A step into the past

Email this story | Add Your Comment | Read (0) Comments

Published 9/26/2009 in Features

By EMILY BEHLMANN

It's the same black-and-white tile floor as when the Myers family opened the soda fountain in 1943. The same cabinets and shelves. The same Beach Boys tune from the 1960s plays on the speakers.

Behind the counter at Traditions Soda & Sandwich Shop, it's the same sign as what hung in the soda fountain in 1956, advertising sandwiches, ice cream and drinks. The prices have changed — ask Traditions co-owner Bob Petrus for a 19-cent root beer float today and he serves it in a condiment cup with a smile — but the mood is the same.

"There's a certain uniqueness here," Petrus said of Traditions, one of 37 soda fountains statewide, according to the Kansas Sampler Foundation. "You don't find this anywhere else."

Soda fountains play into the memories of many Kansans, area soda fountain operators say, and now they're being recognized by the Kansas Sampler Foundation. Getting a treat at one of Kansas' 37 soda fountains is one of 24 finalists for the foundation's 8 Wonders of Kansas Customs contest. Residents can vote through Oct. 20 for their favorite eight Kansas customs.

There are three soda fountains in The Telegram's coverage area: Traditions in Garden City, Clark Pharmacy in Cimarron and The Old Store in Johnson City.

Like old times

A step in to any of the area's soda fountains takes you a long way, according to Max Bearce, a Stanton County High School junior who spends his afternoons mixing sodas and treats at The Old Store.

"It's like a time machine to the past — a whole different world," he said.

It's a world that got its start well before Bearce was born. According to Old Store owner Diane Floyd, the building on Johnson City's Main Street was built by the Josserand family just after World War II with wood from the barracks at Camp Funston in Riley.

When Emery Josserand returned to Johnson City from pharmacy school in 1944, he opened the building as Emery Drug, where he'd fill a prescription, mix you a soda and sell you just about anything else.

"He had everything you needed," Floyd said.

Josserand "modernized" in the 1950s, installing a drop ceiling that Floyd since has removed to reveal the original intricate tin design and a tile floor that she removed to showcase the wood, but for the most part, little changed in the building during his ownership, which continued By through 1997.

Floyd bought it from Emery's children several years ago, after it stood empty for a few years, and she says that on most days, she's glad she did.

"If we don't do something about our old buildings, they're going to fall down and we're going to have a hole to clean up on Main Street," she said.

Instead of a hole, The Old Store is full with an original working fountain and a back bar area complete with cigarette burns from soda jerks of old. There's no drug store anymore — the back area of the building instead houses a quilting machine where people can rent time — but little else has changed.

"Emery was a saver," Floyd said, pointing to the Coca-Cola jugs, newspaper clippings, ice cream scoops (all broken — Emery was going to repair them some day) and other items she found among Josserand's things and hung on the wall.

The walls of Traditions tell a story, too — the story of a community, 40 to 50 years ago.

Peruse the decor at Traditions and you'll find Garden City High School football rosters, with one including co-owner Mike Wade's father, Garden City Junior College yearbooks and pennants, records with music from Elvis, the Monkees and the Everly Brothers, an original sandwich cutting board dating back to the 1950s (retired in 2003) and more.

"It's part of Americana," Petrus said.

The building that now houses Traditions was erected in the 1920s with brick leftover from Garden City's streets, Petrus said. At the time, it was a bakery, and the Myers operated a soda fountain next door, in what's now the Antiques and Comic Shoppe. The Myers moved the fountain to its current location in 1943, and the fountain's original shelves, cabinets and black-and-white tile floor remain in place.

Clark's Pharmacy, at the intersection of U.S. Highway 50 and Kansas Highway 23 in Cimarron, is the oldest building of them all, opening in the 1920s as Culvert Drug, according to Sandi Coast, who now owns the store with her husband, Jim. After its opening, the pharmacy changed hands a couple times before Ralph Clark, who had been operating a competing pharmacy and soda fountain down the street, bought the building and established Clark's.

The Coasts bought the pharmacy, soda fountain and gift shop in 1975. Guests can enjoy treats at the tile bar or at one of several tables, surrounded by Coca-Cola decor and tin signs advertising coffee, ice cream and milk.

The good stuff

While the area's soda fountains might have the look of Americana museums, the reason many go is not for the atmosphere, but for the treats.

Clark's, The Old Store and Traditions all serve lunch — Traditions' sandwiches come with chips and a pickle spear, just as advertised on the Myers' old sign — but the real action is at the fountain.

Floyd said children who visit The Old Store often are surprised to watch the making of their soda — a couple pumps of syrup, a scoop of ice and a pull of the fountain for carbonated water.

The best of the sodas? A Green River, according to Bearce. The green, lemon-lime-like drink is hard to find these days, Floyd said.

Bearce and co-worker Adeline Licon, a senior at Stanton County High School, also like experimenting with syrups and ice cream, trying to come up with the best combination possible.

The combination of vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and marshmallow, called a Black and White, is a winning combination at Clark's, Coast said.

Then, of course, there's the Oprah Smoothie, an orange smoothie that gets its name from the time Oprah Winfrey ordered it when she and her crew visited Clark's on a coast-to-coast series of shows.

Like Floyd, operators at Clark's and Traditions are purists, rejecting artificial ingredients for the old-fashioned real thing.

"The shakes are still made like the original, with real ice cream," Petrus said. "We set the standards."

Service with a smile

Good treats are essential, but Coast said good service also is key to a quality soda fountain operation.

"We call it service with a smile," she said, and it keeps customers coming back, including tourists like a group of Swedish cyclists who visit every year on their ride through the American heartland.

"We like to know who are our customers are when they walk in," Coast said. "It's a hub for our community.

The soda fountains see many of the same customers every week or even every day, and operators say they usually can look up, see someone walk through the door and start making their chocolate malt or limeade before the customer can order it. The customers have been loyal for years.

"This drug store has an awful lot of memories for an awful lot of people," Floyd said, with many in the community recalling the dates they went on at Emery's as far back as the 1950s.

That's part of what motivates soda fountain operators in the area to keep their businesses running, despite the fact that many others have closed. According to the Kansas Sampler Foundation, in the first half of the 20th century, many Kansas towns claimed at least one soda fountain. At the start of the 21st century, there were about 48 in the state. Now, there are 37.

Co-owner Mike Wade has no intention of seeing Traditions suffer the same fate as some of the others, because, well, it just can't close.

"A lot of customers tell us it's got to be open," he said.

On the ballot

Vote for your top eight Kansas customs out of the 24 finalists at www.kansassampler.org/8wonders/customs.php. One finalist, ordering a soda fountain treat, recognizes the state’s 37 soda fountains. The fountains in The Telegram’s coverage area include:

Clark Pharmacy

101 S. Main St.

Cimarron, KS 67835

(620) 855-2242

Open 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday

The Old Store

112 S. Main St.

Johnson City, KS 67855

(620) 492-1478

Open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday; 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday; 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday

Traditions Soda & Sandwich Shop

121 Grant Ave.

Garden City, KS 67846

(620) 275-1998

Open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday

A full listing of Kansas’ soda fountains can be found at www.kansassampler.org/8wonders/customs.php?id=23.

What are your soda fountain memories? Talk about it at SWKTalk.com.

Found 0 comment(s)!

Subject Line		Commenting Rules The Garden City Telegram reserves the right to delete any comment it deems inappropriate. We encourage visitor comments and ask that you be brief and add something relevant to the conversation. All comments are reviewed (usually within 24 hours or less) before appearing on this website. Read our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use for full details of our policies. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts.
Your Name
Your Email Addr
Your Comments

Enter Text Above

Subject Line
Send To Email
Your Email Address

Enter Text Above

The Garden City Telegram