Photo: Facebook/Happy Ice
By Napoleon F. Kingcade
After getting arrested on a gun charge, 17-year-old Lemier Mitchell, who grew up in West Philadelphia, decided to change his life around. He saw how his arrest affected his mother.
In 2016 — which was two years later —, the aspiring teenager moved from West Philadelphia to Los Angeles, where he began working as a tattoo artist.
A year later, as a side hustle, Mitchell decided to make his own water ice. He started handing out samples to people on street corners, so his customers in Los Angeles could experience what a Philadelphia water ice tasted like. He even posted people’s reactions on social media.
His mother encouraged him to start his own water ice business and go all the way with it. He made the right choice, and it has paid off.
Lemeir Mitchell posing with one of his customers inside his Happy Ice water ice store in Los Angeles.
Photo: Facebook/Happy Ice
“I was at lunch in Los Angeles, and there was a food truck on the corner,” Mitchell said. “It was the nicest food truck I have seen. [But] when I walked up, I noticed it wasn’t a food truck, it was basically a liquid nitrogen ice cream truck — like, a super dope, old school trailer. I was already sad because I couldn’t [find] Philly water ice anywhere; it was unbelievable to me. People like shaved ice, but nobody knew about Philly water ice — this [made] no sense. Literally, at that moment, I was, like, ‘What if I [made] Philly water ice out of a truck like this?’”
That’s how everything started for Mitchell, who returned to Philadelphia, where he took up an apprenticeship at Fred’s Water Ice. He started to learn more about the water ice trade, learning everything from getting the texture right to mastering the scoop. When his apprenticeship ended, Fred’s Water Ice sold him a freezing barrel machine and syrups for $6,000, which was all he needed to get his water ice business started. Mitchell shipped it all, along with a food truck and freezer to Los Angeles, where his dream really took off almost overnight.
Mitchell became so popular selling water ice out of an ice cream truck, he was able to move into a brick-and-mortar shop on Melrose Avenue.
The Walt Disney Company reached out to Mitchell in 2021 and offered him a pop-up run at the Disneyland resort, which soon earned him a permanent spot in the Downtown Disney district, where his Happy Ice store is now located at 1569 Disneyland Drive in Anaheim, California and open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
During the Juneteenth holiday this year, a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on June 19 celebrating the grand opening of his water ice flagship store. This made Mitchell the first Black owner of a dessert shop at the Downtown Disney resort. His water ice store sits right alongside Gordon Ramsey’s restaurant, Starbucks, and Salt & Straw Ice Cream. His establishment has also grown to three other locations in the Los Angeles area.
“[That was] not what Los Angeles was supposed to have had in store for me,” Mitchell said. “It was [supposed to have been] a side investment.”
Mitchell admits his mother encouraged him to stick with his water ice vision and go all into the business.
“That’s when I lost my fear,” he said. “That was the belief that I needed from somebody else that was close to me. That push made it all really happen. The next day, I got the trademark and started working on it.”
According to Mitchell, his menu is about 70% natural and by the end of 2026, he says his water ice will have all-natural ingredients.
“We have a water ice called Banana Pudding Joylati,” said Mitchell. “We make banana ice from scratch, we peel bananas, blend them, pure it and make an all-natural banana ice. It is insanely good. We also make a banana pudding in-house. We layer banana pudding, add our house made vanilla ice cream, then add banana ice with Nilla Wafer crumbles and banana chunks. It is off-the-chart addictive and one of the most popular items at all of our locations.”
Mitchell said he always aims to make his water ice different and unique to satisfy his California customers.
“We focus on combination flavors,” Mitchell said. “In Philly, you order a cup a lemon, right? Or a whole cup of cherry. That’s normal. But we make combinations like our Summertime water ice which is mango, strawberry and watermelon. We scoop it to show the flavor’s stripes. A new combination we launched this year is Cloud Nine, which is a mixture of lime, watermelon, blue raspberry and pineapple. It is phenomenal.”
Photo: Facebook/Happy Ice
On opening day, Mitchell said the line for Happy Ice stretched through Downtown Disney. Mitchell said he’s so proud that he was able to build a partnership with Disneyland, a company that he worked so hard to impress.
“I feel like I am successful at Disney not only because of the work I put in, but because of the Disney partners and the support I received,” Mitchell said. “They treated me like a cast member, and I really feel that they wanted me be successful.”
At this point, Mitchell couldn’t be happier. Today, he’s living the American Dream.