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Come on now. You know crazy fun when you see it and experience it.
You don’t need anyone to tell you that you are having incredible fun.
For those of us who had the rewarding and tasty experience of working as a Soda Jerk or working at a restaurant that serves ice cream sodas in the nostalgic uniforms that go with it, we know that we were blessed.
It was unbelievable fun.
For the most part, those days in the 1940s through early 1980’s are mostly gone but we can certainly re-live the precious memories on film.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High is a 1982 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling and written by Cameron Crowe, adapted from his 1981 book of the same title. Crowe went undercover at Clairemont High School in San Diego and wrote about his experiences.
The film was the directorial debut of Amy Heckerling and chronicles a school year in the lives of freshmen Stacy Hamilton (Jennifer Jason Leigh) and Mark Ratner (Brian Backer), and their respective older friends Linda Barrett (Phoebe Cates) and Mike Damone (Robert Romanus), both of whom believe themselves wiser in the ways of romance than their younger counterparts.
The ensemble cast of characters form two subplots with Jeff Spicoli (Sean Penn), a perpetually stoned surfer, facing off against uptight history teacher Mr. Hand (Ray Walston), and Stacy’s older brother, Brad (Judge Reinhold), a senior who works at a series of entry-level jobs in order to pay off his car, and who is pondering ending his two-year relationship with his girlfriend, Lisa (Amanda Wyss).
In addition to Penn, Reinhold, Cates and Leigh, the film marks early appearances by several actors who later became stars, including Nicolas Cage, Forest Whitaker, Eric Stoltz, and Anthony Edwards. Among these actors, Penn, Cage, and Whitaker would later win the Academy Award for Best Actor, with Penn winning twice.
What a mind boggling cast.
How good was it?
In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
What we loved the most was watching the beautiful girls in their ice cream parlor styled uniforms and later by the pool. Phoebe Cates will always be one of our favorites just from that film alone.
In our circle we have a friend who worked at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor in the 1970s as a teenager at the Serramonte Mall in Daly City.
For him it was like not working.
First there were the gorgeous waitresses that worked there and then, especially on Friday and Saturday nights, after the high school football games, all of these sexy cheerleaders and their girlfriends would come in to celebrate from the South Peninsula and guess who their waiter would be?
How long did he work there as a teenager?
Three and a half years.
Can you believe it? From 15 (with a signed note from his parents) to 19. He almost cried when it was time to grow up, leave ice cream soda heaven and move on to the adult world and go to a state university.
Farrell’s still exists. Yes there have been changes. In life there always is.
It’s call improvements.
Here is what the modern Farrell’s has to say at their website farrellsusa.com, “Classic American dining is what you will experience at Farrell’s. Our revamped menu features a variety of delicious options to please everyone in your group. Save room for sundaes and desserts from our old time scoop and fountain shoppe.”
Every time he hears Jackson Browne’s teenage anthem, Somebody’s Baby, which was featured in Fast Times At Ridgemont High, our friend sighs like a teen.
Of course our love of ice cream parlors, filled with ice cream soda, bubbles far deeper back in time than the 1970s.
The 1940s to 1950’s in particular had some of the greatest soda and ice cream parlors in the world.
It’s a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas fantasy comedy-drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra, based on the short story and booklet The Greatest Gift, which Philip Van Doren Stern wrote in 1939 and published privately in 1945.
The film stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man who has given up his dreams in order to help others, and whose imminent suicide on Christmas Eve brings about the intervention of his guardian angel, Clarence Odbody (Henry Travers). Clarence shows George all the lives he has touched and how different life in his community of Bedford Falls would be if he had never been born.
The film has become regarded as a classic and is a staple of Christmas television around the world. The film is considered one of the most loved films in American cinema and has become traditional viewing during the Christmas season.
The film is considered one of the most critically acclaimed films ever made. It was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture and has been recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the 100 best American films ever made.
One of the charming scenes that we loved the most was when, as children, is when Mary tells George Bailey she’ll love him till the day she dies. Of course she purposely tells him in his deaf ear so he’ll have to learn that secret as time goes on.
Ah the ice cream parlor.
One place where you can still feel that you have traveled back in time to sit down in ice cream parlor heaven is MacAlpine’s Diner & Soda Fountain located in Phoenix, Arizona.
Wearing an ice cream soda mustache, The Phoenix News Times smiles, “Forget about the pseudo-diners and nostalgia-themed restaurants that popped up during the ’90s. This family-friendly place, established in 1928, is the real deal. Sit at the counter and swivel on your stool with an ice cream soda or old-fashioned lemonade. Enjoy burgers and sandwiches in one of the old wooden booths. The vintage jukebox — two plays for a quarter — features old 45s you haven’t heard in years.”
Sounds like delicious fun.
At the restaurant’s Facebook they add, “The popular homemade menu items we offer are made fresh every day, and our sundaes are to die for! Whether you prefer seafood chowder and club sandwiches or chicken Malibu and French onion soup, there’s something for everyone in our establishment!”
Please don’t forget the gorgeous servers. We love them too!
The public is crazy about them as well. The ice cream that is. Here are three reviews found at Trip Advisor.
“Step back in time and have some really good food. Expect to spend a good bit of money if you go for a meal and dessert. Next time we will just get dessert for the family to save some cash but lunch was delicious!”
Here is another.
“If you want a genuine old time soda fountain and diner experience, this is your place! I had an old time Root beer Freeze, along with a real Dagwood Sandwich. Both were delicious! The portions were so generous.”
Now for one more.
“We went to MacAlpines for lunch with our group of girls. The place is charming and the staff is very friendly. They have over 99+ flavors you can add to any soda, and the ice cream is good.”
Okay. We are feeling so good and sweet.
When it comes to this fabulous subject of course we know others who loved their ice cream and soda fountain experience. We have a visiting writer who would like to share hers.
Posted July 28, 2018
Soda Jerks: Heroes Of The Past
By Dale Phillip
Originally, what was called a soda fountain was a device that dispensed carbonated soft drinks and fizzy water, but as time went on, it was used as a general term for an ice cream shop and lunch counter, what we know as soda fountains. These began to appear in drug stores and dime stores in the mid-1800s.
Benjamin Silliman, a Yale chemistry professor, introduced carbonated soda water to America as early as 1806 in New Haven, CT home of Yale. It caught on quickly and, along with three partners, he began expanding into New York City and Baltimore. By the mid-1800s they knew they had a winner, especially with the addition of light meals, where anyone could grab a quick sandwich along with a frozen delight. The idea of drug stores was pretty ingenious, since cola syrups were instilled with fizzy water and originally sold as digestives. Soda fountains could be ornate with marble counters and Tiffany lamps or plain, usually with a mirrored back wall and the familiar goose-neck soda water dispenser which the servers, known affectionately as “soda jerks”, who worked those black-handled spigots and filled up glasses, creating wonderfully bubbly drinks which ticked noses and delighted taste buds. Creating a popular meeting place for all ages, small town and large cities embraced them and customers often stood in line for a seat during busy hours, happily contemplating their orders. On warm summer evenings, a fizzy fresh lemonade cooled off thirsty patrons or better yet, a banana split could be shared with a best friend or sister.
Most soda fountains stocked chocolate, vanilla and strawberry ice cream (some even featured New York cherry, butter pecan and tutti-frutti) along with chocolate, strawberry and marshmallow syrups. To top things off, crushed nuts and maraschino cherries added to the visual delight of those glorious concoctions. Hot fudge sundaes were created to serve on Sundays when religions forbade the sale of fizzy water, thus prohibiting the popular chocolate ice cream sodas from being served. (Apparently the ice cream and syrup were not considered sinful but the soda water was–go figure.)
Sadly, in the 1950s drug stores moved in the direction of self service, eliminating lunch counters and ice cream altogether, and fast food began to replace the lunch counter with hamburgers and shakes which bore little resemblance to their predecessors. Out with the old, in with the new as more and more space was needed for the hundreds of shelves displaying boxed and bottled products, replacing the soda jerks and less income-generating egg salad sandwiches.
Today, there are still ice cream parlors and vintage fountains sprinkled around the country, continuing the nostalgia of the originals, And in small towns, root beer stands still happily serve floats and soft serve ice cream, but it isn’t quite the same. Oh sure, you can go to Dairy Queen or Baskin-Robbins and get a sundae or even a banana split, but something is missing. Is it those hats, or is it just a piece of history?
Author Dale Phillip spent her summers in a small lake town which had a drug store, complete with soda fountain (and a cute soda jerk). She and her family enjoyed fizzy lemonades and ice cream treats several evenings a week, and she remembers looking forward to those outings. To this day, her favorite was a chocolate ice cream soda with extra fizzy water on the side to prolong the pleasure. She invites you to view her many articles in the Food and Drink category, and her new foodie blog: http://www.thefoodieuniverse.com
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Opening Photo credit fciwomenswrestling.com, femcompetitor.com article, photo via mode-de-lis.blogspot.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Times_at_Ridgemont_High
https://www.ecreamery.com/the-5-best-ice-cream-movie-scenes.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_a_Wonderful_Life
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/location/macalpines-soda-fountain-and-espresso-bar-6482376
https://www.facebook.com/pg/MacAlpines/about/?ref=page_internal
http://EzineArticles.com/9985618
https://ezinearticles.com/?Soda-Jerks:-Heroes-Of-The-Past&id=9985618
