April 26, 2010

  • 35 Cent Quarter Waters? WTF!?

    http://xb2.xanga.com/ee4f741672733266629013/w212674939.jpg
    Deliciousness in all its artificially colored glory.

    Let me start off by saying that growing up in NYC, a kid could do a lot with 25 cents. You can use a quarter to buy a bag of Cheese Doodles, call your parents from a pay phone to pick you up because you left your bike at your friend's house, or buy a certified hood classic known as "quarter waters". Quarter waters for those of you who don't know, are small bottles of colored waters (think ghetto-fied Kool-Aid...if it could get any more ghetto) where the color is indicative of the flavor (i.e. purple = grape). Much like how kittens are synonymous with Korean cuisine, Quarter waters were a part of your life if you grew up in NYC.

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    You had the option of either impaling the tops with a straw, puncturing a hole with your thumb (and dying your thumb a lovely blue, red, orange, etc), or going "classy" by peeling it perfectly and slowly, which required great precision.

    So, as a kid I used to have one of these regularly on my way home from school, purchased at the bodega (read: Spanish-owned 7-11) or after a game of basketball (who could afford Gatorade back then?). Besides, the parks would always shut off the water fountains, and if they did work, it was barely a trickle of warm, tea-colored, rustic water. Not pleasant. I was heartbroken when they stopped selling them around my way in Queens and in a lot of corner bodegas.

    http://x30.xanga.com/65bf926376435266785661/m212806780.jpg
    The epitome of the five borough: Bodegas. If you are/were from the hood, this is an all too familiar sight. Overflowing each corner like a ghetto Starbucks.

    Finally, this past summer I visited my old neighborhood and went into the local corner bodega, where to my surprise I saw quarter waters being sold! It felt like a mirage in some sort of Arabic desert (could be because the store owner was an Arab, too, which always adds to the effect). So I immediately reached into my pocket and pulled out a quarter and left it on the counter and as soon as I got near the door, the guy at the counter starts yelling at me, "Hey boss! 10 more cents."

    You mother effer you! Quarter waters are 35 cents now?! Either that, or my math skills didn't count out 25 cents properly. Being Asian, I was hoping for the former. They're called quarter waters for a reason!

    I was wrong, they bumped up the price. Curse you, inflation! So what was I to do? I haven't had a quarter water in a while so I just couldn't pass up on this rare hood gem! I pulled out a dime and gave it to the sonnava gun, but hey, you can bet your butt I savored that quarter water. Excuse me, quarter+dime water!

    Many of you are probably thinking "Chris, it's only 35 cents. You can afford that!" No! It's not just the price change. It's the principle of souring a tradition that is New York! Changing this to 35 cents is like changing the way your mother goes down on me every evening. It's just not right.

    http://x4a.xanga.com/9bcf9a6776435266785663/w212806782.jpg
    Clearly the work of the NYC Education system.

    Whatever. At least these babies of diabetes in a bottle are back. And I'll be sure to ask my local deli here in suburbia aka Boretown, USA, to stock up on these. I can taste that delicious blue already.

    What do you miss from your childhood?

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