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Fountain Drinks: 1950

A New Jersey lunch counter and soda fountain circa 1950. View full size.

A New Jersey lunch counter and soda fountain circa 1950. View full size.

On Shorpy:
Today’s Top 5

Alderney Dairy

As kids growing up in Morris Plains in the early 1970s, we ran all around the then abandoned Alderney Farms and warehouses. Once we went to the top of the cow barn, about 70 feet up, and found tons of old account ledgers. It was a windy day. We pulled the bindings off tossed the pages out the window and they blew all over the farm along Route 10. We had a lot of fun until a detective from Morris Plains police came by and made us clean up every scrap of paper. It took all afternoon!

We also built pipe bombs and blew them off in the abandoned buildings and raised heck. Those were the days. I'd kill my kids if they ever acted like I did then.

Alderney Dairy

I live on the north fork of eastern Long Island in a town called Mattituck. There are many old bottles on my property and every spring, when the snow melts, I find some new ones in good condition. Today, I unearthed a bottle from the Alderney Dairy Co., Newark, N.J.

Sip & Sup

Hello, somebody finally showed up on the internet that remembers the "Sup" as we called it late 50's and early 60's. I started working there as teenager and became night manager after working the various positions and running the snack bar at the Morris Plains Bowling alley, my boss had the lease on the snack bar for a number of years. Then transferred to Sip & Sup in Springfield until I went into the service in 1966. What fun we had at Sip & Sup. I still have some of the original postcards, will try to put on net after I scan them into my system.

Sip & Sup

I lived in this area and yes the Alderney Dairy was on the corner of Route 10 and Littleton Road. The name was Sip & Sup. I used to love going there as they had the best ice cream.

Alderney Dairy

Alderney Dairy was located at the junction of Route 202 (Littleton Road) and Route 10 just north of Morris Plains. It was a great place for ice cream and milkshakes. You felt that it must be fresh since you could look out the window and see the cows. The business was founded in 1894 as Newark Milk and Cream Co., later becoming the Alderney Dairy Co. By 1936, it included 10 creameries, 800 dairy farms, six branch-distributing plants and its pasteurization and bottling plant in Newark - making the company one of the largest independent dairies in the United States. It took its name from the Alderney cow, which later was replaced by Jerseys and Guernseys. All these names came from several small islands in the English Channel.

1950-ish soda fountain

Well, it turns out that there's still an Eastern Store Fixtures Corporation, now in Hillside rather than Newark. They don't have any sort of e-mail that I could find--they might be amused to know "their" photo is online all these years later!

The 23rd

It could be Monday, January 23, as well. Assuming the year is 1950. If its 1949, then it would be Monday, May 23. If it's 1951, then it could be either April or July 23.

CP

Is that a cherry phosphate? We used to get that from our local drug store in the 50's.

Newark

anyone know where in Newark this was?
My grandfather was the first on his block (in Newark) to own a television right about 1950, so they weren't that rare then!

I can SMELL it now!

We had almost IDENTICAL soda fountain/drug stores in Connecticut when I was a kid in the 50's and the prices were exactly the same. We usually got a VP or a CP for a nickel but if we did not have a nickel, we'd ask for a glass of water and the proprietor would good naturedly give it to us, no charge. What a pain that must have been. One thing I remember is the SMELL of these soda fountain/drug stores. One could detect sweetness like chocolate, fruit and candy odors, Orange Crush in the big glass bubbling dispenser, tobacco, sometimes sandwich smells and sometimes coffee. It is a long-gone fragrance I have not smelled since I was a kid. Also, the running fans, overhead and on the counters or tables were always buzzing away and were quite tranquilizing. Our favorite moviehouse advertised "REFRIGERATED AIR" like a oasis in the torrid heat of long, hot summers. Thank you for this WONDERFUL blast from the past.

Air Conditioner

I was in the room air conditioner business in the 1950's. The unit in the picture looks like it could have been a Philco. Anyone know?

Memories II

No, not brainwashing. Losing too many loved ones to cancer has succeeded.

Soda Fountain

The most memorable stamped metal, small advertising sign in places like this that I can recall from the period 1940 - 1950, was one for 7-Up. And another standard 'fixture', usually placed on the counter of the soda fountain back then, was the large clear plastic cylinder containing 1-cent stick pretzels standing upright in the container.
This is a GREAT photo!

Alderney, NJ eludes Google!

Whenever I see an older commercial photo with superb detail like this one, I scrutinize it for old product signs, dates, and other subtle details. The name ALDERNEY appears twice: on the ice cream sign in the central alcove, and on the newspaper rack. I decided to Google Alderney, NJ, and, guess what? I cold find no references. There's a UK Alderney (interestingly enough near Jersey), and many references to Alderney in the gamers' blogs (Grand Theft Auto). Does anyone know where it's located or what happened to Alderney, NJ?

Thanks, JNC, for a most fascinating picture into the past. Your photo blog of ghost signs is equally intriguing (Readers, note - it's listed in the Shorpy Profile as http://blog.hoffmancentral.org/)

[There is no Alderney, New Jersey. The signs say Alderney Ice Cream. Alderney Dairy was based in Newark. - Dave]

It's Kool inside

Also note the air conditioner. In the 60s I recall the stamped metal painted push-plates on the doors or window decals of the Kool cigarette Penguin proclaiming "Come in, it's Kool inside" for air conditioned establishments - often eateries and bars. Even in the 60s these seemed dated, rusting, and fading. So... another novelty - air conditioning.
jnc

Memories

>> Wow, I can't believe the pipes, cigars, etc. for sale in a cute little soda fountain. Kinda makes me lose my appetite!

Awwwww, poor baby. Good grief. I remember, as a kid growing up in the fifties AND in NJ, that EVERY candy store/soda fountain looked like that! Even the drug stores in town that had soda fountains sold pipes, tobacco and cigarettes. Appears that the brain washing has succeeded. Great picture, by the way!

Calendar

It appears to be Monday, October 23, 1950.

Prices!

I can't believe what they were charging for fountain items:

Adjusting for inflation, in even 2004 dollars it would be:

Ice Cream Soda: $4.17
Ice Cream Sundae: 5.83

Monday

From the calendar, we know it's "Monday the 23rd" but what month and year? 1950 or "circa" 1950?

Teevee

Television had been broadcast for years prior but I never expected to see a TV in a c. 1950 lunch counter. Grolier Encyclopedia states:

The number of television sets in use rose from 6,000 in 1946 to some 12 million by 1951. No new invention entered American homes faster than black and white television sets; by 1955 half of all U.S. homes had one.

Still pretty novel then. Looks like a commercial or a news show running.

[Media historians (and collectors of old magazines) generally mark 1949 as the year TV "arrived." - Dave]

Smoke gets in your eyes.....& lungs

Wow, I can't believe the pipes, cigars, etc. for sale in a cute little soda fountain. Kinda makes me lose my appetite!

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