Across Indiana
Zaharako's Ice Cream Parlor
Clip | 4m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Zaharako’s is a Columbus, Indiana classic for good reason.
Did you know July is National Ice Cream Month? Travel back in time to 1993 with Across Indiana producer J. Robert Cook to a truly timeless establishment, Zaharako’s. Providing treats since William McKinley was in office, Zaharako’s is an Indiana legend.
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Across Indiana is a local public television program presented by WFYI
Across Indiana
Zaharako's Ice Cream Parlor
Clip | 4m 39sVideo has Closed Captions
Did you know July is National Ice Cream Month? Travel back in time to 1993 with Across Indiana producer J. Robert Cook to a truly timeless establishment, Zaharako’s. Providing treats since William McKinley was in office, Zaharako’s is an Indiana legend.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- [Narrator] Ah, summer is here.
And the natural affinity between warm weather and ice cream has once again reared its caloric head.
To most of us here in Middle America, this is what we think of when words like sundae or banana split or malted are spoken, nice, clean, but rather plastic and prepackaged and with little variation in design or merchandise from Allentown to Altoona.
But in Columbus, Indiana, a town noted for its singularity in architecture and design, there remains a unique enterprise, one that has endured time and trends for nearly a century.
Welcome to Zaharako's, a Columbus tradition and delight since it first opened its doors when William McKinley was president.
- We've been here since 1900.
My grandfather and his brothers came over from Sparta, Greece, and they were in New York City for about a year or two.
And they came here because they had relatives in the area and they opened up the candy business.
There was originally only candy and ice cream, and later on they expanded to sandwiches.
That would probably would've been the late '40s.
We make our own syrups, our own ice creams.
We have good hot fudge and good butterscotch.
We do probably about 90% of the cooking here.
We do a lot of that, and it's sandwiches and soups, basically ice cream.
And we do have some candy still.
- [Narrator] The first thing you notice when you enter Zaharako's, which by the way means sugar in Greek, is that this is no ordinary soda parlor.
The syrup and water fountains are made of Mexican onyx with compartments for a variety of flavors, some of which are not often heard of today.
- Back here in the back bar, you'll see this.
This came in 1905.
It was on display at the St. Louis World's Fair.
And they saw that and they liked it, and they got a double back bar, as you can see.
And in back of this is the mahogany wood.
And all this was done for us by the liquid carbonic company.
Now, the company's still in existence, but they no longer make fixtures like this.
They deal inert gases, and I believe they're located in Chicago, Illinois.
- Toss in stained glass storage cabinets and art deco features as well as a Tiffany style lamp complete with dolphins.
And you begin to see why the people of Columbus hold this place so dear.
By the way, the music you hear is from a 1908 German orchestrion that still serenades the patrons with the classics.
(bright music) - I was just a little kid when I remember coming here for that.
I suppose 70 years would be a fair estimate.
I'm 76.
And they used to be open on, well, they used to be open on Sundays.
They had curb service.
You'd drive up out here in front on the street and park and blow the horn while one of these boys would come out and take your order before the days of the drive in.
Definitely, I was this little kid when I remember coming here for that.
I don't know, it's just a homey place, I guess I might say.
I think they help here and a lot of the patrons are just as close as family.
- It's nice to have charm, so to speak and something different, so you're not like everybody else.
And I think that's the appeal.
It can be difficult times, but if you keep at it and you're persistent, you can do anything.
- [Narrator] A place like Zaharako's may not seem very important nowadays.
After all, we live in a health conscious age where things like ice cream and soda fountains are considered passe in favor of low-cal yogurt and juice bars.
But maybe what's important is not that Zaharako's is still here as some quaint reminder of how things were, but that it's here to remind us of how things can be with a little care and attention.
- [Announcer] For more Across Indiana stories, go to wfyi.org/AcrossIndiana.
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