Ice Cream Sodas in the 60’s
When my mom and her friend Ruth took over the soda fountain I started working as a soda jerk. I had no idea how many different concoctions people could come up with. So it was a learning experience but it didn’t take long to get the hang of it.
When I was working at the soda fountain a Coke was the only beverage that was ready to serve and all we had to do was put ice in the glass and put it on the machine and fill the glass. It must have held Coke syrup and was hooked up to the CO2 tank in the basement. It was one of the old coke machines that sat on top of the counter. It was red and white with the Coca Cola logo on it.
The other drinks had to be made with syrup, and carbonated water. I know Pepsi, Dr.Pepper, and 7up were made by putting the ice in a glass, then one squirt of the syrup and adding carbonation from one of the tall spigots on the fountain ledge.
One of the spigots was plain water and the other had carbonation. We used the carbonation side more than the plain water. The carbonation spigot was connected to a large CO2 tank in the basement under the fountain. My mother and her partner Ruth always took care of the tank in the basement and had someone bring in the new one when we needed it. I was happy I didn’t have to go down there.
The stairs to the basement were very old wood and creaked and the basement was not very big and was dark and dingy. The building had been there since the early 1900’s or the late 1800’s so it was dingy and stuffy down there. I think it had a dirt floor and dirt walls.
Some of the favorite drinks I made almost every day for the patrons of the drug store were: Cherry Cokes, Lemon Pepsi, Chocolate Dr. Pepper, Suicides, Ice Cream Sodas and Milkshakes. At 4:13 when I arrived for work I would make two small, nickel, cherry cokes and set them up on the counter.
Then I would start my other jobs behind the counter. When I looked again, shortly after placing the cokes on the counter, a man and wife were sitting at the counter drinking their cherry cokes. They came every day at the same time and always had cherry cokes.
For milkshakes we used the old very heavy green milkshake machine. You had to be careful when you put the stainless steel container on them. If it wasn’t completely secure the container would fall off and hit the floor and the shake being mixed would be all over the ceiling and you. (Been there done that……..not fun.)
Suicides were popular with some of the boys but we weren’t allowed to make them when Mom and Ruth found out about them. A suicide was made with a squirt of every flavor we had and drinks back then were 5 cents for a small glass and 10 cents for the large glasses. The kids were told we could add one flavor to a drink but it would be a nickel a flavor for a suicide and that put an end to that.
The soda jerk made Sundaes, one dip of the hard packed vanilla ice cream then topped with their choice of topping and a dollop of whipped cream and a cherry if they wanted it. The banana splits were three dips of ice cream; vanilla, strawberry and chocolate sitting between the two sides of the banana. All with topping and whipped cream and a cherry on the middle dip of ice cream.
Every Saturday morning, when it was my weekend to work, I had to clean out all the containers on the fountain that held all the flavors for the treats we made. I had to empty the flavored syrup like chocolate, vanilla, lemon, cherry, caramel etc. out of the little container. Wash it out and wash the pump and dry them. Then place it back in its spot below the counter of the bar and fill it back up.
That was a job that didn’t make much sense. Empty, wash and refill with the same syrup seemed like busy work to me. Unless something got spilled into the container with a lid and a pump on it I couldn’t see the reason it had to be done every week, but the powers that be (my mom and Ruth) thought it had to be done. So whoever was working had to wash all 10-12 of them every Saturday morning.
The drug store was the only place to buy little gifts if you couldn’t get out of town to shop. The job of wrapping each gift went to the soda jerk when she had time. That was a job I enjoyed doing and I could get pretty creative wrapping the boxes. Of course I wasn’t paying for all the ribbon that I used to decorate them.
The drug store also sold ice cream in a big chest freezer and we kept some of the candy bars in there too. A lot of the kids liked their candy bars frozen. The soda jerk had to keep the freezer stocked when they were working.
When we weren’t busy, which wasn’t very often the job of dusting the store had to be done by the soda jerk. There were glass display cases that had perfume and some jewelry and other items, and shelves on the wall with items to sell that had to be kept clean.
Then the magazine rack had to be kept neat and stocked with magazines for the adults and comic books that were 10 cents for the kids. Some of the kids wanted sit and read the comic book and then not buy it. That did not fly with me and I kept them honest when I caught them.
So the soda jerk during the 60’s in our soda fountain had many tasks to perform, not just making treats for the customers. To contact Sandy: [email protected]
