Memories from my childhood in the 1970s, growing up in Santa Cruz, California, and then spending a year in London, England. The history and the memory of things long forgotten, as seen through the eyes of a child.
It was sometime in the late 1970s. I was about 12. So, it must have been about 1978 when I was invited to a friend's birthday party at Frontier Village in San Jose. Now, I'm not quite clear on how I got there but logic dictates that I was dropped off at the party locally, and we all drove over together crammed together in the back of some old VW bus. No seat belts. Getting there must have been a thrill ride all on its own, and I've blocked it out of my memories completely.
However I do remember these four things about my Frontier Village in San Jose adventure:
The Front Gate
The entrance to the park was fantastic. The old fort welcomed you with imaginative possibilities, full of promises that you were traveling back in time to another world and another place.
The Antique Cars
I only remember going on two rides. Surely I went on more than two rides? In any case, this is the first one I remember going on alone. So brave. So safe.
The Gun Fight
I think this confused me for a while, as I walked in just as it started and it seemed random. I didn't understand exactly what was happening. It was staged to happen somewhat organically as I remember, so there was a lot of shouting and then the fight broke out. I could be the kid in the bottom right of this photo. I had that haircut. In any case, the thing I remember best is that after the fight, there was a surprise twist and the sheriff shot someone off the roof who was trying to ambush him.
The Spirit of Kitty Hawk
And now we come to the reason I am even writing this in the first place. This was the second ride I remember, and it was a great ride. It was a fantastic ride, and I was so happy riding it. I kind of figured it out, and really had fun playing on it. The planes were hung on chains and spun out from a center pole. There was a large wind wing in front that you could control to make the plane fly up and down (out and in), using the wind to direct your plane in the direction you wanted.
I discovered all on my own a technique where I could swing the plane all the way down to the center point, and there would be a brief lull, and then by timing my turn I'd be thrust all the way up and out with a huge rush -- kind of like a water skier pulling a turn and whipping back. After watching the video below, I'm reminded that there were trees surrounding the ride and all the branches were constantly trimmed by the ride. I remember brushing up against some new growth, so I was certainly flying higher than most!
I have come to find out that this ride is called the Flying Scooters, or just Flyers. It was created in the 1930s by the Bisch-Rocco company.
Apparently, the technique I "invented" is called cable snapping, and it's quite popular and outlawed on the older rides like I rode in. The new version of the ride has prevention measures built in. What on earth! I was an evil genius at age 12!
I've come to find out that the Flyers at Frontier Village were run at a slightly slower speed than normal flyers to be more suitable for kids and families. That's why I don't remember a more distinctive "Snap" sound that is possible at the higher speeds.
See, here's a photo from Wikipedia of the Air Crow at Indiana Beach with a big sign, clear as day... No Snapping! Bah, give me a break. That was the best part of the ride.
Here's a video of someone snapping the cables on the Flyers at Knoebel's park in Elysburg, Pennsylvania. The person snapping the cables will soon become obvious... At one point he almost comes to a complete stop and then is swung out way over the trees! Awesome!
There are 19 original Bisch-Rocco Flying Scooters still in operation in the USA.
This glorious color advertisement was in many of the comic books I read as a child. I saw it so many times, and the art was so amazing that I finally broke down and sent in my order.
And a mere eternity of waiting later, this is what arrived. A box of yellow and blue flat plastic bits that barely stood up on a flat table, let alone a floor. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed. However, I kept them around and still find one or two from time to time at the bottom of boxes that I'm cleaning out.
Okay, so I am a candy freak. It's true, and one of the great pleasures of my early childhood was going to our local Safeway and gazing at wonder at the Brach's Pick-a-Mix stand.
I don't know when these disappeared, but I haven't seen one in over ten years, maybe longer. I know that many of these flavors are indeed still available separately at candywarehouse.com and amazon.com but it's not quite the same.
I'll admit, after working on this post I did order a couple sample bags from Amazon, just as a reminder of a few of my favorites.
The Pick-a-Mix stands operated on the honor system, often having a little coin can for "samples".
Overview
Old School
Here's an image of some of the items that were included in the original Pick-a-Mix stands. I used this as a guide to document all the different varieties, adding a few that we seasonal, bulk, and newer that these examples from the 1970s.
The Best of Pick-a-Mix
Sadly, Pick-a-Mix stands slowly disappeared over the years, and I don't even know if there are any left at all. For a while, Brach's had a "best of" bag that included Milk Maid Caramels, Royals, Butter Toffee, Fruit Slices, Neapolitan Coconut Sundaes, and Rich & Dreamy Assorted Chocolatey Cremes. This too has been discontinued.
Wrapped Varieties
Jelly Perkys
Who knew that those sugared jelly things were called Perkys! They were a direct competitor to Chuckles (which are still available), another candy I never bought. I would get one once in a while, but they were not a mainstay. I didn't even know their name! I liked the red ones. There were six flavors: red, yello, purple, green, suspicious (licorice), and orange.
Fruit Slices
After Perkys went away, they were replaced with Fruit Slices. These are the same thing just in a different shape, with slightly less weight per piece. And most importantly, they got rid of Licorice. With fruit slices, licorice didn't make sense so they added "other red" strawberry to the existing red cherry. You learn something new every single day, especially when they use real fruit juice in them (you can now really taste the difference). Sometimes these are called High-C Fruit Slices to co-brand with High-C fruit drinks.
Milk Maid Royals
These rich and creamy caramels rolls are made with real milk, then filled with six different flavors of crème including chocolate, maple, vanilla, raspberry, orange and butter rum.
Peppermint Star Brites
The classic Brach's candy in every way. These are ubiquitous, and I usually tossed 2 or 3 into my bag to cleanse my palette between chocolate and caramel.
Spearmint Star Brites
These were not quite as common as the peppermint. One cool trick if these were available was to put one of each in your mouth to get that unique doublemint flavor. Doublemint turns out to be one part peppermint and one part spearmint. Yet another amazing truth bomb you just learned here.
Ice Blue Mint Coolers
These are more like the Butterscotch Disks and Cinnamon Disks in shape and theme. The flavor is a more intense peppermint than the star brites, and is commonly used as a strong breath mint. They are currently only available at CandyFavorites and they are currently sold out.
Neapolitan Coconut Sundaes
Discontinued in June 2012 and no longer available but sort of like Candy Farm's 3-Color Coconut Slices. This is a candy that should be horrible. It has chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors all mixed together with a sugary coconut base. Sounds insane... however... it is amazingly delicious. I mean, I used to only eat off the top chocolate part avoiding the strawberry at all costs. As I grew older I realized the entire thing was edible and delicious!
Chocolate Cremes
No longer available, these were sort of like Philadelphia Candies Milk Chocolate Covered Assorted Cremes. These were usually the bulk of my bag. They weighed the most, but they were worth it. I usually went for the vanilla or chocolate, but sometimes got a cherry or raspberry just to mix it up. In later years the "Chocolatey" Cremes came in Orange Sorbet, Cherry Jubilee, Double Dutch, Raspberry Parfait, and Vanilla Bean. Notice below I've included the original line-up along with the Mint Creme. I think the yellowish/orange one was actually a maple creme. At least that's what I remember: Raspberry, Vanilla, Maple, and Mint.
1972 Brach's Catalog
Because I ate so many of these, I'm doubling up on the photos. Here's the types from later years.
Later version of the Chocolatey Cremes
Mint Cremes
The original line-up of the Chocolatey Cremes featured a Brach's Mint Creme that was so good it was usually in its own bin all by itself. It might be because the mint was so strong it would pollute the other flavors, but to me it made it a lot easier to grab just the mint ones! The best ones. This page might be the only place on the entire Internet where Brach's Mint Creme candies are mentioned... What happened to them?
Jelly Bean Nougats
These honestly scared me. Originally called Jelly Nougats, they looked sort of like those dreaded fruitcake candy pieces and I wanted no part of that. Reading about them now, they sort of sound interesting... a vanilla nougat with jelly beans. I had no idea what those little jelly fruit spots were and they were suspicious. They were originally squared off and never in my bag. It is quite likely that they changed the recipe to jelly beans from "fruit pieces" when they went from square to whatever shape they are now. Now I might give them a try.
Sparkles Hard Candies
These were a complete waste of time. I don't think Brach's even makes them anymore! :-) In fact they were so horrible I could only find these two grainy images from a YouTube commercial for Brach's to prove they even existed. They came in flavors. I don't care.
Cinnamon Bears
Honestly, I don't remember these at all. I only added them when someone reminded me about them.
Cinnamon Disks
I'd finished this blog post without even remembering these. I had blocked these horrible cinnamon teeth-breakers from my memory. I then I looked at the top photo and a huge bucket of red. I never got these.
Butterscotch Disks
I always got a few of these to make my mom happy. This was her favorite, besides the holiday nougats. There was another disk that came in light blue, some sort of Mint Disk.
Golden Treasures Butter Toffee
I think these were a latter addition, but I don't know. I don't really remember these all too well, but they were included in the "Best of Pick-a-Mix" collection so they must be important. Right? They certainly look a LOT like Werther's Original Hard Candies. Just saying.
Salt Water Taffy
I do not remember Brach's salt water taffy at all. Perhaps it was because the best salt water taffy in the world is made by Mariani's down by the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. That's where I got my taffy.
Milk Maid Carmel Squares
I seem to remember these coming in normal and chocolate varieties, but I can find zero evidence of chocolate milk maid caramels every existing. Perhaps only in my mind, or I am thinking of Black Cow bars. They do now come in a chocolate covered version, but that's not what I remember. That would be like Riesen.
Sour Balls
I can't find these anymore, but Charms Assorted Sour Balls are pretty much exactly the same thing. I'd almost forgotten these. I love sour candy, and these were great. I think the best part of pick-a-mix was that I could pull out the red ones and avoid the green ones.
Root Beer Barrels
There are a couple different versions of these out there now, including A&W, Dads, and IBC branded Root Beer Barrels. I haven't done a taste test yet, but these and the Reed's Root Beer candies were often in my bag. Just to switch things up a bit from all the chocolate, chews, and sours.
Fruit Barrels
Another one that I missed somehow. I never saw fruit barrels. Before my time probably. These may have transitioned to the nasty sparkles. I would have tried these over the sparkles any day of the week.
Bullies
Bullies came as both Caramel Bullies and Licorice Bullies. I didn't like either one. The vanilla one are still available, but called Vanilla Caramel Swirls. Many years ago un-sliced bullies were sold as a bar.
Chocolate Caramel Swirls
While looking for an example image of these, I found these chocolate caramel swirls on CandyWarehouse and thought I'd try them. I only remember these ever being in vanilla swirl, so this chocolate variety must be a recent addition. I would have put these in my bag if they were chocolate... vanilla, not so much.
Targets
I don't think Brach's makes these any more. Other brands call these Bulls-Eyes or Vanilla Caramel Cremes. They are a vanilla center, surrounded by caramel. I'm sure these are great, but I was more of a chocolate man.
Unwrapped Bulk Varieties
Maple Nut Goodies
These are delicious and healthy. Then have peanuts which have protein. Perfect. I think these were also pulled out of pick-a-mix when they went to packaged items only. I don't recall seeing these recently except in their own stand-alone packaging. Try some. So good!
Chocolate Stars
These were by far my favorite. If these were available, I filled the entire bottom of my bag with these, building a solid chocolate foundation to start my bag off good and heavy. These came in both milk and dark chocolate varieties, and to be honest it's really hard to tell the two apart. They look and taste the same. I love them. I still order these online once in a while in bulk.
Spice Drops
Kind of like the Perkeys, a jellied flavored gum drop covered in sugar. I think these got phased out at some point when Brach's moved to only included wrapped items.
Holiday Varieties
Christmas Peppermint Nougat
These were only available at Christmas, and when they showed up we stocked up. My mom loved these.
Halloween
I'm not sure where those peanut butter taffy's wrapped in black and orange wax paper came from. I thought it was Brach's around Halloween. Not sure, but in the meantime I certainly remember the Autumn Mix with chocolate candy corn! Chocolate candy corn!
Marshmallow Easter Eggs
Yes, I'll admit it. I have eaten these. I never really like them, but I can't seem to stay away from them. It's sort of like after a year I've forgotten that I don't like them, and they look so good! Candy Warehouse has these in stock today! Enjoy!
Explore More
Collecting Candy has an amazing site filled with scans of Brach's brochures, catalogs, and paperwork associated with their candy varieties over the years. You could spend another hour on their site looking at just Brach’s Beautiful Fall Chocolate Promotion Packet from 1972!
Commercials
Pick-a-Mix Wanted
Let me know below in the comments if you spot one of these in the wild.
