One of Orange County’s most enduring beachside sweets traditions is heading to Long Beach—and giving one of its signature treats a neighborhood makeover.
Sugar ’N Spice, the Balboa Island institution whose history stretches back to 1945, is opening at 5269 E. 2nd St. in Belmont Shore, taking over the former European Wax Center space. Its famed hand-dipped frozen bananas will make the trip north. And its Balboa Bar? Here, it will become the Belmont Bar, a nod to the neighborhood welcoming the longtime Newport Beach business.
“We’re thrilled to welcome Sugar ’n Spice to Belmont Shore,” said Heather Kern, who heads the Belmont Shore Business Association. “They’ve been a Balboa Island tradition for over 80 years, and now they’re bringing that history to 2nd Street. We love that Balboa Bars are becoming Belmont Bars, starting a whole new tradition right here in Belmont Shore.”
For Long Beach, that means a little piece of Southern California beach history is about to become part of a stroll down 2nd Street. The hope? They’ll be open in time for the Belmont Shore Christmas Parade.
Sugar ’N Spice brings more than eight decades of history.
Long before the Belmont Shore expansion, Sugar ’N Spice built its identity on Marine Avenue, Balboa Island’s compact commercial corridor. Established in 1945, the shop has become a landmark for generations of visitors seeking chocolate-dipped bananas and ice cream bars between walks around the island.
The business’s early story involves Bob and Dorothy Cook and a candy shop—a reminder that this now-famous frozen-dessert destination grew from a modest sweets business. Over the ensuing decades, the banana became its calling card: frozen, dipped in chocolate, and finished with toppings.
The frozen banana’s history extends beyond a single stand.
Sugar ’N Spice’s longevity deserves celebration, though the broader history of the frozen banana comes with competing origin stories.
As Smithsonian Magazine documented, Newport Beach’s frozen-banana trade predates the shop: Around 1940, Don Phillips operated The Original Frozen Banana on the Balboa Peninsula near the ferry landing.
Sugar ’N Spice subsequently became central to the treat’s identity on Balboa Island, where neighboring Dad’s Donut & Bakery Shop also helped make chocolate-dipped frozen desserts a local tradition.
That distinction matters: Sugar ’N Spice is an institution within a much larger coastal food story, one that helped turn a simple banana on a stick into something inseparable from a Newport Beach outing.
From the Balboa Bar to the Belmont Bar
Alongside its bananas, Sugar ’N Spice serves Balboa Bars—ice cream bars dipped in chocolate and finished with toppings—as well as frozen cheesecake and soft-serve ice cream. The hand-dipped bar shares the banana’s essential appeal: a frozen center, a chocolate coating, and a customizable finish.
The forthcoming Long Beach shop will give that familiar bar a new local name: the Belmont Bar.
Sugar ’N Spice is planned for 5269 E. 2nd St. in Belmont Shore. Opening date details are not yet available.
