Homeier's Dairy
Homeier's Dairy is just a fading memory, now. Located on Stanford in about the 900 block, Homeier's was a little store that sold things such as milk in glass bottles, ice cream, penny candy, and school supplies, including the illustrious Pee-Chee folders (also, now just fading memory).
The best thing about Homeier's Dairy, though, was the soda fountain.
On Fridays, my dad would come home on his lunch hour and give my mom grocery money for the coming week. At the same time, he'd give me my wages for washing the dishes all week. My wages consisted of a quarter. As he handed it to me, he'd always say, "don't spend it all in one place." Right.
As soon as my dad went back to work, and my mom headed off to the grocery store, I hotfooted it over to Homeier's. Mr. Homeier treated me like a barkeep treats his best drunk. He'd wait patiently in his white shirt, white trousers, and black belt when I'd walk in the door, plop down on one of the stools at the counter, and spin around several times.
When I finally settled down, he'd ask, "the usual?" To which I'd nod my head in the affirmative.
My usual was a hand made chocolate milk shake served in the metal mixing container with a glass and a straw. (I'm near fainting, now, at recalling the taste.) The price was 20 cents. For a nickel more, you could make it a malt. Rarely did I get a malt. I wish I could say my intentions in not indulging in the malt were me heeding my father's words. But, no. Instead, I usually spent the change on jawbreakers and pixie stix.
I'm not sure when Homeier's opened or when it closed. But for me, it was a real treasure. I wish kids today could have known it.
The best thing about Homeier's Dairy, though, was the soda fountain.
On Fridays, my dad would come home on his lunch hour and give my mom grocery money for the coming week. At the same time, he'd give me my wages for washing the dishes all week. My wages consisted of a quarter. As he handed it to me, he'd always say, "don't spend it all in one place." Right.
As soon as my dad went back to work, and my mom headed off to the grocery store, I hotfooted it over to Homeier's. Mr. Homeier treated me like a barkeep treats his best drunk. He'd wait patiently in his white shirt, white trousers, and black belt when I'd walk in the door, plop down on one of the stools at the counter, and spin around several times.
When I finally settled down, he'd ask, "the usual?" To which I'd nod my head in the affirmative.
My usual was a hand made chocolate milk shake served in the metal mixing container with a glass and a straw. (I'm near fainting, now, at recalling the taste.) The price was 20 cents. For a nickel more, you could make it a malt. Rarely did I get a malt. I wish I could say my intentions in not indulging in the malt were me heeding my father's words. But, no. Instead, I usually spent the change on jawbreakers and pixie stix.
I'm not sure when Homeier's opened or when it closed. But for me, it was a real treasure. I wish kids today could have known it.
posted by Marie at 11:17 PM
5 Comments:
I went there also as a kid and lived about a block away.You could get a coke for 10 cents and if you were really cool and rich,they would put cherry juice from the fountain in it!
This was more than 30 years before Cherry Coke came along.They were ahead of their time.Also got base ball cards of what was then players of the 60's.
Thank you so much for commenting. Those cherry Cokes were really good. They also had vanilla (not imitation) and chocolate Cokes. I may have had a black cow, or two, too.
Oh yeah, those baseball cards.... As a gum chewing girl, I always felt rooked that the gum wasn't more than just a stick.
I just don't recall this place at all - despite not living far from the location.
But you sure do bring back memories.
Maybe it was just because as a kid everything taste more intense, or perhaps everyone waters down everything now-a-days, or perhaps it's a combination of the two, but everything sure tasted better back then.
A small sized hamburger, and small fries which was the regular size back then filled me up.
An a milkshake was an incredible treat!
JP
I have an old milk bottle that says Homeiers dairy Springfield Il. When did this place close?
During the first half of the 1960s I lived on the 2500 block of 7th Street which was really just right around the corner. My dad used to give me a note so that I could walk (by myself) to Homeier's Dairy to pick up a pack of Lucky Strikes. Often I was sent for bread and a gallon of milk. The milk came in glass bottles and a gallon was heavy for a little fella. Once I dropped and broke the gallon on the sidewalk in front of the store - milk and glass went everywhere. Of course I didn't have enough money to buy another gallon. The lady at the cash register told me to go back and get another bottle.
I drove by the site of the store in the early 80s and it was gone, if memory serves.
Just across the street was Jeri's, a barbershop where I got my haircut.
I went to nearby Harvard Park School and spent a lot of time in Bunn Park riding my bike, fishing. I found a small turtle there which I took home and kept for a few years.
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