The View From Woodrow's Front Porch

I don’t think they make Double Cola anymore. We used to sit out on the steps of Woodrow Kennon’s Grocery Store and debate its merits…..or lack thereof. It didn’t taste twice as good as Coca-Cola or Pepsi Cola or Royal Crown Cola— “How do you know that?” Richard Lynn would argue with a sign post. “What exactly does a Coca-Cola ‘doubled’ taste like anyhow?”

Silence.

We rolled the measurability of colas around in our little minds for a moment. A slow moving day in 1959 could give rise to all sorts of possibilities. “It’s sure not double darker than the other colas.” That was not debatable. They all looked about the same. They all bubbled up when poured. Put your thumb over the end and shake them hard and they’d fizz up just alike. To be honest, you add a pack of Tom’s Peanuts and I couldn’t tell the difference in the taste of any of them. On a good hot day we’d accept whatever met the three main requirements we were seeking: cold, wet and refreshing. 

We called all soft drinks “cokes”. Pop was a sound a cap pistol made; or possibly someone’s older father. We didn’t drink pop. And “sodas” referred to a drink containing at least two scoops of vanilla ice cream. It took us one whole summer to realize Millicent Blackburn’s cousin from Wayne, Michigan, was referring to Cokes, Pepsis and/or NuGrapes when he’d invite us down to John Motheral’s Drugstore for a soda.

I remember when Double Cola, which I think was made in Tennessee, came out with the twisted glass, spiral bottle. It was a nice touch but, as eleven year olds, we were more into the contents than the aesthetics. I do remember that Double Cola was about the first to introduce the big 16 once bottle. Now, that would blow our stomachs up for the rest of the day!  

To the best of my knowledge they don’t make Raleigh Cigarettes anymore either. That is no great big loss to us as we never did smoke them in the first place but we’d check out the brands the old men used as they stepped around us coming and going out of Woodrow’s. Ricky did slip one of those Lucky Strikes out of his daddy’s pack and me and him and Yogi lit that thing up in the big ditch across Forrest Avenue from his house. We tried Winstons. And Camels. And one time we found a partial pack of Kent’s, with the famous Micronite filter. It was kinda like colas for me. I couldn’t really discern much difference in taste. And the whole smoking phenomenon for all of us lasted about two weeks in the summer between the seventh and eighth grade.

I never smoked another cigarette. But I have been thinking about this Raleigh thing. What if they were the best tasting cigarette ever? And I missed them! They might have tasted like a Butterfinger mixed with a chocolate malt! I’m never going to know. That sort of thing keeps me up at night. ’Course, my heart and my lungs probably sleep better because of it.

Hadacol was another product that was heading the way of the Dodo bird and twenty-five cent hair cuts even as we discussed its worth down at Woodrow’s. Hadacol elixir was a patent medicine advertised to add pep, jump, vim and vitality to your step. It would cure heartburn, indigestion, stomach ailments, nervous conditions, muscle cramps, night blindness, whooping cough and an assortment of other aches and pains. I don’t know the exact alcohol content but in some localities it could only be sold in liquor stores, which might account for its popularity as a vitamin supplement. And it might also explain why it sold so well in many “dry” counties throughout the South.

Shoot, General Motors doesn’t even make the Pontiac anymore. I never had the wherewithal to own one of course, but every head on Woodrow Kennon’s front porch stopped and stared when that big 1957 Fire Chief turned down Broadway. You’ve never seen so much chrome! The sun reflecting off of that thing would near ’bout blind you! It had those rockets on each front fender, right behind the head lights. Stars raced down the side and the tail fins seemed to extend a full city block. It was so long and lean you could finish your Double Cola before that classic got completely past! Naturally, we had no way of knowing that it was a classic at the time; but it sure beat them Ford Fairlanes and Chevy Bel Airs all to heck and back. It seems un-American to stop producing that car.

’Course, I’ve said the same thing about Drive Inn Restaurants with waitresses on roller skates. Black and white movies. Gas stations where the owner came out in a suit complete with the Texaco Star and pumped your gas, checked your oil and cleaned your windshield. I miss Carter’s Little Liver Pills, although I do understand their demise when it came to light that the little pill didn’t actually do anything for, or against, your liver. I haven’t seen or heard of Salvo Laundry Tablets in years. And I don’t think anyone cares anymore if Colonel Mustard busted Mrs. Peacock up side the head with a candlestick in the Library.

My pet rock died in 2002.

It’s amazing to look back at what you can’t see anymore. It is thought provoking to ponder on how some things linger, some fall by the wayside quickly, some you remember like yesterday and some can’t be dialed back up at all. We all have those great memories….. but of the many things listed today, and the ones I thought of and didn’t have time to write down, I’d swap’em for just five minutes on Woodrow’s front steps with the special friends that experienced it all with me……..

Respectfully,

Kes