I'm so old....I remember having to put things on lay-a-way, because there were no credit cards. I remember babysitting for like 75 cents an hour.
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I'm so old....I remember having to put things on lay-a-way, because there were no credit cards. I remember babysitting for like 75 cents an hour.
Reader99. Oh, the old coat hanger trick! I remember that from way back in my school days, and how every so often we'd watch a boy get into his locked car using a wire hanger. A great collection you brought with you! :)
Kathy WI. Boy do I miss the old mass stores. The ones where canoes and boats and things hung from the ceilings, the ones where every large storefront window displayed a different theme. Great memories. Your Santa story is wonderful!
Kfander. The crank phone sounds awesome! Hee Haw style!
Polliwog. Boy, was I ever ripped! My hourly babysitting pay (in the 70's) was based on 1950's/60's hourly babysitting pay! :laff:
I'm so old I remember life-size mannequins in department stores/storefront windows.
I've been gone for four days and just now reading this ... I too remember a lot of what's been posted, but I have a few as well:
Our first phone was not a rotay phone. You had lift the receiver and the operator would say "number please" and you'd tell her the number you wanted ... ours was 971-W and my best friend's was 375-R. These were party lines, of course. Later on we got a private line and for the life of me I can't remember what the number was. It had four numbers tho. And when dial phones came, we got the word/number combination too; ours was WElls 5-XXXX because we were in oil weil country.
In our small town the telephone operators knew everyone, so sometimes I'd get a babysitting job because the operator told me who needed a sitter.
Other things: When I was around 7-9 we had to use an outhouse -- no toilets. And this was just south of San Francisco! I remember when we could wear pants to school -- around '60 where we were. Also the wing windows. Many many years ago I was watching -- oh dear, what was that talk show host with gray hair that Marlo Thomas is/was married to? -- anyway, he had some auto executives on so people could ask questions. One woman asked about the wing windows, and one executive said "you'll never get them back" -- something to do with streamlining, I guess.
TV shows I loved in the "olden days" were Superman, The Cisco Kid (I so loved him), and Father Knows Best. And American Bandstand when it finally came along. My folks liked Ed Sullivan. I also remember margarine (oleo?) that came with an bubble in the middle of it that you had to squeeze to color the margarine nice and golden -- to look like butter, I guess.
And the mimeograph that smelled so nice wasn't mimeograph, it was ditto masters (I think "ditto" was a brand name?). When you typed the purple ink stuck to the back of the sheet and you had to put it on a drum and that used a special liquid (can't remember what it was) to make the "ink" adhere to the paper. If you made a mistake typing you had to roll it up and scrape off the mistake with a razor blade or something like that. I remember smelling the paper when the teacher would pass them out. Mimeograph was a green fibrous sheet that, when you typed, spread the shape of the letter in the sheet, and you put that on a drum and some kind of ink came through the spread part. It was black and didn't smell good at all. If you made a mistake typing you had to roll the paper up and try to make the fibers go back together using a small glass stick with a ball on the end that look sort of like a thermometer.
At one point I had an IBM Executive typewriter with proportional spacing! Wow, that was a challenge! a, b, c and the like were two (or three) "units", capital M and W were four (or) five "units", etc. Corrections were well-nigh impossible, but it sure did look pretty when the document was finished ...
Enough for now ...
I remember when cigarettes were eighteen cents a pack and gas was thirteen cents a gallon.
I lived in a town where I was related to pretty much everyone, and we were on a party line. My mom knew everyone else's number (I think they were referred to as telephone numbers although they weren't numerical), since most of them were her sisters or other close relatives. Whenever someone called anyone on the party line, the phone rang in everyone's house. Two short rings followed by a long ring was our number. When someone would call one of my mom's sisters, she would wait a moment to let her sister answer the phone, then lift the receiver up softly and listen. If the call was from someone else she knew, such as one of her other sisters, she would join in and there would be four or five of them talking. Otherwise, she would softly hang up the phone. To make a call, you picked up the receiver and gave it a few cranks; the operator would answer and you'd tell her who you wanted to talk to, often only needing the first name, and she would connect. At night it took longer because I think the operator was located in her own home, and would be in bed at night.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs-M
Stupendous Serendipity! Can you imagine the stories the old operators could tell? The things they heard and listened in on... I've always thought about that. (Talk show host Phil Donahue)! :) I actually miss his show. Your butter story is over the top! Way too cool! I don't remember that, but then again I am only in my 40's. Other shows (television) I remember from back in my days, Carol Burnett, Tim Conway, My Three Sons, and You Asked For It. This is awesome! I love this thread!
Kfander. I can't tell you how many "pops" we got on the seat of our pants (from mom) for listening in on other peoples calls. (Just one more example that spanking doesn't work)! LMAO!!! I remember it all so clearly. Sometimes when us kids would pick up the phone, one of the other parties would present the question, "did you hear that". Then the other person they were talking to would say, "no". Of course it would get us all giggling and we'd have to hang up! ROTFLMAO! Still makes me laugh to this day. Oh how I love all these old telephone stories!
I recall buying albums as a teen and playing them on a stereo with needle. It would skip when it hit a bad spot. I remember my Dad's reel-to-reel tape recorder. He had cabinets full of large spools that he would sit and splice with tape. I remember in 1970, we were finally allowed to wear pants to school. I remember that most everyone's mom was a housewife; I was embarrassed that mine worked as a pharmacist and that she too got a divorce. I remember that we personally knew most of our neighborhood tradespeople - the cop, the service station owner, the mailman,, etc. That reminds me, I recall that gas stations were always full-service.
I live in a town where we still know all of the service people, and the lady who delivers the mail comes in for coffee sometimes. We have one station that is full service, and no more expensive than the self-serve ones.
A few years after I had moved from my hometown of Wallace, Michigan to California, a letter that I had written to my father in Wallace came back as undeliverable. He hadn't moved but apparently they had changed the numbering system so he had a different route and box number. Rather than calling my dad, I wrote on the front of the envelope: "Come on Bob, he's lived there all his life." Bob was the postmaster. He not only delivered the letter but sent me a personal letter with my dad's new mailing address.
Gee, was that like Mullberry? ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by kfander
Pinkytoe. Yes, I remember the old reel-to-reel recorder units! Ours was housed in moms big bulky stereo console. A humongous long wooden box the size of a deep freeze, with fabric covered speakers (built right in). On one side was the reel-to-reel unit, on the other, the record player. Inside there was also a nifty built-in compartment where you could store all your record albums. The hours I spend sprawled out in front of that thing listening to music!
Kfander. Way... too... funny!!!!! That is over the top hilarious!!!!! ROTFLMAO! Yes, this is my laugh of the day!http://th32.photobucket.com/albums/d...s/th_laugh.gif
We had one, too! I'd forgotten about it. Just the radio and the record player, though. It had pride of place in the LR.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs-M
Am I remembering correctly that the nice department stores used to have restaurants in them? Maybe it was because I was a child/teen but the restaurants seemed to be very classy and grown-up.
Yes, I remember the JL Hudson store at a mall in suburban Detroit that had a nice restaurant, at least through the mid-80s.
Tradd. My moms had pride of place in the living room AND was moms pride! She polished that thing to the nth! Ugly as sin it was... Mind you a lot of the old run of the mill furniture back then was pretty ugly.
Shalom. Oh tes, I remember Woolworth's Department Store and it's Luncheon Counter! Vanilla milkshakes and a plate of french fries were at the top of the menu for us kids! :laff:
ROTFLMAO!!! Yes, I do! :laff: (Was just reading through a few threads and came across this and had a good laugh)! I don't know which one trumped which, the embarrassment part of wearing them or the discomfort part! Gosh, those were the days...Quote:
Originally posted by Pony mom.
Those old belted sanitary pads were the size of surfboards!
I remember the zip code for the Spegial (sp?) catalog...I think I heard it so often on the daytime game shows.
"60609"
I'm so old.......I remember when this thread started! LOL! Just kidding Mrs-M, it is a great thread and I enjoy reading the comments.
Great stuff Greg and Shalom! :)
Courtesy of my mom, "I'm so old I've smoked cigarettes with a cigarette holder"! My mom passed that one onto me tonight. I vaguely remember those long silly looking cigarette holder thingies.
I'm so old I remember the whole class having to stand and say the Lords Prayer first thing every morning. This was in a public school. There's no way that would happen now days.
Minimum wage pay at my first job at Foxmoor Casusals (a cheapo junior clothing store) at the mall was $2.35/hour. I felt rich when I got my paychecks because that meant I could purchase my own cheapo clothing at a discount!
The priceless thing about that job was my manager (I don't remember her name) who taught me excellent work skills that I still abide by today in all of my various retail jobs.
It of sad to realize that 30-odd years later, minimum wage is only $7.65/hr? Certainly not a living wage AT ALL!
Yes, Libby, I remember the same! :) 1970's for me, and you're right, it definitely wouldn't fly today!
SiouzQ. How incredibly awful, that in thirty years, that's the best minimum wage has evolved, but how fun is to reflect on old times. I was a floor-staff employee for Pharmasave back in the early 80's and I remember getting $3.75/hour. I also felt rich! :)
I'm so old I grew up without a TV or a phone in the house. My first (mainframe) computer programs were stored on punched paper tape, and later punched cards. My first home computer had 5K or RAM, and cassette tape for storage, not even a floppy disk. In my 20s I lived for several years in a house with no fridge.
I'm so old that when my Mum worked as a fruit picker in the summer, us kids went along and played in the farm fields among the ladders and machinery, rode on the trailer with the fruit, and watched the strawberry fields burned off. We shopped on the "parade" at the end of our street, with its butcher, baker, fishmonger, post office, greengrocer, etc. (The guy who ran the greengrocer's is still alive in his late 80's - he grows lots of vegetable seedlings every year, gives them away to neighbors like my Mum, and plants them along the back alley.)
My partner is so old he grew up on a farm in northern BC with no electricity and no running water. In the winter they closed off most of the farmhouse and all of them - parents, 6 kids, and the hired man - lived and slept in the kitchen where the wood-stove was.
I love it Kevin1!!! :laff: Good times. I'm so darn distraught with myself right now over forgetting one I thought of while outside this afternoon. Grumble, grumble, grumble...
anyone else remember mimeograph machines? AHHH the good old days.
Just the other day DH and I were discussing ice trays--the metal ones with a handle that you pulled the loosen the cubes. I also remember when hula hoops were new and all the rage. I remember before air-conditioning the hand fans at church that were provided by the local funeral home. Anyone remember wind up alarm clocks? DH remembers using a slide rule; I think he still has his old slide rule. Remember when phone numbers had 4 digits? Learning how to fill a fountain pen?
Gawd, I am ancient....
not only do I remember them, I loved the smell of freshly memeographed handouts the teachers use to give us!Quote:
Originally Posted by Water&Air
I still fill a fountain pen. I love writing in my journal with fountain pens.Quote:
Originally Posted by Florence
Water&air. Definitely! I remember the warmth and smell of the paper afterwards.
Florence. I remember the old metal ice cube trays from back when I was a kid. We were never allowed to get cubes from them out of fear we would cut ourselves, at least that what my folks always told us!
Question about fountain pens. Do they still ruin work by leaving big ink globs and things?
I never did get the hang of fountain pens--big globs of ink plagued any work I attempted with a fountain pen. I am in awe of people who write smoothly and evenly with them. Ball point pens came just in time to rescue me.
I remember those trays, too! Thank God for my icemaker!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mrs-M
Fountain pens--when I went to Catholic school we HAD to write with cartridge pens (fountain pen lite). I have good memories of that, too.
Well, I have a new one, based on the news report I saw of the pedestrian getting hit by a Cash Cab in Vancouver. The person who wrote the report on cnn.com said that "the cab hit an elderly pedestrian. The pedestrian was 61." Wow. I'm 59. So, I guess I'm so old, at my age, I'm nearly elderly!
Really, I just hope the reporter was 16--it would make me feel so much better!
Ahile ago we had SEVERAL reports of an "Elderly" female robber who was assualting people at their cars with a handgun. The media speculated that she was so old and frail that it was probably a way for her to make ends meet in this tough economy. When they caught the "elderly" woman and showed her pic on TV I was flaggergasted - she was 51 and didn't look at all frail or elderly. Seem to see alot of people - even middle aged people - refuring to anyone over 50 as "elderly". I think of elderly as an 80 year old white haired person using a cane or walker to get around.Quote:
Originally Posted by catherine
Florence. Nasty, unforgiving things they were, at least that's my opinion of them. I was in elementary school at the time and a teacher (just for fun) handed out fountain pens along with a tiny bottle of ink to all of us so we could try our hand at writing with one. I know the more modern versions had actual ink cartridges, but still, thank heavens for modern ballpoint pens! :)
Catherine. You are a riot! I agree, the reporter better have been a bubble-gummer! :laff: On the ice cube side of things, I am forever grateful for the fridge we bought year before last! Reverse osmosis water filtration and ice! No messing around.
Spartana. Yes indeed, my definition of an "elderly" person would the same as yours. 80 plus years of age, anyway!
I'm so old I've ridden in the back boxes of trucks (as a kid) when seatbelts and safety wasn't important. Anyone else remember the old days of riding in the back of truck boxes as a kid?
To add, riding in the back of pickup trucks (back in the day) wasn't even an option, it was the standard! As kids we wouldn't even ask if we could ride in the back, we just filled in and took up residence.
I was in high school at the time, earlier grades, but I remember a bunch of kids leaving for lunch in a pickup truck, the back box full of teens, and by the end of lunch hour, one of the teens in the back was dead. The driver rolled the truck.
My parents had several big old station wagons with seats built into the back, in the cargo area. They folded out of the floor. I LOVED riding back there, especially on the long drive back in the summer from somewhere fun, maybe with a friend, as it was away from my pesky brother *and* my parents, lol! The back window would be down a bit and it was lovely!
I remember once going to a beach with a friend's family. It was a long (2-3 hour) drive away. The parents were in the cab of the pickup truck. There was a big couch in the bed of the pickup, the bed covered with one of those caps with windows in it. My friend and I were back there with her two brothers. We even crossed the border between the US and Canada at the Ambassador Bridge with us back there! This was in the mid-80s. You can't imagine that happening now!:0!
I remember that too, Tradd, that, and riding in the back of an aunts station wagon where there were no seats at all. We owned/drove a station wagon during the time our first three kids were little and it definitely had it's pluses!
Family picnics with the station wagon were classic! Lots of room to spread everything out in the way of food and drink! Then, when someone (one of the kids) got tired, the back turned into an instant bed.
hose, not panty hose, but hose held up by garters. And, fishnet tights in every color you can think of. Older girls wearing girdles to school. We only had 3 channels on TV and I spent lots of time as a pre-teen listening to the radio. Does anyone remember those little velvetine bows ladies wore on the front of their treased hair?
YES! I had almost forgotten that! I think there is even a picture of me as a child with one in my hair, I think on the side. Or, it could have been in front where the bangs parted away from the rest of the hair. Can't remember exactly, but yes I do remember the little bows. They came in lots of colors didn't they?Quote:
Originally Posted by Tenngal