K & B/Katz & Besthoff

Source: http://www.nutrias.org/~nopl/monthly/dec2000/kandb.htm


Topic: K& B Smell
Posted by: Shirl at Mon Jun 10 15:45:58 2002
Message:
Thinking about K&B purple brings back memories of the smell. Boy, do I
miss the smell of that special mix of ice cream, nectar sodas, apothacary
ingredients, and various sundries. It smelled clean and inviting. Does
anyone know where I can get a K&B smell fix?
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Topic: RE: K& B Smell
Posted by: Cathy at Fri Jun 14 07:32:14 2002
Message:
I remember that smell. And the icecream with those tiny fresh ice crystals evenly dispersered throughout.

Not like when you leave your Blue Bell or Haagen Das in the freezer too long and it gets that goo and ice on top. No, this was something entirely different. And I only remember K&B icecream consistently having this.

Now and then I get a little ice chunk in some other icecream--which brings me back 40 years. I wish some other icecream place would figure out how to do this.
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Posted by: OKYat at Fri Jun 14 19:38:52 2002
Message:
I remember K&B ice cream and still have some of the gallon buckets with the lids. There was a well-known Metairie restaurant at Pink and Focis just off Metairie Road near the railroad tracks called Delerno's. Everyone raved about their ice cream and they would never give out their secret of what kind it really was. I went to high school with the owner's niece, and she told me the mystery ice cream was really K&B brand.
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Posted by: BB at Fri Jun 14 07:18:30 2002
Message:
Remember the KBs on Metry Rd. across from the Do Drive In? When we'd stayed at my grandmother's house on Oaklawn, she'd always take us over there to the Hill's for a fudgesicle or to TG&Y for a toy, game ,or a yoyo. When we'd pass KBs, we'd run up to the vent that was on the Metry Rd. side of the building and take a big, old whiff and get an olfactory rush of whatever greasy thing they were frying at the soda fountain. That's the KB smell I remember.
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Almost any New Orleanian could probably identify the origin of this blotter, even if the store's name were not visible; to people born and raised in New Orleans, this shade of purple meant only one thing: K & B. The first K & B--or Katz & Besthoff--drug store opened in 1905 at 732 Canal Street; the second four years later, and from there, the chain continued to multiply until the city and its surrounding communities were dotted with dozens of K & B purple signs. In 1997, to the chagrin of many in New Orleans, K & B was sold to Rite-Aid, and the familiar purple vanished from the streets.

Source: http://www.nutrias.org/~nopl/monthly/jan2001/jan015.htm