K’s Fruit Beverages History

K’s Fruit Beverages was a beverage company based in Los Angeles, CA that bottled and distributed soft drinks and non-carbonated beverages from 1941 until 1952.

History

Kay’s Beverages started in 1941 bottling natural fruit drinks. In 1946 Charles “Edwin” Hammond purchased Kay's from the original founders and hired 4 or 5 drivers including his wife Leona and his brother-in-law Charles to deliver the drinks to stores and bars in the Los Angeles area. Kay's Beverages was also sold under the name K's Beverages. Most of what was sold under the K's Beverages label was natural fruit juices like Pineapple Ade, Grapefruit, Tomato, Orange and Grape. Bum's Root Beer and Indian Root Beer were also sold by Kay’s Beverages. Indian Root Bear had a Chief with a full war bonnet on the bottle and Bum’s root beer had a yellow bum with a cigar. Kay's product line was sold off in the early 50's to the Clicquot Club Company when the Korean war caused the price of glass and sugar to go up. K's Beverages then became Arrowhead K's Beverages with a Red and white label instead of the traditional blue and white. The back of the original K's Beverages bottles say "Flash Pasteurized, Free from Benzoate of Soda and other artificial preservatives. Non Carbonated. Kay's Beverages Inc, Los Angeles, Calif. Min Contents 7 FL. OZs."

Charles Van Paepeghem, who was the brother in law to Charles Edwin Hammond. (Charles Edwin Hammond will be referred to as C.E. Here) recalls his time working at K's beverage.

Charles Van Paepeghem said that when he was eighteen he would drive a truck to L.A. and the bottling plant and pick up a load and bring it back to the "Idle Hour" ranch and store it in a building we had near the orange grove. He would go with C.E some days to help him make deliveries in the Long Beach area in the late 40's. C.E owned the business outright and had a number of trucks and drivers that worked for him. Charles Van Paepeghem remembers when C.E use to come to Leta and Gus Van Paepeghem's restaurant in Buena Park where he first met his furture wife, Leona Van Paepeghem. The Walter Knott family used to come to Leta's restaurant every Saturday for Lunch because of her popular Chili which everyone loved. At the time the Knott’s family just had a berry stand and Leona’s sister Jesse dated one of the Knott’s brothers for a while.  The second Restaurant was located in Norwalk which included a service station and a sales yard for Gus’ dairy cows. Leona and her sister Jesse were waitresses and George and Gus were pearl drivers (dish washers). Charles remembers the time when C.E took him to Reems field in L.A. which is now LAX and took him for a airplane ride (Open cockpit) when he was very young. This had to be in the late 20's or very early 30's when C.E worked for a car dealership in downtown L.A. when he was in his 20's before he and Leona got married in 1931. C.E was 25 at the time and Leona was only 17.

Photo of Edwin G Hammond drinking a K's Beverage in 1944. 
The boy he is facing is his cousin Don Simons, son to Edwin's Aunt Jessie.

Charles Van Paepeghem driving the K's Beverage Truck when he was 17

Flavors
Bum’s Root Beer
Indian Root Beer
Pineapple Ade
Chee Chee Grapefruit
K’s Beverages Fruit Drinks
*Grape
*Tomato
*Orange
K's Beverage Arrowhead

Sources:
Alex Forman - K's Beverage Pineapple Ade Bottle Cap
Edwin G Hammond - History and photos
Charles Van Paepeghem - History and photos
Christopher Weide's ACL COLLECTION List

External links
Christopher Weide's ACL COLLECTION List
http://www.ca-yd.com/textfile/bottles/ACLWEB_C.HTM - [#72051798 Chee Chee Grapefruit]
http://www.ca-yd.com/textfile/bottles/ACLWEB_B.HTM - [#92031807 Bum's Root Beer]
http://www.ca-yd.com/textfile/bottles/ACLWEB_K.HTM - [#62090389 K's Beverage]
http://www.ca-yd.com/textfile/bottles/ACLWEB_A.HTM - [#22062999 Arrowhead K's Beverage]

 Here are some K's Beverage pictures that were provided by Ken Loakes

He is a collector and owns the crate and bottles.

He spotted the sign in a Fresno, CA store right next to the check out.