I remember when.....

[Andykev]

Ok let's try this one for a fresh breath of air from what the past couple of weeks have been on the Lounge:

I remember when:

They had tubes for sale in the grocery store, with the testor on top. Tubes for the radio.

I remember when cigarettes were .35 cents a pack, and a Hershey bar was .05 cents.

I remember when gas for the car was .25 cents a galllon , and they gave Blue Chip stamps, or dishes.

I remember when the new model year car didn't have fins.

I remember watching the funeral for JFK on a grainy b&w T. V.

I remember watching the astronauts land on the moon.

Jump in fellas...this is fun!

 

[Imahomer]

Ok...

I remember when my Mom would give me 25 cents and it would pay for my entire day. 5 cents to ride the bus to the swimming pool, 10 cents to get into the swimming pool for the day, 5 cents to ride the bus home and 5 cents to buy a candy bar after swimming. Of course you'd want something that would really last like a big hunk, or a sugar daddy!

I remember when people would use the terms "ice box" for refrigerator, or "two bits" for a quarter, or "chesterfield" for a couch and everyone knew what they were talking about!

I remember when your Mom would iron patches on the knees of your jeans and no one thought twice about it.

I remember playing with a large cardboard box, that didn?¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢t cost anything. It was a fort, a space ship, a race car and a club house. It lasted until it rained and fell apart.

I remember coming home from school and having to change out of my school clothes and into my play clothes. I also remember the punishment if I went out to play in my school clothes!

 

[Canadave]

I remember

...having to walk up to the TV to change the channel.

...when my father used to put his arm across the front seat to hold me in place when he had to brake hard - before seatbelts.

...when I used to remember stuff really easily!

David

 

[Michaelson]

I remember when coal used to be delivered to your house for winter heating...

I remember picking up block ice at the local ice house, and the fun chipping away pieces of ice for your ice tea with an ice pick....

I remember hat cleaning/reblocking stores in my home town. They also doubled as shoe shine shops...

I remember electrified buses that had the panograph on the top of the body that shot out sparks every time it crossed a junction cable...

I remember when a weekly visit to the local library was a treat, and the library was usually crowded....

I remember long lines going around the corner and down the block outside the local movie theater when a new Disney movie (or new Hollywood epic) was released....

I remember ice cold in winter, and lava hot and sticky in the summer car seats (enjoying my second childhood with my 50 Plymouth with these same things now! ).....


Regards. Michaelson

 

[PADDY]

I remember when...

Bear in mind this is an Irish/UK background I have, so might seem alien to some of my American cousins...

Here goes...

One day in the week was always WASH DAY. One day was always BAKING DAY.

My Auntie May baking fresh potatoe bread on a flat iron griddle over a range oven. Me waiting as a child for it to finish in the oven, then splitting it open to release that warm steam, stuffing it with a knob of butter and eating it until I was sick.

Halloweens where we played simple games like ducking an apple in a bucket of water (had to bite chunks out with your teeth, no hands allowed!).

At Easter, painting boiled eggs and dying them with yellow flowers from prickly gorse bushes. Then rolling them down a hill and chasing them, to eat them at the bottom!

Police officers (RUC), swinging wooden truncheons on street corners.

A 'Rag & Bone' man coming with a horse and cart to collect things you were throwing out and could be re-used.

Heavy horses delivering beer kegs from the brewery to the pubs.

Horse and cart delivering milk in metal urns to the houses.

Mowtown hits being played on radios on sunny days (always seemed to be sunny when Mowtown played).

Standing to attention in the cinema after a movie when they played the National Anthem. Also, national anthem on TV at 12 midnight before things went off the air.

When men and boys would give up their seats to ladys on buses if there were no seats vacant.

Opening a door for a lady to allow her to pass first.

 

[PADDY]

I remember when...

Bear in mind this is an Irish/UK background I have, so might seem alien to some of my American cousins...

Here goes...

One day in the week was always WASH DAY. One day was always BAKING DAY.

My Auntie May baking fresh potatoe bread on a flat iron griddle over a range oven. Me waiting as a child for it to finish in the oven, then splitting it open to release that warm steam, stuffing it with a knob of butter and eating it until I was sick.

Halloweens where we played simple games like ducking an apple in a bucket of water (had to bite chunks out with your teeth, no hands allowed!).

At Easter, painting boiled eggs and dying them with yellow flowers from prickly gorse bushes. Then rolling them down a hill and chasing them, to eat them at the bottom!

Police officers (RUC), swinging wooden truncheons on street corners.

A 'Rag & Bone' man coming with a horse and cart to collect things you were throwing out and could be re-used.

Heavy horses delivering beer kegs from the brewery to the pubs.

Horse and cart delivering milk in metal urns to the houses.

Mowtown hits being played on radios on sunny days (always seemed to be sunny when Mowtown played).

Standing to attention in the cinema after a movie when they played the National Anthem. Also, national anthem on TV at 12 midnight before things went off the air.

When men and boys would give up their seats to ladys on buses if there were no seats vacant.

Opening a door for a lady to allow her to pass first.

 

[Imahomer]

How about....

I remember my parents taking we kids to the drive-in movies.

I remember going to the local movie house as a boy and watching a double feature.

I remember before movies were rated. My parents didn't have any problem figuring out what was ok for me to watch and what wasn't.

Hey.... I remember going to see The Three Stooges meet Hercules AND the Three Stooges were there in person!! LOL

 

[CoffeeDude]

I remember having to walk barefoot to school - uphill both ways. When it snowed I had to wrap my feet in barbed wire to get enough traction.

 

[Michaelson]

Come to think of it, I remember when CoffeeDude used to have a clear mind....now THAT dates me, doesn't it? Regards. Michaelson

 

[Hamsterjeep]

A reminder of the "good old days"

Can't Believe You Made It" !
If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's...

Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have...
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
(Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!)
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.
No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents.
They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight... we were always outside playing. We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games at all, 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones,Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We went outside and found them.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them.
Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it?
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.....Horrors. Tests
were not adjusted for any reason.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law,
imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
And you're one of them.
Congratulations!

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids,before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.
:cry:

 

[Michaelson]

If you believed what folks are saying about us now, you wonder how in the world we all survived to LIVE this long, doesn't it? Regards. Michaelson

 

[CoffeeDude]

I've lived this long just to p*** them off. I think I've done a decent job of it too.

I remember when people knew their neighbors, when gas stations were all full service, when ethics were continually taught at home instead of an elective college class.

 

[Art Fawcett]

Welcome Hamsterjeep...I like you already!!!

Now Michaelson, you might remember this one

I remember my step dad hunting rabbit with a 22 rifle..from the front seat

I remember riding my bike from east Oakland to El Cerrito ( about 15 mi. ) every day to play golf till dark, then riding home by moonlight . Us Bay area guys will understand the importance of that feat

Saturday matinee's

Fishing with cherry bombs

putting so much "Pommade" in my hair you could break a finger combing it

wondering if they would reach my draft number this year

naked people proclaiming they were god!! ( Haight ashbury days)

having my son born and NOT being allowed in the room

laying in the grass catching fireflies

Old Spice

Brylcream

Wonder Bread

my milk man

meat markets...

the day JFK was shot

 

[jamespowers]

Ok, I might as well add something here.

I remember when common sense was common.
Everyone knew that if you spilled coffee on yourself it would burn.
I remember when those little plastic cream containers in the restaurant didn't have instructions on how to open them. It is a wonder we didn't starve!
I remember when you didn't have to wear seat belts, helmets or knee pads. It is a wonder we survived a car ride or a bike ride.
I remember when a kid could actually have a toy gun and people did not go all wobbly on you. It is a wonder we did not squirt gun ourselves to death.
I remember when cartoons had violence and guns prominently displayed but the kids never shot themselves or their friends. They never hit each other with axes and blamed television or cartoons.
I remember Bugs Bunny dressing up as a woman and not thinking anything of it---now well.....
I remember TV shows where the parents actually knew something about life and had wisdom to impart to their kids. Now TV shows are about dysfunctional families who are out and out stupid!
How did common sense and personal responsibility become so scarce and excuses so plentiful in such a short time? :cry:

Regards to all,

J

 

[Dalexs]

Hmmm, ok, lets see if I can add anything...

I remember when cars could actually seat a family of 8 comfortably for those long drives to vacation.

I remember watching The Flintstones in Primetime!

I remember going to Saturday matinees to see double features, preceded by an array of cartoons

I remember living in the city and being allowed to pretty much go anywhere in a 4 block radius by myself as long as I was home by dinner.

I remember when the age of 40 seemed life an eternity away!

Dalexs

 

[Big Man]

I remember when you had to be 21 to vote.

I remember when you could buy beer (legally) at 18.

I remember when you could go to J.D's Package Store on Rocky Ford street and buy beer no matter how old (or young) you were. OK, so that's a local memory that won't mean anything to any of you, but it really does bring back memories to me.

I remember when, if you got caught driving too fast, the officer would say, "if I catch you speeding again, I'm going to tell your Dad" (a fate that would have been way worse than a ticket - or even jail time).

I remember when just about every boy in school had a pocket knife, but I DO NOT remember anyone ever being cut (on purpose, that is).

I remember when the county we lived in was a "dry" county and alcohol sales were illegal.

I remember when there were "honkeytonks" and "bootleg joints" in the county (see above and also the reference to J.D's Package store).

 

[Canadave]

I remember when this thread was active...6 years ago! lol

 

[Big Man]

I remember when this thread was active...6 years ago! lol

I can remember when I had way more interesting things to do on a Sunday night than read through 6 year old archives. Guess I'm getting old ... [huh]

 

[davestlouis]

Me too, apparently. Great thread to bring back from the dead Big Man!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Halloweens where we played simple games like ducking an apple in a bucket of water (had to bite chunks out with your teeth, no hands allowed!).

I was looking at a UK message board once and there was a thread about the game of Conkers. As I read the posts it occurred to me that when I was a kid here in California that we, too, played Conkers. Only we called it Pencil Fighting as we used pencils instead of the traditional horse chestnuts (of course none of us probably knew what horse chestnuts were back then! )

Well, here are the things I remember:

-- Watching the astronauts land on the moon.

-- The late Michael Jackson as a kid.

-- When servicemen wore their uniforms in public.

-- Our first color TV (1972)

-- Blue Chip Stamps

-- When downtown (L.A.) was still the place to shop.

-- Woolworths

-- Cafeterias

-- When Cracker Jacks had real prizes

-- TV variety shows

-- Huntley and Brinkley ("Good night, David..." "Good night, Chet...")

-- Airmail stamps

-- Elevator operators

-- Radio tubes and tube testers at the drug store

-- Cigarette vending machines

-- Having to go to the arcade to play video games

-- Mechanical arcade games

-- When Gone With the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, and The Ten Commandments was a major TV viewing event.