27127957
Alexander Esposito was on a quest to locate old signage and soda bottles from his great-grandfather’s Primo Beverages Soft Drink Manufacturing Co.
In 1900, James "Giacomo" Esposito – there were five Jameses in the family so he went by the Italian version of the moniker when amongst family- founded the plant at 812-814 Washington Ave. Sadly, no vestige of the bottling plant remains. A storm window/door business occupies the site.
When Alexander stopped by the store, an employee told him when they refurbished the site, a large piece of tin used to patch a hole in the floor was discovered. It turned out to be an old Primo Beverage sign.
Alexander offered to pay for the relic, but the man wouldn’t hear of it.
"’No, this is your birthright,’" the great-grandson of James Esposito recalled the employee saying.
It was more than a sign. It was a sign of the times.
IT WAS THE 45-year-old Alexander’s father, Robert "Bob" Esposito, 76, who sparked his son’s interest in Primo Beverages. Robert is also the father of son Christopher, 39.
The father and sons are no relation to the Espositos who are in the butcher business in South Philly.
But Bob’s father Tony inherited the bubbly business in 1938 at age 37 from his father, James. Bob, who lives in Cherry Hill, N.J., with wife Isabella, 77, wrote a book about his family’s lineage and legacy, "Last Male Born." Part fiction and part fact, the book is written under the name Roberto DiVincenzo. The pen name honors great-great-great-grandfather Vincenzo. Translated, it means "Robert of Vincent," a nod to the lineage.
Every once in awhile Bob would help out at his father’s soda factory, but bottling pop was not his destiny. For 36 years, he worked as an IBM machine/computer designer at Campbell’s Soup in Camden, N.J. Bob moved from South Philly to Cherry Hill in 1959 to be closer to work.
From 1956 to 1960, Bob and his wife ran an IBM school, at 17th and Chestnut streets in Center City.
Retiring at 62, Bob spends his days playing golf, writing and researching his grandfather’s business and family tree.
WHEN JAMES AND his brother Vincent came to America in 1893 from Casoli, Italy, they worked as bakers and boarded at Frank Palumbo’s father’s halfway house at Eighth and Catharine streets. Sometime in the late 1890s, the brothers became distributors of Poth’s beer and started to bottle soft drinks at 706 Fulton St.
Around 1900, when James was 24, he left the partnership and started his own business, where he continued distributing the beer while making soda under his own name.
He purchased two adjoining houses at 812 and 814 Washington Ave. to bottle his Ginger Ale, Sarsaparillas, Birch Beer and other soft drinks.
James and his family lived in a large five-bedroom house at 812 Washington Ave. It was the same home where Bob grew up with his three siblings, Evelyn and brothers Anthony and James, who are both deceased.
For a short time, 814 Washington Ave. was a boarding house for Italian immigrants, with some of the men who lived there working at the soda plant.
A garage between the two houses served as a manufacturing plant. In time, with the success of the business, James built a large two-story addition to the plant, which extended to Alter Street.
Bob’s aunt, Mary Cipollone-Esposito, was an artist who designed the bottles’ artwork and marketing materials.
In 1905, James was awarded a franchise for Koca Nola, a cola started in Atlanta, Ga., by Thomas H. Austin. James successfully bottled and sold the carbonated beverage for 18 years. In 1922, he went to Milan, Italy, to accept an award for his achievements in business at the Italian Manufacturing International Exposition.
"I’ve always been proud of my grandfather and father who came to this country and started their own business. They were peasants, they had nothing. And they went on to become respected businessmen in South Philly," Bob said.
Well known locally, James helped organize the South Philadelphia Sons of Italy Chapter in 1905.
In 1912, seemingly threatened by Koca Nola, Coca-Cola took James to court to prevent him from using the name. A judge ruled against him, so he renamed his product Espo Soda. The judge did not allow that name, for reasons unknown to Bob or Alexander.
"This would not happen today," Alexander, a private investigator based in South Jersey, said. "I would love to see a transcript from those proceedings."
The judge finally granted permission for the name Primo Cola – not knowing the word primo in Italian means "first."
"He didn’t name it primo as in the best, he meant it as the first," Bob said with a smile.
Sometime after 1916, a lemon-and-lime soda James bottled became the number one soft drink in the country. It was called Primo Gassosa, with the second word meaning "carbonated soda" in Italian. When he first started bottling the beverage, he imported the syrups from Italy. Due to its success, the company became Primo Gassosa in its later years.
In the early 1930s, executives from 7Up in New York City came calling in hopes of interesting James in a Philadelphia franchise. He turned them down, saying he would make his Primo Gassosa bigger and better than theirs – both being lemon-lime drinks.
"Primo’s lemon-and-lime flavors were much more superior in taste than 7Up," Bob said. "Even today, some of the old folks still around who remember Primo think it’s better than 7Up."
JAMES’ SODA BUSINESS thrived until the earlier 1960s. With the fabric of American business changing, chains were quickly squashing mom-and-pop operations. Plastic throwaway bottles were replacing glass. Tony Esposito, who took over his father’s business in 1938, could not afford to buy plastic, having just enough funds to operate the business, his son said.
In 1974, Primo Gassosa poured its last sip in the soda market. Tony, who died at age 78, sold the property and bottling equipment.
"He had immense pride for what his father accomplished. I think it really broke his heart that he had to close the business. He held on longer than a lot of bottlers in the area – Frank’s, Day’s – but I think it was bittersweet for him with the decline of the business. I know it was for me," Bob said.
�
To contact Alexander Esposito with memories or memorabilia of the soda bottling plant, call 856-566-1173.
For Bob Esposito’s book, "First Male Born," visit www.bbotw.com.
