Journeys in Los Angeles

On many a recommendation from friends far and wide, we checked out Galcos Soda Pop Stop on York the other day. It's a little shop that's been around since the 1800s and they sell mostly, well, near exclusively, soda.






















And candy. Lots of forgotten candy that I could only assume was discovered, untouched, in an ancient warehouse somewhere. Abba Zabba?






















Cheerwine?






















Lots of strange and wonderful beers of the world too. No India beer, which is elusive like the white wolf, and only available, I hear, in Woodland Hills, damn near 45 minutes out of town at an amazing Indian restaurant. They did have a shelf of Dixie Beer, which I've had in Baton Rouge, and is referenced incessantly in James Lee Burke's noir detective novels.






















They also had all kinds of micro brew sodas. The Fukola Cola was a strange concoction of cloves, guarana, ginko biloba, Kola nuts, sage and dill weed. Oh, and lots of caffeine. It made me think of Manhattan Specials (which they also sell at Galcos), those espresso sodas that East Coast college students used as term paper juice before they discovered the wonders of writing about John Keats under the influence of designer club drugs.






















Dr. Pepper in little glass bottles? Be still my 8 year-old heart. I think that LA and I are going to be friends.