Leon’s Frozen Custard

Leon’s Frozen Custard is a classic 1950s-style drive-in in Oshkosh, serving frozen custard, sandwiches, hot dogs, sundaes, shakes, malts and other old-school drive-in fare. The Oshkosh location dates to 1947, when Anna Schneider opened the stand with permission from her son Leon, whose Milwaukee frozen custard business had opened five years earlier. Today, Leon’s still leans into that mid-century character with carhop service, allowing customers to order from their cars and have their food and custard brought out to them.

For fans of strange Wisconsin movie history, Leon’s has an even better claim to fame: it was one of several Oshkosh filming locations for the 1990 cult sci-fi comedy Meet the Applegates, along with nearby Ardy & Ed’s Drive In. Filmed in Oshkosh in 1988, the movie follows a colony of giant South American insects that disguises itself as an idyllic 1950s American family in an attempt to gain access to U.S. nuclear resources. Leon’s retro appearance made it a natural fit for the movie’s deliberately artificial vision of suburban America.

Leon’s is therefore more than an old-fashioned custard stop: it’s a surviving piece of Oshkosh drive-in culture and a real filming location from one of the 90’s stranger, forgotten movies. The combination of 1947 history, carhop service, frozen custard and Meet the Applegates connection makes it an especially worthwhile stop for anyone exploring Oshkosh’s roadside attractions, retro businesses and offbeat film history.