the tastes of my childhood

Cliff and I sometimes get into a discussion about the favorite soda pops of our childhood.  That's "pop" for me (Iowa-born), and "sodie" for Cliff (born in the Lake-of-the-Ozarks-area).
I've wondered why he'd never heard of my favorite, Tyler Grape.  But with the help of Google, I now understand.  Tyler was bottled in Clarinda, Iowa... a few miles from where I lived as a child.  Daddy spent a lot of time across the road from the switchboard office in Guss, where we lived, talking to local men in Mitchell's blacksmith shop.  There was a pop machine there, and I could always talk Daddy out of a nickel for a bottle of Tyler grape; I can almost taste it now, thinking about it.  A Google search led me to Ebay, which has a Tyler bottle for sale starting at $9.99.  The seller had this to say:   "We are listing a 10 oz 1958 Tyler's ACL Soda Bottle from Clarinda, Iowa that is in very good condition with no chips or cracks. Bottle has the more uncommon blue and white ACL colors."  I did, in fact, buy the bottle.  

The brand of "sodie" Cliff remembers best is Polly pop, which I learned (once again with the help of Google) was bottled in Independence, Missouri.  I found an interesting story about the history of Polly's HERE. 

After my family moved to Kansas City, Vess became a favorite.  Mother would get a quart bottle of Vess strawberry pop, and a half-gallon of cheap vanilla ice cream, and create the world's best ice cream soda.

Tastes are such a vital part of my memories.  A search on the Internet tells me that Vess is still in business and can be bought in the St. Louis area.  I wonder if they still make the strawberry flavor.