OT: - Once Upon A Time or Do You Remember When? | Page 2 | The Boneyard

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

donalddoowop said:
This 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.
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Yes, I remember all of the things you mentioned. Along with black and white TV’s with 15” fuzzy analog tube screens with rabbit ears. All stations went off the air by 1:00 am. I remember 15 cents a gallon gas. You were not allowed to pump your own gas back then even if you wanted to. We only had 7 TV stations then.

A whole new world opened up for me when we got a color TV, and we were able to watch a few of our favorite programs in color. We had the “Red Cars” that ran on tracks powered by electric power lines overhead. We had Helms bakery trucks come through the neighborhood daily, as well as daily milk delivery. I remember going to the local theater and watching 2 movies and a cartoon in between for 25 cents. Like Archie and Edith said: “those were the days.” :p
 
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the Automat in NYC.
Cousin Brucie, who may still be around.
2-hand set shots.
Mays, Mantle or Snider?
Estes Kefauver( loved that name)
the Carden Reading Method- anyone else learn to read in the 40s, 50s in N.Y., N.J. using this? don't have a clue why I thought of that.
Dave Garroway, Jack Lescoulie
 
Centerstream said:
How about cars with the high/low beam switch on the floorboard and the driver used their left foot to change between them
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I had an old VW transporter bus in the early 70s. Just sheet metal - no insulation and barely any heat. 32 HP and the engine blew once a year. One night I stepped on that hi-low switch on the floor and the floorboard was so rusted out the switch ended up dangling under the van and all the lights went out. A little electrical tape got me home.

I can't add to the immense list of yesteryear things but do have a question. Does anyone remember baseballs that were called semihard and semisoft? They were the size of a standard hardball but white rubber coated. The semisoft was lighter and a little squishy. Good for younger kids. The semihard was about the same weight as a standard hardball, but because of the rubber outside it came off a bat like a rocket, or so I remember. I tried to find any reference to these balls on Google the other day and nada. My son was a kid in the 80s and he never heard of them.
 
Oh, geez, a lot of these bring back memories. (centerstream) I was just talking to my wife the other day about having a milk man. The context was that in Hawaii, they have a bottle bill, but very few places to take your bottles back -- we'd have had to drive 30 miles on the Big Island one way to redeem out bottles. Where we were didn't have curbside recycling. Compare that to the milkman, or the old Coke machines where you could pay a nickel less if you put a bottle in when you bought a new bottle (for, what, about a quarter?).

(and one) I had a couple of different VW Bugs over the course of 6-7 years. In the first one, the floor was so porous that in rain, sometimes, it would take on enough water that when I braked, there would be a wave of water toward the front.
 
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Bigboote said:
Oh, geez, a lot of these bring back memories. (centerstream) I was just talking to my wife the other day about having a milk man. The context was that in Hawaii, they have a bottle bill, but very few places to take your bottles back -- we'd have had to drive 30 miles on the Big Island one way to redeem out bottles. Where we were didn't have curbside recycling. Compare that to the milkman, or the old Coke machines where you could pay a nickel less if you put a bottle in when you bought a new bottle (for, what, about a quarter?).

(and one) I had a couple of different VW Bugs over the course of 6-7 years. In the first one, the floor was so porous that in rain, sometimes, it would take on enough water that when I braked, there would be a wave of water toward the front.
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When I met my wife she had a mid-60s V-dub,bas VWs were often referred to at the time, which a mini station wagon with the engine in the rear cargo area. Nice little car. It had two little carburators (one barrel each I think), that always got out of tune. The best way to get it running smoothly was to remove the engine cover, have my bud drive at about 40 mph while I straddled the engine and adjusted the carbs until it ran right.
 
JordyG said:
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.
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What about Bungalo Bar?
 
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vtcwbuff said:
"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.
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You must have been a favorite. We had 40 or so in class, but only 2-3 every got a smack. It was the same in parochial high school too.
 
Carnac said:
Yes, I remember all of the things you mentioned. Along with black and white TV’s with 15” fuzzy analog tube screens with rabbit ears. All stations went off the air by 1:00 am. I remember 15 cents a gallon gas. You were not allowed to pump your own gas back then even if you wanted to. We only had 7 tv stations then.

A whole new world opened up for me when we got a color tv, and we were able to watch a few of our favorite programs in color. We had the “Red Cars” that ran on tracks powered by electric power lines overhead. We had Helms bakery trucks come through the neighborhood daily, as well as daily milk delivery. I remember going to the local theater and watching 2 movies and a cartoon in between for 25 cents. Like Archie and Edith said: “those were the days.”
Expand ...
My parents got an entertainment center for their wedding in 1948. The tv was only about 7-8”. Had a turntable, radio, and built-in speakers. Quite a piece of history... and it’s still in the house.
 
-Girls' basketball: A team was divided into defensive+offensive roles. Each played on only half of the court(1950's)
-you prayed+prayed that ONE Christmas present you opened was a toy
-you used pencils in schools, not pens
-you mowed the lawn, and your mother gave you a nickel
-All women teachers wore dresses; men wore suits and ties
-you paid $6 for a doctor's visit(sometimes, they came to your house)
 
FridaFriend said:
Anyone else remember 'Kukla Fran and Ollie" on TV?
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Yes, and Buffalo Bob. Kate Smith singing God Bless America as the television stations signed off. She is the fat lady Yogi Berra talked about when he said "it's not over til the fat lady sings".
Looking at the electric train display at the department stores during the Christmas holidays.
 
geordi said:
Winky Dink and you. Used to write all over the tv screen.
Smilin’ Ed McConnell. “Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy.”
Johnny Yuma. The Rebel. Steve McQueen.
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Nick Adams starred as Johnny Yuma in the TV western “The Rebel”, not Steven McQueen.

McQueen starred in Wanted Dead or Alive as Josh Randle, the bounty hunter.
 
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Carnac said:
A different perspective on the Dodgers. We both cried for them. You cried when they left Brooklyn, we cried (tears of joy) when they arrived here. Your loss was our gain. You lost 2 teams (Giants & Dodgers), but you still had the Yankees.

We were so happy to finally have a ML baseball team, that 93,000 fans filled the LA Coliseum to welcome Roy Campanella in April 1958. The largest crowd ever to see a ML baseball game in the US.
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No comment.
 
Carnac said:
Yes, absolutely.:)
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Radio Shows: Young Dr. Malone (my mother's favorite), Hermione Ginggold, "Jack Wertzen's (sp?) Gospel Hour every Sat night. Five cent tokens for the NYC subway. Gangs in Brooklyn (Imperial Lords and Bucaneers) and huge gang fights with zip guns and knifes. Working in Chock Full O'Nuts restaurants during summer vacation while in college. 3 speed push button transmissions and 3 speed manual trannys on the steering column. Teachers posting exam results on the classroom door. Stickball played with a broom stick and Spalding (Spaldeen). Stoopball off brownstone stoop with Spalding.
 
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Under the covers listening to basketball games on portable radio. Amazed that I could listen to Jerry West college games in the middle of Maine. Of course sometimes it would fade out during an exciting moment.
Listening to Johnny Most call Celtics games
Clothes pinning baseball cards to my bicycle spokes
 
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Husky fanatic said:
Under the covers listening to basketball games on portable radio. Amazed that I could listen to Jerry West college games in the middle of Maine. Of course sometimes it would fade out during an exciting moment.
Listening to Johnny Most call Celtics games
Clothes pinning baseball cards to my bicycle spokes
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I remember the baseball card to spokes but the radios we had were not portable. They were pretty large size boxes with big vacuum tubes. We had a stand up floor model radio in the living room where we listened to nightly shows. The Lone Ranger, The Shadow, The Bob Hope Show, Blondie, My Friend Irma, Amos and Andy, and many others that were popular in the day.
 
JordyG said:
In Astoria? I've never been.
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Bungalo Bar was an alternative ice cream truck - that at least came around the Bronx the same era as Good Humor - prior to Mr. Softee.
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Bronxjeff said:
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
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Yeah, Bronx...how about flipping for "tickets" sports and war cards from bubble gum...we played "21" for them, flipped them against the wall of the apt's

I remember nickel and 7cents bus fares; nickel sodas, egg cream 7 cents
seeded rye sliced in the local bakery; the 3rd Ave El...roller skate hockey at the "oval," Columbia and Schwinn bikes, American Flyer, sleds

All this on Decatur Ave North of Gun Hill Road...one block to the cemetery and you got to the "lot" where we played softball...replete with the "big, fat rock."

And Mo-c (K?)om-co Trails on weekends...anyone remember that?
 
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