Late one night in 1996 while working at his computer, Hamilton Rousseau got tired of running out of sodas and smokes.

That's when Rousseau suddenly made a dramatic and fateful 180-degree leap out of the future back into the past.

For almost six years the award-winning, internationally-recognized theorist and visionary had been hard at work on a treatise projecting his twenty-year study of people, society and technology well into the twenty-first century. So you'd have thought he would be the last person to ever look back to 'the good old days.'

But that night Rousseau clicked "file:quit" on his futuristic project and set upon creating an old-fashioned soda pop and tobacco shop reminiscent of his childhood.

Appropriately, he named it Ifs Ands & Butts, a tribute of sorts to his unfinished tome since life in the new technological age he had been researching and writing about seemed to consist of little else. Concerned about the loss of community, Rousseau intended to prove we could do better the old fashioned way.

Mid-afternoon sun sets the altar of soda bottles aglow. The red, blue and purple concoctions, stacked three shelves high in the front window, dance in the light.

D.O.A., a lemon-orange drink flavored with jalapenos, promises to be a hit. Afri Cola and Ramune suggest faraway climes. Outside, customers stare for a moment, pressing palms against the window, then they step inside. The sodas lure them indoors. Hamilton Rousseau keeps them there.

"This is kind of a laboratory for me," the shop owner says. "I have random people walk in at random times for random reasons. I probe to find out what kind of things they're thinking."

Mr. Rousseau is an enigmatic, engaging presence in the Bishop Arts district in Oak Cliff [Dallas]. He is a tall, wiry man who can twist off a bottle cap, chat about the isolating effects of technology, then serve a cup of sugary fizz with a smile.

Ifs Ands & Butts and its creator, Hamilton Rousseau, have been widely honored, featured, noted and quoted by local, metro, state, national, international and internet media for an unprecedented nine consecutive years, ever since 1997.

See the following long list for all the media who publicized the shop so many years.

Neighbors wander in on foot, and aficionados drive across the Metroplex to pick up micro-brewed sodas that have managed to hold out against corporate bullying for a century or more...Rousseau searched the world to build his top shelf of "25 Classics."

As sunshine passed through multicolored bottles in the front window and formed kaleidoscopic designs, [the young lady] spent 10 minutes on one knee searching for a specific brand: Rat Bastard. She had given up when Rousseau glided across the shop floor to her aid. The sound of clinking glass filled the small room before he rose with a bottle in each hand....

. . . Rousseau has carved out quite an enterprise...he's turned his passion for pop into an international venture, even on the internet. People travel to Dallas from across the country just to re-live a childhood taste sensation.

No doubt Rousseau's southern charisma adds to the nostalgic ambience of the store's relaxing atmosphere.

The clean lines of the décor, the colorful rows and rows of soda bottles, the shelves of half-price paperbacks, and the tasteful display of designer ashtrays, lighters, and cigar-smoking accessories, even the smell of good tobacco, all blend to delight the visitor...Dallas is full of this and that labeled European...Yet the little place on Bishop Street may come closest to capturing the much-sought continental flair. The faultless ambience aside, the shop's main attraction is the proprietor himself, a raconteur not to be outdone....

Dear Hamilton, keep making Bishop Arts fantastic. Your biggest fan, Laura.

On Bishop is the famous soda pop and tobacco store, Ifs Ands & Butts. The proprietor Hamilton Rousseau (whose name alone sums up a great deal about America) is worth the trip—an old Charlestonian full of deep lore, a philosopher, a raconteur.

During its nine years in business, Ifs Ands & Butts is extremely proud the shop played such a significant, ongoing role in the Bishop Arts District's revitalization, rapid raise to prominence and widespread popularity, as well as the numerous awards and honors the District's truly amazing transformation received.

These include the prestigious Greater Dallas Planning Council Award in 2005 and a Preservation Achievement Award from Preservation Dallas in 2001, as well as a "Best Neighborhood Renaissance" Award and a "Best Cruise and Schmooze" Award from the Dallas Observer. It was also named "One of Ten Things Dallas Can Brag About" by the Editorial Board of the Dallas Morning News in 2004.

Contributing to this acclaim for the District was the shop itself being named a featured Dallas Observer "Best of Dallas Award" winner in 1997, 1999, and a rare double win in both Food and Markets categories in 2002, as well as a featured cover-story winner of D Magazine's "Best of Big D Award" in 2001 and 2005.

As for the role of the shop's proprietor in the process, that is best summed up by David Spence, former City Plan Commissioner and Bishop Arts District Developer:

"...earlier than any other single merchant Hamilton Rousseau began promoting the district for destination retail and saw the value of the city-planning process in taking the district from a neighborhood gathering spot to a citywide attraction. Hamilton, who until recently lived in an old-style flat behind his shop, has participated in countless city and merchants-association meetings, including as a member of the steering committee behind the main reconstruction project.... [the 2005 Greater Dallas Planning Council Award] is a fitting tribute to his 10 years in the district."

The wonderful Historic Bishop Arts District in Dallas, the home of Ifs Ands & Butts for over nine years, has now blossomed, matured, and built an exciting new life and identity all its own which have elevated it from urban blight into a major destination for locals and visitors alike.

In fact, the total restoration and revitalization of the entire Historic District in but a single decade is nothing short of extraordinary! As the Dallas Morning News said, it is one of "Ten Things Dallas can brag about."

It far exceeds everything I envisioned when, in 1993, I first moved into this storefront and began working with Jim Lake Senior, the man who wisely saved these precious historic buildings from the wrecking ball, and all the District's many diverse artists, merchants, property owners, surrounding neighborhoods and city leaders, to restore this remarkable trolley-era community to its former urban glory. And despite all odds, together we made something great happen.

...to the Soda Gallery, for reincarnating the unique concept of Ifs Ands & Butts at its original site in the Bishop Arts District. It is befitting that the little shop come back to life since its soda pop had become so much a part of the community.

Rousseau always hopes his work will live on well after he moves on, and is pleased to see that the soda shop and historic District he loved are both doing just fine.