I was wondering if anyone knew the exact location of the original Vernors store/pharmacy? Is the building still standing?
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I was wondering if anyone knew the exact location of the original Vernors store/pharmacy? Is the building still standing?
I had a copy of the Arcadia history of Vernors, but I can't find it right now.
Vernor's original pharmacy was located at 235 Woodward.
Was there a store near Boston where the cooler was said to be invented?
From what I've read, it was just named after Boston Blvd. Probably to make it seem that the wealthy folks who lived there liked the soda so it would seem desirable.Quote:
Originally Posted by buckster1986
I believe that 235 Woodward was near the corner of Clifford under to old addressing system. Once the soft drink was a big success though, Vernor closed the drug store and moved the operation to a larger building on Woodward near the river, where Hart Plaza is today. That's the one that older Detroiters like my father remember.
for some of your vernor history needs:
http://www.wowway.com/~vernors/history.htm
The history of the Boston Cooler has some conflicts. One story says that Mr. Saunders invented the drink at his store on the east side of Woodward Ave near Boston Blvd.
The other story, and the one I like better, is that the drink was invented during Prohibtion by Grandpa Vernor for his grandchildren. According to legend, there was a milk man who delivered to the Vernor household. In his wagon he carried Strohs Ice Cream [[Strohs had to give up brewing beer and changed their fire-brewed kettles over to ice cream production). James Vernor Sr. lived on Grosse isle but would visit the grandkids in Detroit. During one summer visit in 1921 the milkman and Grandpa Vernor delevoped a friendship and between the two of them they concocted the mixture of Strohs vanilla ice cream and Vernors Ginger Ale.
It was called a Boston Cooler because the house was on Boston Blvd.
IS the building near clifford still standing?
Long gone, as is pretty much all of Civil War-era Detroit.
Here is a picture of the building:
http://www.wowway.com/%7Evernors/Birthplace%20photo.jpg
In fact, with the demolition of the bottling plant on Woodward north of Canfield in what's now called Midtown back in the late 80s, pretty much all physical architectural evidence of Vernor's history in Detroit is gone.
Man, I love this area! Pretty soon people won't beleive us that Vernors, Hudsons, Strohs....ever even existed here. Is there any way to get a copy of that picture?
everytime I see a picture of old Detroit..i saddens me to think we tore down so much of what we seek out in cities now...corner stores, neighborhoods, parks, fruit stands, bakeries...etc.
Everytime I travel to DC I walk the streets of Georgetown..and think what if...people siting on corners on a Sat A.M. having a coffee, walking to stores, art galleries, every ethic restaurant you can imageine...brown stones homes.
why or why didn't we have the sense to preserve these ...no forsight..now we all wish we had that in any city again...
sorry whining
But these were replaced by something bigger and grander. If we wanted to keep all the civil war era stuff, how many of the buildings "we" want to hold on to today would not have been built? For example, beautiful victorian mansions lined Washington Boulevard. Should those have been saved instead of the Book tower? What about preserving the original, 4-story Book-Cadillac hotel?Quote:
Originally Posted by gibran
Quote:
Originally Posted by gnome
It's S-A-N-D-E-R-S. Not 'Saunders'. Sorry, pet peeve. I worked at Sanders for four years during and just after high school and that is one of the first things they taught us.
I remember Sanders used to sell Vernors Ice Cream, but I can't remember how the story went of the invention of the Boston Cooler except that it's named after the street in Detroit not the city in Massechusetts.
:p
Yes.Quote:
Originally Posted by EastSider
The same as Boston-Edison or Indian Village.
Where would Boston or Charleston, SC or St. Augustine, FL be today if they had demolished all of their history?
Granted ...there are turn of the century buildings that are great,,but gone never the less..
have you seen pictures of old city hall etc..
guess it would have been good to preserve some quarters of the city with historical districts...we have great ol buildings but just think of teh real old buildings and the value of those if we built around and not through...guess there has to be a blance..but many here don't travel to Europe to visit the suburbs...
thank you maxine, I'll try to be better. I'm not a very good speler in the first place and to my ear Sanders is pronounced SAWN-ders ... the bride informs me I'm all wrong and that it is SAHN-ders ... even if it should be pronounced SANDers.
sorry, didn't grow up here, so my ear is tin to the correct way to say the name.
Gnome,
Are you the famous Vernors Gnome? :)
yep, that's me, beard... funny hat, leather short pants ....It's a habit. Tough to kick. yep, ...oh yeah, I spend my free time mellowing in oak barrels.
Boston would still be in Massachusetts, Charleston would still be in South Carolina, and St. Augustine would still be in...you guessed it...Florida.Quote:
Originally Posted by Meddle
Meddle, would you have preferred these larger, more productive buildings not be built at all, or would you have selected a different set of buildings for them to replace?
So there's one vote for the mansions instead of the Book Tower, Book Building, Statler, and Industrial Arms Apartment Building.
Anybody else?
This is creepy cause lately I have been craving Vernors Ice Cream. I really do miss Sanders and their shops, But a Boston Cooler to me isn't the same without sitting at the counter and having it made in front of you, and then getting a 1/2 gallon or even a cone of Vernors Ice Cream from the freezer at Sanders to take home. At least I have that memory still in my head.
I'm not sure if they still make the Vernors ice cream, but Sanders stores are making a come back!Quote:
Originally Posted by reddog289
Okay, a small modest one, but a come back none the less. There is a store on Kercheval in Grosse Pointe, one in the Laurel Place Mall in Livonia and they are opening another one but for the life of me I can't remember where. I visit the Morley's candy shop on Hall Rd frequently. They carry [[and now make) many of the Sanders products. The manager there told me about the new stores. I haven't made to any of them, but she tells me they have lunch counters and carry many of the old standards.
I can remember going to the bottling plant on Woodward and getting some of the syrup to use as a ham glaze. You had to go to one of the back doors after hours and catch one of the line workers in a good mood.
And once again downriver gets forgot about, there's a Sander's in downtown Wyandotte.
Maxine.........I also worked at SANDERS and you are absolutely right ......that was the 1ST thing they taught us in orientation!!! Sanders...not Saunders! Funny you remember those little things.
The last time I ever went downtown to watch the parade is when I went to watch it at Vernors. If I had only brought my camera.I belive that was in 1984.
Back when Pepsi bought out Vernors, I heard the reson they stopped selling Vernors ice cream was that Sanders sold Coke products in their stores
Sorry Cushkid, perhaps that's the newest store the Morley's manager told me about. Living in the northern 'burbs I must have put it out of mind. :oQuote:
Originally Posted by Cushkid
Detroitbred when did you work at Sanders? I worked at various stores from'74 until '78.Quote:
Originally Posted by detroitbred
Here is another picture I found of the Vernor's Pharmacy.
235 Woodward was up by Clifford. Woodward was renumbered in the 1920s. Vernor's had moved from 235 to 33 Woodward. After the renumbering, 33 became 239 Woodward. So, it would seem as though Vernor's didn't move much. But, it moved from Clifford all the way down to the river.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ed Golick
Unless you are no longer living in Michigan, there are still a few Sanders stores. There's one on Biddle [[Jefferson) in Wyandotte.Quote:
Originally Posted by reddog289
Isn't there a Sanders in downtown Rochester too?
I don't see why Vernors can't go back to using stevia for sweetener. They should up the ginger and carbonation to old-time levels too.
Today's Vernors is a watered-down, wimpy version of the great soft drink that James Vernor invented.
Said by a famous Detroiter when the Woodward Avenue plant was demolished:
"They done it to the gnome."
The sight of Gnome in Lederhosen.... :eek: .... unthinkable..... :pQuote:
Originally Posted by gnome
I really miss the Vernors ice cream. Savino made a Vernors sorbet for awhile that was good too. But now there is Vernors cake.
http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/morn...cake-takes-off
I agree. It's OK , but I think ever since it's been out of the Vernor family's hands, there have been some corner- cutting to the recipe. Have noticed on the Vernors cans of today, it says aged 3 years instead of 4? I remember going to the drug store and getting a glass of Vernors when I was about 5 or 6 and how the carbonation would go up my nose.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fury13
I'm guessing it was somewhere on Woodward, becuase I used to drive by it as a kid, then it was demo'ed. Same with the Stroh''s bdlg, it was on 75. but it was torn down when I was a kid, I just remember coming around a curve and there it would be.
I could look this up and find the locations, but this sort of thread brings out you older-timers with memories of how things were, and I love those. So everyone pitch in and reminice.
The Vernor's plant you probably remember driving by was at 4501 Woodward, the property just north of the Whitney Restaurant. It was closed in 1985 and razed in 1987.Quote:
Originally Posted by txlady
Vernor's was differentiated from the other local ginger ales [[Canada Dry and Faygo) by its very rich taste and massive amounts of carbonation. If Pepsi messed with that [[and it has been a few years since I had a Vernor's, they really messed up.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Dude
When I was a little kid, I couldn't stand Vernor's because the bubbles went up my nose. I didn't really appreciate Vernor's until I was about 12 or 13.
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Never really appreciated Vernor's, but I had a couple of great-aunts in Ottawa and we'd take a couple of 6-packs to them every year. They loved the stuff. Personally, I liked Faygo Frosh.
I checked the address, it was just south of the DIA? I can't imagine why we'd have drivin past there so often when I was a kid, I'll have to ask my dad.
A little off track here, but has anybody tried the Faygo version of Dr. Pepper?
Stromberg2
For any Vernor's history fans out there....
The Vernor's Club just published the Spring 2010 edition of their newsletter which is 26 pages long. Most of the edition is about the Boston Cooler. There's even a section about Frozen Boston Cooler Ice Cream Bars, and a photo of a Sander's Vernor's Flavored Ice Cream carton. No Detroit photos in this edition, except for interiors of Risdon Creamery. Below is Chuck Risdon holding a box of Frozen Boston Cooler bars.
I had a catering customer next to the old plant on Woodward. Back in 1987 when it was being torn down I had the chance to get a tour from him. He took me upstairs to the presidents office on the south corner. Great room with a domed ceiling and beautiful wood paneling. On the floor was a pile of old ledgers. I picked up the original 1st edition of the Acadia Farms operation. Like a dumb ass I sent it on to their headquarters in 1998. Wish I had kept it now!
Did you take any pictures inside the old factory? I'd like to get some photos from anyone who was inside the factory before it was torn down. The next edition of the Vernor's Club newsletter will have a feature on the abandoned 4501 Woodward factory. I have a few photos from inside, but not many. If anyone else has photos from inside please email them to vernorsclub@yahoo.com . Thanks!
You're not whining, Gibran. You are expressing what millions of people want: a place to live in a friendly, pleasant city where there are plenty of amenities [[in other words, goods and services are available in a convenient and useful neighborhood).Quote:
Originally Posted by gibran
I saw an ad on Craigslist about Vernor's in bottles made with sugar. A guy in Michigan imports it from a bottler in California.
There's a web-based radio show called Pop Culture Road Trip. A recent edition was dedicated to soda pop. Vernor's, being America's oldest continuously produced pop, is part of this national show. The link is provided below. If you don't want to hear about Coke and Dr Pepper, go to the 26 minute mark and begin listening about Detroit's Drink there.
http://webtalkradio.net/2010/04/04/t...-soda-stories/
"Lost Landscapes of Detroit 2010" includes archival motion picture footage taken inside and outside the original Vernor's plant at the foot of Woodward near the Bob-Lo dock. It starts at the 13:20 mark and runs to about 14:30.