When I saw that Galco's was very close by, I asked Bert to make the next exit, York...
which brought us to this old school shop in the historic neighborhood of Highland Park...
This requiest was a "slight" detour from our itinerary but since it was conveniently nearby and on the way, justified our stop!
I first read of this place from Darlene's blog (her post linked at the end) and was very curious about it. We'd been to Pop Culture in Vancouver, WA and narrowly missed going to Rocket Fizz in Burbank a few days later, although my brother and sister went there that same weekend.
Well, this place turns out those other muthas in terms of size and selection!
We got there quite early. No one was there except the mail carrier and the owner who is a very friendly and knowledgeable man.
As you walk in, you can see all of the different awards and city proclamations for this soda shop.
See their slogan? Totally true!
The space is a converted grocery store dedicated to selling soda.
You can buy bottles as a pack or individually. There were so many kinds of sodas I'd never heard of before. It was mind boggling!
In addition to sodas, there was a deli area near the registers. There is a wall with a "make your own customized soda" station...
In the back is an array of old fashioned candies...
There are mini and life size displays of the owner, Mr. John Nese throughout the store!
As you peruse the aisles, the aural backdrop is an oldies station, with music straight from "Stand by Me", or "Happy Days".
The prices were reasonable with most of the specialty sodas going for $1.50 or more.
Here is the custom soda set up I mentioned earlier. This was new as of summer of 2013.
You grab an empty botle and choose the level of carbonation (light or heavy)...
then you choose your syrup flavors...
and seal the bottle with this contraption!
The label is blank for your to write the name of your creation. In this case, TC mixed several flavors for one bottle to give as a birthday gift for her friend Sherlock. Among the flavors, vanilla, watermelon and mango.
The checkout area was pretty ancient. Just beyond, you can see the seating area for the in-house deli
Our assortment:
Bert chose the Red Ribbon Root Beer (highly recommended by Mr. John Nese), while I chose Mr. Q Cucumber and the Dr. Browns Cel-Ray (celery flavored soda which we first tasted at Hot Doug's during our Chicago 2009 trip). When I asked about the celery soda, Mr. Nese enthusiastically recommended the cucumber soda to me as well so of course, I had to get it. The other flavors were The Flying Cauldron butterscotch "beer" (non alcholic), TC's "creation" and Soda Boy Strawberry Creme.
So far, we've only tried the butterscotch flavored soda. You can get that anywhere. We plan to try the other ones sometime this week, since we've been having this heatwave. Need some liquid refreshment (and a sugar jolt, eh).
Their slogan is the same name of Devo song (from their 1980 album, "Freedom of Choice", which also includes their well known hit, "Whip It":
I actually had the cassette tape of this album in 6th grade!
Here's a short video about Galco's (Note - there are lengthier videos on youtube, but this is short, sweet and too the point!):
This was one of the best stops during our mini vacation and it was a pleasure conversing with Mr. Nese!
Who else went to Galco's Soda Pop Stop?
Darlene went here last year but it was Paul who wrote those post. His awesome writeup is what inspired us to visit!
Los Angeles Soda Heaven: Galco's Soda Pop Stop (September 20, 2013)
Galco's Soda Pop Stop
5702 York Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90042
(323) 255-7115
www.sodapopstop.com
Other reviews:
The Laughing Squid (4/26/2010)
Local Looking Glass (5/13/13)
Onsandwiches.com where the blogger had a sandwich at the food counter, and lastly Roadfood.com
Onward to L.A., wondering about the potentially craptastic traffic...en route to our 2nd museum stop!
4 comments:
I remember Darlene's post about this place as well - so fun! I'd love to visit just to see all of the different types of soda they have. I'd probably only want a sip or two of some of them but it'd be fun to walk around the aisles and to see all of that candy. Would make for some fun presents, too. I like the soda making station, too. I got my dad one of those soda makers for Christmas last year, he loves it.
hi mary - i need to correct my post because paul actually wrote it! :)
you would go nuts in here just looking around. jake too, and his kids....
sodas make great presents (same with candy).
Ah! So glad you went. I heard so much about the make your own soda station so it's good to see a photo of it. I love talking to the owner - he really knows his stuff and spot on with the recommendations. Looks like a lot of sodas I've never seen before are cropping up now.
hi darlene - i'm glad we wen! thanks to you and paul for your informative post! there were so many sodas, it was like sensory overload. :)
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