A soda shop, also often known as a malt shop (after malted milk) and as a malted shop in Canada, 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 goose-neck soda spouts, plus spinning stools, round marble-topped tables, and wireframe sweetheart chairs.
The counter-service soda fountain was introduced in 1903. Around that time, drugstores began to attract noontime customers by adding sandwiches and light lunches. The beverage menu at a soda shop usually included ice cream sodas, [1] [2] chocolate malts, fountain colas, and milkshakes.
In the first decades of the 20th century, the shops were also considered sober alternatives to bars as social venues. A 1915 issue of Soda Fountain magazine said: "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 sermons ever preached on that subject."
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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. It was based on real-life locations frequented by teenagers in Haverhill, Massachusetts in the 1930s, the Crown Confectionery and the Chocolate Shop on Merrimack Street, and the Tuscarora on Winter Street; and the character of Pop Tate was inspired by the Haverhill shops' Greek immigrant owners. In the years 1936 to 1939, when Montana went to high school in Haverhill, he joined his friends at the Chocolate Shop counter and made 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 .
Soda shops are often settings in films and TV shows. In The Twilight Zone's "Walking Distance" episode, a soda shop is a framing device and a link to the past for Martin Sloan (Gig Young). The popular TV show Happy Days took place in two main sets: the protagonist's home and a soda shop.
The shops appear in films 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. A malt shop also plays a key point in Blast from the Past , reflecting changes in the surface world while the main characters are underground, unaware of what has happened.
The protagonist of the young adult science fiction novel Have Spacesuit Will Travel by Robert A. Heinlein works in a drug store soda fountain.
In Australia, a milk bar is a suburban local general store which can include delicatessens or "delis" and corner shops or corner stores. Similar, but not identical, establishments include tuck shops. Milk bars are traditionally a place where people buy newspapers, and fast-food items such as fish and chips, hamburgers, milkshakes, and snacks. They are essentially a smaller-scale suburban form of the convenience store but are more likely to be "mum and dad" small businesses rather than larger franchised operations.
Archibald "Archie" Andrews, created in 1941 by publisher John L. Goldwater and artist Bob Montana in collaboration with writer Vic Bloom, is the main character in the Archie Comics franchise, including the long-running Archie Andrews radio series, a syndicated comic strip, The Archie Show, Archie's Weird Mysteries, and Riverdale. With the creation of Archie Andrews, publisher John Goldwater hoped to appeal to fans of the Andy Hardy films starring Mickey Rooney. Archie Andrews is the rhythm guitarist and one of the three singers of the fictional band The Archies. He is portrayed by KJ Apa on Riverdale and Agastya Nanda in The Archies. For his physical appearance, he mainly has red hair, freckles on his cheeks, and light-colored skin. In Archie's Weird Mysteries, he appears to be of Scottish-American descent, as shown in the episode "The Day the Earth Moved", when his father wanted to keep with their family tradition and wear a kilt while ringing the bell of Riverdale.
Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III is one of the fictional characters created by Bob Montana and John L. Goldwater in Archie Comics who first appeared in the first Archie story, from Pep Comics #22. He is the drummer of the Archies and is a son of Forsythe Pendleton Jones II; in one of the early Archie newspaper comic strips, he is identified as John Jugworth Jones III. He has a white sheepdog named Hot Dog and a younger sister, Forsythia "Jellybean" Jones.
Riverdale is a fictional town in the United States where most of the characters live and appear in Archie Comics. Conflicting details on its geographic location have been given over the years. It is located near the fictional town of Greendale, home of Sabrina the Teenage Witch comic book series. In the television series Riverdale, it is located near Greendale related to the television series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina.
Hiram P. Lodge is a fictional character in the Archie Comics series. He is the father of protagonist Veronica Lodge and the richest man in Riverdale. Known for spoiling Veronica and his wife, he is a successful businessman who has presided as Riverdale's most prominent industrialist. Lodge is the owner and CEO of his own multi-billion dollar conglomerate, Lodge Industries.
A milkshake is a sweet beverage made by blending milk, ice cream, and flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup into a thick, sweet, cold mixture. It may also be made using a base made from non-dairy products, including plant milks such as almond milk, coconut milk, or soy milk. Dry ingredients such as whole fruit, nuts, seeds, candy, or cookies may be incorporated.
Coffee milk is a drink made by mixing coffee syrup or extract with milk, in a manner similar to chocolate milk. Since 1993, it has been the official state drink of the U.S. state of Rhode Island.
Soda jerk is an American term used to refer to a person — typically a young man — who would operate the soda fountain in a drugstore, preparing and serving soda drinks and ice cream sodas. The drinks were made by mixing flavored syrup, carbonated water, and occasionally malt powder over either ice or a few scoops of ice cream. The drink would then be served in a tall glass with a long-handled spoon, most commonly known as a "soda spoon", and drinking straws.
A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The artifact combines flavored syrup or syrup concentrate and carbon dioxide with chilled and purified water to make soft drinks, either manually, or in a vending machine which is essentially an automated soda fountain that is operated using a soda gun. Today, the syrup often is pumped from a special container called a bag-in-box (BiB).
A sundae is an ice cream frozen dessert of American origin that typically consists of one or more scoops of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup and other toppings such as sprinkles, whipped cream, marshmallows, peanuts, maraschino cherries, or other fruits.
An ice cream float or ice cream soda, also known as a spider in Australia and New Zealand, is a chilled beverage that consists of ice cream in either a soft drink or a mixture of flavored syrup and carbonated water.
Harold Teen is a discontinued, long-running American 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. The strip ran from 1919 to 1959. Asked in the late 1930s why he had started the strip, Ed answered, "Twenty years ago, there was no comic strip on adolescence. I thought every well-balanced comic sheet should have one."
Margie’s Candies is the name of two popular confectioneries on the north side of Chicago. Owned by the same family, each one is part candy store and part sit-down ice cream parlor. The older of the two establishments has been operating at the same location for more than nine decades and is widely considered a "Chicago legend".
Archie: To Riverdale and Back Again is a 1990 American live-action made-for-television comedy film based on comic book characters published by Archie Comics. It was produced by DIC Entertainment and premiered on NBC Sunday Night at the Movies on May 6, 1990. It was shown in Britain as Weekend Reunion.
Ready to drink packaged beverages are those sold in a prepared form, ready for consumption. Examples include iced tea and alcopops.
Sanders Chocolates is an American brand of chocolates that was founded by Fred Sanders on June 17, 1875. According to company history, by the mid-20th century, the company operated 57 retail stores in the Great Lakes region, featuring counter service offering candy, fudge toppings, baked goods, light lunches and an assortment of desserts. Sanders is known for its bumpy cake and hot fudge cream puffs.
Life with Archie is a comic book published by Archie comics from 1958 to 1991. It featured Archie Andrews in adventure stories that were more dramatic than the standard Archie tales. In 2010, it was revived as a magazine-sized comic devoted to stories that grew out of Archie Marries Veronica/Archie Marries Betty. Archie's character was killed in the second to last issue, Life with Archie #36.
Schmidt's Candy is a chocolatery selling hand crafted and hand dipped chocolates and confections. It began as a soda fountain in 1925 under the elevated train on Jamaica Ave in Woodhaven, Queens.
Aglamesis Brother's, commonly referred to as Aglamesis, is an ice cream parlor in Cincinnati, Ohio with 2 locations in Oakley and Montgomery, Ohio. The business was founded by Greek immigrant brothers in 1908. In addition to ice cream, the company also sells milkshakes and candy. The business is currently owned and operated Mr. Aglamesis's grandchildren.
