Central Drugs in Belize City over the years
Central Drugs by the Bridgefoot, early 1970's. The Triangle Building is on the far right, that famous building which divided Waterlane and Regent St West. It used to house a bar at the bottom and the famous Tux Fried Chicken. To the front upstairs the famous Imperial Band use to practice, to the right was where the famous Melting Pot Disco used to be up more. Down Regent St West was Bamboo Kitchen where Dickie Straugh famous Bambiki Bandula Band use to practice. Mom’s Restaurant was across the street from the Triangle building and is not shown in the photo. That's Matus Brother on the left, , because August Quan did't sell sewing machines and they were in that building before Hurricane Hattie. Also the home of Charger beer. There is an RC...Royal Crown...logo on Central Drugstore. The Royal Crown Cola wasn't around for long, couldn't compete with Coke! The young lady in glasses to the left of the photo is the youngest sister of Dr Victor Gonzalez PhD who taught Biology at St John's 1973 -76.
The Melhado house was to the left. Loved the smell of popcorn popped only with coconut oil. It is still there. Moms restaurant was in that niche too. The pharmacist there was Mr. Usher, the staff was very nice and courteous. First it belonged to Lopez. Matus Brothers was next to it. This building has stood the test of time. Still looks like the same.
Frederick Vernon: Central Drug Store had the oldest public scale that I can remember. Perhaps it was a gimmick just to get people to utilize the scale but this scale give you both your weight and your fortune. I can recall, as a boy, i already knew what my weight was but I would still use the scale to find out what my fortune would be. And you guessed it, the fortune predictions were never accurate. That scale is still there and working after 50 years.
Photograph courtesy Albert Paul Avila
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