Monday, July 20, 2009

Memories of Pop

(Click to enlarge)
When you were growing up, what did you call a soft drink? Pop? Coke? Soda? Champ Davis once told me that in southern Illinois, a Coke was Dope. In New England, the favored name is Tonic.

Check out this map in the Boston Globe. Springfield lies on the Pop/Soda line, north and south. Wisconsin has a similar division, but east-west. The usage is regional (North, South, West), following historic patterns of migration and settlement. 

Ah, the many good memories of Pop. If you drank it on site, five cents a bottle; otherwise, an extra penny for the return.  All the bright colors of Nehi: orange, grape, strawberry, lemon; the tangy sweet of root beer (A&W, Dad's, Hires); the varieties of cola (RC, Pepsi) or lemon-lime (7-Up, Bubble-Up), and one odd favorite of mine, Squirt.

In small grocery stores, the "vending machine" was a metal ice chest full of cold water. Plunge your hand down into that dark pool, groping for a bottle. Bring them up, one after another, until you have your prize: ginger ale, Coke, grape Nehi. Nothing better on a hot summer day. Do you have Pop memories?

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Judy Van Hagen just called to tell me I should send in my "pop" story.
When we were kids, Nortrup's market was located at Washington and
Amos. If you remember, the machines could be opened, the bottles slid
along and when you put in your money, you could lift them out. We
figured out that if you waited until the store closed and took a
bottle opener and straws, you could get a free soda. Jerry Johnson is
not longer here to defend himself, and Keith Schnepp will probably
deny it, but they were my "partners in crime."

Also, when we were at SHS, there were so many kids at our house after
school that my dad had cases of Coke delivered to the house. We
probably helped send Tom Brosch to college.

Carolyn Baldwin Quinlan

Barbara said...

I have "soda" memories and my husband has "tonic" memories. I particularly remember freezing my hand and forearm off trying to find the right bottle in those ice chest type machines.

My main memory of soft drinks, though, is of a drink called a green river. My mother decided, who knows why, that a green river was something only "people of the wrong sort" drank. Of course that sent Phyllis Rising and I scurrying to a restaurant on 5th across from Thrifty Drugs to try them. The novelty soon wore off - I have no idea what was in them. However, to this day whenever I make a mistake, I can blame it on the effects of those green rivers.

Tom Brosch said...

We called drinks either soft drinks or Coke. It was fun to play with the city names on the bottoms of the old 6 1/2 oz bottle. Who ever had the one farest from Spfld got a free drink.

Also I remember my Dad always brought cold Coke to my class after a paper sale or big event during grade school.

And yes Carolyn, your Dad and many others probably helped me go to college.

Will Howarth said...

Tom,

Thanks for reminding me of the bottler names on the bottoms of bottles. I had totally forgotten that. You had to have a good sense of geography to know how far away were the other places. I think I once had a bottle from Louisiana.

As for CQ, I think Keith Schnepp better answer up to that charge of youthful thievery. I was planning to help him run for Governor!

Will

Anonymous said...

Hi Will,
As I recall when we were kids we referred to all soft drinks as "coke". My uncle, John Kapp, had many a party at his house during his years as mayor and he had one of those coolers that held soft drinks and I recall the exremely cold water that kept the bottles so nice and cold.
After all these years do you suppose there will be some kind of investigation into the cola thievery that took place under the street light in front of Northrups grocery store? How embarrassing! And all this time I thought Carolyn and I were soul mates. I think we can forget running for governor. I would end up looking worse than Sarah Palin.
Keith Schnepp

C E said...

I used the words, soda, pop & sodie for reference to soft drinks. For Tom Brosch, what is "coke"? Champ never used aby of these words because he only knew the word "beer"
Great article Will.

Barbara said...

Gee, I thought only my "country hick" relatives called it "sodie" or "sodie pop." All this time I thought C.E. was a city boy.

Keith and Carolyn - who woulda' thunk it? Well, Keith, you wouldn't want the thankless job of governor anyway.

Barbara

Anonymous said...

Will,
Best memory of B. BEVERIDGE's were those BeerBLASTS AT C.E.s house.
Bob's nick name was Drink...back in the good old days. Lol
Now that we live in wine country...
We just call him Poppop.

Laughing and hoping honey does not read this particular blog. LOL

Mrs. B

PS My favorite drink back then were Chocolate Soldiers...
There was a sodabottling company at 4th and Carpenter. Any body out there know the name of it? They were the company that made the Green Rivers.
Great BLOG per usual !

Will Howarth said...

I tracked down some information about Green River: it was made by a brewery in Chicago, during Prohibition. The plant in Springfield probably bottled it under license. The brewery shut down in 1950, but Green River still continues, and for a while in the 1960s it was sold at soda fountains. It's a lemon-lime type drink. Here's more:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_River_(soft_drink)

Anonymous said...

I used the generic "coke" to describe any soft drink. Brother Ben sold "ice cold sodie" at the grandstand during the ten days of the fair, and I recall a few of our classmates ditto.
(My fairgroudns job was out of the Grounds Office, headed by an Eddie Lartz. Steve Kwedar was one of that crew too... But I digress!)
To this day I still use "coke" to refer to any soft drink until specificity is called for. Sorry, Tom!
--Allan Stephens