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Small-Time Regional Sodas With Craft Beer Sensibilities

9/16/2010

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Click to enlarge. Courtesy Harper's Monthly.
At Urban Oyster, we spend a lot of time writing about, talking about, thinking about, and, well, drinking beer. We do this not just because beer is delicious, but because it is a rich lens through which we can examine social and cultural history and act upon some of the core principles of our company, like preserving local history, supporting local businesses, and promoting local consumption. But we can do this as well by turning our attention to another popular beverage: soda.

The histories of beer and soda in America are intricately linked, especially during Prohibition. When saloons closed their doors, they were replaced by soda fountains and pharmacies, where people could enjoy cold refreshments, and where they peddled stimulants in the form of carbonated patent medicines (they also did a swift business in “medicinal alcohol,” a loophole in Prohibition law that made people like Charles R. Walgreen fantastically rich). Many brewers also started making soda, and when Prohibition was lifted, some soda makers ditched the sugar water and got into the beer business.

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'All-Ways In Good Taste!'
This common history is also reflected in the striking similarities in the American beer and soda markets today. Just two companies, Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors, control roughly 89% of the beer market by volume; in soft drinks, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Dr Pepper Snapple Group also collectively hold an 89% market share (check out this cool infographic about the soft drink industry from Philip Howard of Michigan State University). While most people cool down by sipping behemoth global brands, many parts of the country have their own local sodas that they drink with pride, and many people are transposing their locavore and artisanal food sensibilities to soda. From Moxie to Boylan to the Brooklyn seltzer man, despite the dominance of corporate fizz, the landscape of small-time soda can be as varied and interesting as craft beer.

This exploration of regional soda was inspired by a recent trip to Maine, home to one of the most celebrated regional sodas, Moxie. Invented in 1876 in Union, Maine (it’s iconic Moxie Man logo inscribed with “Since 1884” denotes when the soda water was added to turn the patent medicine into a mass market beverage), by the 1920’s, Moxie had become the most popular soft drink in the country, preferred by the likes of Babe Ruth and President Calvin Coolidge. The teetotaling Coolidge even toasted his inauguration after President Harding’s death with a glass of Moxie, which is a popular drink at his boyhood home in Plymouth, Vermont, now a historic site, where he was sworn in as president.

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Frank and I strike the 'Moxie Man' pose.
But rising sugar prices and the ascent of Pepsi and Coca-Cola crippled the drink. Today it is largely relegated to northern New England, and it is now produced by Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England in Bedford, New Hampshire. We recently took a trip to Lisbon Falls, Maine, where Frank “the Moxie Man” Anicetti has turned his grandparents' grocery store into a Moxie Museum. The old Kennebec’s Fruit Company store is now replete with (of course) Moxie in cans, Moxie merchandise, and his own homemade Moxie ice cream. Each summer, he hosts the Moxie Festival, which floods the small town with 30,000 Moxie lovers. If you can’t make it for the festival, at least stop in the store for a soda, and Frank will be happy to tell you the story of his Moxie odyssey. Here’s a little sample of what you are in for once he gets going:
On that same trip to New England, we also stopped by the factory of Foxon Park Beverages, the staple drink for nearly every pizzeria in the greater New Haven area. Established in 1922, Foxon Park produces a wide variety of sodas out of its small factory in East Haven, Connecticut. We stopped in to buy a variety pack to take back to Brooklyn – I loaded it with my favorite, Iron Brew, which tastes like ginger ale and root beer mixed together. We also grabbed their Gassosa lemon soda, and plenty of root beer (but as much pride as I take in being from Connecticut, I still can’t stand our unofficial state beverage, birch beer). A slice from the world famous Pepe’s or Sally’s pizzerias would not be the same without a Foxon Park soda. Although it’s only 90 miles from New York City, the only place that I know of where you can find Foxon Park around here is at Bark Hot Dogs in Brooklyn.
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Vernor's mural in Flint, Michigan.
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the favorite sodas of Michiganders, considering that Urban Oyster’s founders both hail from the Great Lakes State. Though not from Michigan myself, I have come to love Vernor’s Ginger Ale, which claims to be America’s oldest ginger ale (dating to 1866). It’s packed with more ginger, and more carbonation, than most Canada Dry sippers are probably used to, often causing the drinker to sneeze forcefully after the first sip. Another Detroit institution is Faygo, which produces the beloved Rock & Rye, among other sodas. Unfortunately, neither of these companies are independent – Vernor’s is produced by Dr. Pepper Snapple, and Faygo by National Beverage Group – but they are both still bottled in Michigan and are available across vast swaths of the country (though not, it seems, in New York City).

New York City has given birth to some major players in the soft drink industry. Arizona Beverage Company started off as a beverage distributor in Brooklyn in the 1970’s founded by John Ferolito and Don Vultaggio (they ran into trouble with the provocative ads for their Midnight Dragon malt liquor) before hitting it big with their iced tea. Another non-carbonated drinks purveyor, Snapple, was founded in Valley Stream, within sight of JFK Airport; now it is part of the Dr. Pepper Snapple empire, though the other half also has New York connections – Dr. Pepper was invented by a Brooklynite, Charles Alderton. Then of course there is Dr. Brown’s – like Foxon Park and pizza in New Haven, it used to be that you couldn’t eat a pastrami sandwich without washing it down with a Dr. Brown’s. Their Cel-Ray celery soda isn’t as popular as it used to be, but their products are still certified Kosher. Though it is still made on Long Island, Dr. Brown’s is now bottled by Pepsi.

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The last seltzer maker in New York City.
More important than being home to leading brands, soda has always been a big part of the city’s cultural heritage, and there are a few small-scale soda makers still around.  Seltzer is inextricably linked with the city’s Jewish community – I don’t know how this became so, but Barry Joseph, author of the blog “Give Me Seltzer,” about his work writing the definitive history of seltzer (still in progress), could probably tell you. Brooklyn still has a handful of seltzer delivery men. If you are in the know, and you live in the right neighborhood, you too could have the delicious carbonated beverage delivered to your door each week in antique glass bottles (or you could get one of these - though you will be drinking your seltzer from heretical plastic bottles.) The stuff is still churned out by the Gomberg Seltzer Works in Canarsie, Brooklyn, the last in the city.
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'It's Non-Fattening!'

On the side of the Gomberg building, you will find an old advertisement for No-Cal Ginger Ale, the world's first zero-calorie soda, introduced by Kirsch Bottling of Williamsburg in 1952. The soda enjoyed some early success, scoring some celebrity endorsements, but it ultimately failed because it's sugar-free formula was targeted at diabetics, not weight-conscious consumers. This is a similar tale as that of light beer, though in reverse. The first light beer was also released by a Brooklyn company, Rheingold Brewing, in 1967 under the name Gablinger's. The tagline, "A light beer with less calories than skim milk" did not exactly excite beer drinkers, and it was not until the formula passed to Miller that it became a massive success. "Great taste, less filling" – rather than a beer for dieters, Miller Lite was a beer than you drink more of (and get more drunk) without feeling full. Now that's a selling point.

Smaller brands more attuned to so-called “adult tastes” – less sweet, with more exotic flavors than your usual fast food fountain offers – are one of the fastest-growing segments of the beverage market, and many come from the New York area. Boylan is one of the few long-standing independent soda companies in the New York market. Founded in 1891 in Paterson, New Jersey, the company has its roots in a drug store concoction, like most of the sodas we drink today. They have used largely the same ingredients in their sodas since their founding, like cane sugar, and they are still family-owned. A more recent entry into the market is GuS Grown-Up Soda, which offers flavors like Dry Pomegranate and Star Ruby Grapefruit. Maintaining the close ties between beer and soda, Greenpoint Beer Works (mentioned in a previous post) also brews an array of sodas for the Heartland Brewery chain of restaurants. TMI Food Group, one of the country’s largest manufacturers and distributors of Chinese food products, has a production facility in the former bottling plant of the Hittleman Brewing Company in East Williamsburg. In addition to dumplings and noodles, they also make a line of ginger ales under the brand Fresh Ginger Ginger Ale by Bruce Cost (it has pieces of real ginger in it, and it’s quite delicious).
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A factory that once churned out lager now produces (ginger) ale. Courtesy Jen Strader Photography.
Then of course there is the artisanal soda movement. New old-timey soda fountains are popping up, but now they’re slinging soda for what a pint of beer will cost you, except these are made with essential oils from fruits and herbs, not corn syrup and caramel color. I have yet to try any of this fancy fizz, but New York Magazine has a rundown on the whole scene. If you want to go one step further and make your own soda from local ingredients, you can join "Wildman" Steve Brill (mentioned before on this blog here) on one of his urban foraging adventures, where you will undoubtedly harvest some wild sasparilla for making root beer (just don’t let the Parks Department catch you doing it).
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Courtesy John Tebeau.
A century ago, alcohol was attacked as the root of all evil in America. Now, it seems, soda is in the crosshairs for making our nation morbidly obese (have you seen these revolting ads plastered on the subway?) Both should be consumed in moderation, and if you can, enjoy a local brand.

If you like the painting at left, check out more art from John Tebeau – he's also been known to paint Vernor's and a Rhode Island favorite, Del's Frozen Lemonade. For questions or comments about this blog post, please contact Andrew Gustafson (andrewg@urbanoyster.com). All photos are by Andrew Gustafson unless otherwise noted.

Do you have a favorite regional or niche soda that everybody should try? Email me suggestions or post them in the comments.

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Reading the Landscape: Researching New York City Building Histories

9/14/2010

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529 Waverly Ave, Brooklyn.
This post was contributed by Douglas Miller, one of Urban Oyster's summer interns.

A New Yorker's day is not complete without a pause at a personal landmark – a faded sign for an antiquated product, a forgotten factory with foggy broken windows. It is a reassuring, reorienting, but momentary break. This summer I extended that wayward glance at 529 Waverly Avenue in Brooklyn, currently the home of one of the borough's three breweries, Greenpoint Beer Works. The brewery, which is a featured stop on Urban Oyster's Wednesday night Brewed in Brooklyn tour, has been housed there since 2003, but the building dates back to at least 80 years, perhaps further. Once the home of Reid's Dairy, which was eventually taken over by the much larger Borden Company in 1928, much of the building's history is yet to be uncovered.

Like residents, historians of New York City share the sentiment (perhaps not the diction) that buildings are "texts” – that tales of the city and its residents can be read in the composition, use, condition, and location of history’s most forthright medium (architecture), and that these stories are important for a discipline whose topics and methodologies are constantly broadening. My companion throughout the research of the brewery building was the indispensable “Hints on Researching New York City Buildings," written by Columbia's Professor of Historic Preservation Andrew Dolkart, and I would recommend it to historians and laymen alike for its usefulness, range, and accessibility. If you are embarking on your own historical research into a building that has caught your eye, below is an abbreviated “desk guide” for beginning your research, as well as a few of my own insights and leads “For the Adventurous” who want to dig deeper than online resources allow.

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The Borden's sign still adorns the building. The company may date back to 1857, but the age of 529 Waverly Ave is still unknown.
Navigating City Agencies: Department of Buildings (DOB) and Department of Finance (DOF)

The Desk Option:
Luckily, both of these agencies have searchable online databases of records of nearly every lot and building in the city. The first step is to visit the city's Department of Buildings website, and on the right side of the page, you will find the Buildings Information System, where you can search for buildings by entering the borough, street, and house number where directed. Explore the wealth of information on the display page (Property Profile Overview), but take special note of the tax block and lot numbers and the Department of Finance Building Classification. For records of New Construction and Alterations (among so much more), scroll down the page and click the “select” box on the bottom left. Important to note: The DOB didn't exist by borough until 1892, and didn't exist citywide until 1936. Records of new construction and alterations were brought in as needed, so buildings may appear out of nowhere. Once you have the tax block and lot numbers for the property you are researching, you can search the Department of Finance's Automated City Register Information System, or ACRIS. Here you can find property transaction records for buildings in all five boroughs dating back to 1966.

For the Adventurous:
Get on the train and head to downtown Manhattan, where three offices will be of particular use – the Department of Buildings (280 Broadway), the Municipal Archives (31 Chambers St.) and the Real Property Records in the Department of Finance (66 James St., 13th floor). At the DOB you can find significantly more information on alterations and construction records, including the contractors involved and other interesting details. The Municipal Archives houses tax records, tax photographs, and early Building Department records. And at the Real Property Records, you can find ownership records, conveyances and deeds (WARNING: Deeds may be handwritten, may be poorly translated into microfiche, and will certainly be written in legalese – they are not easy to read.)

The DOB and DOF offices are open Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, and the Municipal Archives is open from 9:00 to 4:30, Monday through Thursday, and from 9:00 to 1:00 on Friday. Wherever you go, be sure to bring along the proper reference numbers for the buildings you are researching (available online through the Buildings Information System and ACRIS). Most information can be found at these offices, but each borough also has its own DOB and DOF, though their hours, and the quality and quantity of information they have available, vary greatly. Try to call ahead before visiting any of the borough municipal buildings to make sure they have what you need.
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From the Atlas of the Borough of Brooklyn, 1907-08.
Historical Cartography: New York Public Library Maps Collection

Desk Option:
Maps provide a wonderful visual aid for history aside from being beautiful in their own right. The New York Public Library has a wide variety of maps available online, and it is one of the best and most accessible cartographical resources for the region. In their online digital gallery of maps and atlases of New York City, you can search or browse through tax maps, atlases, and topographical maps from all five boroughs and dating from 1855-1948.

For the Adventurous:
All the maps online and many more are available for viewing in Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, located on the first floor of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (the NYPL's main branch) on 5th Avenue and 42nd Street in Manhattan. The Map Division is open from 1:00 to 7:30 on Tuesday and Wednesday and from 1:00 to 6:00 on Thursday through Saturday. Keep in mind that the Map Division might not have some maps for your borough – for example, the tax maps of Brooklyn are available at the Brooklyn Historical Society. So before going over, search their online catalog, and if they don't have what you need, the library staff will probably know where to send you.

Armchair GIS: NYCityMap

If you are researching several buildings in a neighborhood, or you do not have an exact address, it may be easier to search for some of this information on a map rather than leafing through records. Luckily, the city has created NYCityMap, an online Geographic Information System (GIS) that integrates information from many different agencies into one useful web application. You can search by address or you can zoom to a neighborhood and click on buildings to find out basic information like when it was built, square footage, and zoning. The system will also link you to all of the DOB and DOF information discussed above, as well as to things like the Poll Site Locator, the Hurricane Evacuation Zone Finder, and the Rat Information Portal (which is morbidly abbreviated as RIP), where you can find out if furry friends have been reported in your building, and what the city is doing about it.
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General advice for taking the next step

The best advice I can give as to a process would be to reflect on how I would have conducted my research of 529 Waverly Avenue in hindsight: check to see if the address is in a historic area or if the local historical society has any information; visit whomever has the block/lot tax maps; visit the site and take note of the similarities, distinctive features, and cornerstones of buildings; look up building addresses on the DOB website; then if you find a building is connected with a name or a business, try searching the New York Times online archive – the example at left mentions the Reid Union Dairy, a one-time occupant of 529 Waverly Avenue. Articles from 1851 to 1922 and from 1987 to the present are free, while those from 1923 to 1986 are available for a fee. Also check the Brooklyn Daily Eagle – the years 1841 to1902 are available online from the Brooklyn Public Library, and additional years are available at the library itself.

I never found the architect for 529 Waverly Avenue, or if the architectural similarities in the neighboring buildings were more than coincidental. And the building may have been built in 1931, according to DOB records, but we cannot be certain until we do more digging. But working with history, while giving shape and causality to the past, means accepting that some things are lost. For those of us who love and want to understand the places and relationships that have become part of our being, I can think of no more rewarding activity then delving into those everyday abandoned stories oneself.

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529 Waverly has gone from producing milk and ice cream to brewing beer and soda.
Douglas Miller is a junior studying Geography and History at New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study. When not catching up with homework and pursuing injustice through campus activism, his free time is spent bumming around the New York’s history scene and being relatively young and carefree in the world’s greatest city.
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