Orange Julius

"The first Orange Julius stand was established by Julius Freed and (Willard) Bill Hamlin in 1926 on South Broadway in Downtown Los Angeles."

The drink grew out of an orange juice stand opened in Los Angeles, California, in 1926 by Julius Freed. Sales were initially modest, about $20 a day (equivalent to approximately $360 in 2025 dollars). In 1929, Bill Hamlin, Freed's real estate broker, developed a mixture that made the acidic orange juice less bothersome to his stomach. Freed's stand began serving the drink, which had a frothier, creamier texture. The sales at the stand increased substantially after the introduction of the new drink, going up to $100 ($1,820 in 2025 dollars) a day.

During the 1950s and 1960s, Orange Julius was sold at a variety of outlets, including state and county fairs and freestanding Orange Julius stands. It was the Official Drink of the 1964 New York World’s Fair Exposition.

In 1967, Hamlin sold Orange Julius to Al Lapin Jr's International Industries corporation, which also owned International House of Pancakes; The Original House of Pies, and others. The Santa Monica, California, headquartered company reached about 745 franchises, from California to Canada. It also changed its name to Orange Julius International. It was acquired in 1985 by Custom Creamery Systems, a New York-based ice cream and vending machine operator. One condition of the deal was that the merged company retain the Orange Julius International name. It was publicly traded, for a time, over-the-counter.

At its peak, as an independent company, it had hundreds of stores in malls across the United States (including Puerto Rico) and Canada. The first store opened in Asia in Hong Kong, in 1977, then spread to Singapore, South Korea, the Philippines and Japan.

In 1987, the Orange Julius chain was bought by International Dairy Queen, which was subsequently purchased by billionaire Warren Buffett in 1998; thus, making it a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. Most of the surviving independent Orange Julius stores were rebranded into Dairy Queens. However, as of 2026, a handful of standalone Orange Julius stores remain in operation, such as one at the Crossgates Mall in Albany, NY.

Dairy Queen added Orange Julius to its product line at its stores. Today, Orange Julius is a menu item available at Dairy Queen stores, called Treat Centers.