WORKING -- ALEX WHITESIDES

HE IS

Freezing bananas and dipping Balboa Bars.

A JOB OF CONVENIENCE

Together with his mother and stepfather, the 15-year-old sophomore at

Newport Harbor High School moved to Balboa Island just four months ago.

Lacking a driver’s license, a job at a local specialty ice cream parlor

seemed like the perfect choice for a working man.

“Since I don’t drive yet, it’s real easy to get to,” Whitesides said,

adding that he’s not the biggest ice cream fan himself.

ALMONDS OR RAINBOW SPRINKLES?

Balboa Bars clearly top the hit list with Whitesides’ customers. He

stacks the vanilla bars in one of the freezers lining the tiny store and

sticks in coffee stirrers to add some grip.

“Can I help you?” Whitesides asked a boy who approached the store’s

window with his family for some dessert Sunday night.

“A Balboa Bar -- half chocolate, half rainbow sprinkles,” the boy

answered, and Whitesides got to work.

For a split second, he dipped the bar in 100-degree chocolate sauce

and let it cool off for a moment. Then came the coverings -- kept in

trays next to the sauce bowl -- which he pressed against the bar with a

scraper.

Apart from rainbow sprinkles -- the store’s bestseller for toppings --

Whitesides’ offerings also include chocolate mint, Heath Bar and peanuts,

among others.

For covering the equally popular frozen bananas, he follows the same

procedure.

“It’s kind of a tie between [Balboa Bars] and bananas,” he said. “We

sell a lot of those.”

But getting the fruit ready takes a little longer, he said.

The yellow half-moons need to spend at least a day in one of the

freezers before they’re ready for consumption.

Whitesides can easily resist the delicacy, he said.

“I like bananas,” he said. “I just don’t like them frozen.”

HUMMING MACHINES AND BLASTING OLDIES

The store’s freezers and ice cream machines seem to have lives of

their own. Almost constantly, one of the silver boxes lets out a sigh and

starts humming away. Oldies blasting from a radio in the background add

to the mixture of sounds.

“You get used to it,” Whitesides said. “You don’t really notice it.

But when you get home, it’s nice not to have it.”

His shifts at the store differ. Sometimes he gets in at 1 p.m and

stays until 6 p.m. On other days, he takes the closing shift and stays

from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

During quiet stretches, he restocks freezers and cleans the store.

While he stands near the window, he wipes the surface with a cloth to

remove chocolate drops and covering that failed to stick to bars or

bananas.

AN FUTURE WITH NO ICE CREAM

Whitesides likes to read computer magazines and science-fiction books

and spends a lot of his time playing roller hockey at an arena in Irvine.

He has no idea what he’ll do once he’s done with school.

But one thing’s for certain -- opening an ice cream parlor is out of

the question.

“No way,” Whitesides said and laughed. “It’s not my thing.”