The business began as a small Italian grocery store in Los Angeles, California. It has been family owned and operated for more than 100 years. Although the focus of the store has changed to soda pop and beer from around the world (sorry folks we cannot ship beer!), we still maintain our Italian deli in the back of our retail store. We originally became known for our “Blockbuster” sandwiches which are made fresh daily using ingredients from family-owned businesses.
The passion for soda began when John F. Nese was a child. His father’s best friend owned a soda pop bottling plant where John loved to visit in the 1950s. At that time, he also spent his summers at Happy Camp. It was here that he would dream of hooking the natural, bubbling spring water, adding syrup and siphoning it to his elementary school’s drinking fountains.
In 1995, John began increasing his assortment of sodas not only out of love, but also as a protest to some of the larger soda companies that were not offering him the same prices as his larger competitors. He figured why not support other small businesses such as his own?
