Olde Fashioned Soda Fountain
Portside Pharmacy in Virginia Offers Throwback Pop and Ice Cream
Portside Pharmacy and Olde Fashioned Soda Fountain located in Newport News Virginia offers authentic vintage refreshment to travelers and locals.
Portside Pharmacy is a true old fashioned soda fountain with a bygone feel and quality of service that stands in sharp contrast to the drive in pharmacy and distant coolness of mainstream ice cream shops and super store chains. Nestled at the right corner of William Styron Square in Port Warwick, a new urban development community in Newport News, Virginia, Portside Pharmacy should be a quaint stop on any traveler’s itinerary to Hampton Roads.
The Background
Soda fountains have come a long way from the 1850s where pharmacist would mix caffeine with elixirs to cure ills real or imagined. To encourage customers to drink the drugs they would be mixed with syrups and effervescent to make them wash down with ease. Their popularity peaked in the era of prohibition and fizzled in the 1970s.
Portside, like it predecessors, offers an array of throwback ice cream treats and confectionaries. The fully functional pharmacy is the brain child of Misty and Stephen Odell and was established in December, 2005. Mr. Odell, a former hospital pharmacist sees to the ailing and Mrs. Odell manages the counter. But, hungry or sick, the business principal is the same: make regulars out of each and every customer.
The Soda Fountain itself was purchased from the American Soda Fountain Company. The operational pump-in syrup and carbonation contraption called a Bobtail is the only active one in Virginia.
The Delights
Ever had a Strawberry Treasure? It is strawberries, Hershey's old fashioned vanilla ice cream, two flaky crusts, and whipped cream. Oh, with a cherry on top. Try that or any of the malts, sodas, and floats generously dipped, whirled and served with relish by the soda "jerks".
If it’s not a sweet tooth your trying to satisfy try the 1/4 pound hot-dogs, or BLT. There is also chicken salad and authentic North Carolina bar-b-que actually fetched from across the border. The heartier menu items are priced around $1.99 to $5.99 so the pocket book won't be an excuse to not save room for desert.
Portside promises their drinks are made with a shot of syrup and a lil' phosphate. The real New York egg cream is made with Fox's U-bet chocolate syrup, which means even the most distant traveler will find a taste of home on the menu.
After having your fill of treats take some goodies home with you. Portside sells Wythe preserves and blackberry jam. It offers Twining tea, and Canterbury Cuisine cookies. Do pick up any of the Byrd Mill Mixes and Elsa's Story snacks. If high brow gourmet is not to your liking you can always purchase from their shelves lined with gummy bears and chocolate dipped candies. Children will be unable to resist the almost fifty Jelly Belly jelly bean flavors available for sell.
No matter what ails you Portside Pharmacy and Olde Fashioned Soda Fountain has the undeniable cure. Visit during your next excursion to the Tidewater, Virginia area.
