All Chill

Genelle Brooks-Petty and her husband Julian didn't need to open a scoop shop. She's an interior designer and Leimert Park neighborhood council member; he's an entertainment lawyer at Warner Music. Plus, they've got two daughters (busy bees!). But the husband-wife team who met attending business school at Howard University aligned early on their core values: culture, community and cream. So naturally, servicing the community Genelle grew up in—Leimert Park, a historic Black neighborhood that happened to be lacking a decent ice cream shop—wasn't just a no-brainer, it was a necessity. In many ways, their fate was written on Genelle and Julian's wedding day when they were given an ice cream machine as a gift. Lucky for everyone, this wholesome inspiration resulted in an ice cream shop that consistently churns out the most unique and mouthwatering scoops in all of L.A.  

It wasn't all chill opening up All Chill. The city and the state put up roadblocks. It was a true community effort, which included support from an encampment that originally occupied a good chunk of the sidewalk out front (before it was rebuilt). Genelle walked over and said, "Hey guys, we're opening up an ice cream shop, would you mind scooting over?" Before you knew it, the encampment residents were working together to clean the sidewalks, brooms in hand, while also spreading the good word to anyone walking by: "we got a new ice cream shop!"

Five years later, All Chill is more of an ice cream bakery than it is a scoop shop. Everything is made from scratch, in small batches, with zero stabilizers or gums, using Strauss dairy. The milk only lasts seven days, so they have to process each delivery immediately, and everything is sold within two weeks. Even more impressive is that in five years, the ice cream has been made by only five people (Genelle is now training a sixth). The logic behind that? Ice cream has to be made with love. You can taste that ethos in every single lick of their premium creams, which include more traditional flavors like chocolate, sweet cream or salted caramel, and mashups like vanilla rose, cornbread caramel, honey lavender, strawberry shortcake, and Biscoff (a must-have). There are also vegan cremes, made with a pea protein base, which taste anything but vegan. Namely, a cookies and crème that's to-die-for. But also, a perfectly nutty almond, and a strawberry cucumber with lovely acid thanks to a splash of white vinegar. And don't overlook the vegan sorbets, which range from smoky lapsang to citrusy-spicy sorrel that leans Caribbean and was inspired by Genelle’s old college roommate. In fact, many of her flavors are pulled straight from Genelle's own nostalgia—none more so than her personal favorite, a lemonade peach tea that definitely tastes like Snapple.

Of course, cream is only one third of the “culture, community and cream” M.O. Culture refers to many things, but a big piece is hip-hop, which Genelle and Julian both grew up on. Fun fact: Genelle was on the set of Tupac’s first music video. And Julian has amassed quite the collection of hip-hop memorabilia during his decades as an entertainment lawyer. Think Salt N’ Pepa jackets, a Ghostface Killah action figure, and Packer x Raekwon x Diadora N.9000 “Purple Tape” sneakers, to name a few, which can be found on rotation at All Chill for ice-cream goers to gawk at.

As for the community, “This is the first job for kids in the neighborhood. A place for grandfathers to bring their grandkids and then go to the park,” says Genelle, who wished she had had an All Chill growing up and hopes it remains a Leimert Park mainstay for decades and generations to come.