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  • kelly o

The story of Bluebird's beautiful antique soda fountain starts with stomachaches. Newly installed in the ice cream shop's Fremont branch, the varnished wood, huge mirrors, and polished white marble counters originally graced the G.O. Guy pharmacy in Pioneer Square at the turn of the last century. Soda fountains started, the un-uniformed but well-informed soda jerk at Bluebird told me one hot afternoon last week, because pharmacists of yore would prescribe soda water for upset stomach—here she winningly rubbed her tummy—but people didn't like the taste. So they added sugary-sweet flavorings, and voilà: The drugstore soda fountain was born. It would, of course, fall out of fashion and pretty much die later, but not before helping to birth a national obesity epidemic, after pop delivery became an inexpensive two-liter bottle or 64-ounce plastic cup, administered several times daily... but that's another story.

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