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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsThings my young-adult sons are blown away by that used to be common practice
Talking at dinner tonight about things that were just accepted as common practice “back in the day” that seem so bizarre now to my young-adult sons….
There were cigarette machines in every bar and restaurant and sometimes your dad would give you money and send you out to the lobby and buy him a pack from the machine.
There used to be no screening to get on an airplane. When your flight was called, everyone just lined up and got on. And people could smoke on an airplane!
We used to have “party line” phones where you shared your line with a neighbor and had to wait until they hung up before you could make a call.
Someone came out to your car when you pulled up to a gas station pump, filled your tank, checked your oil, and washed your windshield, then you paid him through your car window. You never had to get out of the car.
Vinyl records and record players.
Can anyone think of other things that used to be common place but seem so unbelievable today?
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DBoon
(24,983 posts)Because you only had one chance to see your favorite show, and if the TV stopped working, you had to repair it right away.
Plus electronics have become much more reliable.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)MOMFUDSKI
(7,080 posts)My dad would do that when the TV went on the Fritz!
Freddie
(10,104 posts)And sold a few TVs, in a small town in central PA, and made a good living. I can still picture his work tables with all the tubes. He would also fix your set at your house, and he installed roof antennas (this was long before cable). He was installing an antenna when he had a fatal heart attack at 52.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)His TV repair shop must have been a fascinating place for a kid to visit.
NJCher
(43,162 posts)A girlfriend’s son is a heart surgeon. Over the years she told me about changes in his practice. Heart care has changed dramatically with preventative care.
I see it in my family, too. In my family, heart attacks were common. So many males had heart attacks in their 50s. Now the medical profession starts early with controlling blood pressure and cholesterol. Diet, too. Hardly anyone in my family has died in their 50s because of this.
We had one die of a fatal heart attack at 52. He did not consistently take his medication.
For a while my friend told me how her son actually received fairly poor remuneration from his heart surgery. That is because it was so common that the insurance companies negotiated low prices for each operation. She said his day was like an assembly line with one surgery after another, all day long. I don’t know if this is still true because she told me this a few decades ago.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Think of how so many Americans ate meat 3x a day and smoking was so common. No wonder a heart attack in one’s 50s wasn’t unusual.
I truly believe what you said about the assembly-line nature of heart surgeries. I don’t think insurance companies ever have our best interests as their priority.
Freddie
(10,104 posts)My uncle died in 1972, before bypass surgery, statins, etc. My dad had the same condition, had a quadruple bypass and took lots of pills, and lived to be 92.
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)
grumpyduck
(6,672 posts)Went to many of those.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)
Old Crank
(7,073 posts)
SCantiGOP
(14,719 posts)Up till about the 70s people got their dress shoes repaired. They had to get new soles because they were made of leather and wore out.
plimsoll
(1,690 posts)I have narrow feet, and the actual act of finding 12As is really hard.
Tetrachloride
(9,623 posts)
doc03
(39,086 posts)regular size 12 Sketchers, all they had were WIDE and EXTRA WIDE. Does everyone have
sasquatch feet today? About a year ago I ended up making a 60-mile round trip to buy a pair of shoes.
This time there were none even that close so they had to special order them. Special order a pair
of what used to be regular size shoes! The retailers figure now they can just have one size fits all and people
will just accept it.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Shoe stores seem to cater to wide feet these days. I can’t even wear a B width (or what used to be a B width) unless it laces up so I can tie it tight. And yes, having to special-order something that used to be a regular size! There are some of us who find shoes that flop off your feet unwearable! Skechers for me are basically something to pass by.
k55f5r
(520 posts)10 1/2 EEEEE. I have duck feet and webbed toes😁😁😁
Old Crank
(7,073 posts)It is like pulling teeth to find over 12-13. I'm a 16-17 depending but normal width. I guess people are growing disc shaped feet
Danmel
(5,778 posts)I've been told to go to children's shoe stores, which almost don't exist anymore, but Peppa Pig shoes are not what I'm looking for.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Ski feet!
Old Crank
(7,073 posts)With feet on the same end of the bell curve as you. It is how I found out about Zappos. She kept getting shoes delivered to work. So I started using them for my shoes. Zappos doesn't deliver to Europe.
She told me. "I'm 35 and I don't want children's shoes."
good luck.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)
unc70
(6,501 posts)I have shoes that have been re-soled 7-8 times. And of my shoes are over 20 years old.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)But the fellow who ran it passed away and no one ever took it over. I miss it - considering the price of a new pair of shoes. He’d repair anything leather. Purses, belts, etc. even a boat seat for Mr. Diamond.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,493 posts)i well remember TV repair shops.Both as a child, and as a young adult. They were wonderful, back in the day.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)As a kid always too high of a counter for me to see over. Dad had to lift me up.
Thunderbeast
(3,819 posts)Parents would pray that it did not need the picture tube...
Old Crank
(7,073 posts)Did you know they could be like capacitors and hold a charge????
Well I found out while trying to clean the dust off the old one.
A shocking discovery.
Thunderbeast
(3,819 posts)Shellback Squid
(10,078 posts)Fuck AOL
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)I got charged long distance rates to call them! Unreal.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,493 posts)changing long distance and local calls for you. Are you really sure the shopping mall was only ten minutes away?
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)
Farmer-Rick
(12,667 posts)My family had a party line with the small town of 10 houses up the lane. If you called anyone not on the party line, it was long distance. Our one neighbor we could see from our house was long distance to call.
My kids claim it's why I'm phone phobic to this day. I don't call unless I absolutely have to because we kids were drilled about never making long distance calls.
tblue37
(68,436 posts)could hear the caller, as if they had to shout across the whole distance!
Conjuay
(3,067 posts)After 8:00 PM so it was cheaper.
MichMan
(17,150 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)
ProfessorGAC
(76,695 posts)Our code name was Clarence. Once my parents heard that Clarence was getting a call, they knew we were good.
Freddie
(10,104 posts)In the 70s they still had to talk to an actual operator to make a long-distance call.
unblock
(56,198 posts)She insists it sounds better than streamed music.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)beveeheart
(1,541 posts)the sound is better. I wish I had saved my vinyls for his collection.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Did you have some good classics?
leftieNanner
(16,159 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Making a local call was 25 cents IIRC.
unblock
(56,198 posts)A number of songs from that era talked about a dime for a call.
Jim croce's "operator" ("you can keep the dime"
for instance.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)unblock
(56,198 posts)You had to call 411 or the operator to first find the number of the business or person you were trying to call and then actually call them.
And you needed the operator to call "collect". Now they just charge both sides of the call.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)I called home “collect” many times from college!
MichMan
(17,150 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,493 posts)and a long distance operator. Both of those were good jobs, back in the day. Paid somewhat above minimum wage. And Ma Bell gave good benefits.
Not sure what you mean by Now they just charge both sides of the call.
And yes, you needed an operator to call collect. Otherwise, how would you make a collect call???
I did like being an operator. It was a good, decent paying job.
Alliepoo
(2,832 posts)Started out as a TSPS operator, left for a few years when my kiddos were tiny, then hired back in as Directory Assistance, then back to local, long distance and international. Stayed as an operator ‘til they closed our office. That was the beginning of the end of operators. It was a fun and interesting job-like you said Ma Bell paid well and those benefits couldn’t be beat! Went to repair (hated that job) then to an admin job for Central Office managers and techs. I had a good career with the phone company. I hate to see what SBC/ATT has done to it.
unblock
(56,198 posts)If I call you, we both pay.
Used to be only the caller paid. Unless you called collect, in which case only the receiver paid. Now both sides have to pay.
Are collect calls still a thing?? I remember 1-800-collect back in the day, but I haven’t had a landline in years.
3Hotdogs
(15,368 posts)Born, 1942
NJCher
(43,162 posts)I remember buying them from Sprint.
Voltaire2
(15,377 posts)AT&T and the regional ‘Baby Bells’. The entire telecommunications system was a chartered monopoly. It was also the best in the world, and very affordable for local service.
Then we got deregulated. Now we have one of the most expensive and mediocre telecommunications systems in the developed world.
NJCher
(43,162 posts)I still have a card. Found it in the cabinet clean out. The cards were used for any toll call.
Also don’t tell me about the baby bells. I worked for them as a communication consultant for a decade and set up their communication matrix to sell the personal services like call waiting.
Voltaire2
(15,377 posts)long distance phone service. So I guess it depends on when you think the ‘old times’ were. For me it is the 50s-70s.
unblock
(56,198 posts)During which I got to see a lecture by I think it was either Dennis Ritchie or Brian kernighan. Bell labs had given him his own switch to play with, and he presented a bunch of then-new features.
Call waiting, call forwarding, adding a third person to a call, etc.
Mind-blowing stuff back then.
Voltaire2
(15,377 posts)It didn’t go anywhere, it was a distributed version of Unix, fun to work on.
rurallib
(64,688 posts)Maine-i-ac
(1,548 posts)erronis
(23,874 posts)that we really don't know their origins.
CTyankee
(68,198 posts)
StarryNite
(12,115 posts)That was in case the date turned bad we would be able to escape and call home from a pay phone! Thankfully I never had to use my dime.
dameatball
(7,669 posts)
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)
area51
(12,691 posts)also contained a reference to a $0.10 call:
867-5309"
Old Crank
(7,073 posts)For ratting someone out.
aggiesal
(10,801 posts)
malthaussen
(18,567 posts)... when answering the phone. Pay phones were 5 cents, then 10 cents for a long time, rising to 25 cents in the 1970s. There is a diner near Pittsburgh that has one of the few operating dial pay telephones left in the US, and it costs 50 cents for a call.
-- Mal
OAITW r.2.0
(32,133 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)I remember the doctor coming to our house when my sister was sick once and he gave her a shot in the butt. The “exam table” was our living room couch. We never let her live that one down.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,493 posts)Honestly, by the mid 1950s house calls were rapidly going away. For those of you who remember them, let us know where exactly you lived where you had house calls.
Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)I was very ill for awhile. I missed six weeks of school and was bedridden. I am told my symptoms were like mononucleosis, but that was somehow ruled out. I eventually got well without ever really being diagnosed specifically. During that illness, I was seen by a doctor coming to the house a number of times, probably in the interest of not knowing how contageous I was and wanting to keep me isolated so as not to infect anyone else. The doctor or anyone entering my room wore masks.
Not a fun time in my life, but I recovered completely with no lasting effects.
wishstar
(5,829 posts)His favored remedy was shot in butt applied while you laid on the couch
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)See my post #12.
PlanetBev
(4,412 posts)I remember our doctor making house calls in the early 50’s.
GoodRaisin
(10,922 posts)Said I had double pneumonia and had to go to the hospital immediately. This was in Roanoke VA.
Alliepoo
(2,832 posts)We had a wonderful family doctor, Dr Forrester. He would come to our house when we were sick carrying his little black bag. This was in the late 50s-early 60’s.
doc03
(39,086 posts)1950s. I don't know if it is true but my mother said the doctor charged $3
for an office visit and $5 for a house call back then. We lived in the Wheeling WV area, the
doctor's office was about 8 miles from our place by a hilly crooked road.
mymomwasright
(443 posts)
getagrip_already
(17,802 posts)He charged $5 for an office visit, and $10 for a house call.
This was on long Island, new york.
Luckily my mother was a fashion designer on 7th Avenue.
But house calls were certainly a thing.
CMYK
(122 posts)I remember Dr Baird Barderson coming to our house more than once - six kids, measles, chicken pox, strep throat - that sort of thing went around. This was in the early 60's (I was born '58).
electric_blue68
(26,856 posts)raging moderate
(4,624 posts)One of my early memories is the house call during the polio epidemic, in 1952. My older brother, age 11, came down with polio. He sat in the living room, straddling a small chair. Dear Dr. Rhodes (his face gray with fatigue) gently placed his stethoscope on my brother's back and carefully said, "Breathe in....Breathe out....Breathe in....Breathe out...." Then he called for an ambulance. My older brother nearly died, but somehow the doctors saved him. He is still alive, at age 83. Then, about a year later, this same saintly doctor came to the tiny bug-infested slum apartment my mother had to rent after fleeing my crazy father, to keep my little brother from dying of a bad case of mumps. (Sadly, this brother died about 20 years ago.) If anyone here is related to Dr. Julius Rhodes of Chicago, Illinois, your family should know that our family still loves and reveres this wonderful man who helped us so much through several dreadful ordeals.
greatauntoftriplets
(179,005 posts)I'm enrolled in a program with a local hospital where the doctor or an NP comes to see me every few months. It's open to people on Medicare. It's really nice.
NJCher
(43,162 posts)New service.
beveeheart
(1,541 posts)to see my 75yo grandmother who was having trouble breathing. He injected her with something and sometime during the night she died. I heard someone say it was because of fluid in her lungs.
This same Dr. delivered my father when my grandmother was 31yo. Also a house call.
1967 - Same Dr. saw me in his office on a Sunday afternoon for flu symptoms.
Very small town in rural Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Laurelin
(897 posts)If you're too sick to go to the practice.
Lefta Dissenter
(6,703 posts)My folks (95 and 84 years old) have a doctor who makes house calls. The appointments are so much more relaxed than in the clinic, and the doctor can devote as much time as we need for talking through any issues. She also sees the folks in their “natural habitat,” which has helped us to identify minor contributors to chronic complaints (eg, too-low couch aggravating gastric reflux).
This doctor still carries her dad’s old leather “doctor bag” filled with exam devices (stethoscope, reflex hammer, etc.).
Pinback
(13,600 posts)Telephone books. Kids playing outside all day long without adult supervision. Doing math with pencil and paper. Manual typewriters. (“Damn, the ribbon’s out!”) Black & white televisions, and only three stations to choose from (4 if you include educational” TV). Metal dashes in cars, and no seat belts.
I could go on and on. But I’m too old to remember any more. 
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)And, speaking of telephone books, everyone’s name, number, and address was right there for everyone to see! Getting fingers all black from changing the typewriter ribbon.
Freddie
(10,104 posts)And we suddenly got 3 more channels to watch, which mostly played kids shows and old reruns. We thought it was awesome.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)SCantiGOP
(14,719 posts)That was what little brothers and sisters were for.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)MichMan
(17,150 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)and had to start all over again with new paper.
JT45242
(4,043 posts)I would say antenna on the roof, but that is too similar to a satellite dish.
The one that blows my kids away...throw a mattress in the back of a station wagon and let the kids sleep and play for a long trip. No seatbelts and what fool thought of a car seat.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)The back of the station wagon was like a playground…. Lol!
lapfog_1
(31,904 posts)We would take my dad's pickup truck to a Hayfield or barn, often 20 miles away... I rode in the back with my dad a brother in the front. But... that's not all... after my brother and I boosted and stacked the hay bales in the truck bed... often the top layer was 2 or 3 bales over the cab... my dad would tell me to ride on top of the stack for the ride home... and hold to the baling wire to both stay on top AND to prevent the stack of bales from falling out of the truck bed. I always worried that he would slam on the brakes...
Of course, nothing ever happened. But YIKES... he would be in prison now. Back there and back then... everybody did stuff like that.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)unc70
(6,501 posts)
HubertHeaver
(2,539 posts)Hang onto the rim of the seat and keep hands away from the spring. And there was no fender on the M's or the F models.
unc70
(6,501 posts)For those not from farms, these are tractor models from International Harvester/Farmall.
We also had an International 350; much faster, but probably more dangerous than the stately C. The 350 used the IH Fasthitch so the drawbar was generally not attached.
Thanks for triggering this trip down memory lane.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)
Shermann
(9,062 posts)It even seems to be making a comeback. Cord-cutters can use it to supplement their content from streaming services. I installed my OTA antenna on the roof last year.
BOSSHOG
(44,738 posts)A MORNING daily paper and an AFTERNOON Daily paper.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)My mom talked about ice delivery and two daily papers. She said they got mail twice a day, too.
Rhiannon12866
(255,525 posts)I remember we were away one time and when we came home the bottles of milk had partially frozen and a column of milk had pushed the paper stopper a few inches out of the bottle. And my aunt and uncle had a special milk box at their door where the milkman put the milk he delivered. 
Delmette2.0
(4,503 posts)Milk was delivered by a local company twice a week. My youngest thought he was in the best town ever. When they were a few years older they could walk down town to the ice cream and candy store and charge a treat on my account. They never abused the privilege.
Rhiannon12866
(255,525 posts)The farm where the milk came from was on the same rural road and I remember that my school bus stopped at that farm for two or three much older boys, must have been a family farm, so the milk was really local.
And my grandmother told me about sending one of her kids to the local store to pick up something and if what she wanted wasn't really clear, the proprietor would just give her a call. There was one time one of the kids came home with head lice and she needed something to eradicate that. So she sent my Dad to the store to pick up that solution and my Dad was mortified since the druggist called my grandmother to be clear about what she wanted. And he said loud enough so everyone in the store could hear "Oh! Bette has head lice?!" 
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)doc03
(39,086 posts)other baked goods from a truck. Sometimes we were allowed to get a maple cream stick from the truck.
There was also a truck that sold fruit and vegetables. Best yet was Ice Cream Joe.
Rhiannon12866
(255,525 posts)You were lucky with the fruit and vegetables - and ice cream! But I do remember that a local bakery truck used to come by and my mother sent me out to buy donuts - and the oldest I could have been was 6 since we moved after that. 
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)OAITW r.2.0
(32,133 posts)That was the message on the bottles we had delivered from the local dairy.
lastlib
(28,260 posts)...but I had to milk the cows and carry it to the house myself. I lived on a dairy farm.
Srkdqltr
(9,759 posts)You would shop in the store and tell them you wanted your purchase sent. A couple of days later your stuff would be delivered to you. You didn't have to carry purchases around the store.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Srkdqltr
(9,759 posts)I worked in the window shade department, a lot was sent from there.
Just can't remember. Does that mean I'm old? 🤔
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)
William769
(59,147 posts)
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)MOMFUDSKI
(7,080 posts)Been there and done that
fierywoman
(8,595 posts) 
Native
(7,359 posts)Jamesm9164
(580 posts)was sticking all those stamps in the books and then the bags of books to the redemption center. Fun times.
DBoon
(24,983 posts)Last edited Sat Feb 10, 2024, 01:21 AM - Edit history (1)
Rite Aid having acquired the old Thrifty drug store chain
Native
(7,359 posts)We had an amazing lunch counter in a pharmacy in Fredericksburg, VA. Ammonia Cokes were still a thing in the 70's.
DBoon
(24,983 posts)Is it something you chop up on a mirror and inhale up your nose?
Native
(7,359 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Gas stations and grocery stores gave them out. And there were Plaid Stamps, too. You pasted them in a book and if you saved enough up you could redeem them for merchandise.
We drove 50 miles to the redemption center in Cleveland and were able to get a card table and folding chairs with our Green Stamps. This was probably in the early 60s.
patphil
(9,067 posts)Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Srkdqltr
(9,759 posts)Those skates were fun but dangerous. If they came loose over you went. Skinned knees and elbows.
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Keep thinking I should clear them out but find just starting another drawer is easier.
MOMFUDSKI
(7,080 posts)Had to have saddle shoes to clamp the skates to. Then you were off like the wind!
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)
OldBaldy1701E
(11,142 posts)
3catwoman3
(29,404 posts)Couldn't resist -
OldBaldy1701E
(11,142 posts)
Brother Buzz
(39,896 posts)Sneakers didn't work for shit with those metal skates.
SCantiGOP
(14,719 posts)every male over 10 years old has to wear a coat and tie.
Females wore their “church clothes.”
Brother Buzz
(39,896 posts)before Sunday school. Nobody, but nobody wore a coat and tie to rollerskate in my world.
I took a cold chisel and hammer to my skate in order to bust it in half make a skateboard. I still have my skate key.
DBoon
(24,983 posts)Richard D
(10,018 posts)and hammering them two parts onto a piece of wood and having a skate board - sort of.
wendyb-NC
(4,691 posts)I remember there being several, small, old fashioned stores, 2 or 3 blocks apart. The customers were always greeted by their first names, as most lived close by. Theses stores sold bread, milk, soda, beer, chips and other snack foods. Some sold cold cuts. They also sold cigarettes, cigars, tablet paper, pens, pencils, fly swatters, soap, greeting cards, single stamps, handy stuff that one might need.
Oh yeah, and to go with the cigarettes, ashtrays. Most households had several of these. My mother emptied them after she finished the supper dishes, and washed them out for the next smoke.
MOMFUDSKI
(7,080 posts)penny candy in a glass case.
doc03
(39,086 posts)our house. He had everything from lunch meat, shoes and even auto parts. He had a running charge
account we called the tab. My mom would send me over to get a pound of pimento cheese and chipped
chopped ham and maybe a 10 cent fruit pie or cup cake and to tell him to put it on the tab.
wendyb-NC
(4,691 posts)Since soda and beer came in returnable glass bottles, my brothers and sisters and I would scavenge the neighborhood and gullies near by and collect them and return them to the stores for the deposit of 5-7 cents. we'd use that money to buy candy, a Tabletalk pie, or a fudgesicle.
Many fond memories growing up in the 1950's and 60's. Those mom and pop stores are long gone.
doc03
(39,086 posts)creosote that creaked when you walked. He had two Sinclair gas pumps outside, they had a picture of a dinosaur on them.
When you pumped the gas there were balls that spun around in a glass jar on top of the pump. I believe the regular gas was
called Dino and the Hy Test "Ethel" was called Dino Supreme.
electric_blue68
(26,856 posts)
yellowdogintexas
(23,694 posts)We are talking about a town of 250 people but there were a lot of farmers outside the town itself who came to the store for their morning 'break'
The farmers came in around 10 in the morning, gathered at the coal oil heater in the back, and gossiped. They always drank Cokes (generic name coke, we are after all in the south) In the winter, that heater threw out some fierce heat. In the summer there were giant breeze box fans which pulled air through the store.
No coke machine, a huge chiller chest you pulled your drink from. It was fun watching those farmers and listening to them gossip. Now the farmers go the the Co-Op the road, drink coffee and gossip
We had the usual general store stuff, but there was also a hardware department in the back. Nuts, bolts, paint and paint brushes.Various hand tools, yard tools, etc. My great grandfather was a blacksmith and the forge was behind the store. I have the bolt chest which has 18 drawers of different depths right here next to my chair.
There was this creepy little basement (really more of a cellar) with all sorts of stuff ; I loved exploring down there. My dad put a wheel of cheddar cheese down there every year and brought it out a year later to sell. It was amazingly sharp and flavorful and made the best Welsh Rarebit ("rabbit" in our vernacular) .
Every little town had at least one of these stores, and there were a number of them on the highway or backroads scattered all around the area. Some of them were just one room and sold only milk, bread and some canned goods.
yellowdogintexas
(23,694 posts)We are talking about a town of 250 people but there were a lot of farmers outside the town itself who came to the store for their morning 'break'
The farmers came in around 10 in the morning, gathered at the coal oil heater in the back, and gossiped. They always drank Cokes (generic name coke, we are after all in the south) In the winter, that heater threw out some fierce heat. In the summer there were giant breeze box fans which pulled air through the store.
No coke machine, a huge chiller chest you pulled your drink from. It was fun watching those farmers and listening to them gossip. Now the farmers go the the Co-Op the road, drink coffee and gossip
We had the usual general store stuff, but there was also a hardware department in the back. Nuts, bolts, paint and paint brushes.Various hand tools, yard tools, etc. My great grandfather was a blacksmith and the forge was behind the store. I have the bolt chest which has 18 drawers of different depths right here next to my chair.
There was this creepy little basement (really more of a cellar) with all sorts of stuff ; I loved exploring down there. My dad put a wheel of cheddar cheese down there every year and brought it out a year later to sell. It was amazingly sharp and flavorful and made the best Welsh Rarebit ("rabbit" in our vernacular) .
Every little town had at least one of these stores, and there were a number of them on the highway or backroads scattered all around the area. Some of them were just one room and sold only milk, bread and some canned goods.
Demovictory9
(37,113 posts)brush
(61,033 posts)Last edited Sat Feb 10, 2024, 01:23 AM - Edit history (1)
they had a leather strap around your ankle and a key to tighten the toe clamp.
And speaking of keys...church keys to open beer cans (really a metal opener with a sharp, hooked end for opening beer cans/cream and evaporated milk cans. the other end was a bottle opener.
Wax paper for wrapping sandwiches for school and/or work lunches.
Friday night fight on TV...the "Gillette Cavalcade of Sports."
TexasBushwhacker
(21,202 posts)You couldn't buy your own phone until the government broke up the AT&T monopoly in 1983.
Ferrets are Cool
(22,956 posts)Talking at dinner tonight about things that were just accepted as common practice “back in the day” that seem so bizarre now to my young-adult sons….
There were cigarette machines in every bar and restaurant and sometimes your dad would give you money and send you out to the lobby and buy him a pack from the machine.
I very much remember pulling the metaL handle for the Winstons or Salems for my dad or granddad.
There used to be no screening to get on an airplane. When your flight was called, everyone just lined up and got on. And people could smoke on an airplane!
Even worse than that, people could smoke in hospital rooms. 
We used to have “party line” phones where you shared your line with a neighbor and had to wait until they hung up before you could make a call.
And you waited until after 7pm so the long distance would cost less.
Someone came out to your car when you pulled up to a gas station pump, filled your tank, checked your oil, and washed your windshield, then you paid him through your car window. You never had to get out of the car.
Dad worked at a gas station while he was on strike. He would have people come up and ask for .10 of gas.
Vinyl records and record players.
Those have made a big comeback. But NOT single records (45's)
And, one of my own. Television cutting off a midnight until 6 the next morning.
Old Crank
(7,073 posts)Here in Munich they have cig machines all over. There is one near us in the apartment complex, and our Biergarten. Along with adds for smokes. Cig use rate is very high. 17%, I think. You can't in restaurants and bars but can in the outdoor seating areas. Sad. They need to make it harder to smoke in publuc places.
Early 70s the PX had cartons for $2.50. Had a girl friend who smoked and would bring her 4 cartons at a time when I visited but she had to pay for them.
Think. Again.
(22,456 posts)They charged 65 cents per pack.
Brother Buzz
(39,896 posts)Beausoleil
(3,016 posts)the cigarette machine on board my ship charged 35 cents a pack.
A carton in the ship's store was $2.50 once we got to international waters.
GoodRaisin
(10,922 posts)We had to wait until we were out about 3 miles for the price to go down.
unweird
(3,296 posts)Early 80s in Germany. Regular price was $2.99. But they were rationed to 4 cartons a month as I recall. Heavy smokers got an extra ration card supplement.
cloudbase
(6,270 posts)If you don't smoke 'em at that price, you're losing money.
sarge43
(29,173 posts)Outside of every building there were empty bomb casing cut in half and filled with sand for the butts. At least half of us smoked and the other half might as well have, secondary smoke everywhere.
A few things that remain ever green in memory: Manual typewriters, no copy machines, but a lot of carbon paper. No computers, just punch cards and clanky machines to make and sort them. Ball point pens were just starting to show up.
My "You're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy" moment: The daily Morning Report (who was where and what were they doing) check list had to be perfect, no typos, erasures, etc and on all three copies. It was three pages long. It had to be in by noon. The poor assigned Morning Report clerk after attempting perfection for the fourth time lost it and threw his ten pound typewriter thought a window.
The past often reads better than it lived.
HubertHeaver
(2,539 posts)A quarter if you bought rhem over the counter. Thirty cents from the machine. Twenty cents per pack at the BX at Phan Rang.
Beausoleil
(3,016 posts)BigMin28
(1,859 posts)would send us to the store in the 60's to get cigarettes for him for 30 cents. We were all under 10. For our trouble, he would let us get an ice cold Coke in a glass bottle for a dime.
Fichefinder
(425 posts)PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,493 posts)When we were in northern NYS, nothing was opened on Sunday. Then we moved to Arizona, in 1962, and most places were opened on Sunday.
electric_blue68
(26,856 posts)were closed on Sundays untill the ?late '60s.
We lived right near by the George Washington Bridge so we visited them a lot. I definitely remember the malls w empty parking lots.
subterranean
(3,762 posts)Electronics, clothing, furniture and appliances are among the things that stores aren't allowed to sell on Sunday. There was a ballot measure many years ago to abolish the law, but the voters overwhelmingly rejected it.
electric_blue68
(26,856 posts)OldBaldy1701E
(11,142 posts)In my tiny farming town, they wanted to be open on Saturdays, at least for half a day, because of the convenience it afforded to farmers and their workers. (I am sure money had a lot to do with it. Sometimes the stores made their weekly quotas on Saturday morning.) So, making sure to maintain a 40 hr. work week, they just closed everything on Wednesdays at noon. (I mean, it really changed little to the people there. You just scheduled yourself accordingly.)They, they could all be open on Saturday until noon. Growing up, knew that if I needed anything from the stores on Wednesday, I had to hustle to make sure I hit them before the noon hour struck. But I also knew that you could get nothing from my town on Sunday. It was all closed and people even frowned on evening cookouts if there was too much alcohol present on that day. We still drank though... heh.
Wild.
(When I finally moved from that backwater to the capital city, I had friends down home who kept asking me why I loved being there so much. My answer was that I could go buy Christmas presents at three in the morning if I wanted to!)
Think. Again.
(22,456 posts)...the guy who came around the nieghborhood in a small boxtruck with a grinding stone, and folks would bring out their knives, scissors, or whatever, for him to sharpen?
Raven
(14,275 posts)electric_blue68
(26,856 posts)Brother Buzz
(39,896 posts)Television broadcasts used to shut done sometime during the night and resume early in the morning.
Wish I had a nickel for every hour I watched the test pattern, waiting for Saturday morning cartoons to start.
lapfog_1
(31,904 posts)waving American flags... Star Spangled Banner playing
crickets
(26,168 posts)There are several versions, but this is the one I remember best:
...followed by TV screen snow when the signal stopped broadcasting. I miss that. It was so cool to find out that the EM noise and pattern was caused by random radio waves and background cosmic radiation. Silent bare blue or black screens are so danged boring in comparison.
TVs have also lost that neat "shrinking down to a single dot before going out" thing, followed by a period where the glass screen was statically charged for a while. Now that I think about it, older TVs were kinda weird. 😏
Demovictory9
(37,113 posts)If nothing to read at home..id peruse the encyclapedia
lapfog_1
(31,904 posts)without batteries!!
"luminous dials of wrist watches and alarm clocks were marked with luminous paints containing Radium ( Ra -226) or Promethium (Pm-147)"
Nope - nothing dangerous here!!!
LudwigPastorius
(14,723 posts)My brother and I would usually end up cracking them open to get at the mercury, which was fun to roll around in the palm of your hand.
lapfog_1
(31,904 posts)plus we had lawn darts!
LudwigPastorius
(14,723 posts)But, I do still have a BB in my calf from where my brother shot me.
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Thermostats, thermometers. etc. Let us not forget buying tetrachorlide, and formaalyde at the drugstore.
Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)to get them to run before they started putting batteries in watches.
Rastapopoulos
(746 posts)Mom ordered it from the Sear's Catalog (speaking of things that have disappeared).
Rastapopoulos
(746 posts)Tell a kid today it's quarter to three and see if she knows what you mean.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)cbabe
(6,646 posts)looked at my tv and asked: how do you turn it on? I said: turn the knob.
Grandpa doctor warned against shoe store X-rays. I’ve often wondered if that’s why so many have foot troubles later on.
Neighborhood grocery store with wide wooden plank floor and some of everything. Grumpy old man owner who let neighbor kids hang out.
Made our own skateboards from metal roller skates nailed to two by fours. Colored with crayons. We were cool kids.
progressoid
(53,179 posts)I sold one of mine on eBay for 145.00 last year.
cbabe
(6,646 posts)progressoid
(53,179 posts)$20 for an pack of 8 shots.
https://www.polaroid.com/en_us/products/color-sx70-instant-film
Think. Again.
(22,456 posts)Walking 5 miles to school everyday, uphill both ways.
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Elementary through Junior High. But only three blocks away. But that was a long way after a day playing "pump pump pull away"
Staph
(6,467 posts)Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Think. Again.
(22,456 posts)MichMan
(17,150 posts)Including taking a route down a stretch of railroad tracks. Weather didn't matter and Michigan gets lots of snow. Bought a nice 10 speed bike with money I earned and rode that to High School and back every day.
AverageOldGuy
(3,833 posts)HubertHeaver
(2,539 posts)SCantiGOP
(14,719 posts)And they were so poor they couldn’t afford shoes, so in the winter they would put thumbtacks in the soles of their feet so they wouldn’t slip going uphill.
When he said stuff like that I would look at my Mom, and she would just shake her head No so I would know it was more of Granddad’s BS.
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Repurposed as phone chargers and places for loose change.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)and had them re-soled when they wore out. Cheaper than new shoes. People also had their furniture reupholstered when the old covering wore out rather that buy new furniture.
crickets
(26,168 posts)It is getting harder to find people who still provide the service.
Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)I owned an upholstery shop 20+ years ago and seldom saw a customer under 50, unless it was automotive or boat work. I recently lived in a county of 60,000 people and the last shoemaker retired about ten years ago.
MLAA
(19,743 posts)Drive in restaurants. They put a tray on your car. In 1982 when I moved to a southwestern town there was one Mexican restaurant that was still a drive in. I ordered a beer and red chili and it was one of the best meals ever.
GoodRaisin
(10,922 posts)I remember being frustrated by it.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Eating in your car was a thing! Mom would take us kids once in a blue moon to a little drive-in. We thought it was so cool. I always ordered the same thing, a chili dog. Probably around age 5-6.
The door to the glove compartment had indentations in it when you opened it up so you could set a drink there.
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)DJ Synikus Makisimus
(1,438 posts)if Progressives' ideas for Post Office reform are ever enacted. One of the provisions is for Post Office banking. It COULD include savings stamps that would help savers accumulate small amounts to buy a bond, but they'd likely not be 10¢ or 25¢ again - more likely $1, $2 and $5. As a philatelist for whom savings stamps are a sub-specialty, I'm all for their revitalization.
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Keep in touch.
madamesilverspurs
(16,510 posts)and yellow pages.
.
Sneederbunk
(17,489 posts)Delmette2.0
(4,503 posts)of delivering telegrams on her bicycle.
AwakeAtLast
(14,315 posts)Blank stares when I said it out loud.
NoMoreRepugs
(12,076 posts)shook on the shelves and you had to stop talking on the phone till the plane was gone cuz it was so loud.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)And I remember the dishes in her China closet rattling when the trains came through. Don’t think I’d like low flying airplanes. 
Rhiannon12866
(255,525 posts)That was true at my maternal grandmother's and my brother and I gave her phone a wide berth. And it was also true on Andy Griffith's show: "Hello, Sarah?" 
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Demobrat
(10,299 posts)If you wanted a picture of your kids you took them to a little shop where they were posed and photographed by a pro.
Beausoleil
(3,016 posts)Cassette and 8-track tape players in cars.
VCRs.
Rabbit ears on TVs. TV with only 4 or 5 channels available.
Homes with no microwave ovens.
LudwigPastorius
(14,723 posts)not coming back home until the street lights started to come on.
It was common practice and no parents got Child Protective Services called on them because they didn't know where their kids were all day.
SCantiGOP
(14,719 posts)You just walked or rode around the neighborhood until you saw their bike in someone’s front yard.
I was talking to some friends the other day about how much different - in a very bad way- our lives would have been if our parents had cell phone tracking when we were 12 or 13 years old. No sneaking off and spending the day at the Pool Hall. Or at 16 or 17 they would be able to tell when you were on a date that you had spent 2-3 hours just parked in the woods.
northoftheborder
(7,637 posts)Jamesm9164
(580 posts)BootinUp
(51,320 posts)Response to Diamond_Dog (Original post)
farmbo This message was self-deleted by its author.
Mr. Evil
(3,457 posts)that were mounted to the wall in most every kitchen. It had the curly cord that hung almost to the floor and would stretch almost 15 feet. Mom could yak and blab while cooking dinner like a champ!
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)I used to baby sit when I was a teenager and had to make sure the kids didn’t run into the long phone cord in the kitchen and get tangled up in it and possibly choke.
Mr. Evil
(3,457 posts)I could go to the fridge to get a Coke and in a matter of seconds my mom would go from the stove, the counter, the sink and back to the stove. And there I was... trapped!
viva la
(4,598 posts)10-digit phone numbers--
The 9 and the 0 meaning my finger has to pull the dial all the way around.
And about the 5th digit, I forget the next, and my finger gets all rubbery and can't make the dial move.
Now how many DECADES has it been since I last actually dialed my phone?
And yet I have some version of that dream every few months.
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Great comments, wonderful memories.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)
Liberty Belle
(9,707 posts)to fix typos.
Early computers with amber monitors,no color, and hard drives with just 1MB.
Even on that small, slow machine, the early online forum Compuserve enabled us to talk to people around the world. It was amazing; I recall asking a research question as a novelist and a scientist in Antarctica answered it!
We watched Get Smart and thought agent Maxwell Smart's shoe phone was the stuff of science fiction.
We never imagined that someday we'd all have smart phones with many times more computing power than those early home computers.
Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Carbon paper. Oh those typos in a multi copy document,
dickthegrouch
(4,516 posts)2.5MHz Zilog Z80 with 32Kb memory and two 8” floppy drives storing the grand total of 2.4M of data. Damned thing weighed nearly 80lbs.
But that machine and my brilliant boss set me off on a lifelong career where I am now a world expert in cybersecurity.
Thank you, Peter.
Trueblue Texan
(4,463 posts)…then bagged them for you and someone carried them out and put them in your car without asking.
Mr.Bill
(24,906 posts)the early 70s at a Super Drug Store. If the power went out there was a place on the side of the machine where you could stick a crank in and crank the machine manually.
My mom was a career grocery checker and ran these machines for decades.
niyad
(132,440 posts)Jamesm9164
(580 posts)how they deal with analog vice digital when asking folks to show some time on a clock face. Also too, does "check your six" and "Twelve O'clock High" have any meaning.
AllaN01Bear
(29,486 posts)check the oil , water in the radiator and so fourth. how many of u remember REAL telephone operators .a friend of mine remembers his small town hand crank telephone ring tone signal.
Keepthesoulalive
(2,302 posts)Jukebox’s , Soda Shops and Buster Brown shoe stores.
Johnny2X2X
(24,207 posts)Software was punch cards.
dickthegrouch
(4,516 posts)The tape reader only read 10 characters per second and you could hold the roll in your hand without fear of a paper cut while it loaded.
A few years later I was saved from losing my finger by someone yelling at me not to activate the reader as I held a huge roll of tape on my finger! That reader worked at 500 characters per second!!
DBoon
(24,983 posts)They'd play and entire side of an album uninterrupted, which meant you hit the record button and then had a whole classic album at your disposal (minus the cool cover art)
bedazzled
(1,885 posts)Those were the days.
Jim kerr
Alison Steele
Nyc metro area
electric_blue68
(26,856 posts)The best free form DJ - Vin Scelsa!
Fordham University has a good college radio station w real DJs.
bedazzled
(1,885 posts)I am stuck in Florida, but will see if the Fordham station is available online.
Thanks much! Every lttle piece of home is sppreciated
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)But that’s what you put up with to record your favorite song. I remember that well.
DBoon
(24,983 posts)and they would play an entire album without interruption
Sort of a wink and a node to start recording.
greblach
(294 posts)We used to get milk, cream, etc delivered to our door...one of my favorite glasses came as a cottage cheese container, then you had a cool glass with a kind of mottled plastic covering that you could drink your coke from after school...and doctors that made house calls with their requisite black bag with stethoscope etc...and juke boxes full of 45's, and fantastic 8 track tape players in your car...and fizzies for self created soft drinks, and candy cigarettes at halloween, and drive in theaters, and sock hops, Cisco Kid and his horse Diablo, and Davy Crocket, and Zorro, and Punch and Judy, Bonanza, Man from U.N.C.L.E. and XXX Root Beer and Dog and Suds, and OK I go on too much...
niyad
(132,440 posts)dickthegrouch
(4,516 posts)I’d spend from 6-8am slicing it (in the same kind of slicer that “La Boulangerie” uses today) wrapping it in wax paper and sealing it. Then from 8-2 the baker would drive me all around three small towns delivering about 20 different styles of bread to many of the houses.
1970 rural England.
Beachnutt
(8,909 posts)at your grandparents house.
jc penney catalogue for toilet paper.
old flame pots for construction highway markers.
$3.00 haircut
Tv went off at midnight playing national anthem.
SCantiGOP
(14,719 posts)Because you were supposed to be in church that morning or you might be suspected of being a Communist.
judesedit
(4,592 posts)to school in blustery, biting wind in snowy weather. It sucked.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)that girls couldn’t wear pants to school! Sometimes we wore pants under our dresses to walk to school on a real cold day but had to take them off once we got to school. How dumb was that!! When I was in elementary school you couldn’t even wear “gym shoes”, you had to wear leather dress shoes and bring your athletic shoes with you on gym day and change.
judesedit
(4,592 posts)Made us tougher, though. 👍
Demobrat
(10,299 posts)because the boys thought it was funny to pull the girl’s dresses up and nobody cared.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Infuriating.
judesedit
(4,592 posts)Neither the driver or the school did anything about it.
electric_blue68
(26,856 posts)3catwoman3
(29,404 posts)...my skirts and dresses while waiting at the bus stop in blustery Rochester NY.
Tribetime
(7,145 posts)Cheezoholic
(3,719 posts)your kid
TrollBuster9090
(6,128 posts)In most places, a husband couldn't be convicted of raping his wife. And if he was beating her, the police wouldn't usually get involved with 'domestic disputes.'
But also, some of the mundane stuff:
--Men and women had separate professions. Doctor, pilot, and barber were for men. Nurse, stewardess, and beautician were for women etc.
--In many places, women weren't allowed to open a bank account without her husband's signature.
--Women were often listed by their husband's FIRST name, as well as his last. ie-instead of Jane Smith, she'd be listed as "Mrs. John Smith."
--Rotary phones: When you dialled 9, you had to actually WAIT for the dial to go all the way around. Took forever to phone somebody with a lot of 8s and 9s in their number.
--They used to give EVERYBODY a phone book, that listed everybody's address and phone number. (Made the job of stalkers much easier.)
--Only three TV channels, no recording things, and no remote control channel changer.
--LOTTERY DRAFT. Instead of winning the lottery, you got sent off to war. (Unless your daddy managed to get you into the Texas National Guard, or you spent the war hiding under your bed in a college dorm room, with 'other priorities.')
--No SEAT BELT or MOTORCYCLE HELMET regulations.
--Movie cameras that you WOUND UP. And cameras with flash cubes. (The spent flash cubes made great toys for us kids, btw.)
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)I also remember job listings in the paper divided into Men and Women. My sons couldn’t believe we used to be that backwards. Thank you for that sobering reminder, Trollbuster9090
FB47243
(67 posts)Jewel Tea Man
Hobo that would sharpen knives
Friday Night Fights
Rabbit ears with or w/o tin foil
Pony Ride picture Guy
Dancing the May Pole
Dem2theMax
(11,005 posts)You put a sign in the front window of your house that you wanted the Helms Bakery truck to stop when they came by, and they would stop. And then you'd get all sorts of yummy things. Donuts were the absolute best.
Also, your dry cleaning was delivered to your home. The guy who delivered ours knew magic tricks.
I never could figure out how he could make a quarter appear out of my nose or ear!
And, back then you knew everybody's phone number by heart. Now? I'm lucky I can remember my own number. 
PlanetBev
(4,412 posts)I remember they were displayed in those wooden drawers with the glass windows.
Dem2theMax
(11,005 posts)Now I'm hungry. Or drooling. Or both.
dickthegrouch
(4,516 posts)I got let go after frying 144 bread rolls instead of donuts 😂
I’d got so sick of eating them that that was the first morning I didn’t sample one.
FormerOstrich
(2,888 posts)Many I though of have already been mentioned but here are some thoughts:
- Bass Pro consisted of selling lures in the John Derby liquor store
- Roller washing machines
- Suds saver tank connected to the washing machine to collect gray water and reuse it (ahead of its time)
- To-go cups dispensed at the local bar at closing
- Hang clothes outside to dry (oops I still do this one)
- No voice mail, no email, no recording device for television programs
- Defense attorneys were respected as Perry Mason represented them well
Thanks for so many great replies!
dobleremolque
(1,121 posts)
NBachers
(19,438 posts)The Grand Union man used to come in a panel truck and bring mom groceries that he carried around on his route.
Radio stations were right in your community with local DJs, who played music that was tailored to what the locals enjoyed, and would play music from local bands.
Cars had vent windows in both the front and the back.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)They listened to the local news on it every morning while we ate breakfast.
Yonnie3
(19,457 posts)I worked at a laundry and dry cleaning business at the counter for walk ins. Most of the business was on routes throughout the city with twice weekly pickups and deliveries of laundry and dry cleaning. You just left it at the front door and it came back in less than a week. You got a bill every other month. This was summer of 1969.
wishstar
(5,829 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)GoodRaisin
(10,922 posts)
elleng
(141,926 posts)Tucked in the southwest corner of Montana, the city of Livingston claims modest fame as the part-time home of veteran journalist Tom Brokaw and as a setting for the TV Western “Yellowstone.” It also has an unintended distinction in the newspaper business.
The Livingston Enterprise and its sister paper, the Miles City Star, appear to be the last remaining U.S. dailies printed after lunch and delivered before dinner. Afternoon production, once dominant in newspaper publishing, is near extinction.
As recently as 40 years ago afternoon papers outnumbered morning publications by almost 4 to 1 in the U.S.
(Dad would bring 2 home after work, in nyc; read nytimes mornings.)
https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-last-of-the-afternoon-newspapers-evening-yellowstone-livingston-delivery-montana-news-extinct-media-local-town-11650401205
Funny, I had business in Miles City years ago!
for one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Journal-American
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Who did the Times crossword at your house?
elleng
(141,926 posts) 
AmBlue
(3,460 posts)...the booklets you'd stick them in. Then going to the redemption store with Mom to pick out something we needed.
The Charles Chips delivery man bringing the best potato chips in BIG metal cans.
Gasoline for 23 cents per gallon.
The Fuller Brush salesman knocking on our door, and showing his suitcase full of gadgets.
Tupperware parties!! Lol
Saturday morning cartoons!!
Clackers!!
P.S. Thank you for my heart to whoever did that! ❤️
Duncanpup
(15,651 posts) Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts) no_hypocrisy
(54,904 posts)Diaper services to your home (pick up the dirty cloth diapers and return with a pile of iridescently white clear diapers.) And the diapers were held on by cumbersome diaper pins, not tape.
livetohike
(24,281 posts)fresh fruit and veggies to sell.
Three tv stations until UHF and then you had four.
Sanity Claws
(22,413 posts)so that people could read them before work or on their commute.
cloudbase
(6,270 posts)Ooh, that smell. . .
Niagara
(11,850 posts)How about Home Interior parties? Or Pampered Chef parties? Then people tried to hit me up for Pure Romance parties and I refused to play along.
I also remember riding in the back of a pickup truck or El Camino's with other children on any given sunny summer day to go get ice cream. I remember when some vehicles had hand cranks instead of automatic window buttons.
My friend and I listened to music on a Boom Box or on a Walkman.
I remember pictures of missing children on the back of milk cartons. I also remember milk commercials that stated "I'm drinking milk" and the person would automatically turn in a super model.
We had a colossal sized wood console television set that was heavy. There was cigarette smoking in frequent television shows. There was ABC After school specials and movies on USA's Up All Night. I know who shot J.R. Ewing.
My first computer was a Speak and Spell. Eventually I upgraded to a Commodore 64.
We sent Postcards to family members while on vacation.
I went with my mom to the grocery store and there was pastel colored toilet paper on the store shelves. Thankfully my mom always purchased the white toilet paper instead.
Oh yeah, clothing companies placing shoulder pads in juniors and women's shirts. We don't need to look like a football players.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Do you mean everyone could read your message on the back ? Lol
Niagara
(11,850 posts) electric_blue68
(26,856 posts)Niagara
(11,850 posts)That's wonderful, electric_blue68!
Chainfire
(17,757 posts)Maine-i-ac
(1,548 posts)Also had a milk man.
Party Line on my first phone.
Mail the camera film in to get photos back and hope they're good.
Croney
(5,017 posts)However, they'd be surprised if I asked them to check the oil and clean my windshield.
doc03
(39,086 posts)monster movie. After the movie we would go to Isleys and get a Skyscraper ice cream cone then
hitch a ride back home all for about 50 cents.
Quakerfriend
(5,882 posts)in the fall. Most neighborhoods had piles of leaves burning on the side of the street on Saturdays in the Fall.
-Storing garden produce- beets, carrots and potatoes etc.- in the root cellar for the winter.
-My mother ringing a fire truck bell when it was time for us to come home for dinner.
SaveOurDemocracy
(4,566 posts)My mom would wrap potatoes in aluminum foil and bury them in the leaf pile. We'd rake and add more leaves throughout and have a treat at the end. We had three massive oaks in the yard with innumerable acorns that slipped through the rake tines but those acorns kept the fire hot and crackling.
Those acorns remind me (ouch!) No shoes during the summer except on Sunday. We'd adventure all day long in the woods, in old barns, ride our bikes to town...free as birds.
Quakerfriend
(5,882 posts)And yes, we were all “free as a bird”.
Loved those times!
Srkdqltr
(9,759 posts)I never realized how dangerous all that burning was until I drove home from work on a below grade freeway and the smoke would be like a dense fog. I lived in a city.
Bristlecone
(11,111 posts)And having to sit through your family’s or family friend’s vacation slides from their trip to “xxxx.”
My grandparents always brought that thing out.
bottomofthehill
(9,390 posts)The actual cloth diaper went in the pail and a guy would Nick up the dirty diapers and drop a stack of clean ones wrapped in Saran Wrap at the door. We lived in a 3 family house with no washer and dryer . My mom would sink wash and radiator dry a few wet diapers in case of emergency, but the diaper service was essential. My mother was convinced that pampers caused diaper rash. The plastic would not let the skin breathe.
doc03
(39,086 posts)
Beartracks
(14,591 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)The main bank in town provided the service and would always plug their bank first. Then they told you the time and the temperature. “You called on the phone to find out what time it was?” Roars of laughter ….
Sugarmaggie
(151 posts)Think it was a dime. Coin slots on stalls inside of businesses.
samnsara
(18,767 posts)..I take for granted. Watching Ozzie and Thorny stuck outside in the middle of town in their pjs cuz harriet drove off with the car and they cant find a dime for the pay phone....
But I love the differences too such as the HotPoint and Westinghouse appliances had cool gadgets that don't exist today ( probably for safety reasons).
Goonch
(5,055 posts)
Beausoleil
(3,016 posts)Not sure how common they were, we lived near Air Force bases until my dad got out so we heard them a lot.
Sneederbunk
(17,489 posts)Jamesm9164
(580 posts)Directed to hide under your desk.
lpbk2713
(43,273 posts)If a nuclear bomb could destroy a city how could hiding under a desk help me?
MichMan
(17,150 posts)Swinging an open 10" propeller at 10,000 rpm with no guards or protection. Had a can of nitromethane fuel that it used. Completely unsupervised with them at the age of 14.
My parents' weekends didn't revolve around my activities; we were expected to entertain ourselves. I'm glad I grew up in the 70's instead of now.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)SO true. If you belonged to a club or played a sport you rode your bicycle to get there. Or you just hung out with your friends.
MichMan
(17,150 posts)coprolite
(365 posts)that operated on the engine vacuum system.
malthaussen
(18,567 posts)... free air for your tires and free road maps. I remember predicting the fall of civilization when gas stations started charging for air. Not the first time I've predicted the fall of civilization.
-- Mal
Beausoleil
(3,016 posts)gladium et scutum
(829 posts)actually cooked fresh everyday by a group of ladies that liked their work and tried to make the best meals possible for the students.
NBachers
(19,438 posts)Ladies who everyone knew and loved so much that they became community figures. Hats off to the Lunch Ladies!
I also remember those little tubs of ice cream you'd pull the tops off of and then eat with a little wooden spoon.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)And I wasn’t a real picky eater. Nobody liked them. I think deb55 recently started a thread on school lunches.
Gruenemann
(1,054 posts)A little three-pack of cigarettes came with airline meals.
hydrolastic
(547 posts)I remember my dad smoking in a Safeway he threw it on the floor twisted it under his foot and left it there. Also there were butts everywhere it was so prolific it couldn't be completely cleaned up!
bedazzled
(1,885 posts)Listening to one now.
Records sure cost more though.
Used to be 3.99 when dinosaurs roamed the earth.. Now 30 or 40 dollars
MontanaMama
(24,722 posts)The missile outdoor dart game. Darts that were the length of your arm with hefty metal points that you hurl at targets in the yard…or hurl at each other. I just inherited a complete set in the original box from my in-laws! Let the games begin! As soon as our snow melts. 🙃
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)I can just hear Ralphie’s mom: “You’ll put your eye out!”
MontanaMama
(24,722 posts)I just need to make sure dogs are in the house and the chickens are cooped.
Nice thread, DD.
Grins
(9,459 posts)With the exception of checking the oil and washing the windshield, it is the LAW in New Jersey that only a station attendant can pump gas. And you can sit in your car the entire time!
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)my dad took me to a station to show me how. How nice that New Jersey mandates this service!
Warren_Pointe
(345 posts)Now it'sa credit/debit or go fish.
Dem2theMax
(11,005 posts)My dad owned a service station. And I have to admit, I was rather spoiled by the fact that I could access anything I wanted.
(Including gas, when we had gas lines in the 70s. I never had to wait in one of those lines. But I worked them!)
Anyway, I got so mad about not being able to get free air, that I bought my own small air compressor. It is the most borrowed thing I own!
All the neighbors know I have it, and I loan it out all the time.
Warren_Pointe
(345 posts)How it went from free to $1.50 on a few years is absued. Gotta go back to where you bought the tires to get it for free now.
Golden Raisin
(4,755 posts)If you got one, 99% of the time it was bad news (i.e. someone died).
Cloth diapers (from a Diaper service that delivered and picked up)
School clothes. NO jeans or tee shirts (among many other restrictions). Sneakers were exclusively for Gym. In my High School we had one day in Senior year called "Senior Privilege Day" when seniors could wear jeans and tees. And jeans were called dungarees.
Your mom would tie your metal skate key on a piece of string or a long shoelace and tie it around your neck.
Your Mom would leave a note in an empty glass milk bottle with next weeks order: so much cream, so much milk, etc.
Manual lawn mowers.
School tests and papers produced and distributed on mimeograph machines. I STILL remember that smell.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)But if I did, I’d be afraid it was because someone died!
I tried cloth diapers for two weeks on my first born. Never again.
My Dad had a manual lawn mower. He liked it. It sure looked like a lot of work to me!
bottomofthehill
(9,390 posts)I did receive a telegram from an old friend/mentor congratulating me on the birth of my daughter. Western union yellow paper. He was a WWII veteran of the North Africa and Italy campaign. He fought at Anzio. He was a gentleman, but clearly had brass. He taught me to be a man and a gentleman. I saw him some months later and he was happy to hear that the telegram made it into the baby book.
When I was a child, we lived in a triple decker (3 family Boston home) my mother had a diaper service for my younger sisters that I remember and I am sure she had one for me too. Because of the small yards of the triple decker we had a reel lawnmower (manual) until
The 80’s. It did not need gas, or a cover. Every once in a while my uncle who lives down stairs would sharpen the blades with a file
electric_blue68
(26,856 posts)This was in Brooklyn in the '00s. Felt kind of cool-y old fashioned.
I remember my cousins in the NJ 'burbs had a party line when I was very young. And I think I remember seeing 4 glass milk bottles in box outside their home.
Texasgal
(17,240 posts)smoking sections in hospitals and on planes.
What in the hell were we thinking? So CRAZY!
Demovictory9
(37,113 posts)Sitting on plane next to her..almost choked to death...
marble falls
(71,919 posts)Bludogdem
(93 posts)adding machines.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)sakabatou
(46,145 posts)Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)Yet we thought nothing of it back then. And smoking/non smoking sections were a joke. It felt like they always seated you next to a smoker anyway. 90% of the time had to ask for a different table.
Rastapopoulos
(746 posts)She or he would lead you to your seat with a flashlight. Or, throw you out if you were making too much noise.
Diamond_Dog
(40,575 posts)I don’t remember those but probably many others do.