- The first time I ever made a delivery

was in the spring of 1953,

and I was six months old on my father's route.

I grew up doing this.

Seltzer man.

My name is Walter Backerman,

and I am a Seltzer Man.

A Seltzer Man is the order taker, the bottle fixer,

the driver, the deliverer,

the salesman.

You're everything rolled into one.

If people ask you what it is about the seltzer business

that makes you wanna continue doing it,

you hold that seltzer bottle

and you hold history.

You hold memories.

You hold an object of beauty.

That's 1871.

It still works.

- Without these bottles, this business doesn't exist.

This machine is a Barnett & Foster siphon filling machine.

I think it was made in London, early 1900s.

It's a six siphon grade filling machine.

It goes around through the carousel

and only one bottle goes in at a time.

So it's a lot of work.

The reason this is a better seltzer

is because there's nothing else in this seltzer

other than New York City tap water,

which is triple-filtered through sand, charcoal,

and paper, and CO2.

- Fortunately, as long as the machine is fixed

and I have a place to fill,

I can't see any reason why this business

should be a nail in the coffin situation

where it's over.

It won't be over till the last bottle of seltzer

is squirted, and I don't see that anytime soon.