Friday, June 30, 2017

Farewell, Twirl Frozen Yogurt of Larchmont Village




Fro-yo girl here. Twirl Frozen Yogurt (121 North Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90004) closed a year ago this week. At one time, it was Mr. Froyo’s favorite froyo place, so I wanted to write a post about it, to keep its memory alive. It did take me a year to realize it closed because it was inside a juice shop in an area that I don’t visit too often because of lack of parking. Also, the last time we went, we were both very disappointed with the frozen yogurt.

Timeline of Twirl Frozen Yogurt

  • May 2010: Twirl opens as a standalone, self-serve froyo shop in Larchmont Village. The yogurt and toppings were 39 cents an ounce. Pinkberry opened in the neighborhood in 2006.
  • October 2010: A health inspector finds five violations during an inspection. Twirl closed to address the malfunctioning Taylor frozen yogurt machines. People reported falling ill after eating their frozen yogurt.
  • December 2010: Pinkberry Larchmont closes
  • January 2012: Our first visit to Twirl. It was still 39 cents an ounce. I was impressed that they had custom froyo flavors (including one that was flavored with homemade Nutella), housemade pieces of cake (the owners also owned Larchmont Bungalow – the source of the cake), and premium toppings. Mr. Froyo was very impressed with the plain tart, both the flavor and the texture. I thought the flavors were too muted.
  • January/February 2013: Twirl changes. They remodeled and added Larchmont Juicery in the same building. The toppings bar size was drastically reduced. They switched to Cloud Top organic frozen yogurt. The price went up to 59 cents an ounce. The emphasis switched to healthy toppings. The juicery only served organic juices and smoothies.
  • August 2013: Pressed Juicery opens in Larchmont Village.
  • June 2016: Larchmont Juicery & Twirl Frozen Yogurt close (Kreation Kafe, a juice shop, takes over the location in August)


The last time we went to Twirl was in 2014 or 2015? The plain tart organic frozen yogurt tasted weird and unpleasant. It was a sad day. The Twirl we knew was gone. It seemed so promising at the time we went in 2012, though I didn’t know about the food poisoning and health violations at the time.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

Looking for more frozen yogurt news, discussion boards, and resources? Check out the International Frozen Yogurt Association website at http://internationalfrozenyogurt.com/. The IFYA is the independent voice of the frozen yogurt industry.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there. Thanks for posting this. My wife and I used to go there all of the time. I had a conversation with the owner one time and he told me that he bought the frozen yogurt from a local person, but I can not remember who he said he got it from. Do you have any idea?

Lolia S said...

After 2013 when they went organic, they were using Cloud Top. Before that, I'm not sure. Cloud Top is local.