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Pepsi hit the spot on pizzeria walls

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| Saturday, April 26, 2003 | No comments posted

Bill Wundram

"It's the Pepsi generation comin' at ya,

goin' strong.

You've got a lot to live, and Pepsi's got

a lot to give."

� Pepsi jingle, 1969

Don't say a sentimental farewell, yet, to those good old tall-necked Pepsi-Cola bottles, the ones of "Pepsi hits the spot, 12 full ounces, that's a lot."

More than 10,000 bottles, emptied by thirsty Quad-City drinkers, are enshrined in 24-bottle wooden cases to decorate the walls of a nationwide pizza chain.

Those Pepsi bottles just never give up!

When they quit bottling Pepsi in Davenport in 2001, that left only two plants in America (in Missouri and Idaho) where Pepsi still was bottled in glass. The product otherwise had surrendered to the bland can.

Pepsi-Cola Co., Davenport, accepts its glass empties for refund and has a willing market for them. The locals are shipping the bottles to Memphis, Mo., where one of those two last glass Pepsi bottlers is located. The Davenport firm also sends its old wood Pepsi cases (called shells) � once, 7,000 of them.

The Missouri bottler fills the bottles with real Pepsi, then glues them tightly into the wooden cases. From there, they go to the headquarters of Uno Pizzeria in Massachusettes for distribution to its outlets around the country to be used as wall pieces.

"The cases of filled Pepsi bottles are the ideal nostalgia decorations for the Uno walls," says Bob Stoddard, a Californian who is memorabilia consultant to Pepsi-Cola and the author of a half-dozen books on his favorite soft drink. "The 24-bottle cases are fastened, many of them in long rows, on walls of pizzerias in St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, all over the nation. Customers may try to tug on a bottle, but they are so snugly glued into the cases that they'll never come out.

"We can be thankful to Greg Ashby (manager of Davenport Pepsi) for supplying endless thousands of glass bottles to decorate the Uno walls."

Stoddard, who is adviser to Hollywood and national TV shows for films using Pepsi, sounds all choked up when he talks by phone about Pepsi-Cola of old. "There is nothing more symbolic of yesterday than Pepsi in a bottle," he says. "I drank my first pop from a bottle of Pepsi-Cola. It's a bottle that draws attention, such fond memories."

For certain, a can of Pepsi is not the same as gripping a tall, ice-cold 12-ounce bottle, but times change.

"We were sad to see it go. Pepsi in a bottle was like baseball, mom and apple pie," says Ashby, "but now it's a can world, and glass became prohibitive in cost. We once bought five semi loads of Pepsi bottles in Mexico. Believe it or not, the bottles were costing us 40 cents each. We're still getting a few bottles back, but most are gone by now, to become antiques of the future."

n God and vegetarians

ITEM: During Sunday Mass at St. Anthony's, the cell phone of a worshipper buzzed. Rev. Bryan Miclot paused and spoke out:

"Better answer; it might be God."

ITEM: Tony Serra, who runs the coffee shop dining nook at Genesis East, was pleased when a customer complimented his potato soup.

"How do you make it so delicious?" she asked.

"Oh, I put in some bacon."

"Omigosh," she exclaimed. "I'm a vegetarian."

Bill Wundram can be contacted at (563) 383-2249 or bwundram@qctimes.com.