Sharing Memories (Week 49): Teen Hangout

It's Week 49 of our Sharing Memories - A Genealogy Journey for 2011.

Please join us each Sunday as we share our memories of childhood. Your descendants will be thankful that you did! Share a memory here as a comment, or on your own blog, or in a private journal, but write! Leave a legacy for your children and grandchildren.

This week I want to talk about our local Drug Store and Soda Fountain. I grew up in a village which became a town when I was still quite young. The population was never very large and we had few places to hang out as teenagers.  But one spot we loved was the Drugstore.

The Drugstore had a bit of a restaurant with a few booths (5 or 6) -  the ones that had juke box flip cards of songs and you put a coin in, chose your favourite song and bingo it was playing.

So we teens would pile into the booths and of course order fries with vinegar and gravy. My American readers will be screwing up their noses with a "Eeewww ... vinegar????" but that is how you eat Fries in Canada -with vinegar. And I don't mean Malt vinegar. Just the good old-fashioned plain white vinegar. Yummy!! Add gravy to that and you've got a party in your mouth.

Those of us with a bit of extra cash would splurge on a hot roast beef sandwich smothered in gravy, and of course the obligatory fries with vinegar on the side.

Today's Vinegar Packets at McDonalds

But what I loved most was the long soda fountain with stools covered in black phony leather. You could sit there for hours sipping on one coke float after the other. Who remembers coke floats? I loved them!

So Friday and Saturday nights were spent in the booths with friends, but Saturday during the day was a time to sit on the stools at the Soda Fountain with your best friend and giggle and whisper about boys.

Where was your town or cities teen hangout?