Galco's Soda Pop Stop

Okay, so I went on a spontaneous trip yesterday afternoon (spontaneous meaning not planned beforehand...*cough* Nick's trip to the beach late night *cough*) to Galco's Soda Pop Stop in Los Angeles, just south of Pasadena off the 110. Let me say that this place is soda heaven in a desert place! I'm going to give it:

A-

The only reason for the minus is that it looks a bit run-down in the inside, but I think that's to keep the prices low.

Basically it's a converted small marketplace. Nothing on the scale of Albertson's or Ralphs, but like a local grocer. Inside they have two aisles devoted to simply every soda from around the world. One soda I saw was called "Lenin Lemon" for the Russian communist leader. There were some other favorites too from the midwest.

One that I saw was Cheerwine. It was featured on Food Network's Unwrapped and is a very popular soda in the midwest. It doesn't have any wine in it but is named simply because of it's texture and taste. It tastes like a cherry flavored soda with a hint of cola, but no caffeine. When you pour it in a bottle, it looks like you're drinking a sparkling wine of sorts. It got its name from a time when chemists named soda from their characteristics. So like root beer looks like beer, Cheerwine looks like wine.

Another favorite was the Dr. Pepper made from real cane sugar. I didn't have a chance to try it, but my brothers drank it down like water.

The larger collection was out on display in the shelves to purchase directly, but of course, they were warm. There was decent selection of goodies in the refrigerator cabinets including some from Jones Soda Co. that had political names on them. There was also a wide selection of beers and wines, but none that I recognized as unique. Ironically, this soda place had your classics such as RC cola and Sunkist, but no Pepsi or Coca-Cola (although, they did have Mexican Coca-cola in bottles).

Other than the soda, they also had some classic candies on display. Most of them you would recognize from the local supermarket but re-packaged with nostalgic designs. Nothing to go out of the way for, but a nice compliment to all the sugar induced feelings you will get when you try one of their sodas.

So if you're ever in the area, definitely give this place a try. It's a diamond in the rough!