Article Reprint: The King of Pop

The King of Pop Originally at http://www.aaa-calif.com/westways/0904/pop.asp September 2004 John Nese fills the shelves at Galco's with sugary delights By David Geffner Photograph by Scott C. Schulman Most visitors to Galco's Soda Pop Stop, an airy, no-frills corner market near downtown L.A. that overlooks Highland Park's bustling York Boulevard, don't know that historic Route 66 is just a few blocks away. Or that the sticky-sweet floors, from the cane sugar formulas used in the 500 old-time sodas that neatly line the store's shelves, are part of a tradition dating back to the late 1800s. But most visitors quickly discover that storeowner John Nese is a man devoted to soda pop. "I had a defining moment when I was seven years old," says Nese, a fiftyish Jackie Gleason meets Paddington Bear, as he recalls a family trip to Happy Camp, a small Northern California town near the Klamath River. When Nese visited the area's hot springs, he says, "I saw this carbonated water bubbling up from the ground and thought, 'If I could add sugar and run a pipeline down to my elementary school in Los Angeles, I'd have soda pop coming out of all the drinking fountains. I'd be the hero of my school!'" Five decades later, Nese is a hero to independent soda bottlers. With soda giants Coca-Cola, Pepsi-Cola, and Dr Pepper/Seven Up controlling more than 90 percent of market share in the U.S. with corn syrup formulas (bottled in what Nese calls "taste-altering plastic and aluminum"), his mission — to supply sodas made with cane sugar and bottled in glass — leads him to take extraordinary measures. For example, he sells only Coca-Cola and Pepsi bottled in Mexico, where the cane sugar formula is still used. And a few years ago, he convinced a Seattle bottler to bring back the original Bubble Up, a lemon-lime soda formulated in 1920. "I offered to buy the entire first run if they couldn't sell it," Nese says. But he didn't have to. "Heck, drinking Bubble Up over ice is so refreshing," Nese adds. "It's a taste I had to share with my customers." Nese began searching out all the smaller brands about 10 years ago, but his family-owned store has a much longer history: Galco's, an Italian grocery store named after original partners Galiota and Cortapassi, opened in downtown L.A. in 1897. "My father sold newspapers outside the store when he was a kid and became a partner in 1940," Nese says. "He opened this location in 1955. There's a continuity that stretches back more than a century. And we've survived by offering more choices, not fewer." These days, discovering soda pop and its lore is what makes a visit to Galco's special. "Did you know that Moxie, formulated in 1884, is made from gentian root, which is also the secret ingredient in Coca-Cola?" Nese tells a couple who drove to the store from their home in Riverside. "Try a Moxie, then try a Coke. The taste is so pronounced, it just pops out," he claims. Then he lifts a hard-to-find Bireley's. "When I was in sixth grade, I was asked to choose refreshments for the parents' party, and I picked Twinkies and Bireley's, a total sugar overload," he says as he shakes the bottle of orange candy–colored liquid. "Bireley's started in Hollywood around 1930, when California fruit wasn't being shipped back East. Those are pieces of real orange pulp floating inside." Despite having so much sugary temptation around, Nese imbibes just one soda per day, so he savors every last sip. He runs Galco's on taste buds and heart and especially enjoys recent discoveries such as Plantation Style Mint Julep soda, brewed by the same company in Natrona, Pennsylvania, since 1939. "This is light and crisp, with a hint of mint that just snaps," Nese says, pouring a sample. "The bottler's an old-timer who says that when I buy his soda, it helps him stay in business one more week." Nese's eyes widen with delight as he takes a sip. "Wow! This is so refreshing. It's really, really great." David Geffner is a freelance writer based in the San Fernando Valley. His favorite Galco's soda is the coffee-flavored Manhattan Special (diet), which stirs up memories of his old Hoboken, New Jersey, neighborhood on a hot August day. Galco's, 5702 York Boulevard, Highland Park; (323) 255-7115; www.sodapopstop.com .