Orange Julius

In 1926 the real estate agent Willard Hamlin helped to secure a downtown Los Angeles storefront for the fresh-squeezed orange juice stand owned by his friend Julius Freed. Hamlin, who had a background in chemistry, thought there might be a market for more interesting orange-based drinks, and he began experimenting with combinations of fresh orange juice and crushed ice blended with various food powders. The result was a fruit drink with a creamy, frothy texture. The formula is proprietary, but published “copycat” recipes for home consumption consist of orange juice blended with such additives as milk, sugar, vanilla, egg whites, powdered whipped topping mix, and vanilla pudding mix. In many ways, the Orange Julius was the forerunner of the smoothie.