[35mm Ohio] Jolly's
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Chris and I finally reached an age where our parents were cool with us taking our bikes to Jolly’s by ourselves. We pedaled from our suburban street, on the sidewalk down Nilles Rd, crossed near the YMCA, and then rode up to the orange building and metal roof. With our own cash we bought chili dogs, french fries, and root beer—enjoying the meal and our newfound freedom on a plastic table just outside the main entrance. I loved that day.
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The story, per Denny Gibson, goes that Vinny Jolivette originally opened an A&W root beer stand franchise in Hamilton, Ohio in 1938. Eventually, he abandoned the A&W branding in favor of his own with “Jolly’s” being born in 1967. Growing up, I knew of three locations: the west side of Hamilton, the east side of Hamilton (seen in these photos), and neighboring Fairfield—which was our family’s go to when I was a kid, the one I once biked to with a childhood friend. Apparently, there’s also a Jolly’s further north in Tiffin, Ohio and there may have once been one near Bloomington, Indiana.
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Fairfield was eventually demolished and replaced with a Taco Bell, the Hamilton locations still stand, and in nearby Sharonville the unrelated (but similar and equally wonderful) Root Beer Stand operates with a coincidental past of also once being an A&W.
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I shot some Portra 800 here with a Pentax K1000 when my sister recently requested that for her birthday dinner, we go back to Jolly’s (the place’s drive up model works really well in a time of social distancing).
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There’s no nostalgia colored glasses here, regardless of age—Jolly’s is still classic, delicious, comforting, and wonderful. I can’t say the same for the modern, corporate imitations known as Sonic.
Chris, wherever you are now and if you see this—I hope you’re well.
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Also, while a lot of the charm of Jolly’s is its drive-up, car-hop style service—foot long hot dogs, cold root beer, and fresh popcorn would make for excellent offerings in a bright orange food truck.
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And I’m a firm believer that that these places could still do great business year-round, although then they’d loose their status as a signal of summer.
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Either way, I’m grateful that not all of them have become Taco Bell’s.
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