I wish that CVS hadn't bought them out. They were one of the last truly local chains around DC. Of the older chains, I believe that the only one left is Giant Foods, and that's now owned by a Dutch company that is driving it into the ground. Bah!

Looks like a Kewpie doll. The original was the creation of Rose O'Neill.

What America needs right now is a place where you can buy buttermilk by the glass.

My dad owned a soda fountain in the early 1950s and we used Hygeia Sippers on the counter. In those days, the straws came boxed, but not wrapped individually. We kept them, naked and all, in tall circular counter jars with lift-up lids. All very sanitary!

Particularly if you're a mouse with a flaming ear.

Older than Yoda is right. These computers are peachy!

viz "Topical Anti-Inflammatory Activities of Vitis rotundifolia (Muscadine Grape) Extracts in the Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate Model of Ear Inflammation"

The ability of muscadine grape skin, seed, or combined skin and seed extracts to inhibit mouse ear inflammation, edema,&c...

What a great picture to get lost in! I'm fascinated by that doll sitting in the corner of the curtained off area next to the Owl and the Pussycat sign. (That *is* a doll, isn't it?)

Okay, Yoda, a friendly challenge to the master of the newfangled computer, let's see if you can trace down "soda book" or "soda cheeks." I came up with some weird links, but nothing that made sense. Sometimes Shorpy content is just too arcane for the digital search engines. But I'll not be surprised that one of the old timers here could shed some light on these two things. At the least we know you could get 4 extra cheeks if you plunk down a buck.

[Soda checks, not "cheeks." The sign says you can buy a book of 24 coupons for a dollar, which would save you about a penny off each 5-cent soda. - Dave]

Hamilton Beach, I think. I have a very similar one in my kitchen (though mine dates only to the 1940s), still working great.

I caught the Paas display, too, and that seemed to go along with the apparent designs on the eggs on the counter, but if you look carefully, those designs correspond exactly with the patterns of the glass bowl; in other words, they're light refractions. Now watch Dave post an enlargement that shows that behind the refractions, they're decorated anyway.

[Today I learned to balance a beach ball on my nose! - Dave]

Nevermind! Thanks for the Emily Litella moment!

Decorated eggs in the glass container, the PAAS (you can still buy 'em) decorating kits on the counter, ladies in heavy coats.
I'll bet it's March or April.

Gosh it's fun to do amateur detective work with these great old pictures.

Olive you, too.

They serve Hires and Coca Cola, but no Moxie?

Those Auto Sponges, are they the original Scrubbing Bubbles?

Who would buy a tomato and lettuce sandwich for the same price as a cheese sandwich? Crazy talk! And can anyone decipher the word in front of "mayonnaise"?

["Olive." - Dave]

Why do you suppose that behind him on the shelf is a box of Hygenia slippers? They were for medical/ hygiene use I am assuming. The great flu of 1918 was already over by then, so why are they there? Leftovers? Thanks

[Hygeia Sippers, not "Hygenia Slippers." Drinking straws. - Dave]

Oh, what I wouldn't give for that "Velvet Kind" Owl and Pussycat advertising. It would look perfect in my kitchen!

Muscadine grapes, which grow in the Midwest and down south, are supposed to be really good for you.

For the reader who inquired about "muscadine punch", if you just type that into your search space, you will come up with countless pages of info regarding the famous grape punch. These new fangled computers are wonderful for doing the easiest and most thorough research ever. Good luck. I don't have to "wonder" about anything anymore, I just type it into the space and there are all my answers, so now I DO have all the answers. And so can YOU!

I wonder what Muscadine Punch is?

I need one of those soda books!