Old-fashioned soda fountain at Green Line Apothecary

By DON FOWLER
Posted 5/15/19

By DON FOWLER Remember the good old days when you enjoyed an ice cream soda while waiting for your prescription at the corner drug store. I grew up in New Haven in the days when every neighborhood had a corner drug store.and most of them had a soda

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Old-fashioned soda fountain at Green Line Apothecary

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Remember the good old days when you enjoyed an ice cream soda while waiting for your prescription at the corner drug store.

I grew up in New Haven in the days when every neighborhood had a corner drug store…and most of them had a soda fountain. My favorite was Liggett’s, where I could get a fried egg sandwich and egg cream for under 50 cents.

I moved to Rhode Island in the mid-’60s, at a time when chains were starting to move into the area, buying out the small mom and pop stores and soda fountains were becoming a thing of the past. One of the last remaining was Delekta’s in Warren, where people would travel “all the way” from Cranston to order the best coffee cabinet in the state.

I’ve got some good news for you: pharmacist Christina Procaccianti and her husband have opened their second Green Line Apothecary (the other is in Wakefield) at 905 North Main St. in Providence. The huge store features aisles and aisles of over-the-counter medications and sundries, prescription medications and a soda fountain that is right out of the ’40s – literally. All of their drinks are made from scratch with natural, local where possible, and organic ingredients.

Joyce ordered a chocolate float with chocolate ice cream ($4) and I was brought back to my childhood with a coffee egg cream, made with seltzer ($5). There are a dozen or more combinations we’ll be back for.

The name Green Line came from the Green Line in Boston, where Carol met her husband. The store in Providence was a former aquarium and before that a Benny’s. What they have done with the space is classic. There is even an old delivery truck right in the store (and a new one parked out front. Yes, they deliver).

They are open seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information call 633-8100, or go online at greenlineapothecary.com.

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