ALAMEDA — There’s a first time for everything, and during the last 28 years Kate Pryor and David Lee have celebrated many milestones behind the counter of Tucker’s Super Creamed Ice Cream.

In that time, the ice cream parlor has been the place of choice for first dates, birthdays, graduation celebrations and family gatherings.

“It’s where people come to celebrate everything,” Pryor said during a recent interview in her Park Street ice cream parlor.

Those moments, Pryor and Lee said, are the ones they will miss now that they have sold Tucker’s to an Alameda family, consisting of Stephen Zimmerman, Erika Zimmerman, Lauren Zimmerman Cook and Joshua Cook. Sibling owners Stephen Zimmerman and Lauren Cook grew up in Alameda and oversee their family’s business, AEC Living, which operates skilled nursing and assisted living facilities in the East Bay.

“It’s a pretty physical business, and we’ve known too many people who worked until they died basically,” Pryor said.

“We’re healthy, happy, strong, and we want to take some time to enjoy life. It has been a seven-days-a-week commitment for 28 years, and we take vacations here and there, but what’s happening is always kind of in the back of our minds.”

The ownership transfer on Wednesday served as a bookend for the Zimmermans and Cooks, now tasked with continuing the ice cream parlor’s legacy and traditions, as well as Pryor and Lee, who vowed to remain active in Alameda.

“Whenever I’m not in Alameda and I talk about it, Tucker’s always comes up — not just in the Bay Area but everywhere,” Stephen Zimmerman said in an interview.

“Most people know Oakland for its sports teams, but people know Alameda for Tucker’s,” he said.

But the prospect of buying Tucker’s happened serendipitously, Stephen Zimmerman said. As it turns out, Stephen Zimmerman was searching for more office space to house his family’s growing business when he learned that a building on Park Street could be on the market soon. He didn’t know at the time which building it was or the business that may have to close up shop.

When he was told later that Tucker’s would be the business up for sale, Stephen Zimmerman called his sister, Lauren Zimmerman Cook, to share the news. At the top of their minds were two main concerns: the potential for Tucker’s to be run by a nonresident who doesn’t understand the community; and possible impacts to nonprofit programs that partner with the ice cream parlor.

“I was always on sports teams growing up, and Tucker’s is the place where you’d celebrate birthdays, or your friends would celebrate their birthday there,” Stephen Zimmerman recalled in an interview.

“A vivid memory was winning a Little League award … and afterward our team went out to celebrate the end of the year, and they bought me ice cream at Tucker’s because I won this award,” he said.

The Zimmermans and Cooks tossed around the idea of buying Tucker’s and reached a collective agreement after Stephen Zimmerman’s wife, Erika Zimmerman, and Zimmerman Cook’s husband, Joshua Cook, offered to oversee daily operations at the ice cream shop.

“Tucker’s means a lot to a lot of people, and we know we have some big shoes to fill,” Stephen Zimmerman said.

“There’s a lot of change going on in Alameda, and Tucker’s is one of the things that makes Alameda unique; it’s a small town that is growing, but it’s still a small town because of places like Tucker’s,” she said.

The family then approached Pryor and Lee with an offer that ended up being the perfect match.

“We felt like it was time for the business to be looked at with fresh, young eyes, so when they came along as potential buyers, we were really excited that they’re local people who understand the importance of the business in Alameda,” Pryor said.

“We didn’t want to sell (the business) to just anybody; we wanted someone who understands its standing in the community to take over,” she said.

The Zimmermans and Cooks are the fourth owners of Tucker’s since it was opened in 1941 by Marshall and Verda Tucker. Tucker’s Super Creamed Ice Cream was initially located in a Park Street storefront, now occupied by Habanas Cuban Cuisine at the corner of Webb Avenue. Tucker’s was later moved half a block down the street in 1987 to a 1,000-square-foot Park Street storefront, where New York Pizza is now, shortly before Pryor bought the ice cream parlor in 1990.

“It was never in the right place, and it was not the right layout,” Pryor recalled about Tucker’s second location.

“Everything about it was wrong, so from the time I took over, I started looking for some place to move to. There was only one bathroom there, so some people would be waiting in line for it while other people would be waiting in line for ice cream, and they wouldn’t know which line they were in,” she said.

Her search continued for a decade until Tucker’s current space in the historic Russell Franck Building became available in April 2000.

“It was a big jump from 1,000 to 5,500 square feet, and it was a tough time for this block on Park Street, too,” Pryor recalled.

“All of the buildings across the street were vacant, half of the buildings on this side of the street were vacant, and there was no theater, library or bookstore. It was like that for quite a few years; I’d look outside the window and see boarded-up buildings,” she said.

Park Street has changed a lot since then, but one thing that won’t change at Tucker’s is the staff, its name or the partnerships forged with community organizations, including the Alameda Free Library’s summer reading program. The Zimmermans and Cooks also will learn how to make some of the ice cream shop’s well-known items, such as cho-cho’s (chocolate malt ice cream in a cup with a stick) and Tommy Tucker cones (vanilla ice cream in a sugar cone and dipped in chocolate).

“Tucker’s today is not the one that (Kate) bought 28 years ago; tastes have changed, and people have changed,” Lee said.

“Part of what makes a good business is trying to keep a sense of the community, so you provide the venue that they want to enjoy,” he said.

FYI

What: Ribbon cutting for ownership transfer of Tucker’s Super Creamed Ice Cream

Where: 1349 Park St. in Alameda

When: 1 p.m. April 15

Info: 510-522-4960