Ada's

Ada’s in the 60’s, by elizabeth hubbard, rvsd

From Greenwichwise:

A Sweet Solution: How Creative Zoning Saved Ada's Candy Store in Riverside

Generations of Riverside kids walking near the train station on summer afternoons could smell the sugary scent of penny candy drifting through a screen door at Ada's.

Step inside 112 Riverside Avenue, hand over a couple of crumpled dollar bills, and Ada Cantavero would ask the golden question: "How much do you want to spend?"

From there, she’d snap open a small brown paper bag and fill it one by one, by hand, with your choices from the colorful glass display—sour cherries, sour straws, Eye Poppers, Crybabies, Super Sours, Sour Keys, and Sour Bears. Long before boutique bakeries and artisanal roasters took over suburban main streets, Ada’s was the unofficial neighborhood meeting place.Now, following its 2024 closure, the landmark is officially set for a cafe revival.

There’s much more at the Greenwichwise link on what’s happening to the store today, but also well worth reading are the comments in Ada’s obituary: Born in 1920, the comment section is filled with tributes to her from those who spent much of their time and all of their pennies at the store in the 50s and 60’s. Reading them offers a great snapshot of what Riverside was like in that era, which was a far more innocent time, and a better one, in my biased opinion.