OT: Once Upon A Time or Do You Remember When?

[donalddoowop]

This is something to help take our minds (us older people) off all the negative stuff going on at this time. Actually, anyone who can think of something is invited to add to this list.

Once upon a time:

Telephone numbers had prefixes ( Jefferson, Colfax, Evergreen)
Live telephone operators connected one number to another; there were party lines, you may pick up your phone and hear someone not from your house talking and you could listen to their conversation; you could not use your phone until they finished talking and hung up their phone
Elevators were operated by real people and were not automated
Gas cost 20 cent a gallon, service station attendants pumped gas for you and cleaned your windshield, you did not have to get out of your car
Stamps cost 3 cent
Students walked almost eveywhere they went, except to the drive inn
Back seats of cars were very popular
Many cars had fish tails

Do you remember when:

Personality Dee Jays ruled the airwaves ( Jocko, Magnificent Montague, Alan Freed, Murry the K ) There were many more
Hardly anyone listened to FM radio
Rhythm and Blues (of which Doo Wop was a part) and Rock and Roll could be heard all day and everyday and was the most popular music among teenagers
Your Hit Parade was popular with Snookie Langston (I think his last name was Langston). The show faded when Rock and Roll became popular
Stores shut down on Tuesday Night so people could watch The Texaco Star Theater Starring Milton Berle (Uncle Miltie)
There was television character named Princess Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring
Groups of teenage boys could be found on the corners of city streets harmonizing. They could also be found in stairwells and restrooms harmonizing, looking for an echo.
Children answered grown ups by saying yes mam, yes sir, or no mam or no sir
Your neighbor could scold you if they caught you doing something wrong and when your parents found out, you would get another scolding or even a whipping
Your teachers could whip you for causing problems at school and you'd get another whipping when you got home
Your parents made you go outside and get a switch and bring in the house so that they could whip you with it
The salary of baseball players was so low that they needed jobs during the off season

That's enough from me. I hope there are those of you who will add to this list. I'm from the Midwest and knew very little about about the East or West coasts. I'm sure there are things you remember that I don't know about.

 

[Bronxjeff]

10 cent subway fare & rattan seats on the D train
curb-ball, stoop-ball, stickball and slug (kind of like pingpong handball)
Needing to go to Coney Island to have a Nathan's hot dog

 

[Centerstream]

Getting your mouth washed out with soap when you said a swear word.
Having your milk delivered to your house, and then returning the empty bottles to the delivery man (yes, everyone I ever saw was a man).
You had to walk up to the television to change to one of the other 3 or 4 channels and to adjust the volume.
Home music came on vinyl.
Every store was closed on Sunday.
No one complained about Daylight Savings Time. It was just accepted.
Station wagons had a rear facing third row of seats and the rear window went up and down.

 

[bluedevil]

Going to the grocery store and earning green stamps....pasting them in the book and getting prizes...

 

[Huskee11]

Waiting anxiously for the paper to be delivered in the morning to see if your team won
Playing baseball - hardball - at recess and organizing pick up games on weekends or after school (no grownups)
Memorizing things for school like the Gettysburg Address
Buying a pack of baseball cards for 5 cents
Only getting driven to school if it was raining
Not fully understanding what the Cuban Missle Crisis was but knowing it was bad
Having lunch with Soupy Sales was a big deal
Arguing about whether professional wrestling was fixed
Discovering how much fun bowling was
Buying a second hand car for $900 that had push buttons
Saturday afternoon matinees were mobbed with kids
For a brief period of time, putting hydrogen peroxide in your hair seemed like a good idea
Your grandfather would be happy to allow you to watch the Flintstones even though he really would have preferred Rawhide

 

[ed4ourgirls]

Among the early TV shows I watched, I particularly recall "Tom Corbett, Space Cadet"
because of the hilariously awful special effects. For an exterior shot, a paper mache
rocket, suspended from a wire was pulled along by a string from the nose (you could
see the wire and string) while a smoke pellet dribbled smoke from the back end as the
rocket traversed, in herky-jerky fashion, across the TV screen. Deliciously bad, even by
1950 standards.

 

[veryolddog]

gasoline was 13 cents per gallon, you get s & h green stamps and a selection of glassware and sometimes dinnerware.
TV's the size of your laptop.
penny candy like squirrel nuts
5 cent ice cream cones and 10 cents for a double dip.
19 cents per pound for rib eye steak.
chickens bought live in a store and then killed, wrapped in newspaper, brought home where your mother took the feathers off and cleaned them for roasting or chicken soup.
46 Chevys where they were the first one off the production line since WWII.
movies at the local theater for 10 cents including cartoons, and two features.
McDonalds burger, fries, and coke for 45 cents.
Tacos: 10 for a dollar.
The Texaco Star Theater
Route 66 and no Interstate 40 through downtown Albuquerque.
Really nice neighbors and folks

 

[weyuo]

Do you remember:

• Sears, Roebuck stores?
• Sears catalogue that was as thick as a phonebook?
• Station wagons?
• 48 states?
• Rexall drugstores?
• Football goal posts shaped in a "H" not at the back of the endzone?

 

[pacific 44]

Back in Maine we used to have town team baseball and basketball.Some of the baseball guys played into their 50's,especially if they could still throw a curve ball for strikes.In basketball i seem to remember that around 30 was the cut-off age.Our h.s. season ended at the end of Feb.and we still played on the town team until about May.Fun times.I have read that town team baseball died out all across the country for various reasons.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Remember when iPhones could only do slow 3G internet?

 

[JordyG]

I remember TV's with tubes in them.
I remember stereo consoles.
Trolley's and trolley tracks throughout the city.
I remember almost every street lined with cobblestones.
How sanitation would pile snow after a snowfall on the corners making for perilously high mounds we kids would slide off.
I remember Cocoleavio.
I remember street gangs and massive gang fight in NYC. Every gang would write their gang tag on walls followed by DLAMF or LAMF.
I remember when police officers had to be at least 6' tall and were always the biggest, toughest guys in the room. I also remember a cop on every corner.
I remember open fire hydrants in the summer. We would open Coke cans on both ends and direct the spray with them everywhere.
I remember when Icemen would carry huge blocks of ice up the stairs to apartments with ice boxes.
I remember the bell in the street when the knife sharpening man would come with his wheel and sharpen everyone's knives. For a price, of course.
I remember going up on the roof after a hot summer day to cool off. We'd dance and listen to music, chat and enjoy each other's company.
I remember my mother on her hands and knees scraping off the wax on our linoleum floors so that she could re-apply that stuff.
I remember men digging up the streets with pickaxes.
I remember duck and cover drills in our school.
I remember getting new Easter clothes every year. I remember the parade down 5th ave of women every year showing off their Easter bonnets.

I think I'm crying.

 

[cookie447]

......and the Dodgers played in Brooklyn; the Giants in New York!?

 

[MilfordHusky]

Grocery stores actually sold toilet paper!

 

[geordi]

My mother telling me to go to the park and play; come back home for supper. If she did that today, she'd be jailed for neglect.
Uniforms at my catholic schools. Sister Ita rapping me across my knuckles with a ruler.
Loving it when the girls wore patent leather shoes.
25 cent haircut; (50 cents for an adult).
My father sending me down to the drug store when I was 10 to buy him a pack of cigarettes. The cigarettes were 20 cents a pack and came with 3 shiny pennies in the cellophane wrapper.
My father would stop at a gas station and get $2 worth of gas. It would fill the tank.
The 'Rag Man' would come down the street looking for cloth remnants. Never could figure out what that was all about.
The draft. Man they really got Elvis with the hair clippers.
Heating a tenement house with oil. Smelly and dangerous.
Great cars: Studebaker, Henry J, Hudson, Sedans with wooden doors, the fins on the 59 Cadillac.

 

[FridaFriend]

When our TV stopped working, my dad would look in the back to see which vacuum tube wasn't lit, remove it, and take it to the TV repair store. He would buy a new tube, plug it in the TV, and, TAH DAH, it worked again for another month.

 

[donalddoowop]

I remember hot dog bubble gum
Corkball-baseball with a tennis ball or a corkball ( a miniature size baseball ) and a broom or mop stick or a corkball bat, a very skinny bat. This sport may have been played only in St. Louis.
I remember Woolworth and Kresges ten cent stores, also called dime stores
I remember schools did not close because of snow.

 

[JordyG]

I remember stopping at a gas station and having 5 guys come out to check your oil, clean your windshield, pump your gas, check your tire pressure and whatever you wanted
I remember crying when the Dodger's left and my family vowing never to root for those traitors in L.A.
I remember summer camp
I remember the Cyclone in Coney Island and the Steeplechase ride in the remnants of Luna Park.
I remember going to see R & R shows at the Brooklyn Fox with Murray The K. 15 acts, two songs apiece for about 2 bucks.
I remember when dollars were called bucks.
I remember when women wore stockings and garters.
I remember seeing a car with a rumble seat.
I remember when buses in the city ran on overhead power lines.
I remember when Chock Full O' Nuts cafeterias sold special coffee.
I remember public cafeterias.
I remember when the only ice cream truck was the Good Humor truck.
I remember Macy's and Gimbal's.
I remember egg creame's and soda shops.

 

[JordyG]

I remember hot dog bubble gum
Corkball-baseball with a tennis ball or a corkball ( a miniature size baseball ) and a broom or mop stick or a corkball bat, a very skinny bat. This sport may have been played only in St. Louis.
I remember Woolworth and Kresges ten cent stores, also called dime stores
I remember schools did not close because of snow.

Woolworth's sold waffle and ice cream sandwiches.

 

[donalddoowop]

I remember stopping at a gas station and having 5 guys come out to check your oil, clean your windshield, pump your gas, check your tire pressure and whatever you wanted
I remember crying when the Dodger's left and my family vowing never to root for those traitors in L.A.
I remember summer camp
I remember the Cyclone in Coney Island and the Steeplechase ride in the remnants of Luna Park.
I remember going to see R & R shows at the Brooklyn Fox with Murray The K. 15 acts, two songs apiece for about 2 bucks.
I remember when dollars were called bucks.
I remember when women wore stockings and garters.
I remember seeing a car with a rumble seat.
I remember when buses in the city ran on overhead power lines.
I remember when Chock Full O' Nuts cafeterias sold special coffee.
I remember public cafeterias.
I remember when the only ice cream truck was the Good Humor truck.
I remember Macy's and Gimbal's.
I remember egg creame's and soda shops.

In St. Louis, buses with overhead power lines were called street cars.

 

[JordyG]

In St. Louis, buses with overhead power lines were called street cars.

As they were here. It was always shocking to watch the sparks flying as the ran along. I remember their double doors in the back controlled by the drivers.

 

[vtcwbuff]

My mother telling me to go to the park and play; come back home for supper. If she did that today, she'd be jailed for neglect.
Uniforms at my catholic schools. Sister Ita rapping me across my knuckles with a ruler.
Loving it when the girls wore patent leather shoes.
25 cent haircut; (50 cents for an adult).
My father sending me down to the drug store when I was 10 to buy him a pack of cigarettes. The cigarettes were 20 cents a pack and came with 3 shiny pennies in the cellophane wrapper.
My father would stop at a gas station and get $2 worth of gas. It would fill the tank.
The 'Rag Man' would come down the street looking for cloth remnants. Never could figure out what that was all about.
The draft. Man they really got Elvis with the hair clippers.
Heating a tenement house with oil. Smelly and dangerous.
Great cars: Studebaker, Henry J, Hudson, Sedans with wooden doors, the fins on the 59 Cadillac.

"Sister Ita rapping me across my knuckles with a ruler. "

and if she was realllly pissed she hit with the ruler on edge. I did 8 years penance in a Catholic grammer school more than 60 years ago and I still think that nuns were the meanest, nastiest people on the planet.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I remember stopping at a gas station and having 5 guys come out to check your oil, clean your windshield, pump your gas, check your tire pressure and whatever you wanted
I remember crying when the Dodger's left and my family vowing never to root for those traitors in L.A.
I remember summer camp
I remember the Cyclone in Coney Island and the Steeplechase ride in the remnants of Luna Park.
I remember going to see R & R shows at the Brooklyn Fox with Murray The K. 15 acts, two songs apiece for about 2 bucks.
I remember when dollars were called bucks.
I remember when women wore stockings and garters.
I remember seeing a car with a rumble seat.
I remember when buses in the city ran on overhead power lines.
I remember when Chock Full O' Nuts cafeterias sold special coffee.
I remember public cafeterias.
I remember when the only ice cream truck was the Good Humor truck.
I remember Macy's and Gimbal's.
I remember egg creame's and soda shops.

Anyone remember "pettipants"(sp)? The 60s equivalent of a chastity belt.

 

[Centerstream]

My mother telling me to go to the park and play; come back home for supper. If she did that today, she'd be jailed for neglect.
Uniforms at my catholic schools. Sister Ita rapping me across my knuckles with a ruler.
Loving it when the girls wore patent leather shoes.
25 cent haircut; (50 cents for an adult).
My father sending me down to the drug store when I was 10 to buy him a pack of cigarettes. The cigarettes were 20 cents a pack and came with 3 shiny pennies in the cellophane wrapper.
My father would stop at a gas station and get $2 worth of gas. It would fill the tank.
The 'Rag Man' would come down the street looking for cloth remnants. Never could figure out what that was all about.
The draft. Man they really got Elvis with the hair clippers.
Heating a tenement house with oil. Smelly and dangerous.
Great cars: Studebaker, Henry J, Hudson, Sedans with wooden doors, the fins on the 59 Cadillac.

When I quit smoking in 1976, cigarettes at the Navy Exchange were only $.20 a pack, sans the pennies...

 

[JordyG]

Anyone remember "pettipants"(sp)? The 60s equivalent of a chastity belt.

?????????

 

[Kaizen]

Watch Three's Company, Gilligan's Island, and replay of Abbott and Costello ...and Donny & Marie show.