For a Sugary Dose of Nostalgia, Swing by the Original Rainbow Cone for One of the Best Ice Cream Cones in Illinois

When it comes to sweets, Chicago has your sugar cravings covered. You can still order a brownie at the famous hotel Palmer House where it was invented in 1893. The Twinkie and the malted milkshake also got their sweet starts in Chicago. Cheer on the Chicago Cubs at their historic baseball park, still named for Wrigley gum. Lemonheads, Baby Ruths, Milky Ways, and Tootsie Rolls were all once manufactured in Chicago. Ice cream is no exception, and the Original Rainbow Cone reigns supreme in Chicago.

The Original Rainbow Cone isn’t just an ice cream stand, it is an institution. For 99 years, fans have lined up on the city’s Southwest Side for a unique ice cream combination that you won’t find anywhere else. While Chicago’s pizza is deep, its iconic ice cream is a tall stack of five flavors. The Original Rainbow Cone starts with a base of chocolate ice cream topped with strawberry. Next up is Palmer House, which is New York vanilla ice cream with walnuts and cherries. A serving of pistachio comes next, and the entire confection is topped with a slice of orange sherbet. 

Each flavor is sliced flat instead of scooped to give the weighty treat stability. As the ice cream melts, the distinctive flavors meld together, creating a delicious combination. While photographing your cone is encouraged, it’s crucial to devour it before Chicago’s summer heat melts the multicolored tower all over you.

If this concoction sounds intriguing today, you can imagine how extraordinary it was when Joseph Sapp invented the Original Rainbow Cone in 1926. As a child, Sapp was an orphan living on a work farm, and ice cream was an occasional luxury. After working for a while as a Buick mechanic, Joseph and his wife Katherine decided to open an ice cream stand. They chose a location at 92nd and Western in the Beverly neighborhood in the southwest corner of the city. Back then, Western Avenue was a dirt road, not the major thoroughfare it is today. In just four years, they outgrew the small stand and built a new one across the street. 

The Original Rainbow Cone is still located on the same spot today, and there is no way you can miss it. The bright pink, two-story building will put a smile on your face, beckoning you with its cheery facade. With a castellated roof, Spanish roof tiles, and its signature cone perched proudly on top of the building, it resembles an ice cream castle. Bricks framing the doorway are painted in the colors of the cone’s ice cream slabs, which are brown, orange, yellow, pink, and green, as are the archways over the glass block windows. You’re definitely in the right place.

Generations of Chicagoans have lined up at the Original Rainbow Cone in Beverly to share this nostalgic local flavor. Nearing a century in operation, Original Rainbow Cone has outlasted wars, the Great Depression, and recessions. The business is now run by a third generation of the Sapp family, and it has grown over the decades with appearances at festivals like the Taste of Chicago. Today, Original Rainbow Cone has expanded to multiple locations and kiosks in the Chicago region and to Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, California, Texas, and Florida. Wherever you’re from, there’s nothing like the vibrant and flavorful Original Rainbow Cone to transport you to a Chicago summer.