Original New York Seltzer - probably one of the best known Alternative Sodas of the 1980’s with their signature stubby styrofoam-label bottles - they were doing clear root beer way before Crystal Pepsi or any of the big soda companies caught on to the “clear soda” trend. ONYS was founded in 1981 “out of the trunk of his mustang in the streets of Los Angeles” by the eclectic Randy Miller, backed by his family who had roots in the seltzer business in Brooklyn and Czechoslovakia. Randy’s race cars, tigers, and cross promotions with MTV brought a chaotic rock and roll energy to the brand, but still kept that classic nyc deli vibe in the logo and design. Surfing the web The Apple ecosystem Camera Lens The best way to generate ideas The all-new keyboard
SoHo Natural Soda
SoHo Natural Soda - the one that started it all for me. Growing up in the 80’s I was obsessed with this semi-artsy “natural” line of sodas that only seemed to be available at Jewish Delicatessens and “gourmet” stores, with this sort of Olde Tyme NYC meets Post-Punk design.
Edgy enough for MTV but fancy enough to be on the menu of yuppie health food cafes. This would be the general vibe for “new age drinks” and “alternative soda” moving forward but Soho seems to have been the first to do it.
Sophia Collier and Connie Best started SoHo out of their NYC apartment back in 1977, as a “natural” soda alternative with cane sugar and no artificial coloring. But the brand didnt really get going until they introduced a new logo and package design around 1983 by award winning illustrator Doug Johnson, known for wacky food packaging and Judas Priest album covers.
SoHo went national and got HUGE, sued Anheiser Busch (and won!) for ripping them off with Zeltzer Seltzer (more on that later) before eventually being sold to Seagram’s in 1989, and then sold a few more times (with lots of design and recipe changes) before fizzing out somewhere in the early to mid-90’s.
SoHo is one of the tougher of these brands to find artifacts from, although I've gotten lucky a couple times on eBay and also have a handful of bottle caps that I’ve had since the 80’s when I first discovered Soho in the cooler at Levis Hot Dogs next to the Champ Cherry and the New York Seltzer. I’ll post some stuff from my personal collection in the future. I love the classic Doug Johnson labels, but one thing I’m dying to even see a photo of, are what the bottles looked like in 1979.
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