If you’re wiser in years, you remember the old-fashioned soda fountain as a place to get a custom made soda pop and hang with friends.
The fountain as your parents knew it went out of style in the 60s, but in its heyday, it was the center of everything social.
Soda jerks whipped up cherry cokes and root beer floats for as little as a nickel. When soda fountains and soda jerks were popular you could find them in drug stores and ice cream parlors, but today they are hard to find unless you’re in Irmo.
Mike Shrigley manages Gatsbees World Fair Soda Fountain.
He says they’re bringing the good times back, “We just have fun our soda jerks like what they do.” Soda jerks mix the carbonated water and flavor to make a custom cherry soda, or strawberry grape, any flavor you like.
Going to Gatsbees is like stepping into a time machine. There are movie posters from the popular films of the 1900s, like Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind. There is an old fashion juke box that spins hits from the 50s and 60s, “It’s called Malt shop music,” Shrigley said.
Shrigley says the old-fashioned soda and ambience isn’t the only reason people come to Gatsbees. The soda fountain has everything from hot dogs and banana splits to TV dinners and board games. Shrigley says Gatsbees is about bringing back a simpler time when families and friends hung around the soda fountain for a good time.
“This place is really unique. It's the only one that we know of in this area. There's only one Gatsbees and that's right here," Shrigley said.
Gatsbees is located in Irmo at 7585 Saint Andrews Road.
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