BUSINESS John Nese, 78, surrounds himself with his favorite sweet — soda — at his Galco’s Soda Pop Stop.
GALCO’S SODA POP STOP: A LOCAL LEGEND LIVES JOHN NESE SELLS ROUGHLY 750 DIFFERENT SODA VARIETIES f there is one place that typifies Highland Park’s generationally diverse and eccentric nature, it just might be Galco’s Soda Pop Stop. The store has been a reliably quirky neighborhood fixture on York Boulevard since 1955. John Nese, 78, represents the second generation of ownership at that location. Galco’s Soda Pop Stop was founded in 1896 as an Italian grocery store. For those locals who are somehow unfamiliar with Galco’s, its shelves are crammed with bottles of obscure vintage sodas from around the world, as well as an impressively eclectic and refined selection of craft beers, wine and sake. There’s also a case of nostalgic candy brands and a small section of toys. The one-time deli case serves as a space to make its legendary Blockbuster sandwiches. Come to Galco’s for an Italian deli sub, a Green River soda, a Pez dispenser and a kite. “It was always an Italian grocery,” says Nese at a shaded table in the store’s secluded back patio. “It was originally founded by a man by the name of Gallioti. He took in a partner, who then took my father in as a partner. I think it was ’43. (We’ve been) at this location since 1955. Before that, we were on Castellar and Ord, which was the center of Little Italy in Los Angeles. “Before that, we were on Alpine and North Broadway and before that, they were out on Pico and before that I don’t know.” In 1955, the business was divided due to differences in opinion between Nese’s father and a partner. “When I was 8 or 9 years old, I asked my father if I could go to work with him,” Nese says. “He brought me to work with him every day, one summer vacation. I thought it was a pretty good deal. I got a Blockbuster (sandwich) to eat, and I got a Dad’s root beer to drink because we never had any sodas. You only had ice water and Kool-Aid. I thought it was a pretty good deal.” Nese grew up in Pasadena and graduated from John Muir High School. Afterward, he enrolled in a six-month stint in the Army and then attended Pasadena City College before graduating from USC with a degree in history. Upon graduation, Nese intended to return to the family’s store, despite his father’s advice to work for a larger corporate firm. “I came back to the store,” Nese says. “My father just looked at me with this nonplussed look on his face and he says, ‘You’re a damn fool. Go for the money because you’re not going to make any money here. You’re going to make a living and that’s going to be it.’ And I says, ‘Oh, OK.’” With his father, Nese operated Galco’s successfully as a neighborhood grocery store and deli. “We did pretty well up through the late ’90s,” he says. “The big chain stores bought the distribution channels of the little stores and closed them down. Regular groceries were costing more. In a five-year period, all the little grocery stores disappeared. I’m looking at this and I’m going, ‘What are we going to do?’ Most everybody got out of the business over a five-, seven-year period.” Galco’s was in desperate need of a pivot. When craft beer took hold,
Photo by Chris Mortenson
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BY FRIER MCCOLLISTER
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