Preserving Counter Culture

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Preserving Counter Culture
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In an era of drive-through drugstores, it can be hard to remember there was a time when pharmacy customers enjoyed an ice-cream treat at the lunch counter while waiting for a prescription.

But at Mickey Fine Pharmacy & Grill the tradition lives on.

The Beverly Hills business lays claim to being the only remaining pharmacy in the region with a counter and soda fountain, where patrons can enjoy old-time favorites such as egg-cream sodas and hand-spun malted milk shakes.

“Our cook Reynaldo has been with us almost 40 years,” said Gina Raphael, who co-owns the business with her husband, Jeff Gross. “Many of the original recipes we still use. Dining at the counter, you feel like you are part of Beverly Hills history.”

In fact, the Roxbury Drive pharmacy is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year under the same name. It was recently recognized by the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce, which awarded the store its 2012 Customer Service Award.

The honor highlights its approach to running a business that is definitely more circa 1950s than 2012. The store sells gift shop items and employs a concierge to direct customers. It also delivers prescriptions to homes.

“They’re an iconic business in Beverly Hills. It kind of brings back that small-town feel of a community,” said Michael Rasch, the chamber’s communications manager.

The store opened in the mid-1950s as a Schwab’s pharmacy, the chain famous for its clientele of Hollywood actors and starlets, before Mickey Fine took over and renamed it 50 years ago. Gross and Raphael bought the business in 1995 from a subsequent owner who had kept up the tradition.

Still, times change. The traditional soda fountain operated by a soda jerk is long gone, replaced by a typical carbonated soda machine.

Beyond that, though, the couple tries to ensure the store hews closely to its roots. In fact, they own one other pharmacy and five gift shops in Southern California, but none has lunch counters or soda fountains.

“You can’t duplicate this,” Gross said. “If I built something new it would be retro and nostalgic. This is original.”

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