Lifetimes of Delight on Tap - Knowitall.org

The ice cream soda fountain at historic Guerin’s Pharmacy in Summerville.
PHOTO BY DAN ROCCAPRIORE
<strong>Lifetimes</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Delight</strong> on Tap
By Dan Roccapriore
The first time, back in the ’60s,
seemed almost unreachable—
the thrill <strong>of</strong> getting up to the
top <strong>of</strong> the chrome base to sit on the
padded red leather seat. I managed
to pull myself up and sit at
the soda fountain; I was only kneehigh
to a grasshopper but felt like
a king, spinning gradually full
circle on that round chrome seat,
surveying my fiefdom: Kresge’s Department
Store in Meriden, Connecticut.
My grandmother Francis
Wieloch (now 93) gave this instruction
to the soda jerk: “Give my
Soda fountains create memories,
one generation at a time.
little prince anything he wants.”
“Anything,” my operative word,
launched my imagination. I was
awakened from my castle in the
sky when the soda jerk took my
cheeseburger and milkshake order.
I will forever cherish the memory.
Countless parents and grandparents
have created similar soda
fountain memories for their children,
grandchildren and greatgrandchildren
throughout the Palmetto
State. I went on a hunt, and
here’s what I found.
At Guerin’s Pharmacy in Summerville,
the oldest pharmacy
still operating in South Carolina
(since 1871), soda fountain
memories are being made, but minus
the barstools. Well, sometimes.
“Our soda fountain has never had
barstools, but some <strong>of</strong> the very old
patrons will come to visit, and
Summer 2006 35

PHOTO BY DEBORAH SILLIMAN,
COURTESY THE COASTAL OBSERVER
A cherry descends to roost atop a contest entry at Lee’s Inlet Apothecary
in Murrells Inlet. Facing page, l–r: Kerri Warko, Eddie Hiott
and Ethel Sparkman at Hiott’s Pharmacy in Walterboro.
while sipping on their favorite beverage
will reminisce about how
they used to sit on the stools to
drink their fountain soda or chocolate
Coke,” says owner Barbara
Dunning. “Of course, we always respond:
‘Yes, ma’am’ or ‘Yes, sir.’
“One thing that makes our
soda fountain so special is the color
<strong>of</strong> the wall behind the fountain. It’s
painted ‘Summerville Green Wave
Green.’ It perfectly matches the
stripe that wraps around our original
1920s fountain.”
The chili hot dogs are famous,
Dunning adds. “We’ve been making
them the same since I can remember—steamed.
These and our
fresh-squeezed orangeade are our
big sellers.”
In downtown Hartsville, you’ll
find an antique Bastian-Blessing
(Chicago Art Deco soda fountain)
made in 1910 at Southern Candy
Kitchen. “We still make old-fashioned
sodas using syrups mixed
with carbonated water,” reports
owner Oneida Martin. “Sodas,
milkshakes and hand-dipped ice
cream—all day long! Generation
after generation, they keep on coming
back. It’s part <strong>of</strong> the reason
Hartsville’s downtown is thriving.”
Murrells Inlet boasts a fine
fountain, too. Willie Lee and his wife
Melissa found their 1920s marble
and milk glass soda fountain on
eBay and had it installed at Lee’s
Inlet Apothecary & Gifts in September
2002. “We have many grandparents
bringing their grandchild
in for their first soda fountain experience,”
Willie says. “So much
so that many <strong>of</strong> our elderly customers
would begin to brag with
stories like, ‘When I used to work
at my neighborhood soda fountain.
. . .’ So we collected a list and
started the Soda Jerk Contest.”
The contest, now in its fourth
year, is a hit. People fill the store
to watch participants create ice
cream specials. Judges rate the
contestants on flavor, showmanship
and presentation. “We create
36 Sandlapper

celebrities,” he points out. “The
winners cannot go anywhere without
being called a jerk. We’ve even
thought about putting them on our
float this Christmas in the annual
Christmas parade.”
The annual contest occurs on
the anniversary <strong>of</strong> the store’s opening,
the Friday after Labor Day.
“I have many fond memories
<strong>of</strong> going to an old-fashioned soda
fountain with my father, having a
root beer float or other treat. That’s
why we named it after him,” explains
Damien Lamendola. He and
his wife Debbi own Vincent’s Drug
Store at The Shops <strong>of</strong> Freshfields
Village on Johns Island. Inspired
by The Runaway, Norman Rockwell’s
famous painting <strong>of</strong> the policeman
and the little boy on spinner
stools at the soda fountain,
Vincent’s opened in May 2005.
“We play 1940s music, which
customers old and young love,”
Damien notes. White bead board
ceilings, custom wood shelving and
checkerboard floors add to the nostalgia.
Burgers and milkshakes
are the biggest sellers, but maybe
the greatest rewards are intangible.
“We wanted to give parents
and grandparents a place to create
soda fountain memories for
their children and grandchildren,”
he continues, “and also to <strong>of</strong>fer that
special place where young sweethearts
can meet for a malt, just
like the old days.”
Many soda fountain owners
feel the same. They’re not getting
rich dipping ice cream and squirting
seltzer. They’re doing it for
love—<strong>of</strong> their communities, their
families, their customers—and to
create the ideal <strong>of</strong> an innocent
time. “It’s truly a special place in
the heart <strong>of</strong> the community,” says
John Pugh, who owns Prosperity
Drug Company. “We did some remodeling
awhile back, and I can’t
tell you how many people came to
me and asked if we were going to
close the soda fountain. To be honest,
we don’t always make money
on it, but we would never close it.
It’d make too many people mad.”
when I was a teen-ager,
we made cherry Cokes with
“Back
one maraschino cherry. If
it was a girl and she was pretty,
she got two; if she was beautiful,
she got three!” That memory comes
from “Dr. Eddie” Hiott, the original
owner <strong>of</strong> Hiott’s Pharmacy in
Walterboro. He had his soda fountain
installed in 1951. “Years ago
it was the teen-agers who met here
looking for action; now it’s a place
to solve all the world’s problems
with the geriatric crowd.” Hiott
sold the business to retire, but he
still makes himself available for
proper soda fountain training. “We
still buy original Coke syrup. It has
to be chilled to the right temperature,
carefully added to the ice so
it doesn’t melt and water it down,
and the carbonation added last for
the perfect Coke.”
Doris Wessinger worked at
the Prosperity Drug Company for
50 years. “It turned into a big family,
a central meeting place,” she
says. “It’s where I met my husband,
after working here for five
PHOTO BY DAVID HIOTT
years. He liked to drink Coke. It
was the best thing that ever happened
to me.”
Janette Vaughn worked in
Newberry at the Central Drug
Store soda fountain in 1952. “My
husband, who likes chocolate
milkshakes, would come very <strong>of</strong>ten
from Prosperity to order one,
and after awhile I got to thinkin’
‘Hey, it’s not just the milkshakes
that he likes!’ We married and
moved to Prosperity in 1954.”
The Prosperity Drug Company
thrives. Newberry’s Central Drug
Store closed in the late 1970s.
Strom’s Drug Store in McCormick
serves milkshakes, malts and
cherry Cokes from an original 1911
oak and marble-top soda fountain.
“Lemon ice cream cones are our
biggest seller, but early one Saturday
morning we served a chocolate
milkshake to Strom Thurmond,
who stopped on his way to
a Clemson football game,” remembers
owner Brandt Vickery. “That
was a delight for us. We see lots <strong>of</strong>
adults bring their children and
grandchildren here, too.”
In 2000, then Gov. George W.
Bush stopped by Berley’s Phar-
Summer 2006 37

PHOTO BY
LYNNE BRANHAM

PHOTO COURTESY VINCENT’S DRUG STORE
Goose neck taps (facing page) are the mark <strong>of</strong> a “true” soda fountain.
Above: the fountain counter at Prosperity Drug Company. Right: A
lunch crowd gathers at Vincent’s Drug Store on Johns Island.
macy in Barnwell during his presidential
campaign and got a vanilla
milkshake. Owner Berley Lindler
remembers it well. “The lad serving
him his milkshake expressed
his own political desires, and Gov.
Bush responded, ‘When ya come to
Washington, I’ll let you make me
another milkshake.’ ”
Lindler has standards about
what he <strong>of</strong>fers to the public. “It’s
important to add to the flavor <strong>of</strong>
the old-timey soda fountain experience,”
he says, noting that his
pharmacy has been in business
since 1901. “That’s why I’m always
on the look-out for time-period
pieces such as tables, chairs or any
furniture which complements this
drug store, dating back to the turn
<strong>of</strong> the century.”
What’s the difference between
a soda fountain and a luncheonette?
Once, some soda fountains
with counters were luncheonettes.
That was before automated soda
machines came along to replace
them. A true soda fountain has the
two arching “goose neck” handles
from which you “jerk” plain and
PHOTO COURTESY PROSPERITY DRUG COMPANY
carbonated water to make a soda.
“Ask if they make an ice cream
soda with true seltzer water,” challenges
Willie Lee <strong>of</strong> Murrells Inlet.
“Many probably do not. The
counter versions are ‘fountains’
that evolved out <strong>of</strong> the true soda
fountain with the stools.”
Jimmy DeYoung bought Greenville’s
Northgate Soda Shop in
1965, complete with a 1950
Bastian-Blessing soda fountain.
“We’re a proud Pepsi-Cola soda
shop,” he proclaims. “You ever try a
chocolate Pepsi? How about a cherry
Pepsi? Our busiest time is definitely
lunch, with lemonade and
orangeade our biggest sellers. You
want to buy my soda shop? I’m 66
years old and would like to retire.”
Pete Bailey, also from
Greenville, bused tables down the
street at the now-defunct Main
Street Pharmacy when he was 10.
“I worked my way up to soda jerk,
then I went into the service, and
when I got out I continued working
there for a total <strong>of</strong> 45 years,”
Bailey says. “The funniest story I
can remember is the boy who
worked at the shoe store. Every
day he would come in and get a
sandwich and a cherry milkshake.
One day we added mostly cherryflavored
Pepto-Bismol. Well, we all
got a big laugh out <strong>of</strong> that!”
In the late ’50s and early ’60s,
Cyril “Doc” Wheeler owned Prosperity
Drug Store, when current
owner Bill Pugh worked there.
Here’s a favorite story from Pugh:
“In our soda fountain ice cream
freezer we always had vanilla,
chocolate, usually butter pecan,
black cherry and two other flavors.
The freezers are below the counter
where our customers couldn’t see
them. Most customers knew our
stock and would just ask what was
new. In the summertime, children
would come in two or three times
a week for ice cream cones, and
would demand to be told all six flavors.
One afternoon, about five
boys and girls chimed in all together;
‘What flavors do you have?’
And Doc, who was within earshot,
you see—not working the fountain
much—very studiously opened
each <strong>of</strong> the ice cream doors and
peered into each container, calling
out ‘chinaberry, okra, green been,
spinach, collard and dill pickle.’ ”
The Pitt Street Pharmacy is
located in the “old village” <strong>of</strong> Mt.
Pleasant, just a stone’s throw from
Charleston. “We like to give it that
Mayberry RFD feeling,” says Kim
Richardson, who owns the 1938
business with his wife Katie. “We
accommodate kindergarten tours,
and each child gets a scoop <strong>of</strong> ice
cream. We let mom and dad set up
charge accounts for the kids, so when
Summer 2006 39

they need something to eat, they
can always come here, like the old
days. It might sound strange, but
kids have been carving their initials
in the counter for generations,
and we close our eyes to it. Dr.
Marshall Hay put his initials here
when he was a child; now his teenagers
have put theirs next to his.”
Linda Brackman has worked
at the Pitt Street Pharmacy more
than 16 years and is the inventor/
maker <strong>of</strong> Linda’s Club Sandwich.
“We have been recognized for our
egg salad, grilled cheese and thick
milkshakes, but our cheeseburgers
and ice cream are also big sellers,”
Brackman says.
Why is one bar stool shorter
than the others? “On Thin Ice was
filmed here,” she explains, “and
one <strong>of</strong> the stools was cut down to
accommodate a shorter leading
lady. And we have so many tourists
from Canada, Europe and
China who say that they made a
special trip just to see our real
American soda fountain.”
You don’t have to travel far to
savor the soda fountain experience.
I can’t think <strong>of</strong> a better way
to beat the heat than by jumping
in the car with my son Carl and
heading for the slower-paced
beauty and warm nostalgia only an
old-timey soda fountain <strong>of</strong>fers. I
stand back, letting him make the
climb on his own so he can experience
the same thrill I remember
from so long ago. ❖
Dan Roccapriore was a soda jerk
while in high school in Connecticut.
He’s now based in Columbia
and Munich. He can be reached
at USEuroWriter@aol.com.
THIS ARTICLE IS SPONSORED BY
THE SOUTH CAROLINA BEVERAGE
ASSOCIATION.
Linda Brackman at Pitt Street Pharmacy.
PHOTO COURTESY PITT STREET PHARMACY
South Carolina Soda Fountains
(with fountain hours <strong>of</strong> operation)
Alderman Drug, 40 N. Main St., Sumter; (803) 773-8666; 8-6 M-F.
Berley’s Pharmacy, 16 Burr St., Barnwell; (803) 259-3541; 8-6 M-F; 8-noon
Sat.
Bridge Street Bed & Breakfast, 1602 Bridge St., Saint Matthews; (803) 874-
3439; 7-3 M-F.
Guerin’s Pharmacy, 140 S. Main St., Summerville; (843) 873-2531; 9-6 M-F, 9-
5 Sat.
Hiott’s Pharmacy, 373 E. Washington St., Walterboro; (843) 549-7222; 9-6 M-F,
9-3 Sat.
Lee’s Inlet Apothecary & Gifts, 3579 Hwy. 17 Business, Murrells Inlet; (843)
651-7979; 9-6 M-F, 9-2 Sat.
Loris Drug Store (nonworking fountain, display only), 4125 Main St., Loris;
(843) 756-4021.
Maxwell and Halford Drugstore, 432 Calhoun St., Johnston; (803) 275-2021;
8-6 M-F, 8-2 Sat.
Northgate Soda Shop, 918 N. Main St., Greenville; (843) 235-6770; 9-2:30 M-Sat.
Nye’s Pharmacy, 1600 10th Ave., Conway; (843) 248-2611; 8 – 6 M-F; 8-5 Saturday.
Owens Drugs, 502 W. Railroad Ave., Batesburg; (803) 532-6581; 9-2 M-F.
Pitt Street Pharmacy, 111 Pitt St., Mt. Pleasant; (843) 884-4051; 9-6 M-Sat.
Pr<strong>of</strong>essional Pharmacy, 223 N. Main St., Marion; (843) 423-1882; 9-4 M-F.
Prosperity Drug Company, 101 N. Main St., Prosperity; (803) 364-2310; 9-7 M-
F, 9-2 Sat.
Southern Candy Kitchen, 108 E. Carolina Ave., Hartsville; (843) 332-3641; 9-6
M-F.
Strom’s Drug Store, 124 S. Main St., McCormick; (864) 465-2011; 8-6:30 M-F,
8-4 Sat.
Vincent Drugs (nonworking fountain, display only), 203 Lee Ave., Hampton.
Vincent’s Drug Store & Soda Fountain, The Shops <strong>of</strong> Freshfields Village, 110
Planted Row Lane, Johns Island; (843) 243-0007; 10-5:30 M-Sat, 12-5:30 Sun.
Readers are welcome to let us know about soda fountains we didn’t
find by writing to Sandlapper Society, Inc., P.O. Box 1108, Lexington,
SC 29071 or e-mailing aida@sandlapper.org.
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