Let’s face it: There’s nothing like an icy-cold soda pop on a hot day.
Unfortunately, drinking one these days is tantamount to sin. Everyone has concerns (not unfounded) about sweeteners and additives in popular brands leading to obesity, diabetes and other health horrors.
This is particularly sad when you consider soda pop was sold in the late 19th century as a fizzy health elixir, meant to cure everything from anxiety to alcoholism. The syrups were mixed up in pharmacies, then served in soda fountains. And those soda fountains became much-needed social hubs when bars were banned during Prohibition.
Alas, more than a century later, few such establishments exist, but an exception is Fair Oaks Pharmacy and Soda Fountain in South Pasadena. Founded in 1915, the business has always been family owned, and currently it’s run by the Shahniani family, with mom Zahra in charge of the compound pharmacy, and her two sons managing the rest.
It is, Brandon Shahniani makes clear, a place to wallow in nostalgia, but not in guilt. And while his soda fountain serves sundaes and milkshakes, it also pays tribute to the first part of its name, offering sodas in varied flavors, including buttered popcorn.
The Fair Oaks Pharmacy is home to a 100-year-old soda fountain in South Pasadena, CA, on Tuesday, July 24, 2024. The vintage soda fountain serves sundaes, milkshakes, and hand-dipped ice cream, but it also pays tribute to the first part of its name, offering sodas in varied flavors, including buttered popcorn. (Photo by David Crane, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
When it comes to his favorite soda, Shahniani diverges from the herd, preferring watermelon to ever-popular lime or cherry, as long as it’s not too sweet or sour.
“What makes the perfect soda is balance,” he says.
A few miles away in Highland Park, John Nese, owner of Galco’s Soda Pop Stop, concurs, but also wants to be clear that a great soda pop “has to be crisp, and it has to pop.”
He is adamant that sodas made with cane sugar and stored in glass bottles are the best choices. Interestingly, he doesn’t mind drinks with artificially bright hues.
“I believe people drink with their eyes,” he says.
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Galco’s has been around since 1897, but it is only since Nese took over in the mid-1990s that Galco’s became the ultimate soda pop seller, with at least 700 varieties available, along with a do-it-yourself soda station.
Unwilling to battle SoCal traffic to try soda pops at either business? Here’s another option: Make your own.
Altadena-based food writer Emily Han, while not a soda pop fan, began experimenting with recipes after she and her husband got a soda machine.
“What sparked my interest was making them for him,” Han said. “I could make them less sweet.”
Han’s cookbook, “Wild Drinks and Cocktails,” includes simple syrups and cordials, both suitable for homemade soda pop. Like Nese, she recommends cane sugar (also honey and brown sugar), and storing syrups in glass. And, like Shahniani, she likes a balanced soda, preferably “multidimensional.”
But most important?
“Have fun with it.”
Because the only sin your soda pop can commit, really, is to be joyless.
RECIPES
These fun recipes were all developed and tested by A.K. Whitney. Combine syrups to taste with carbonated water.
ORANGE SYRUP
Ingredients
2 large oranges, zested and squeezed
1 1/4 cups cane sugar
1 teaspoon citric acid
2/3 cup boiling water
Directions: Combine zest, sugar and citric acid in a large bowl. Add boiling water, stir to dissolve sugar. Cool completely. Stir in juice, strain.
Makes 2 cups. NOTE: Can substitute 2 small pink grapefruits.
HIBISCUS SYRUP
Ingredients
3/4 cup dried hibiscus flowers
1 cup cane sugar
2 cups water
1 teaspoon citric acid
Directions: Bring hibiscus, sugar and water to a boil in a medium pot. Reduce heat, simmer for 20 minutes. Cool completely, strain. Stir in citric acid.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups.
STRAWBERRY SYRUP
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups hulled and sliced strawberries
1 cup water
1 cup cane sugar
1 teaspoon citric acid
Directions: Bring strawberries, water and sugar to a boil in a medium pot. Reduce heat, simmer for 20 minutes. Cool completely, strain. Stir in citric acid.
Makes about 1 1/2 cups. NOTE: Can substitute blueberries, raspberries or blackberries.