Friends! Let’s take a stroll down malt shop lane and check out some cool images from the 1930’s-1950’s of vintage soda/malt shops and the customers who are enjoying them.

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Lana Turner in”Slightly Dangerous”, 1943 serving up a ice cream float.

Vintage Malt Shops

Vintage Images 1930’s – 1950’s

HISTORY OF THE MALT SHOP

A Soda shop, also often known as a Malt shop (after malt, a sweet milkshake flavoring), is a business akin to an ice cream parlor and a drugstore soda fountain. Interiors were often furnished with a large mirror behind amarble counter with gooseneck soda spouts, plus spinning stools, round marble-topped tables and wireframe sweetheart chairs.

The counter-service soda fountain was introduced in 1903, and around that same time, drugstores began to attract noontime customers by adding sandwiches and light lunches. The beverage menu at a soda shop usually included ice cream sodas, chocolate malts, fountain colas and milkshakes. A 1915 issue of Soda Fountain magazine stated: “The soda fountain of today is an ally of temperance… Ice cream soda is a greater medium for the cause of temperance than all the sermon ever preached on that subject (source).”

Now, what can we get you?

Further Reading: Big List of Old Fashioned Soda Fountain Drink Recipes

1950s vintage photo of a soda jerk in a malt shop making a milkshake.

Source: Wikimedia

1950s vintage photo of teens at the malt shop counter enjoying treats.

Further Reading: Mini Guide To Holding The Ultimate 1950’s Themed Party

1950s Malt Shop Soda Shop 1950s Teenagers

Source: Flickr- UNCG Digital Projects

Late 1940s / early 1950s photo of a busy malt shop. All those treats look yummy!

Malt Shops are for hanging out, catching up and also reading as these girls are demonstrating in 1952.

1952 malt shop image featuring teenage girls in 1950s fashiosn hanging out at the counter.

Source: Flickr- File Photo Digital Archive

When grabbing a drink at the counter it’s mandatory that one looks their best, like these very stylish teenagers. Their hats are the BEST! -1940s Photo-

Late 1940s / Early 1950s teenagers at the soda shop

And looking their best for these boys means it’s all about the Plaid. 1950s photo.

1950 teenage boys hanging at the soda shop

After a fun day at the beach a nice refreshing drink will do the trick. And now on a side note, what an amazing photo! The girl swimsuits are stunning as well as the girl’s hair on the right. WOW! -1940s Photo-

1940 girls in swimsuits at the soda counter

1942 Nifty Nook Diner / Malt Shop. Phoenix, Arizona. Super 1940s “teenager” fashions on display in this image.

Source: Etsy

There is that fantastic “counter” style we keep seeing. Another great hat!

1940s woman at a soda counter in 1940s hait and 1940s dress

Even movie stars stopped by for a milkshake or two as seen here in the picture below with Joan Crawford and her editor Alice in 1939. P.S. HAT!

Joan Crawford at Soda Fountain with Editor Alice Thompson, 1939.

Image by © CondÈ Nast Archive/Corbis

Malt Shops are not just for teenagers and movie stars, they are for all ages.

Source: We had faces then

1953 – Mavis sipping a strawberry milkshake in a white milk bar.

1950s little girl at the malt shop counter

Photo by Terrence Spencer//Time Life Pictures/Getty Images

1930s photo of a couple out on date night at the malt shop.

1950s photo of two teenagers enjoying a drink together and some fun conversation. Wonder what they are chatting about?

Shall we have a dance or listen to some music before we leave? -1950s photo-

1950s Teenagers dancing in a soda malt shop

Image by © Michael Ochs

So much to take in here! Saddle shoes, jukebox, plaid skirt, 1940s hairstyles and young men and women enjoying their time at their local malt shop.

1940s teenagers listening to music at the soda shop

Source: Pinterest

Lastly when I was in Memphis the hubby and I stopped in at A.Schwab and had REAL soda’s from their vintage soda counter. Here are a couple of images of that super cool experience.

Read about my trip to Memphis & Nashville HERE.

Mmmmmm real soda pop. Which one to try first?

Now Question Time: Do you have a favorite place to go for vintage sodas? Milkshakes? Maybe you hung out at a Malt shop back in the day? Share anything you want in the comments section below.

FURTHER READING:

Vintage Photo Tuesday-Collection of archived vintage blog posts showing vintage images from the 1920s-1960s

Liz

(Note: To view my other days at VIVA click on the days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday)

Last day of VIVA, wow it went so fast how was that possible? I guess it’s possible when you are having the time of your life. All good things must eventually come to an end, right?

Happy Easter! Sunday for me is ALWAYS shopping at the vintage vendors day, since many of the vendors put their items on sale as they don’t want to take tons of stuff home. Every year I have gotten lucky and have found some wonderful items and this year was no different. However I did find that I purchased less this year due to the Canadian dollar being so poor so that the exchange rate made everything so much more expensive. Oh well more money left over for future trips.

First up I picked up a couple of great scarfs to add to my collection.

This souvenir San Francisco scarf is my favorite of the two.

I also purchased the cutest brooch, it’s a Heinz 57 Ketchup bottle!

Then just as I was about to walk out a happy camper with what I had, I saw out of the corner of my eye a vintage 1950s Shirtwaist dress from the vendor “Love Street Vintage” who I had the pleasure of purchasing past dresses from before. It fit like a glove and it was a good price so it CLEARLY came home with me.

After shopping we thought we would see if we could get into the Sunday Pool Party which normally in the past we have not been able to do, due to it being the popular day and there are normally long line ups. But this year ended up being really easy and I think it might have had to do with the high winds making people think it was cold at the pool (which it was not). Yay for us!

My friend had secured several lounge chairs for the gang which ended up being in good prime viewing of the women’s swimsuit contest and the bands on the stage. Thank you!

There was so many GORGEOUS swimsuits to be seen, as you can see from these 3 lovely women. The red head is actually a fellow Canadian who has a super blog called “Pinup Persuasion“, who I did not realize I had taken a photo of until I just looked at now and clearly missed saying hello. Opps. She did later on enter the vintage swimsuit contest, which I’m glad she did because her suit was stunning (as did the girl in the green suit).

VLV 18 Pool Party Sunday 2015 Vintage Swimsuits

The band that played earlier in the afternoon “The Cavaleros” were really good (and Canadian) and kept the party going with their cool surf sounds. My favorite part though was when they took “Sing Sing Sing” and made it into a Rockabilly/Surf Version. The video I took even had Lindy Hoppers (from San Francisco I found out later) dancing to it. LOVE IT!

Speaking of San Fran here is my new friend from San Fran who was also a Lindy Hopper and really cool to chat with.

Then my friend Bill stole my camera to take a picture with beautiful women.

Bill JUST missed his chance with these ladies, by seconds. His loss.

I guess the pool party is not amusing for everyone….

Unfortunately I have no great photos of the swimsuit contest as the sun was pretty bright and was making it hard to see what I was taking pictures of. So you just have to take my word on the fact that the suits were stunning (as you saw above). Here is one photo though that turned out okay.

After the contest, we packed up our stuff and headed in to get ready for the Sunday evening favorite of mine and many others..the Jive Contest! BUT first what is starting to become a tradition, getting as many Canadians together for a group photo.

Here is this years, we clean up nicely don’t we?

Okay back to the Jive Contest…Once again the dance floor was filled with lots of wonderful dancers and once again my favorite did not get picked (I always chose wrong) but it was still fun to watch. Here is a clip of the 2nd round of the contest. The couple in the front of the video in the matching pink outfits ended up winning the whole thing.

And here is another tradition! Taking a photo with the Orleans Sign.

Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend 18, 2015 — Me and the Sign

Now the evening is really winding down and now my body is telling me that it’s soon time to call it quits. We did however want to see the Doo Wop All Stars Show. This years show included: Herb Cox-The Cleftones; Eugene Pitt-The Jive Five and Bobby Lewis (“Tossin & Turning”) It was really great and super stylish as Doo Wop bands tend to be.