Midtown Area Diners with soda fountains???

Are there any within a short walking/short bus ride from the Times Square area? I know that Ellen%26#39;s Stardust Diner isn%26#39;t too far away but we%26#39;re not likely to go here as it sounds a bit too young, noisy and touristy for us.

I%26#39;ve looked around on google, but they all seem several miles away.

I know there aren%26#39;t many soda fountains around these days but I%26#39;d love the chance to to try one if possible. I%26#39;ve watched The Candy Man song from the Genie Wilder Willy Wonka movie far too often! *blush*

Thanks!

Midtown Area Diners with soda fountains???

Not sure what your idea of a soda fountain is (I haven%26#39;t seen the Candy Man) but a lot of coffee shops %26amp; diners have machines to make a milk shake etc. There%26#39;s a soda fountain at FAO Schwarz but that will also be touristy and lots of kids.

The Cheyenne diner is a classic looking diner (in a tv commercial in the UK for Tropicana orange juice) and they%26#39;re sure to have a soda fountain.

I found a place online downtown in the financial district that%26#39;s called the Soda Shop that sounds like what you want.

鈥itysearch.com/profile/鈥he_soda_shop.html

Midtown Area Diners with soda fountains???

What do you want to try? A milk shake? An egg cream? A rainbow sprinlled with dew?

Most large diners can whip one up for you (expect the rainbow. Dew costs extra.)

nywhiz, thanks for the suggestions! We don%26#39;t do this kind of thing in the UK, more%26#39;s the pity.

queensboulevard, I%26#39;ll try practically anything although I%26#39;m not too sure about Egg Creams LOL. I%26#39;m keen to try ice cream sodas, rickeys or anything offering a little bit of retro and nostagia.

Egg creams are a classic New York beverage that contain no eggs at all, and are unlikely to contain cream either. They are made with milk, chocolate syrup, and seltzer -- think of them as Ice cream sodas without the ice cream.

Any real, neighborhood coffee shop/luncheonette/diner would be able to make you one (or an ice cream soda for that matter -- my favorite is a ';black and white, which is vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup in the soda...).

Soda fountains used to be a fixture at small-town pharmacies in the U.S., at least that%26#39;s where I first experienced them. Everything came out of the dispensers. If you wanted a coke, they put a couple of shots of coke syrup from the coke dispenser in a glass, then added seltzer. If you wanted a cherry coke, they added a shot of cherry syrup. And there were all sorts of exotic combination sodas you could get, like raspberry/lime, made up of raspberry syrup, lime syrup, and again seltzer. And then there were ice cream sodas. Where Ilived we didn%26#39;t have egg creams and things like that, as I think those were New York specialties. Some cafes, diners and dime stores (like Woolworth%26#39;s) also had fountains, where you could have a sandwich or a hot dog and a lime rickey.

It%26#39;s been years since I saw a pharmacy with a fountain. Not long ago, once of the last restaurants/coffee shops I knew with a fountain went out of business -- the Skyline on Lexington Avenue in the 70s. The Skyline, like other places with soda fountains, had ';fountain'; in the sign outside, as I guess that was once considered a big draw. Actually, I don%26#39;t know if the Skyline actually had a real fountain by the time it closed, but it did have that word in its sign.

There was a place called The Lexington Candy Shop on the upper east side... was a total 100% real old fashioned soda fountain place... not a new place trying to look old, but the real McCoy, an old place still in business.

Anyone else been there? It has lunceonette food and ice cream sodas and such.

I think the Lexington Candy Shop was on the opposite side of the street from the Skyline and north of it by a couple of blocks. I believe it is also gone, but will check the next time I go by. It has, or had another great sign over the door.

Thanks again for the brilliant background information and help. As somebody who adores retro, this is really interesting.

This forum is the tops!

There is also a place on the west side of Fifth Avenue just south of 23rd street -- a real old time greasy luncheonette complete with old stools. I think it%26#39;s more of a sandwich shop, but imagine they have egg creams; don%26#39;t know about things like lime rickeys.

Slightly off topic, but if anyone could recommend me a book on the popular culture/history of the 1950%26#39;s, I will really, really appreciate it.

Thank you.

dwight howard advice