Galco's Soda Pop Stop

Galco's Soda Pop Stop is a soft drink specialty store located in the Highland Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. The shop's predecessor, Galco's Grocery, was originally opened in Downtown Los Angeles by Galioto and Corto Passi as an Italian grocery store in 1897. Galco's moved to its current storefront in Highland Park in 1955. It has specialized in carrying independent sodas since 1995, when John Nese succeeded his father as the store's owner. According to John Nese, he shifted to stocking sodas during a period of poor business for grocery stores; in his own words, "the big chain stores were buying up the distribution channels they just raised the prices and they made sure that no one can compete. So all the little guys went out of business."

Galco's stocks and ships more than 700 different sodas, many of them hard-to-find and small-batch brands; it also offers a variety of beers, old-fashioned candies, and fresh sandwiches.