BROOKDALE SODA -- Pride of the Garden State

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2011-10-20T22:35:00.000-04:00

Check out the Brookdale Soda page on Facebook.

Brookdale Soda: Tchotchkes for Sale

2010-09-02T22:14:00.001-04:00

Nice little notice about the Brookdale soda memorabilia table at the Van Riper Street Fair this Sunday in Nutley.

Check it out ... Brookdale Soda: Tchotchkes for Sale

Fridge magnet

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Copyright © 2010 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission.
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Buy BROOKDALE SODA emblem items

2010-08-14T11:42:00.000-04:00

BROOKDALE SODA t-shirts, mouse pads, and more on sale

Brookdale Black Cherry Soda Mouse Pad

Saturday, Aug 28, 2010
Nutley Flea Market
Park Street/Msgr. Owens Park

BROOKDALE SODA MERCHANDISE for sale

2010-08-12T13:18:00.001-04:00

T-shirts, mouse pads, wall clocks, buttons, magnets, more!
The one and only Brookdale Soda created in Bloomfield!

JERSEY GROWN - 100%

Above link is not affiliated with the owner of this blog and respective owners have no financial ties.

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Wanted: Your old photos of Brookdale soda

2010-07-03T13:02:00.003-04:00

Don't send them now, but if you have photos related to Brookdale beverage, the plant, the ads, the guys carrying the cases to you house, Brookdale beverage companie picnics, press releases, order forms, memorabilia such as bottles with labels, full bottles, empty bottles, wooded cases, plastic cases, bottle openers, ash trays, bottle caps, plastic caps, cans (empty or full) please drop us an email at

Brookdale Soda Stuff

Baristanet and Brookale Soda

2010-06-24T11:14:00.005-04:00

Although she grew up in Northern Virginia, novelist and Baristanet founder Debra Galant is hearing a lot of good things these days about growing up with Brookdale soda in those days.

Read more.

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What year did Brookdale soda close?

2010-03-05T13:10:00.005-04:00

Anthony-

I just came across your site today. What memories it brought back. I had forgotten about many of the flavors, but not that bright green lime. I remember going over to my grandmother's and her serving Brookdale soda. I loved that black cherry pit. Also birch beer.

Quick question, what year did Brookdale close?

Thanks for the memories,

Dave L.
- formerly of Summit, NJ ( I think they delivered to my grandmother who lived next door)

*******************************
August 2010:

Brookdale Beverage closed in 1988.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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Another case of Brookdale empties salvaged

2010-01-17T19:46:00.004-04:00

Got a call last night from a history buff who knows I try to save any Brookdale soda memorabilia that comes my way.

Turns out he was cleaning out his basement ahead of moving closer to selling it and he wanted to know if I wanted the empty Brookdale soda bottles and the blue plastic case. Of course, I was cross town knocking at his door before the telephone cooled off and ready to take the ten bottles home for safe-keeping.

All he asked in return is a photo of the case and bottles. That's the first thing on my list for the next sunny day.

Thanks, pal.

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Brookdale Soda Cans?

2009-08-05T23:56:00.000-04:00

Hi Anthony,

I am sure you have gotten this before but i came across your site and was amazed. I am a brookdale fan!

In the late 70 and early 80's my brother and i knew all the spot's that sold Brookdale. In fact the other day he and I were talking about the cola and the artwork on the can. I remember it as red with a horse shoe and horse on the front. (is that right?) My brother disagrees.

Do you have any pictures of the can? I love to settle the bet.

thanks in advance,

-shea

Scott checks in with memories of Brookdale soda

2009-02-19T23:41:00.004-04:00

"...Hi.
I somehow stumbled across your site - WOW! Blast from the past!
I remember going to exchange the bottles @ Heller & Heller, someplace in Bloomfield, and someplace in Belleville near Newark I think.

When I was really young, I remember they even had a truck that did deliveries. I remember the bottles of soda stacked on the truck. NEAT to see the pictures.

If you're interested, Franklin Farms has an old Brookdale Soda Clock inside the store. Round, yellow and blue I think, and it still works! If you see him open, stop in and check out the time!

I think it's been there for 30 years and the guy who used to run the place was a distributor or a delivery guy - not sure, but there's a story there.

Its funny what you remember out of the blue sometimes. So many of my birthday parties as a kid had Brookdale sodas involved - for some reason I remember the lime - so bright green - and the fruit punch the most. They even had the plastic bottle tops to put on the bottle after it was opened. Kind of a translucent plastic I think. (I wonder if my parents have any at home?) If I come across any other Brookdale stuff, I'll keep you posted!

Thanks for running that blog! I put a link to it from the home page for now. I thought it would be neat for visitors to see other Belleville-related things too. Especially things that are no more.

Scott ... "

Edited from two separate emails from the same writer.

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Grace Remembers The Flavorings

2009-02-16T22:03:00.001-04:00

Grace reports in:

"...The extracts for that soda, the Black Cherry Pit, the Orange, the Cream and the Root Beer were manufactured by my grandfather, and father, I am the last descendant from that line.

I lived on Lake Street and went to Sacred Heart School.

Whenever I came home from school, the whole house smelled of cherry pit and still when I smell cherry I go back to my childhood.

My favorite candle to burn today is Black Cherry.

Sometimes when I’d come home from school in my little uniform with the knee socks and beanie, my grandfather would ask me to taste (imagine a six year old doing Human Factors) a new flavor he was experimenting with, some I liked others I did not, so your next "new" soda was in the hands (or flavor buds) of a 6 - 10 year old.

We also supplied many of the Italian Ice Stores you probably went to. It was a charmed life, no locked doors, playing in Branch Brook Park until dusk and sitting on the stoop with my friends.

Thanks for remembering...."

Bobby Cole on Brookdale Soda

2009-01-11T09:12:00.007-04:00

Brookdale Soda...The Best I've ever tasted

Growing up in Newark New Jersey in the 60's and 70's, I was exposed to the best food and drink you could ever imagine. I knew it too, and I can look back now and realize now how magical of an era it was in America's history. I could spend weeks and weeks talking about the different foods and beverages the inner cities of the Northeast had at their fingertips but for this post, I will discuss the greatest soda I have ever tasted.
Continue reading

Thanks to Retrobobby for

Going Going Gone
A time it was...It was a time

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Letters, We Get Letters

2008-08-02T07:43:00.002-04:00

This letter, about our original Memories Of Brookdale Soda from our archive, was unearthed this past spring (along with our SAT score and Draft Card) and we thougth it might be a hoot to post here.

BTW - we don't live there anymore.

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Stamps - 13 Cents!

2008-07-31T06:58:00.001-04:00

Way back when you could send snail mail for 13 cents. Today, you couldn't get a four-year old to lick the stamp (not that anyone does THAT anymore, either) for 13 cents.

As always, thanks for taking the time to write.

You who read this can simply log in and give us your 13-cents worth!

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Cache of Green Brookdale Soda Bottles

2008-07-27T18:53:00.004-04:00

Jim writes:

My son left a huge bottle collection in my garage. There is a red plastic case with coca cola in white holding 12 dark green bottles with brookdale beverage, bloomfield nj DURAGLAS on bottom no labels--just curious, any thoughts thanks

Dear JIM

Wow. You are so lucky to have been left such a treasure. However, don't expect to fund a nice vacation after a visit to the Antiques Roadshow.

Besides myself and a few people I've run into who own Brookdale paraphernalia (and have allowed me to photograph it), I don't know that there is any monetary value in the bottles.

When I'm gone, I expect that all my Brookdale stuff will end up in the local museum.

Can You Name the Brookdale Soda Flavors?

2008-07-21T22:32:00.002-04:00

Two questions:

1 - What's your favorite Brookdale soda flavor?

2 - Without peeking, how many Brookdale soda flavors can you name?

Bonus question - tell us a flavor we missed!

Birch Beer
Black Raspberry
Celery
Cheers
Cherry & Cherry Pit
Club Soda
Coca-Cream
Cola
Cream
Fruit Punch
Ginger Ale
Half And Half
Kola
Lemon
Lemon-Lime
Lime
Orange
Quinine
Root Beer
Tom Collins Mixer
Tonic Water

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Three collections of essays by
Anthony Buccino are now available on Kindle.

A Father's Place, An Eclectic Collection
Sister Dressed Me Funny
Rambling Round, Inside and Outside at the Same Time

FLAVORS - Cream

2008-06-12T06:38:00.000-04:00

Some folks say Cream flavored Brookdale soda was a vanilla soda. Do you remember this flavor? Did it have a vanilla taste?

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FLAVORS - Birch Beer

2008-06-05T06:32:00.000-04:00

Birch Beer flavored Brookdale soda always had a good kick to it, not to mention a lot of bubbles.

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FLAVORS - Root Beer

2008-05-30T06:29:00.000-04:00

As we were saying, Brookdale Beverage Co. made many of their popular flavors in regular and diet. Here are the Root Beer flavor bottles.

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FLAVORS - Cherry and Cherry Pit

2008-05-27T06:26:00.002-04:00

Did you know that Brookdale Beverage Co. made diet versions of many of their flavors. Here is a bottle of diet Cherry & Cherry Pit.

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FLAVORS - Kola

2008-05-20T06:21:00.000-04:00

Probably the most popular Brookdale Beverage Co. flavor - the original Kola - with a K. Here shown in the see-through and the dark-green bottle.

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Blue Brookdale Soda Cases

2008-05-13T07:16:00.001-04:00

Maybe you remember the original wooden boxes for the 12-bottle Brookdale soda cases, but they are quite rare. If any exist, we'd love to see it!

Anybody who remembers Brookdale soda remembers going to the plant, or depot, or Home Liquors and filling up the case according to your family's taste preferences.

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FLAVORS - Tonic Water

2008-05-06T07:13:00.000-04:00

Featuring something called Tonic Water from Brookdale Beverage Co.

Is it tonic or is it water? What's up with that?

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FLAVORS - Black Raspberry

2008-04-29T11:09:00.001-04:00

Featuring black raspberry flavored Brookdale soda.

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FLAVORS - Tom Collins

2008-04-22T06:11:00.001-04:00

Featuring Tom Collins mixers from Brookdale Beverage Co.

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FLAVORS Lemon

2008-04-18T06:49:00.000-04:00

Featuring lemon flavored Brookdale soda:

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Brookdale Mixers Stash Discovered

2008-04-16T11:15:00.005-04:00

What's a Tom Collins, anyway?

Our friend Bob told us about these cases of Brookdale soda bottles he had in his garage. And although he wouldn't part with them, he allowed us to visit with our camera.

Copyright © 2008 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved. Photos and content may not be used for commercial purposes without written permission. Click on photos for close-up view.

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Letters, We Get Letters

2008-04-04T08:23:00.002-04:00

Sent: Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:36 pm
Subject: Brookdale Beverage

Hi,

I just read your story online about Brookdale Beverage and it brought back some memories for me. I worked behind Mr Peretti's home at Brookdale Beverage for a couple of years during high school ('82-84). It was my first job. I also attended school with his grandchildren (which is how I found out about the job). He was an intelligent, hardworking, firm but fair man. Although I appreciated the gesture, I really hated the lunch sandwiches that he made for us (still not sure what type of lunchmeat it was).

I look back and reflect on how hard the work was! Right about the time that I worked there, in hindsight, they had an opportunity to differentiate themselves by developing healthy drinks (like Snapple did). Unfortunately, Joe grew old and there was no-one there to tweak the business model. I wish I was a few years older at the time and was able to somehow help keep his dream alive.

Respectfully,

Frank

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Oh, THOSE old bottles?

2008-03-29T10:22:00.001-04:00

Should we clean them up and try to take a better photo, or leave them as-is?

We fear if the labels on these old Brookdale soda bottles get wet, they'll fade or disintegrate.

Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?

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More On Celery Soda, Really

2008-03-29T08:25:00.000-04:00

Letters, we get letters.

Hi Anthony,

I enjoyed reading the articles on Brookdale Soda. I
have collected Celery Soda bottles, advertising, and
ephemera for thirty years and have over three hundred
items in my collection representing over a hundred
companies and thirty-five states plus Canada and Cuba.
I have bottles dating from the 1880s to the 1980s and
every decade in between.

Other New Jersey Celery Sodas included:

Williams Celery Clifton, NJ
Brown's Celery and Phosphate Camden, NY
O-Celery Camden, NJ
Imnken Celery Tonic, Hoboken, NJ
Hoffman Celery Tonic Newark, NJ
Singers Celery Patterson, NJ
Zimmerman's Celery Tonic Patterson, NJ
Celery=Cola Newark, NJ

Would you send me contact information for the Nutley
Museum? I would love to get a picture of a Brookdale
Celery if they have on in that case on display.

Regards,

Dennis Smith

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drink "UP" Cheers

2008-03-21T20:16:00.001-04:00

Here is a copy of a Brookdale soda advertisement for its Cheers soda - a lemon lime drink similar to Sprite and 7-Up. It was available in diet, too.

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Dog Park Named After Our Favorite Soda

2008-03-05T07:47:00.007-04:00

We must have known it would come to this. Now, that there's this incredible revival of Brookdale soda and all things related, the county of Essex in New Jersey has not only named a county park after our soda ... but a million-dolllar dog park, as well.

Brookdale Dog Park is not without its controversy.

The dog park has been a little secret for years, but recently the county spent a lot of tax dollars to improve the area with fenced in security and special gravel, yada, yada, yada.

Now that the area has been improved, the folks who live in the neighborhood complain about barking dogs and people parking and walking down their street to the dog park.

You might say, aw, it's just those uppity people who live in Upper Montclair who complain.

It proves the adage, no good deed goes unpunished. Meanwhile, dog owners tip their hats to Essex County Joe DiVincenzo for doing something.

After all, something is something that hasn't been tried before in Brookdale Park.

Read about the Dog Fight on Baristanet.

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Old Paper Shreds Tell Tale of Brookdale Soda

2008-02-24T21:40:00.006-04:00

No matter how small your piece of Brookdale Soda trivia is, we want to know about it. Share with us your memories of Brookdale soda.

Old Fashion Birch Beer

Page One of Lost Manuscript

Kola with a K

Final Page of Lost Manuscript

Written on a Smith Corona portable typewriter, on Carpenter Street in Belleville, N.J. This a copy of the poorly-typed, poorly proofread original article that later became a classic. First printed in The Independent Press of Bloomfield on July 22, 1976. Russell Roemmele, editor.

Memories of Brookdale Soda
The Kid Gets A Job At Brookdale Soda by Tom Garcia
Brookdale Soda in Verse
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Brookdale Beverages - Light and Clock

2008-02-14T06:43:00.000-04:00

WHAT? Milk!

What time is it? It's Brookdale Soda time!

Small pieces of our past are vanishing ... unlike this clock that a fellow in Pennsylvania had and wanted to pass along. So, thanks, now that the package has arrived safely. We'll keep the ice cold for you.

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Celery Soda, Part Two

2008-02-06T20:15:00.000-04:00

Celery Brookdale Soda

Used by permission of Victoria Chalk

Click on image for easier reading view.

Father's Brookdale Route in Belleville and Newark

2008-02-05T21:39:00.000-04:00

Hi,
My father also worked for BROOKDALE BEVERAGE.

I will never forget aunt Marie and uncle Joe and of course Barbara and Joseph.

Most of all i will never forget the wonderful picnics they gave all the employees, i think every year.

My father, Gene Merich, now passed away, had his own soda route which was in newark and belleville. I remember his brookdale truck and the wooden soda cases. I think my favorite flavor was the cream.

I could go on and on, just so many great memories with brookdale soda.

DIANA

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Forecast: Refreshment

2008-02-04T20:14:00.000-04:00

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Hot Out Herre

2008-02-01T17:43:00.000-04:00

Another Brookdale soda drinker heard from!

"...No matter what we ended up doing, we always stopped at the Brookdale cash-and-carry on Route 9 in Sayreville. We'd get a dozen new bottles of soda every week..."

Continue reading cold beverages

Thanks to Mike Appelstein

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Read the Writing on the Wall

2008-01-31T23:07:00.000-04:00

Heller/Heller wall, Nutley, N.J.

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OVER THE BACK FENCE ... Celery soda?

2008-01-31T22:44:00.000-04:00

OVER THE BACK FENCE ... Do you remember Brookdale's celery soda?

From a weekly column written by Victoria Chalk in the Nutley Sun:

"...Appearing on a popular local website created by local history buff Anthony Buccino. It was an essay entitled "A Kid Gets A Job" by Tom Garcia ..."

Thanks to Vicky, her reader Robert Wilson and to all of you who pass along this web site link.

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Black Friday Gift Ideas

2007-11-21T22:57:00.000-04:00

Black Friday Deals

You can support this blog by finding something you can't live without at this link.

Stumbling Onto Brookdale Soda

2007-10-11T21:07:00.000-04:00

good morning,

was looking for something else and accidentally, though i have always thot most things are meant to happen, came across your website. just finished reading about brookdale soda and i realize i have missed something wonderful. what a great story!

in texas our thing was dr. pepper. good grief, i love that stuff. was thrilled when it finally started reaching outside the texas borders to make its way to the east coast, then shop rite, then to entwistle avenue, where we live. ;)

anyway, just wanted to say thank you for being part of my early morning coffee. as someone who has been encouraged to write and in fact is starting to put pen feelings about a very young son lost, it is somehow grounding and an extreme unexpected pleasure to know of someone so close that writes with heart. everyone's life is such a story. the words of your life makes me wish i had known brookdale soda.

have a blessed day.

Thanks for taking the time to write
Like Mark Twain said,
I can live for two months on a good compliment.
I don't admit this often, but I have - in my youth -
tasted Fresca and Mountain Dew.
What what I thinking?

An Old Brookdale bottle ...

2007-10-08T21:05:00.000-04:00

I have this old empty Brookdale Bottle and it says it's from Bloomfield on the bottle. I'm wondering if you can tell me when this company started out thanks

...John

Mr. Peretti!

2007-09-30T13:23:00.000-04:00

I just read the story of Brookdale soda. I purchased a house in 1980 and Brookdale Soda was right in back of us. We could have yelled over for a few bottles but I used to drive my car around the corner and go up the long driveway. I would pick out all my soda and someone would help me carry it to the trunk of my car. Mr Peretti usually worked the cash register.

I too remember when he fell ill, and sold his building. Which is now a developement of homes. I did not realize he had so much land. My children remember Brookdale soda....now I realize that is probably how he got the name because our area of Bloomfield was considered the "Brookdale" section....?????

Just some memories I had to share thanks.

--Dolores

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Sylvan Road Plant

2007-09-07T13:21:00.000-04:00

In a message dated 9/7/2007 8:52:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
Sksommese writes:

I WAS BORN AND RAISED IN BLFD. I REMEMBER GOING TO BROOKDALE BEVERAGE EVERY SATURDAY WITH MY FATHER TO BRING BACK THE EMPTY CASE AND REFILL IT. 1940'S-1950'S.
I USED TO WATCH THE BOTTLES ON THE CONVEYER BELT GETTING FILLED AND CAPPPED. THE PLANT WAS ON SYLVAN ROAD. NOW THERE ARE HOMES ON THE OLD SITE.

SODA OR POP, THE DEBATE RAGES!

2007-07-10T18:15:00.000-04:00

In the AOL FOOD section, the debate continues over whether that sugar water drink is called soda or pop or soda pop.

The last time I looked, there were more than 520 comments, including one of mine.

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Where WAS the Brookdale Soda Plant?

2007-06-30T20:14:00.000-04:00

Hi, Anthony!

It's Barbara - I have written to you before. And I have a question.

Anthony, exactly where was the old Brookdale Soda factory located? I can remember going there a lot of times to pick up soda for parties, etc. - but I'll be darned if I can remember where it was????

Also, what is there now? Just curious.

I revisited your website today after a long time - it is still great and continues to bring back all the GOOD memories, not the BAD ones. LOL Keep up the good work.

Barbara

Anyone out there know the answer to this?

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Brookdale Soda .... In Verse

2007-04-06T10:51:00.000-04:00

Who could wait to drive
the family sedan or wagon
To the Brookdale soda depot
on 6th Street or Sylvan?
Empty cases in the trunk.
Scooting through tree-lined streets
to the back yard driveway off
Sylvan Avenue in Bloomfield
or the Allwood Circle cross town,
or off to downtown at Heller/Heller.

Continue Reading

Another View of that Wooden Crate

2007-03-25T10:00:00.000-04:00

Stacks of Brookdale ... Empties

2007-03-17T11:59:00.000-04:00

Classic case was on-loan to Nutley Historical Society

We Get Email

2007-03-10T17:04:00.000-04:00

POST SCRIPT - We get a random email every so often from some transplanted Brookdale Soda drinker who wants to know if the beverage is still available. WE welcome your emails. In fact, someone offered us two cases of empties whether or not there's a deposit available.

The last time this story was published, in 1996, for the second time in The Independent Press of Bloomfield, the soda pop distributor had been shuttered for several years. Brookdale was also the name of a neighborhood bordering Bloomfield and Clifton.

The site of the Brookdale soda depot at the Allwood Circle in Clifton is now a car parts store. The depot site on No. Sixth Street in Newark has been abandoned. In fact, you can see the back of the building from the Newark City Subway. The Home Liquors and Heller/Heller stores don't carry it either.

The Sinisi depot on Montgomery Street in Bloomfield has no sodas. And lastly, the Brookdale soda depot in Bloomfield near High Street and East Passaic Avenue has been converted to housing.

Anyway, 28 years ago, who would have conceived of a world without Brookdale Soda?

-- (July 16, 2004)

Our Old Lab Knew Dead Wood

2007-03-07T10:58:00.000-04:00

The first time we saw our new house was March 17. A late season snow covered the streets and sidewalks and shrubbery.

In the living room that seemed to go on forever was a tow-headed child sound asleep on a couch that sat perpendicular to the warm glow of the crackling fire behind the metal screen in the fireplace.

Nothing else much mattered about the tour of that old house after seeing that child asleep in front of the fireplace. It was like we were privileged to be buying a house from Norman Rockwell himself.

In no time at all, we had seen the center-hall stairs that led to the three bedrooms. At the other end, the stairs led to the high-ceilinged cellar and the stacks of Brookdale soda cases.

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IT'S BROOKDALE SODA TIME

2007-02-28T23:56:00.000-04:00

Coulda got it on eBay!

A Kid Gets A Job @ Brookdale Soda

2007-02-24T22:48:00.000-04:00

Sixteen years old and looking for work, something to supplement caddying at the Country Club which was only a good thing on week-ends in fair weather. What could be handier than the soda pop factory two blocks up the street from my house? So came about my three year association with Brookdale Beverage of Bloomfield, New Jersey.

They needed extra help afternoons when the trucks returned from their routes. Unload the empties and pile on the new product so the trucks would be ready to roll bright and early the next morning.

Continue Reading Tom Garcia's Remembrance

Brookdale Soda Came In Wooden Cases!

2007-02-17T22:56:00.000-04:00

commercial purposes without written permission.

Brookdale Soda - The Only Game In Town

2007-02-16T07:57:00.000-04:00

Great job with the site http://www.oldbelleville.org/brookdale.html.

I lived in West Paterson as a kid and visited Joey D's Bar on Mc Bride Ave because he was the only game in town with Brookdale Soda. The neighborhood pals always enjoyed it when my dad arrived with 6 cartons of Soda. Wiffleball, the ice cream man and Brookdale Soda was a part of our daily events. (Not to say that we never threw water balloons or eggs at moving vehicles)

Now living in Southern California, A&W Rootbeer is the Soda King. They never experienced companies like Brookdale Soda in this region. There are more plastic surgeons than Soda providers.

Thanks again for info........

Patrick W.
BMD - Territory Manager

Uncle Owned Brookdale Soda Co.

2007-02-12T07:55:00.000-04:00

My uncle Joe owned Brookdale. My father Angelo built the company as its general manager. My brother Anthony made the soda in the lab. I worked there when I was 11 at the store behind my uncle’s house in Bloomfield on Sylvan Way where the original plant was. The worked at the cash and carry store in Clifton down the street from the plant (now a Home Depot). I worked a few summers with my brother in the lab making the soda. I share many of the same memories of Brookdale soda growing up as well. Don’t forget the coco cream! Let me know if you want more words, I have a few to offer. Thank you for bringing back the memories.

Thomas A. L.

1960s Brookdale Soda Worker!

2007-02-08T07:51:00.000-04:00

Anthony,

Had fun reading about your experience with Brookdale sodas. I became the chemist (that Tom Garcia refers to ) after working as a bottle sorter, truck loader and case stacker , as Tom was, and remembers as a tough job. I worked at Brookdale from 1957 to 1967 and helped them make their move from Sylvan Road in Bloomfield to the Styretown circle in Clifton and continued as their chemist until I left in 1967. Went to work for Anheuser Busch in Newark and transferred to Fairfield, Ca to help start up this brewery. Have since retired and live in Sedona, Az. I also have some great memories of Brookdale as they helped me work my way through college and I always had a high regard for their product and remember fondly Mr and Mrs Peretti along with their kids Barbara and Joey. Brings back some great memories.

Ron K

'I Can Go for Two Months On a Compliment' - M. Twain

2007-02-05T00:14:00.000-04:00

I am a 50 years old and moved to a Boston suburb 23 years ago. I graduated from Bloomfield High School in 1974. I lived the first 24 years of my life on a small street off of Watchung Avenue.

Last night, I think in a dream, somehow I thought about Brookdale Beverage, and decided to google it. I found your article, and then your other pieces of writing. I just spent about an hour "walking down Memory Lane". It was great.

About Brookdale Beverage, I remember driving up (what seemed to be) a long driveway with my mom, going in telling the man what flavors we wanted and we were on our way. It was a COOL place! There was also a farm in the Allwood section of Clifton where we used to go and get fresh eggs! (I wonder if you knew that?)

I loved the Town Pub too.

Anyway, it was great to read your writings.

Thank you,

Elaine Carlson Murray

PS - I emailed the Uncle Floyd info to my brother. He was always a big fan!

What's In Your Basement?

2007-02-04T00:28:00.000-04:00

Brookdale Soda memorabilia wanted

The Saga Continues

2007-02-03T20:00:00.000-04:00

There ain't nothing in the world like washing down a Taylor ham sandwich with orange Brookdale soda.

Sometimes I get email that read something like this:

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Copyright © 2007 by Anthony Buccino, all rights reserved.

Memories of Brookdale Soda

2007-02-01T10:41:00.000-04:00

I never drank milk except in coffee when I was a kid. That was back in the days when milkmen made house calls.

In our neighborhood on Gless Avenue in Belleville, New Jersey, we had strong young fellows who delivered our cases of 12-pack Brookdale soda bottles.

The men, strong and sure, gripped the cases, one in each hand and lugged our soda up the stairs to our second floor apartment.

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