I realize that I’ve made reference to my sweet tooth countless times as interwoven into my essays here at Curbside Classic, but you’ll have to indulge me (pun intended) once again. At this writing, it was only the second Friday after Halloween and as if the drugstore displays of discounted, spooky-themed candy had morphed literally overnight into those for the December holidays. Many of those candies also seemed exactly the same as before, but with different plastic baggies and foil wrappings in green and red instead of orange and black. Oh, candy. Sweets. After many, many childhood cavities and a few root canals in adulthood, one might think I’ve had enough of you, but no. To be clear, I eat very healthily during the week and exercise daily, but until my primary physician tells me I can no longer do so, I’m going to allow myself some sugar on weekends.
Mr. Jelly Belly wouldn’t lie to you. At Hollywood Candy.
…And also while traveling for business, as I had a couple of months ago to beautiful Omaha, Nebraska. This year was the first in which I had chosen to stay in the fun, historic Old Market District, amid its charming restaurants, clothing shops, bars, music stores, ice cream parlors, and (never to be missed) Hollywood Candy on the southwest corner of Jackson & 12th. I’ve been coming to Omaha for work since 2011, but had usually found corporate-approved lodging in other parts of downtown. Since I have usually found my way to Old Market after hours at some point or another, I figured I would just stay there this year. It was a good move. Before dinner with clients, I’ll usually try to get some sweets from Hollywood to be able to enjoy once I get back to my room and long after the store has closed for the day. For this reason, Hollywood Candy was only my third stop after check-in at the hotel. It was a candy emergency.
I had seen this old, pink and white Chevy G20 ambulance parked in front of the business before, but this fall was perhaps the first time I had seen it in this abundance of daylight. For the past couple of years, my trips to Omaha had been in November when it gets dark outside before five PM. This Monday night, however, I was able to appreciate all of its visual details. Sing it with me like Larry Blackmon of Cameo: “It’s like can-daaay…” Candy is not the answer to life’s occasional setbacks, but there’s that tongue-in-cheek part of me that thoroughly enjoys the idea of needing to be rescued by it, as boldly emblazoned on the side of this Chevy van. “Give me two Pixie Sticks and a cold Coca Cola, stat! There isn’t much time!”
Searching for information about this van online produced the discovery that this ambulance, a ’79, had been purchased by the owner of Hollywood Candy from a California studio rental company and that it had been featured in myriad movies and productions with which many would be familiar, like Twilight and General Hospital, to name a couple on a very long list. I couldn’t find anything about this example’s powertrain, but it might be powered by a Chevy 305 or 350 small block V8. I doubt that a movie prop van would be powered by the 4.1 liter straight-six, though I realize this might be possible. How hard is it to speed up filmed footage? I’ve seen this trick many times in chase scenes from more than a few of my favorite shows of the ’70s.
Speaking of the ’70s, part of the reason this generation of Chevy van has endeared itself to me over the years is because it embodies the work vehicle of so many businesses present throughout my Generation X childhood in the ’80s. Electricians, auto parts stores, and even the Dennis’s next-door neighbor, Mark the plumber, had one. Those Chevy bow-tie dog dish hubcaps are an instant throwback that make me wish I could find some similar-looking, ceramic breakfast cereal bowls. (With an inverted design, maybe?) These G-series vans stayed in production for twenty-six whole model years, between 1971 and ’96. I had ridden in a few of them as conversion vans as a youth, and it seems that as they continue to disappear as semi-common sights on the road, the more they seem downright iconic to me. I just can’t imagine a Sprinter van being tricked out like this in thirty years. Who knows.
Candy also seems to embody the spirit of childhood innocence and irreverence, and perhaps that’s another reason why I’ve never quite been able to let go of my sweet tooth. Experiencing the joy of delicious, daily-made fudge or toffee from Hollywood has been one way for me to reconnect with little Joe when I have had an occasional, “Am I really doing this adulthood thing? Don’t look down…”- moment while discussing business with my agency partners in an insurance career that has now stretched past the quarter-century mark. I also no longer need to ask for parental permission to enjoy a small bag of jellybeans… I just can, and with no one to answer to but myself. For any who are wondering, this essay’s subtitle is a nod to English recording artist Lynsey De Paul’s 1972 hit single by the same name. Click that link and bop your head along with me, as we all celebrate the enjoyment of the occasional, sugary indulgence, even if only in our minds.
Old Market, Omaha, Nebraska.
Monday, October 14, 2024.
Here’s my tribute to this generation of Chevy van, originally posted in 2016.
Most white vans driven by strangers offering candy would choose less flamboyance than a hot pink paint job and a light bar, but you have to give credit for an original concept.
I’ll have to go find Hollywood Candy the next time I’m in Omaha. It’s not something I was aware of, but it sounds like a lot of fun.
As to the van itself, man, every college/university I’ve either attended or worked for always had a motorpool stocked with these things (sans light bar and paint job) and I inevitably had reasons to take them out and clang around rough roads. It doesn’t take much more than looking at one to recall the particular noise the sliding door makes when closing or the hollow banging of the interior when one thing or the other is bouncing around the bare metal interior. I’d imagine that an ambulance would be a bit quieter, but not much.
Strangers with candy! And now I’m thinking of the show with Amy Sedaris. LOL. I don’t know if I’ve ever driven one of these vans, not even while working as a landscaper / greenskeeper at a golf resort for years, but I can hear the sound of the sliding doors, for sure.
Joe, thanks for featuring my hometown in this feature! I recognized the ‘Hollywood Candy’ emporium sign instantly. If a person wants the unusual and seldom found candy, they have it! It’s a managerie to get lost in there; all kinds of antique and unusual finds.
(I found a first-edition Diana Ross & the Supremes debut album there from `63. Had a chance once for Diana Ross herself to autograph it too!)
Will, I love your hometown! I always super look forward to traveling to Omaha for work, and I think that if for some reason something changed, I’d still visit Omaha just to go. And that’s pretty amazing about a.) finding that record there; and b.) getting it signed by Diana Ross! I’ve seen her in concert only once, and that was here in Chicago back in 2014. She’s just great.
I listened to one of her hits packages just last week. Detroit was and is the source of so much talent. (And now the Supremes have just randomly popped up on shuffle… there are no coincidences)
I feel like I rarely, (never?) see Chevy ambulances here in the US. Even years ago when the big GM vans were more common in commercial use, it was mostly Ford E Series. Now, Ford Transits. Sadly, the most likely place to see the GM ambulances is on TV news from the Middle East.
You have me thinking back to when these types of vans were used regularly as ambulances, and the most common brand (i.e. Chevy, Ford, Dodge, etc.) that I remember seeing. In Flint, it was probably the Chevys and GMCs, but everywhere else? I honestly can’t remember. It has been so long since I’ve seen these in regular rotation.
I’m not into candy, but your mention of the General Hospital van… well, that brings back a long-forgotten memory.
When I was little, I lived with my grandmother, and she’d watch General Hospital every day. I knew during that time, that I had to go do my own thing and not bother her, but I’d stick around for the opening scene to see the ambulance drive by the hospital. The scene of course never changed, and it wasn’t that exciting to begin with, but I’d watch it every day, before going off to amusing myself with something else while Grandmom watched General Hospital and All My Children. Quite a nostalgia trip, and it amuses me that one of the GH vans is now selling candy!
Yes! I love memories like these as shared by others and recalled, myself. I remember there being a period of time when my mom watched soaps when I was really young, but I’m sure I would have been bored after The Price Is Right was over and I would have just gone and done something else when General Hospital came on.
I like watching old episodes of “Emergency” with all of those old Dodge first-responding vehicles.
Thanks for the reminder of the late Lynsey De Paul, very often heard on the radio and seen on tv here in Britain in the 70s.
That song is absolutely brilliant, and she was really beautiful. I was surprised to learn that song wasn’t a hit Stateside, as well.
I identify these vans with men undergoing mid-life crises in the 70s. I was in elementary school at the time, and one of my good friends was Billy. Billy’s parents split sometime around the summer between the 4th and 5th grades. His dad bought a Chevy Van and turned it into a “sin bin” (I think I learned that term in an old C&D article in the 70s).
I rode in the van quite a few times. It had a platform bed with velour bedding, shag carpet on the walls and ceiling and homemade speaker boxes. The van’s soundtrack featured a lot of The Doobie Brothers. Of course the van had the obligatory port holes.
Billy’s dad kept it rather subtle as the van did double duty as his ride for his job as a tv repairman. The portholes were a simple circle, no murals of nude women in the sunset on the side…
This van and Billy’s dad’s lifestyle was eye-opening, compared to my relatively boring parents. My mom certainly never heard about the fact we were allowed to watch Showtime past a reasonable hour after I spent the night.
Eric, this was awesome and entertaining to read. Mid-life crisis mobiles: these conversion vans and C3 Corvettes, maybe? (I’m middle aged, and I could see myself getting the Corvette back then, but not to prove anything.)
It’s interesting to think about one of those tricked-out vans doing double-duty as a work van. I wouldn’t want to get my “sin bin” (LOL!) van dirty with my work tools and such. I imagine, though, now that you mention it, that probably qmatbkesst a few conversion vans were the only work-type vehicle many had back then. And yes – the different shapes of the custom windows were always cool, I thought.
As one who drove the vans of that era, the GM versions were the least treat-like to me. But time has moved on and I think it makes a great sign. As another with a sweet tooth, this sounds like a great destination!
As for the music reference, I’m older and think of Sammy Davis Jr singing The Candy Man in the early 1970’s, so probably around the vintage as this van.
I’m thinking Sammy Johns and his song “Chevy Van”…. and that’s alright with me
Well, it’s a darn shame that Sammy Johns came out with that song before the age of music videos; and so subsequently all we have are really cheesy things to go with that excellent 1970s tune. Which indeed is what I always think of when presented with the term “Chevy Van”.
Ahhhhhh. The 70s. Yeah, I drove a few Chevy Vans before 1980. Sadly (for me) Sammy seems to have had a much better experience than I did.
So ’70s, and so in the spirit of the van as depicted in the still!
JP, you have me wondering if maybe I had a lost opportunity to tie in a bunch of other candy-themed songs like something I’ve done with songs of a theme in prior essays. I love that Davis song and have it on my MP3 player, I think. Some other candy songs:
– “I Want Candy” – Bow Wow Wow
– “Candy Girl” – New Edition
– “Pour Some Sugar On Me” – Def Leppard
– “Candy Man” – The Mary Jane Girls
…I have to stop there as my L stop is approaching after work!
There’s also “In Candy’s Room” by Bruce Springsteen and “Candy’s Going Bad” by Golden Earring.
Reminds me of the full-sized vans, radio stations used during this era, to cruise local freeways. Assisting motorists suffering from breakdowns, empty gas tanks, or flat tires. While also promoting the station. Typically Top 40 format, often decked out with ambulance-like flashers, whip antennas, and loud graphics.
My local Top 40 station, had the ‘CFRA Queensway Cruiser’. Which I believe, was either a Dodge, or Chevy Van.
Daniel, thank you for posting this! That entire playlist is fire. 1985 had a bumper crop of pop music excellence. As Christmas approaches, I’m remembering Christmas ’84 (as the year turned to ’85) as having been particularly exciting. The gifts. The fun. The innocence. My first radio.
Great recollections! ‘Do They Know its Christmas’ by Band-Aid, was huge in December 1984. Amazing memories… feels like yesterday.
Tough to follow up an ’80s classic like ‘Word Up’, but I quite liked ‘Candy’ by Cameo.
I thought the music video, was very well done.
But how will Larry Blackmon’s red codpiece go over in Omaha? It seems a bit wild for the midwest.
Your written imagery, and photography, also reminds me of the GMC ambulance in David and David’s iconic ’80’s one hit wonder, ‘Welcome to the Boomtown’.
Video plays at selected time: https://youtu.be/97wvwuHUMCw?t=89
When I was attending Indiana University, Bloomington in the mid-70s, our department purchased one of these G20 vans brand new. It was a 1976 model window van painted in IU colors (red and white) and had a V8 (probably the Chevy 350) and Turbo Hydramatic. I got to drive it a few times; it could really scoot compared to my VW Rabbit!