Old Time Soda Fountains

Some of you may remember when the soda fountain was ubiquitous. If so, what was your favorite thing to order?
My fav was a chocolate ice cream soda. A scoop of ice cream served in a tall glass with flavored syrup (make mine chocolate please) and carbonated soda. A dab of real whipped cream and a cherry on top.

[Robin Garr]

I liked that too, but a thick chocolate malted trumped it for me.

I'm with both of you guys. I hadn't thought of a chocolate ice cream soda for ages and now there it is in my mind, tempting me. This is something you just pretty much can't buy these days as far as I know. Of course they could be made at home, but it's hard to find vanilla ice cream that is quite as creamy and rich as I remember. And I don't know whether that chocolate syrup was just like Hershey's, maybe it was. The whipped cream was not like home-made, not as I remember it, either... It just got better as it melted together, the rich ice cream flavoring the soda, you'd use a long spoon to eat some of the ice cream and then take a long pull on the straw for the chocolate at the bottom. Mmmm.

You CAN make a decent root beer float at home but I haven't done that in years either.

And the worst thing is what has become of chocolate milkshakes. I used to go to High's Ice Cream parlor just for a milkshake. Nowadays people who eat at fast food franchises THINK they are getting milkshakes. Let me tell you something. I saw, on the curb, a MacDonald's milkshake that someone had dropped a day or two earlier. I don't know what those things are made of, but it was still kind of solid, a zombie milkshake. Like it had sawdust in it or powdered oatmeal or something. Yeeesh. The gentle creamy texture of one of those old milkshakes is nothing at all like what you get with your Big Mac.

Like Robin, I was a sucker for malted milkshakes. And fountain-made cherry cokes.

I'm definitely a sentimentalist when it comes to such things. Maybe because I wasn't actually around during their heyday...

One of my favorite collectibles I own is a circa 1930's Coca Cola tin metal plaque that was taken off the side of (I presume) an actual soda fountain machine.

Ironically, though, I've never been much a fan of ice cream floats and the like. I do enjoy hot fudge sundaes!

Jeff

[Jenise]

Root beer float, made from syrup. They'd set it in front of you and you'd have to be ready to drink like mad the second the ball of ice cream on top moved because it would start overflowing the glass immediately. I loved that.

My mom used to work for a very upscale dress shop, owned by a beautiful red haired lady and her very handsome husband. They sold furs, and beautiful women's clothing. I loved going there to visit her. She'd give me money and away I went around the corner to an ice cream shop, as we called them. I remember the high counter, how clean it was and the high stools we sat on. I always ordered a black and white sundae. All I can remember about it was that it was served in a long dish with two scoops of ice cream, one being vanilla, had lots of chocolate syrup, whip cream and two cherries on top. Golly, I loved it!
Back to the dress shop......then I'd pop back it to see mom again, and I got to go upstairs to say hello to the ladies who sat there all day doing alterations. It was a fascinating place. Everyone was so friendly and very nice. Going to the ice cream shop was just the frosting on my day.

The gentle creamy texture of one of those old milkshakes is nothing at all like what you get with your Big Mac.

I wonder who here even eats a big Mac? Hamburgers are so easy to make at home and they are so much better anyway! Haven't had a milk shake in years. but I do remember the great ones I had, loved the strawberry and they had real strawberries in them.

I started to think and write down my favorites at the soda fountain but then I came to the realization that it was a subject based on finances. Most of the time I had a vanilla or cherry coke (5c), next root beer float (10c), vanilla malt 15c to 20c depending on # scoops of ice cream, hot fudger sundae 20c and of course if I was rolling in money a banana split 25c the king of all fountain treats.

Thanks to soda fountains we now have ready made vanilla cokes and cherry cokes. Without that background who'd thought?

Usually ordered a black and white soda. Never understood the name. It was made with chocolate syrup and vanilla ice cream. I really like malted milkshakes better but usually couldn't afford them.

I'm one of the lucky few whose Soda Fountain is still there. Bischoff's in Teaneck, New Jersey. I was there a few weeks ago and it's still going after 74 years. And if you order a sandwich it still comes with a scoop of ice cream afterwards.

I'm one of the lucky few whose Soda Fountain is still there.

I found an old time drug store soda fountain...I have been walking by it the past 4 years without knowing what was inside. The name cracks me up, but they have parking in the rear.
And, as you can see from this video of one of their ads, they don't take themselves too seriously.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivHsQUTotag

We have a recreated soda shoppe near us called The Brooklyn Farmacy. I try not to go anywhere near the place because otherwise I'll be as big as a house!

Oh, my favorite as a kid was a chocolate malted. (Ice cream sodas are weird; ice cream doesn't need fizz.)

We have a place near our house that opened in the '30s and still serves ice cream sodas. Haven't tried one myself, though.

My favorite used to be lime sodas that we got at J.O. Edy's in Phoenix. They used vanilla ice cream and some kind of lime syrup to make them. I loved them back when I was around twelve years old. The place closed after a couple of years, though, and I've not had one since.

We have a place near our house that opened in the '30s and still serves ice cream sodas. Haven't tried one myself, though.

My favorite used to be lime sodas that we got at J.O. Edy's in Phoenix. They used vanilla ice cream and some kind of lime syrup to make them. I loved them back when I was around twelve years old. The place closed after a couple of years, though, and I've not had one since.

My mom's favorite drink was a lime rickey (basically lime soda with a couple cherries tossed in it).