BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: HouseCat
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 10:07 PM

We are lucky to have a drugstore that's had the same soda fountain since the 40's and it's still going strong. They are famous for fresh lemonade made "while you watch", and really good buttery grilled cheese with dill pickles on top. They still have the twirly stools covered in red leatherette and they don't care if you sneak the new magazines to read while you eat.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Big Mick
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 10:13 PM

Sounds an awful lot like the place I worked, Housecat. Where are you located?

Mick

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Apr 07 - 11:18 PM

Coke, Pepsi and similar things were "sody" as in "sody pop". You bought six sodies, you had a glass of sody. If you were particular you specified: glass of vanilla Coke (again, nothing like what comes in cans), bottle of Pepsi, some Bubble-Up.

A "soda" was made at the soda fountain and included ice cream. "Soda" could also be carbonated water, as in "Scotch and soda" but such wussy drinks were unusual -- it was "I'll have a highball" and you got Seagram's Seven Crown or Four Roses with ice and Seven-Up.

A fountain Coke or Pepsi was made with a specified number of syrup squirts and then carbonated water.

"Tonic" was quinine water.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 01 May 07 - 08:07 AM

Here's a neat tangent: anyone know Italian water ice at all? Growing up in Atlantic City NJ, you could get little tubs of lemon or cherry water ice from the ice cream men on the beach (and if you lived next door to one, like I did, he might also put a chunk of dry ice in your bucket for you to play with! Ah, the days before health and safety...)

Water ice is like sorbet...only not. It's unique, really. There used to be a shop in Ventnor NJ that only opened in the summer, and only sold water ice - like, 50 different flavours.

This might be a New Jersey thing...

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 May 07 - 01:03 PM

Charlie, thanks for the CT and MA info. I'd forgotten about Friendlys! When I was growing up out here in the Rocky Mtn. West, the local Walgreens had the best and most extensive soda fountain plus lunch counter with booths. Every Christmas my oldest sister, bet, would take me downtown to shop for presents. It was cold and we always wound up at Walgreens, walking through the store to the back, down the three or four steps to a booth or stools. That time of year we always had a cup of hot chocolate which came with a couple of vanilla wafers to dip in it. It was the best!

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: mrdux
Date: 01 May 07 - 01:22 PM

Ruth --

I remember Italian ice growing up in Chicago -- as I recall, it wasn't real prevalent, but something we would get in Italian neighborhoods and some outlying Italian delis and markets. I have a vague recollection of street vendors with carts selling Italian ice, but only vaguely. . .

michael

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: M.Ted
Date: 01 May 07 - 02:52 PM

"Water Ice" is a Philly thing--a South Philly thing, to be more precise(though they have it everywhere in town) and the little cups of it are a spin-off of the real thing, which is a paper cone/cup full of ice the texture of snow, mixed with some sort of own-made fruit syrup, usually with bits of fruit in it--the final mixture has a slushy consistency.   You usually buy it from a walk-up window, and you usually have to stand in line to get one.

My favorite came from John's, at 7th and Christian--

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: M.Ted
Date: 01 May 07 - 02:53 PM

and it's pronounced "wudderice"--

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 01 May 07 - 04:50 PM

But the stuff you got in tubs on the beach in AC (and from the water ice shop in Ventnor) wasn't like that - the texture was totally different. Closer to sorbet, but very firm. And you get something really similar in Italy.

They also do the sort of thing you describe in Italy, more of a granita with syrup, which you can buy either in ice cream shops or from carts in the street.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 May 07 - 04:59 PM

When we lived in New England, CT and MA, what we were told were Italian ices were what we knew as sherbet.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 May 07 - 05:11 PM

We didn't have any of that fancy-shmancy stuff in West Central Illinois, on the banks of the Father of Waters! We ate ice cream, sometimes home-made, but some of those artsy types who drank tea with their pinkies in the air might serve some sherbet -- generally rsspberry or lemon -- at their tea parties.

Now, there were snow cones -- finely shaved ice with fruit syrups squirted on them. But none of those "Eyetalian Ice" things for us! Nossir!

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 01 May 07 - 07:10 PM

I waited tables in a real Soda Founatin (minus the Pharmacy) from 1978 til summmer of 1982 to earn money for my college tuition. it was owned and run by a retired couple from Brooklyn who moved to the small town I lived in during Highscool. My towm was a couple of miles from the Harlem Line of Metro North and we had a lot of NYC commuters. On weekends, the joint was hopping.

I only worked the lunch hour during the week, arrnaging my school schedule of Lunch period and study-hall so that I had a solid 2 hours get there, change, wait tables for 90 minutes, change and walk back to school. It shouldn't surpirse anyone to hear that the local cats used to follow me around! Even with the clothes change, I always smelled like milk!

Our most popualr beverages were Vanilla Cokes made with a long shot of coke syrup and a short shop of Vanilla syrup topped with 2 cent plain, Cherry coke made similar to above but with a bit more coke syrup, Pineapple Cokes with crushed pineapple (yuck) and Vanilla Egg Creams. Man, my mouth is watering thinking of those Egg creams (which had no egg).

I used to eat a Grilled Cheese with ham and a Vanilla Egg Cream for lunch every day in the 10 minutes I'd get before I had to go back to school. The brand of ice Cream we served was Hershey's and we only had Hunts Ketchup for the french fries. Do they even still make Kethcup or is it all heinz now?

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Bill D
Date: 01 May 07 - 08:16 PM

I grew up in Wichita, Kansas...here is one of the places I went for sodas and lunch a few times. (There was one closer to me). Pharmacies/drug stores were often social gathering spots for kids, especially if they were near a school....in business districts, they were often 'pure'pharmacies.
"Dime stores" also usually had lunch counters/fountains.
One wall, usually near the front of the store, would be given over to a lunch counter, which ALWAYS had the accouterments for ice cream sodas and malted milk drinks, as well as fountain Cokes. These were 'usually' stools only, but I remember when very young (in various states) going to a full 'soda fountain' where there were tables with chairs also. The chairs would often have a sort of heart-shaped metal back and wooden seat.

The quality of the fountain drinks was often a source of pride & competition among various stores....who had the best ice cream, most interesting drinks and best sandwiches was a topic of debate.

One place Armstrong's Creamery, near East High School, was a super soda fountain/ice cream store. It was attached to an ice cream plant, and had a large counter with a huge selection of desserts...including a mountainous banana split/sundae called a "pigs dinner". You got a wooden 'medal' if you finished it.

Sadly, most of these places were phased out in the late 50s and into the 60s.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 May 07 - 09:06 PM

Shave(d) ice in Hawai'i- think sno-cone.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: M.Ted
Date: 01 May 07 - 09:39 PM

Italian Ices, Water Ice, Sorbet are pretty much variants of the same thing(as are snow cones and slushies, when you get down to it)--though the operant word here is "variant'--I think that the water ice shop in Ventnor, at least the one I remember, served dead-on Philly Water Ices--and you could(and can) get the same thing any where on down to Cape May.

Generally, the push carts have five gallon tubs that they scoop from--the shops may scoop it from the tubs, or may have a machine that makes it on the premises--there are also little cups that you would find in the freezer at Wawa or 7-11--

The thing about real water ice is that it is that the syrup is made from real fruit, and uses real sugar, not gooey corn syrup--

Rita's Water Ice is now a big chain, and they make good water ices--they also have what is called in Philly "Gelato", but is really water ice between layers of frozen custard.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Maryrrf
Date: 01 May 07 - 09:42 PM

The soda fountain at the Mechanicsville Drug Store (that was my first job - as a "soda jerk" when I was 15 years and 8 months old- that was when you could get a work permit)is still going strong! I haven't been there in ages, but now I just may go back and have a limeade for old times sake. I'm surprised nobody has mentioned limeades yet - seltzer water, the juice of several limes, and a few squirts of syrup. One of the most refreshing drinks ever invented. We made "real" milkshakes too - lots of ice cream and a little milk, and the syrup or fruit of your choice all mixed up and so thick you could hardly slurp it up in a straw. Oh we also did hand packed ice cream. It was a great place to work - I was always in the know about the local gossip !

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: JennyO
Date: 01 May 07 - 10:10 PM

We made "real" milkshakes too

Maryrrf, what you describe, we in Oz would call a 'thick shake'. I remember the first time I ordered a 'shake' in Macdonalds, expecting it to be like our milkshakes - a drink with milk, syrup and just a scoop of icecream - and found it so stiff I had to slurp and spoon it rather than drink it. So you can get these, but you have to ask for a thick shake. I actually prefer our version of a milkshake - more drinkable and more thirst-quenching.

I don't think I've had the real Italian ices. I was thinking of gelato but I don't think it's the same thing. Snow cones we've had for quite a while. They are still quite common. I had a nice one at St Albans folk festival just over a week ago. I think they gave them some other name, but I don't remember what it was. The syrup was better than average too.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 01 May 07 - 10:15 PM

When they tore out the soda fountain at a drug store in the city where I was living, I bought two sections of the verde antique marble that covered the counter. One now is the hearthstone in front of my rumpus room fireplace. About two inches thick. Movers dropped the other piece.
At a favorite counter in my home town, the milkshakes and malts were served in the chromed container in which they were mixed. A large shake glass was filled, and the container was left on the table. Enough remained that would almost fill the shake glass a second time. Thick enough that a spoon was needed in addition to the large straws. I should have bought one of those heavy drugstore mixers as well.
It's been years since I had one- and that was out of the country, in Tapachula, Chiapas. Seating outside in a shaded part of the plaza, many varieties of shakes, using all the fruits that grew in the region, especially strawberries brought across the border from Guatemala. A wonderful market town, well south of the tourist areas, about 2000 feet above the empty beaches (at that time, anyway) so the temperature was just comfortably warm except when the sun was overhead.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 03 May 07 - 04:22 PM

Maryrrf - oh love those fresh Limeades! My soda jerking days were 1978 to summer of 1982. My fave drink besides an Egg Cream was the Cherry Phosphate! Has anyone mentioned those yet?


Soda Fountains also used to be the one place where you could get a damn fine sandwich. One of the Chicken Salad recipes I use comes from my days as a Soda Jerk. I remember we used to sometimes eat grilled chiicken salad with cheese! I couldn't eat such a thing nowadays - too heavy. I do miss the grilled cheese with ham though - can't find a good aged ham like that now. WE'd had a huge aged ham and just carve off slices for the grilled cheese or hunks to dice for ham salad.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 May 07 - 04:55 PM

Also egg salad. I can never get that flavor just right. (Or is this just nostalgia for a simpler time?).
And the ham and cheese with relish. As you imply, the usual ham now is tasteless. Most of the relish is just as bad.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: GUEST,Scoville
Date: 03 May 07 - 04:57 PM

Cunningham's Drug in Grinnell, Iowa, had a full soda counter in the back (sandwiches, sodas, sundaes, etc.). I still have my new-student coupon. Their specialty was the Candyland Sundae: Vanilla ice cream, marshmallow topping, and Spanish peanuts, and allegedly a secret ingredient. The retired farmers used to hang out there all the time.

Wal-Mart put them out of business in the late 1990's, sadly.


There was also Star Drug in Galveston, but it burned about 10 years ago and hasn't been completely rebuilt. They did it all: sodas, phosphates, lunch, floats. It was great.




What exactly is an "egg cream"? I don't think we have those in this part of the country.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 03 May 07 - 06:13 PM

Egg cream I don't know but some people had a raw egg added to their milkshakes.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 03 May 07 - 06:30 PM

Ok - what's a 'phosphate' then?

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Bill D
Date: 03 May 07 - 06:38 PM

Phosphate is a drink with Phosphoric acid instead of Carbonic acid used to make fizz. "Carbonated" is just easier to say.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 03 May 07 - 08:23 PM

Mick's right~ We were proprietors for a time of the James Pharmacy Restaurant, which included a vintage soda fountain that was so much fun! With the help of a local dairy, we were famous for our malted milkshakes.

Thanks for the nudge to learn how to get photos online; this is my maiden voyage. If this works, I'll be amazed ; )

OK, my friend, now you have to dig up a photo of you with your 'jerk' hat on. I'll be you were a cutie!

http://picasaweb.google.com/dehphotos

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 03 May 07 - 08:54 PM

The Steinway's Drug Store at the corner of Sheridan Road and Belmont in Chicago -- in the Belmont Hotel (across the street from Lake Michigan/Belmont Harbor) had a soda fountain in the 1950s (even the mid to late '40s) that made some wonderful ice cream sodas.

Good memories!

That corner was where we'd all meet on a Friday or Saturday night to catch a bus downtown to catch another bus west on Madison Street to go to Chicago Blackhawk games at the old Chicago Stadium.

More memories. (Sorry for the thread drift.)

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: M.Ted
Date: 03 May 07 - 09:08 PM

I just now remember that our drugstore used to have a sale on banana splits every now and again--there were balloons strung above the counter, and when it was time to pay, you popped a balloon and paid the price on the scrap of paper that was inside. They may have stolen the idea from Woolworth's--

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: John on the Sunset Coast
Date: 03 May 07 - 09:45 PM

Such emporia still exist, e.g. Mission Pharmacy in South Pasadena, CA.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: mrdux
Date: 03 May 07 - 11:40 PM

Art --

My grandfather lived at the Belmont Hotel in the 50s -- they had at least a few long term accomodations there. I remember getting ice cream at Steinway's. Hadn't thought about that in a lot of years.

michael

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: katlaughing
Date: 04 May 07 - 12:17 AM

That's not thread drift, Art! That's embellishment, the best thing about Mudcat!*bg*

Though it's grown to gargantuan proportions, Wall Drug in South Dakota still has a soda fountain.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: GUEST,Brian
Date: 04 May 07 - 04:00 PM

I guess lots of classic soda places left still, remnants.
One in Ithaca NY, one near East Aurora NY, one in Corning NY (gee, you'd think I never get out of NY but its all on the way to things I go to from Toronto ON)

And speaking of milk shakes - anyone from New Zealand care to comment on the weird variety of their milk shakes!?

Last year traveling in NZ I found they ran the gamut from ice cream (proud home made ice cream at that)based with milk over to NO ice cream (never thought of or encountered in some places) - the shakes being made from milk and a variety of flavoured powders/crystals.
I never had the temerity to try the powder based ones (just to fake disgusting) but what amazed me was the reaction from those who only made those - the IDEA of putting ice cream in a milk shake! Perish... what ARE you thinking... milk shakes are made from powder.
(I think if I'd stuck around they'd have then proceeded to label me a Pommie or something like that...which is what happened one place where I asked for vinegar for my french fries (aka chips).

Oh well. That's travel. Here in Canada a soft drink is pop.. in USA it is a soda (unless of course its something else...)

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 04 May 07 - 08:14 PM

Egg creams are a New York thing, though they served them at the pharmacy/soda fountain where I grew up - it's chocolate syrup, a few ounces of milk, and then a quick spritz of seltzer to make it go really foamy, then fill the glass with seltzer. It's like a chocolate soda.

I know it sounds gross, but they're very more-ish. As is milk and Coke.

Good lord, did I say that out loud?

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: GUEST,Scoville at Dad's
Date: 04 May 07 - 11:28 PM

Ah, OK.

In Texas, a soft drink is a Coke, even if it's not.



My mother grew up on Drink-A-Toast/Tak-A-Boost in New Jersey (I forget which is the current name; we referred to it by both). Apparently when her mother was a teenager, it was served with pretzels threaded on the straw.

If you're not familiar with it, it's a non-carbonated, fruit-syrup-based drink. You can buy the concentrate in New Jersey and it tastes kind of like flat Dr. Pepper. Probably an acquired taste, now that I think about it.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Ruth Archer
Date: 05 May 07 - 04:40 AM

And I thought milk and coke was bad...

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 05 May 07 - 11:49 PM

You can't get a decent egg cream outside of the 5 boroughs. Even in NJ it doesn't taste the same. You have to have U-Bet syrup for an authentic egg cream.

The water ice in Philly is different from the Italian ices that I know from down the shore. NJ and NYC Italian ice is sweeter and uses a sugar sweetner, not juice. It is creamier than the water ices that I've tried - although there is no dairy product in Italian ice.

If you ever get to Ocean Grove, NJ (my favorite shore town), go to Nagles. Nagles was an authentic pharmacy with a soda fountain, but over the years the pharmacy business was halted and the soda fountain took over. They kept the original architecture and some of the pharmaceutical display cabinets. There are old medicine bottles on display as well as advertising and you get the feel of what the old place was like. The ice cream is good too! (They use Welsh's Farm products). Ocean Grove has another ice cream parlour - Days, which dates back to the late 1800's. Paul Robeson was a waiter there during the summer when he went to Rutgerss. Days was never a pharmacy, and the ice cream they serve is one of the premium brands - but there is still a nice old time feel to the place.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 05 May 07 - 11:53 PM

Michael--MrDix,

My mother had an apartment at the Belmont Hotel when she passed away. That was the '60s though. The drug store was something else by then. I hadn't hadany reason to dredge up those memories since then.
BITTER/sweet for sure!

Art

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: mrdux
Date: 06 May 07 - 01:04 AM

art --

thanks for a good memory.

michael

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: M.Ted
Date: 06 May 07 - 02:48 AM

You can get a very good Egg Cream at the Famous Deli in Philly--as to Italian Ices, they don't make them with juices in Philly--they make them with syrups--the best places make their own syrups, with "secret" recipes, so they don't taste like the ones on the next block. Anyway, in Philly, it is a "Water Ice"--I said it before--do I have to come over there?

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 06 May 07 - 08:21 AM

Thanks for the Ocean Grove memories, Ron!

You'd be a good person to ask: is Piancone's still doing their thing in Bradley Beach?

Dani

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Dave'sWife
Date: 06 May 07 - 04:50 PM

I never cared for Chocolate egg creams. I went for Vanilla ones. I still makes some at home when I can lay my hands on quality vanilla syrup made with cane syrup and not corn syrup (yunk) Vanilla Egg Creams on a hot day are simply heaven

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: M.Ted
Date: 07 May 07 - 10:20 AM

Fox's U-Bet comes in Vanilla flavor, and, if you buy it when it is Kosher-for-Passover, it is made with real sugar(same with the Chocolate). You have to stock up when you find it, though--

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: HouseCat
Date: 07 May 07 - 12:18 PM

Sorry, Mick - been out of pocket and didn't see your post asking where I was - the drugstore I was referring to is in Hoover, AL. Green Valley Drugs.
HC

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Scoville
Date: 07 May 07 - 12:44 PM

They're water ices in Jersey, too. At least in South Jersey, where my mother grew up.

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 07 May 07 - 03:34 PM

Ron Olesko mentioned:
You can't get a decent egg cream outside of the 5 boroughs. Even in NJ it doesn't taste the same. You have to have U-Bet syrup for an authentic egg cream.

My cousin from Brooklyn moved for one year to the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. He went to Denver to fetch U-Bet syrup, but when he made egg creams using seltzer created from the local water, it tasted different. He is convinced that seltzer made from New York City tap water is an essential ingredient in a true egg cream.

--Charlie Baum

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: WFDU - Ron Olesko
Date: 08 May 07 - 03:17 PM

Dani - Piancone's is still there. We took the family to dinner there last summer and plan on returning. I could make a meal on their bread alone! Don't get me started on their bakery!!!! :)

Subject: RE: BS: Soda fountains, ice cream and pharmacies
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 08 May 07 - 06:37 PM

Now you folks have got me thinkin' back. Good thread, this! I just told Carol about the drugstore on the north-east corner of Briar and Broadway where, when we were flush, we'd stop in there and order a cherry Coke to go from their soda fountain. The pharmacist always put on a special hat when he stepped behind that soda fountain. The cherry was syrup that was dispensed into the Coke---no ice. A very few mixing swirls with a spoon, and a paper top with a pull tab was inserted into the top of the paper cup. We would pull up just a bit on the pull tab and that allowed us to suck the stiff in very small amounts so the drink'd last all the way home.

Art