The loss of a second business was enough for Nicholson.  In 1911 he packed up his family and returned to Greece.  During their stay, a severe earthquake devastated their home, collapsing almost half of it into rubble.  Nicholson's son, George, asleep in his crib at the beginning of the quake, was catapulted from the second story hallway into the street but remained uninjured.  Although the rest of the family was also unhurt, Nicholson moved again, this time to the United States. 

     The family name was originally Nicolopolos, but the immigration agents convinced Gus to "Americanize" his last name to Nicholson.  The family settled in an almost entirely earthquake-free area--El Paso, Texas.  Nicholson was apparently tired of the candy business, but bottling was in his blood.  In 1919, he bought the Union Bottling Works, located at 409 S. Virginia St.  Union Bottling Works had been founded by Francisco B. Dominguez as Francisco Dominguez & Company in 1915, and was renamed as Union Bottling Works the following year.  Joe Salcido bought the business in 1918, but sold it to Nicholson the following year.  The business bottled a variety of flavors, all under the Union name, and, with the onset of Prohibition, acted as a wholesale outlet for near-beers, such as NIB.  Nicholson delivered his products in a horse-drawn wagon loaded with fifteen to twenty cases at a time, usually with the assistance of a hired a helper.  Aside from temporary laborers, Nicholson worked the business alone until 1921 when he took on John Beys as a partner.  The two men eventually reached a point of irreconcilable differences, and Nicholson offered his partner the choice of buying the Nicholson share of the venture or selling his.  Beys elected to buy Nicholson's portion, and the two parted company in 1925 (EPCD 1916-1935). 

     Andrew, John, and Samuel Beys arrived in El Paso about 1918 and began working--John at Lynchville (lunch) and the other two brothers at the Orndorff Cafe.  By 1920, Andrew had opened the American Candy Kitchen but the enterprise was short-lived.  The following year, Andrew and Samuel opened the Golden Gate Cafe and the U & I Quick Lunch, while John became involved with Nicholson.  The Golden Gate soon faded into history, and the brothers changed the name of their remaining operation to the U & I Cafe.  In 1930, Samuel ran the brother's newest enterprise, the Golden State Cafe while Andrew remained in charge of U & I (EPCD 1918-1931). 
 

     At some point, the brothers formed Beys Brothers & Company with Union Bottling Works and their restaurant enterprises as subsidiaries.  In 1931, John only employed one worker in the Union Bottling Works plant with an additional laborer during the peak months of July and August.  Two one-ton capacity trucks actually distributed the finished products, delivering a total of 12,364 cases of Union soda in six-and-one-half or seven ounce bottles during the year.  Union sodas sold for 65¢ per case, wholesale.  Workers at Union labored ten hours a day during a six-day work week, although the week was reduced to five days during the coldest months of the year (EPCD 1935; United States Census of Manufactures, 1931).  Beys continued to operate Union Bottling Works until its dissolution (along with the U & I Cafe) in 1935 (probably due to the Great Depression) when he joined his brothers at the Golden State Cafe.  In 1941, Andrew opened the Best Cafe, with the motto, "It's not only Good, It's the Best" (EPCD 1944).  Although John tried his luck with Beys Liquor Store in 1942, it soon collapsed, and he rejoined his brothers in the restaurant business.  John retired for a while but reopened Beys Liquor Store for a few years in 1949.  Andrew had closed the Best Cafe the year before and opened a new one, the Rock Hut Cafe, in 1949.  Samuel died in 1950 but his wife, Helen, continued to run the Golden State Cafe which by now also included a hotel.  Although John went back into retirement, Andrew remained in the cafe business until 1957.  After that year, neither of the brothers were listed in city directories (EPCD 1931-1957). 

Nicholson Bottling Works (1925-1979) 
     Nicholson was still determined to stay in the bottling business, so, in 1925, he founded Nicholson Bottling Works.  He built his plant at an ideal location for his convenience--right in back of his house.  For the duration of the company, the address was listed in El Paso city directories as "rear of 1024 Wyoming [Ave.]"  Although most of his other children eventually chose different occupations, Nicholson's son, Alkividias (always known as Alkie) remained in the bottling business.  Alkie described the functioning of the bottling business as a great deal of hard work.  His typical day started early.  He would load his truck with 300 cases, run the route, and be back by noon.  In early days, Alkie would service the  Lower Valley one day, Second Ward the next day, Northeast El Paso the following day, and continue in that manner until the entire city had been served and it was time to start over.  While on the route, he checked the Nicholson displays in stores, replaced the product that had been sold, and loaded the empty bottles onto the truck.  In addition, he would service the many households that bought Nicholson sodas by the case.  Frequently, at that time, Nicholson, as well as other bottlers in town, would mix the different flavors in a single case to provide variety for stores as well as individual home customers.  The idea of six-pack carriers did not appear until the 1930s.  Alkie got up at 4:00 AM every morning to prepare machines and sometimes worked until 10:00 o'clock at night. 
 

Figure 9a-1 - Nicholson Bottling Works, 1927 - From left to right:  a friend of the family, C. P. "Gus" Nicholson, his wife, Anna, daughter, jenny, the family's maid, sons, Solomon, Alkie, and Kimon (at that time the manager).  Photo courtesy of Andy Nicholson

     Nicholson started his bottling works in the middle of Prohibition.  It was the era of the speakeasy, but, of greater importance to bottlers, it was the also the era of near-beer.  Non-alcoholic grain beverages permeated the market, and Nicholson could see the advantage of being a distributor.  Accordingly, the company sold Goldcrest, Golden Glow, and NIB (which Nicholson apparently brought with him from his split with Beys at Union Bottling Works) until the end of Prohibition in 1933.  In addition, the firm bottled Howdy Orange and Muscadine Punch during the same period.  About the end of Prohibition, Nicholson ceased bottling franchised brands to concentrate on his own Nicholson flavors. 

     In 1931, Nicholson employed five workers in the plant during peak season, decreasing to two employees in the winter (even to one–probably Gus, himself--in December).  At that time, the company used three one-ton capacity trucks and sold 9,042 cases of six-and-a-half-ounce drinks and 1,690 cases of eight-ounce beverages (a total of 10,732 cases) per year.  Nicholson flavors sold for 65¢ per case, wholesale.  Although family members worked longer hours, employees generally labored eight hours a day, six days a week, a very light work-load for the early 1930s (U. S. Census of Manufacturers, 1931). 

     In the early days at Nicholson, Alkie received $1 per day, even though he was married and had two children.  He was offered $35 per week for delivering the Las Cruces route for the Sure-Best Bread bakery which he described as "a big outfit with sixteen trucks."  Alkie enjoyed the work for about a year but quit because he could not stand watching his father run the Nicholson routes in the winter.  He took over as manager of Nicholson Bottling Works in 1945. 
 In October 1948, C. P. Nicholson died at the age of seventy-eight.  His wife Anna, had preceded him by only three months, passing away in July.  The couple had borne six children:  George, Kimon, Alkividias (Alkie), Solon, Jenny, and Bill.  George, the eldest, remained in Greece after the family's return and was killed fighting Germans in World War II.  Kimon was a sharp businessman; he owned the Olympic Ice Cream Parlor, Arizona #1 & #2 (bars), the Red Star Inn on Oregon, and, in partnership with his brother, Solon, an apartment building on West Missouri.  Kimon also managed the bottling plant until his untimely death of Malta Fever following a trip to Mexico in 1945.  Solon had managed Arizona #2 and enjoyed working at the bar.  After Kimon's death, Solon traded his interest in the apartment building to Kimon's widow for title to the bar.   Both considered the deal a success; Solon had his bar, and the widow later sold the apartment (originally purchased for $11,000) for $60,000.  Solon took his turn at managing the plant in 1958 and 1959, but was replaced again by Alkie in 1960 (EPCD 1958-1960).  Sister Jenny married Andrew Meletis and moved to Albuquerque but later returned to El Paso. 

     Alkie's first wife was named Sarah Luevano, but the marriage sadly ended in divorce.  He remarried again in 1945 to Emma Ortiz, and they remain together in the house in front of the old bottling plant in 1996.  Alkie operated the Red Star Inn for three months but decided to return to the soda business after a fight with two customers over nonpayment of their bill.  Although Alkie won the fight, he decided that the business was not worth the aggravation.  Along with his involvement in the bottling works, Alkie managed prize fighters for over twenty years--including top-ranked Manny Ortiz who won professional fights for ten years.  Alkie and Ortiz traveled all over the U. S. including fights in Puerto Rico and Honolulu, Hawaii. 

     Nicholson's wholesale price for a case of bottled carbonated beverages was 60 cents (65¢ by 1931).  Since the soda retailed at 5 cents per bottle, the stores made a gross profit of 60 cents--a one hundred per cent markup.  The company bottled only with cold water because it gave the resulting beverage a better taste and because it mixed better with the carbon dioxide gas.  Tap water at ordinary temperature does not absorb the gas well.  They used city water that was purified by passing it through two filters.  According to Alkie, it made "the ideal soda pop."  The Nicholsons obtained most of their bottles from Liberty Glass Company of Sapulpa, Oklahoma, although they also purchased some from Mexican glass companies.  The bottles manufactured in the U. S. endured much better (lasting about three times as long) and were of higher quality than the less expensive Mexican bottles. 

     [Liberty Glass Company began its career as Pioneer Glass Company of Coffeyville, Kansas in 1903.  In 1908 it was renamed Premium Glass Company and closed down two years later.  A new Premium opened in Sapulpa, Oklahoma with George F. Collins as president.  Collins joined with H. U. Bartlett in 1915 to combine Premium with Bartlett's plant to form Bartlett-Collins.  One of Collins's relatives remained with Bartlett (Bartlett-Collins continues to manufacture glass products in 1995), but George separated and reconstituted the Sapulpa plant as Liberty Glass Company in 1918.  Until about 1955, the company's slogan was "high grade milk bottles and carbonated beverage bottles exclusively" (Toulouse 1971:321-323).] 

     Although Alkie never mentioned them, Nicholson's earliest bottles were purchased from the Three Rivers Glass Company, Southern Glass Company, Illinois Pacific Glass Company, and others.  Three Rivers manufactured glass containers from 1922 to 1937 (cf Smith 1989:49). 

     Flavoring extracts were ordered from companies in California and Wisconsin at  $25 per gallon.  The Crown caps that were used to seal the bottles were purchased from the western branch of the Crown Cork & Seal Co. located at 1601 Magoffin Avenue in El Paso. [The Crown Cork & Seal Co. was first listed in the Telephone books in 1920 at 413 E. Boulevard (Yandell).  City Directories did not include the company (along with Western Stopper Co.--both at 1601 Magoffin Ave.) until 1938.  In 1943, the name was changed to Western Crown Cork & Seal Co. and became the Crown Cork & Seal Co., Western Division in 1956.  The company was last listed in the 1970 El Paso Telephone Directory.  Crown caps and their accompanying cork seals were imported from the parent company rather than manufactured in El Paso.] 

     The caps were purchased in 1,000 gross lots and originally applied with a foot pedal machine that simultaneously filled and capped each bottle.  The foot operation was later replaced by the complete automation of the bottling process.  Nicholson used only pure cane sugar, three 100 pound sacks per batch.  The operators originally stirred the vats with hand paddles but later upgraded to mechanized mixing.  The new mixers had a propeller in the bottom of the vat connected by a pole to the motor fixed above the surface level of the beverage.  Mechanization improved the quality of the mix as well as conserving manpower.   The returnable bottles were cleaned in an automatic bottle washer that ran at 300 degrees centigrade.  The bottles  came out "like a diamond" (Nicholson interview). 

     Nicholson Bottling Works delivered to El Paso's Upper Valley, reaching as far north as Mesilla and Las Cruces, New Mexico, and to the Lower Valley, as far south as San Elizario, Clint, and Fabens.  During its heyday, they operated four trucks, one for the Upper Valley, one for the Lower Valley, one for the City of El Paso, and one as a spare.  Both Nicholsons were proud of the service they gave their customers. 

     In 1942, the United States introduced the Bracero program, allowing and encouraging Mexican laborers to legally cross over to the American side of the river as agricultural workers.  Nicholson took advantage of the influx of new drinkers, selling large quantities of soft drinks to employers of 

Figure 9a-2 - Alkie Nicholson, 1995 - on His Back Porch with Nicholson Bottling Works Behind

     Alkie Nicholson retired from the bottling business in 1971, selling the bottling works to Herman and Herbert S. Vitela who continued to operate under the original name until closing the business in 1979 (EPCD 1972-1979).  Nicholson continued to live in the house in front of the plant and still rents the old Nicholson Bottling Works building as a warehouse for dry goods. 

Figure 9a-3 - Old Nicholson Bottling Works, 1995	Figure 9a-4 - Old Nicholson Bottling Works, 1995