more than a refreshment stand. For many Miamians, an A.C.’s pit stop is a ritual: a carpool stop after school pickup, a post-run treat, a childhood memory passed down through generations.

“I’ll have somebody come up and say, ‘I grew up with you, and now my kids are growing up with you,’” A.C. says. “After 48 years, I’m on third generations [of families].”

The Leap That Changed a Miami Park Forever

A.C. did not move to Miami to start a frozen lemonade institution.

When he left Michigan in the late 1970s, he did not have much of a plan at all. At the time, he was a vice president at a swimming pool company, managing more than a hundred employees. The job paid extremely well, especially for that era, but something about it never felt right. “There’s no amount of money that’s going to keep me working for you,” he remembers telling the owner before walking away.

Friends thought he was crazy. A.C. packed up his car and headed south the day after his sister’s wedding. His only certainty was that Coconut Grove was where he wanted to be. “My only plan was that I knew I wanted to live in Coconut Grove,” he says. “And I figured I’d find something to do.”

He had already spent years visiting the Grove during winter vacations and quickly fell back into a routine centered around Kennedy Park. An avid runner, he often met other athletes there after long runs along the waterfront. But there was one problem. After miles on the road, there was nowhere nearby to grab a drink. “You’d run ten miles, and there was nothing to drink,” he says. “One day, I said, ‘You know what would be great? I’d like to make this park my office.’”

What started as a simple lemonade stand soon became something much bigger.

When the City Had No Place for a Dream

At the time, the City of Miami had no framework for mobile food vendors operating in parks. A.C. discovered that the hard way when a police officer arrested him for selling drinks without a concession contract.

The city did not offer concessions at Kennedy Park, and officials initially insisted that a mobile one was not even possible. “So I basically had to create something that didn’t exist,” A.C. recalls. After navigating city hall, commission meetings, and bureaucratic hurdles, he eventually secured authorization to operate legally in the park.

Decades later, the setup feels completely natural: a truck parked beneath shady trees, locals lining up for something cold after a run, a walk, or a day at the park.

At the time, however, the idea was new enough that A.C. now jokes he may have been ahead of his time. “Back then, there wasn’t even a term for food truck,” he says. “There were ice cream trucks, but nothing like this.”

The Lemonade That Became a Local Legend

For a place that has served thousands upon thousands of drinks, A.C.’s Icees remains surprisingly simple.

There are only three flavors: lemonade, cherry-strawberry, and piña colada. Each batch is made fresh every morning using natural fruit juices whipped into a frosty consistency. The recipe itself remains a closely guarded secret. “Don’t ask me what’s in it,” A.C. says with a laugh.

The simplicity is partly philosophical and partly practical. A.C. designed the truck’s freezer system himself, commissioning custom stainless-steel containers to keep the drinks at the right temperature throughout the day. Beyond the drinks, the truck sells sandwiches, hot dogs, bottled water, and a growing line of merchandise.

As he celebrates his 80th birthday, A.C. is preparing to launch an e-commerce site for the T-shirts and hats he currently sells from his truck. Those shirts have traveled farther than he ever expected. “I’ve had people come up and say they live in Italy, and somebody brought them one of my shirts,” he says. “Alaska, too. They’re all over.”

A Front-Row Seat to Miami History

Spending nearly five decades in the same park means witnessing plenty of Miami history, and occasionally crossing paths with famous faces.

A.C. remembers one early encounter with Madonna, who lived nearby in the 1980s and frequently ran through Kennedy Park.

One afternoon, rushing to answer a pay phone near the truck, he ran straight into her. “One day I was running to answer a pay phone, and I ran right into her,” he says, laughing. “We smashed right into each other.” A.C. happened to be wearing a Detroit Tigers shirt, and Madonna mentioned she was from Michigan, too. The two struck up a friendly rapport, and he says she occasionally sent assistants to pick up coolers of Icees during video shoots.

Other encounters followed over the years. A.C. remembers serving Jimmy Buffett, Miami Heat players including Alonzo Mourning, and musicians passing through town.

At one point, members of the Eagles, who were in Miami to record their album The Long Run, even joined him for beers in Coconut Grove after spotting his Michigan license plates. “They were staying across the street from the park,” he says. “Next thing you know, we’re sitting in a bar, and they’re singing.”

Three Generations of Miami Kids

Despite the stories and the local fame that have come with nearly half a century at Kennedy Park, A.C. insists he never built the business with money as the primary goal. “With me, it’s never been about making money,” he says. “It’s about creating something where people want to come back.”

That philosophy shows up every day in the line outside the truck. Many customers grew up visiting A.C.’s Icees and now bring their own children. One man recently told him he drove all the way from Homestead just for a lemonade.

“The guy behind him said, ‘That’s nothing. I just came from North Carolina,’” A.C. shares.

The Heart of Coconut Grove

These days, A.C. has employees helping run the operation, which means he no longer wakes up at 3 a.m. to prepare the drinks the way he did for decades.

Still, he comes to the park most days, not to work but simply to be there. “I sit in my chair with my dogs,” he says. “People come up, they want pictures, they want to talk. It’s like this huge extended family.”

After nearly half a century, the rhythm of Kennedy Park still feels like home. For A.C., that was always the goal. “I’ve never needed a big house or a fancy car,” he says. “I just wanted to be happy and live a good life.”

He pauses for a moment, then shrugs with an easy smile.

“Life’s been good to me so far.”

A.C.’s Icees. 2470 S. Bayshore Dr., Miami, at David T. Kennedy Park; instagram.com/acsicees. Open daily from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.