A taste of the past

An old fashioned soda fountain lets visitors “step back in another time”

By Ellen Spitaleri

The Clackamas Review, Apr 23, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Ellen Spitaleri / Clackamas Review

Wiley Johnson, 2, and his sister Madison Johnson, 5, slurp up some chocolate milk at Main Street Soda inside the Milwaukie Collectors Mall on Main Street. Their mother, Melanie Johnson, said it was the first time she and the children had eaten at the old-fashioned soda fountain.

Chris Merris believes that “everybody should experience a soda fountain once in their lives.”

So last November, she and her mother, Darlene Davis, bought the Main Street Collectors Mall in Downtown Milwaukie, and a month later reopened the old-fashioned soda fountain.

Merris graduated from Milwaukie High School in the late ‘80s, and said she remembers going into what was then the Perry Pharmacy for lunch.

“Now I love it when I see parents or grandparents bringing their kids in and reliving their memories,” she said.

When visitors come to the soda fountain, she added, “They step back into another time and place.”

Sandwiches, cookies, drinks and more

Davis said her responsibility is mainly overseeing the antiques and collectibles in the main part of the shop, but she helps at the counter when needed and usually bakes the cookies in the morning.

“I like people to walk in and smell coffee and fresh-baked cookies,” she said.

As far as the menu goes, Elaina Forsythe works behind the counter making fresh deli sandwiches and drinks of all kinds.

The soda fountain offers a box lunch special of a sandwich, drink, chips and a cookie for $4, she noted, with a slight change in price for specialty drinks and malts.

Merris said her favorite drink is called a summer girl and consists of “soda water, vanilla ice cream, orange sherbet and strawberries.”

She figures the soda fountain is one of very few that actually offers phosphates, old-fashioned, hand-poured sodas and flavored cokes, like cherry coke or lemon coke.

Merris and her mother hope that warm summer weather brings out the families who want to sample classic sundaes, banana splits, milkshakes, malts and fresh-squeezed lemonade.

Clutter enjoyable

As for the collectible portion of the mall, Davis said there are basically two kinds of customers who come in: the browsers and the “avid” shoppers.

The showcases and floor spaces in the mall contain “absolutely everything you could possible imagine — it’s mind blowing,” Davis said, adding that she can tolerate the clutter and even finds it “enjoyable.”

Vendors can rent whole or half cases or take up floor space — and Davis even uses space in the bathrooms to show off merchandise.

“We have well over 60 vendors and more than 30 consignees,” she said, who sell a variety of items, including Star Wars memorabilia, knives, vintage jewelry, furniture, clothes, toys, dishware, books and paintings.

Prices are reasonable, she said, and there are actual antiques as well, some dating from the 1800s.

“This is really a family business,” Davis said, noting that “Chris’s children, Ariel, who is 7, sells doll clothes, and Colton, who is 12, has video games for sale.”

Colton also has his food-handlers permit and washes dishes in the evenings, and “both husbands help.”

Davis did add that all four adults have other “real” jobs, and she and her daughter hope that eventually the mall will be successful “to make enough income for two families to live on — that’s our main goal.”

• Soda fountain has been a fixture in Milwaukie

1 | 2 Next Page >>

Facebook	Digg	Del.icio.us
Newsvine	Stumbleupon	Reddit