Soda shop
Encyclopedia
A Soda shop, also often known as a Malt shop, is a business akin to an ice cream parlor
and a drugstore soda fountain
. Interiors were often furnished with a large mirror behind a marble counter with gooseneck spouts, plus spinning stools, round marble-topped tables and wireframe sweetheart chairs.
The counter-service soda fountain was introduced in 1903, and around that same time, drugstores began to attract noontime customers by adding sandwiches and light lunches. The beverage menu at a soda shop usually included ice cream soda
s, chocolate malteds, fountain colas and milkshakes. A 1915 issue of Soda Fountain magazine stated: "The soda fountain of today is an ally of temperance... Ice cream soda is a greater medium for the cause of temperance than all the sermon ever preached on that subject."
There were many variations: Nashville's Elliston Place Soda Shop began as a drugstore soda fountain but became a plate-lunch restaurant after it was bought by Lynn Chandler in 1939. During the 1930s and 1940s, the jukeboxes in such establishments made them popular gathering spots for teenagers, as noted in the 1940s song, "Jukebox Saturday Night (tune by Paul McGrane and lyrics by Al Stillman).
Pop Tate
's Chocklit Shoppe is a fictional soda shop created by Bob Montana as a setting for the characters in his Archie comic books
and comic strips. Tate's soda fountain was based on real-life locations frequented by teenagers in Haverhill, Massachusetts
, during the 1930s—Crown Confectionery and the Chocolate Shop on Merrimack Street and the Tuscarora on Winter Street. The character of Pop Tate was inspired by the Greek immigrant owners of these Haverhill soda shops. In the years 1936 to 1939, when Montana went to high school in Haverhill, he would join his friends at the Chocolate Shop counter and make sketches on napkins. A decade prior to Archie, the Sugar Shop was a hangout for the teenagers in Carl Ed's comic strip Harold Teen
.
Ye Olde Mill (Utica, Ohio) keeps the tradition alive with a 19th-century ice cream parlor operated by the Velvet Ice Cream Company, and there are displays, working and non-working, in museums across the United States. In Fort Smith, Arkansas, the Fort Smith Museum of History has an old-style drugstore with a working soda fountain. In Medina, Ohio, America's Ice Cream and Dairy Museum at Elm Farm has a restored 1900s soda fountain with a 20-foot green-and-white Italian marble counter, vintage ice cream freezers, scoops and milk bottles, plus restored milk and ice cream delivery trucks. The Chippewa Valley Museum (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) has a working soda fountain that operated in the Eau Claire area between 1895 and 1924.
Soda shops are often used as settings in films and TV shows. In Twilight Zones "Walking Distance" episode a soda shop serves as a framing device and is a link to the past for Martin Sloan (Gig Young
). Soda shops figure prominently in many movies, including Harold Teen
(1934), Orson Welles
' The Stranger
(1946), Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952) and Pleasantville
(1998). The gang from Scooby-Doo
are often seen frequenting a malt shop.
Ice cream parlor
Ice cream parlors are places that sell ice cream and frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is normally sold in two varieties in these stores: soft-serve ice cream , and hard-packed, which has an assortment of flavors, as well as frozen yogurt, which is a low-fat alternative and tastes slightly...
and a drugstore soda fountain
Soda fountain
A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores...
. Interiors were often furnished with a large mirror behind a marble counter with gooseneck spouts, plus spinning stools, round marble-topped tables and wireframe sweetheart chairs.
The counter-service soda fountain was introduced in 1903, and around that same time, drugstores began to attract noontime customers by adding sandwiches and light lunches. The beverage menu at a soda shop usually included ice cream soda
Ice cream soda
An ice cream soda or float , coke float , or spider , is a beverage that consists of one or more scoops of ice cream in either a soft drink or in a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water.-Origins:The ice cream soda was invented by Robert M...
s, chocolate malteds, fountain colas and milkshakes. A 1915 issue of Soda Fountain magazine stated: "The soda fountain of today is an ally of temperance... Ice cream soda is a greater medium for the cause of temperance than all the sermon ever preached on that subject."
There were many variations: Nashville's Elliston Place Soda Shop began as a drugstore soda fountain but became a plate-lunch restaurant after it was bought by Lynn Chandler in 1939. During the 1930s and 1940s, the jukeboxes in such establishments made them popular gathering spots for teenagers, as noted in the 1940s song, "Jukebox Saturday Night (tune by Paul McGrane and lyrics by Al Stillman).
- Moppin' up soda pop rickies
- To our hearts' delight,
- Dancing to a swingeroo quickie,
- Jukebox Saturday night...
Pop Tate
Pop Tate
For the 19th-century baseball player, see Pop Tate ."Pop" Tate, a fictional character in the fictional Archie universe, is the owner and manager of the Chok'lit Shoppe, a soda shop and frequent hangout of Archie's Gang...
's Chocklit Shoppe is a fictional soda shop created by Bob Montana as a setting for the characters in his Archie comic books
Archie Comics
Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher headquartered in the Village of Mamaroneck, Town of Mamaroneck, New York, known for its many series featuring the fictional teenagers Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones. The characters were created by...
and comic strips. Tate's soda fountain was based on real-life locations frequented by teenagers in Haverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill, Massachusetts
Haverhill is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 60,879 at the 2010 census.Located on the Merrimack River, it began as a farming community that would evolve into an important industrial center, beginning with sawmills and gristmills run by water power. In the...
, during the 1930s—Crown Confectionery and the Chocolate Shop on Merrimack Street and the Tuscarora on Winter Street. The character of Pop Tate was inspired by the Greek immigrant owners of these Haverhill soda shops. In the years 1936 to 1939, when Montana went to high school in Haverhill, he would join his friends at the Chocolate Shop counter and make sketches on napkins. A decade prior to Archie, the Sugar Shop was a hangout for the teenagers in Carl Ed's comic strip Harold Teen
Harold Teen
Harold Teen was a popular, long-running comic strip written and drawn by Carl Ed . Publisher Joseph Medill Patterson may have suggested, and certainly approved, the strip's concept, loosely based on Booth Tarkington's successful novel Seventeen. Asked in the late 1930s why he had started the strip,...
.
Ye Olde Mill (Utica, Ohio) keeps the tradition alive with a 19th-century ice cream parlor operated by the Velvet Ice Cream Company, and there are displays, working and non-working, in museums across the United States. In Fort Smith, Arkansas, the Fort Smith Museum of History has an old-style drugstore with a working soda fountain. In Medina, Ohio, America's Ice Cream and Dairy Museum at Elm Farm has a restored 1900s soda fountain with a 20-foot green-and-white Italian marble counter, vintage ice cream freezers, scoops and milk bottles, plus restored milk and ice cream delivery trucks. The Chippewa Valley Museum (Eau Claire, Wisconsin) has a working soda fountain that operated in the Eau Claire area between 1895 and 1924.
Soda shops are often used as settings in films and TV shows. In Twilight Zones "Walking Distance" episode a soda shop serves as a framing device and is a link to the past for Martin Sloan (Gig Young
Gig Young
Gig Young was an American film, stage, and television actor. Known mainly for second leads and supporting roles, Young won an Academy Award for his performance as a dance-marathon emcee in the 1969 film, They Shoot Horses, Don't They?.-Early life and career:Born Byron Elsworth Barr in St...
). Soda shops figure prominently in many movies, including Harold Teen
Harold Teen
Harold Teen was a popular, long-running comic strip written and drawn by Carl Ed . Publisher Joseph Medill Patterson may have suggested, and certainly approved, the strip's concept, loosely based on Booth Tarkington's successful novel Seventeen. Asked in the late 1930s why he had started the strip,...
(1934), Orson Welles
Orson Welles
George Orson Welles , best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, actor, theatre director, screenwriter, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio...
' The Stranger
The Stranger (1946 film)
The Stranger is an American film noir directed by Orson Welles and starring Welles, Edward G. Robinson, and Loretta Young. The film was based on an Oscar-nominated screenplay written by Victor Trivas. Sam Spiegel was the film's producer, and the film's musical score is by Bronisław Kaper...
(1946), Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952) and Pleasantville
Pleasantville (film)
Pleasantville is a 1998 American fantasy comedy-drama film written, produced, and directed by Gary Ross. The film stars Tobey Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Marley Shelton and Jeff Daniels. Don Knotts, Paul Walker, Jane Kaczmarek, and J. T. Walsh are also featured.The film...
(1998). The gang from Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo
Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise based around several animated television series and related works produced from 1969 to the present day. The original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, was created for Hanna-Barbera Productions by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears in 1969...
are often seen frequenting a malt shop.