What I miss the most about growing up in the 50"s and 60's is the respect people had for each other. And also we took time to socialize. I have lived in my house 21 years, we have 7 houses on this road, and no neighbors. That was really evident last summer when my father passed away, not one neighbor said a thing, even the 4 I plow their snow in the winter.
Hardy Hard-guys,were Tough,Man!! My neighbor drove a helms truck,and saved all the day old jelly donuts for the kids on the block.WE lived about 7 miles from San Fernando raceway,and remember Sunday afternoons hearing the big fuelers echo the whole Valley.
I love my percolator. I recently bought a new B&D "coffe maker" and the thing did nothing but piss water all over my countertop. It's out in the shop and the old aluminum perk-o-matic has stepped up to the plate. Just yesterday, I started digging the hole for a, half, grease pit/ grease rack in my shop. That one item seems to bring to mind a much simpler time, and I want one just for that reason. Sure, for a grand, or so, a guy can get a "store-bought" lift, but that's not what it's about. Television (namely, cable TV) and some people's messed-up idea of what the founding fathers meant as freedom of speech has fucked this country to the point of no return. I was born in '64... right at the beginning of the end. I had to get up to change the channels. I saw how the world's enthusiastic embrace of space travel brought "instant" everything to store shelves. I saw dresses turn to mini-skirts and blouses to halter tops. Okay, maybe that's not all bad, but now, 8 year old girls are going around looking like little sluts. I saw LSDs (labor saving devices) make lazy slobs out of half the men in this country. I saw Kleenex drive handkerchiefs into extinction... They're for blowing your nose, not wearing on your head you idiots... ...and remember when you could do a tune-up on your own car...? Now, unless you have a PHD in electronics, and computers, it doesn't pay to even open the hood. HEY DETROIT... It's called a carburator and points set-up.... Wanna sell me a NEW car ever again? Then look into it.... No sir... I don't like it one bit. I'll hold onto my splitting maul and reject hydraulic log splitters. I'll keep my anvil and my mechanical floor jack. I'll keep my black powder rifle... and if zoning would let me, I'd sell my 4-wheeler and skid trees out of the woods with a well trained Percheron. Sure, there's modern tools and equipment I couldn't do without (like this computer), but for the most part, I can live without 'em. JOE
How about: Powder puff races at the drags Chick or broad or when refering to the ladies My old lady when refering to ones wife (this one caused a lot of problems at home) The dimmer switch (on the floor) Bobby socks
Counter-point . . . . some things to think about. Cell phones -- we curse the idiot with his eyes glazed over and rolling in our lane or driving 5 under because he's engrossed in a conversation . . . but thank them when we call in that drunk driver on 911 or call for an accident. Points and condenser -- Oh to be able to diagnose a problem by just getting out a match book and a file and fixing the points. Still no fire? Swap in a condenser and be back on the road . . . on the other hand, a nice electronic ignition with a magnet swinging by a field effect transistor to light things up is a heck of a lot more reliable. Infallible? No, but less things moving and grooving. Computers -- A look under the hood of the car will almost make you puke thinking of how much your going to fork out if one of those little black boxes goes out. I can't even see the battery on both my new cars (well, a 2001 Dodge Stratus and a 2007 Chevy Cobalt). I fought some issues on a Ford Windstar, but in the end a little sleuthing and good old fashioned mechanical knowledge prevailed. Carbs/jets/fuel air mixtures . . . and the old guy down on the corner who could "put a tune" on an engine have been replaced by computers that make engines that run clean and make gobs of horsepower. My little four banger in my Chevy has about the same horsepower SAE that my old (small) V8 Buick does and does it on 1.5 less liters . . . 80 cubes for old guys. There are more old cool jalopies on the road now than there probably was 40+ years ago . . . and the same for other cars. Even in the past 10 years of the World Wide Web, the information that we share with each other has made such a difference in performance and benefits. Sure, technology and that has helped a bit, but people being able to point and click and gather information and ideas from people around the world really has kicked things into high gear. A fast car a few years back might have been a 12 second streeter, but now 11 or 10 second cars are more a common place. There's a lot to lament about from the past on what's been lost or what it would be like to be back in the era. On the other hand, you gotta think about the cool stuff we have today . . . and to be nostalgic, throw a few of those terms around . . . .all the cool people are. ;-)
i remeber the Helms man ,,he used to come around in his lil cream/beige colored truck with all the wooden drawers filled with donuts,,our helms man was the same man for as far back as i could remeber i also remeber the blue chip stamps,,there was a blue chip store on peck rd that my mom would drag us to when she saved up enough stamps im 33,,but its weird,i know i cant entirely relate to alot of the things the older guys here can,,,but at the same time the things i grew up with in the 70's & 80's were things that younger people today take for granted,, i remeber when having cable tv was considered a luxory and one of the selling points of cable was no commercials! and MTV,,remeber when mtv actaully played music videos? i remeber actually playing outside,weither it be riding bikes,playing baseball or basket ball or skateboards till we HAD to come inside,,not because we wanted to,, we would take off in the morning on our bikes and ride 15 -20 or so miles away without even thinking twice,sometimes we would get on the riverbed trail and ride to long beach,,then turn around and ride back home.this when we were around 10-13 years old ,haha...and do this all the time...., now though,,,im worried to have my daughter walk down to the end of the street.. .kids today want to sit on the couch or sit in the computer or play video games all day... i remeber when hiphop music was something new... i remeber when micheal jackson was black.. i remeber when chevrolet and ford still made decent vehicles.
how about a washateria, with dual tubs and wringer between and adding blueing to the water, and the smell of the place, we used a "out house" until 1947 at my grand dad's, how about having to mix the color in the margarine
I have a steering knob from a JD tractor in my 68 Camaro becasue it did not come with power steering, and I made the mistake of getting a wood ringed steering wheel for it.
Blue chip stamps? -- had to verify what that was . . . my memory isn't so bad afterall: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mgreenstamps.html
My parents were Depression era kids, lived through/fought in the Big One. I have heard and lived to experience some of what's been said. It isn't so much the things of the time I miss as much as what was said earlier about how communities were and the expectation of good manners rather than what it is today which is an exception. I was born in '65 so I'm on the leading edge of the Gen-X'ers but I have been profoundly influenced by the days in which I never lived. Seems like the baby got thrown out with the bathwater... When was the last time you heard that one?
I'm getting close to 40, but I was raised by my great grandmother, she was 71 when I went to live with her at age 4, so a lot of what you guys are talking about rings home. Anyone else here ever collect green stamps? Remember when your parents could call down to the local store so you could have permission to pick up their cigs and beer for them? Anyone else ever have Red Goose shoes? Taking your fishing pole and riding with friends on your bicycles out to the city lake and camping and fishing for the weekend and your folks never worried? And you were 11? To this day I have women berate me for addressing them as ma'am, hell I didn't know that some people DIDN'T say yes sir, and ma'am, and thank you till I got married and moved into a city, most impolite group of people I'd ever met. I'm getting old.............. Nik
These radio shows will fit right in http://www.otr.net/ And who else here had a horse drawn wagon to deliver milk? I did.
When I was growing up in the late 60's/early 70's we would run around the neighborhood and play anywhere we wanted to, play with slot cars, trains, Hot Wheels, GI Joe's, build model kits and rockets, walk around with a BB gun or 22, go fishing or swimming, ride bikes to the drug store and read comics or have a malt, go to the drive in, check out a 16mm projector and movies at the library, listen to 45's, watch the 3 or 4 channels we got on our black and white TV, (I remember watching the first Moon landing live). In the early 70's we got a Pong game for the TV and played for hours and hours boy was that high tech! My first job was at a filling station. Pumping gas, checking oil and tires, washing windows, etc. I also remember riding around in a Texaco tanker truck with my Grandpa and filling up diesel engines at the local train yard.
When I was a kid it was'nt unusual to see a 12 year old carrying a shot gun to the outskirts of town to do a little squirrel hunting! Today if you see any kid with a gun... he's going to school to settle a score... unlike when I was young... we settled fights with our fists not guns or knives. I miss the "Sonic Booms" of super sonic aircraft setting records traveling across our nation...!
Radio Control ... was a round knob that moved a needle back and forth. It also meant who's turn it was to pick the station in the car. RC was soda pop... THIS was Hi-tech.... and who didn't have a front porch that doubled as an aircraft carrier? JOE
We had guns at our highschool. I mean HAD guns AT the school. There was a .22 range in the basement and they offered a marksmanship class. I, also, took a civil war musket to school for a report, once. I carried it on the bus (in a case), into the school, put it in my locker until the class and then loaded it (without the lead) and shot it out the window for the class. Now, I'd have the whole S.W.A.T. team pointing lasers at my forhead... I liked our old world alot better. JOE
Bosco. The RCA Dog.."He hears his masters voice". Serials and cartoons at the movies. Drive-Ins. Tires with tubes you can fix at home. Children ALWAYS saying Sir or Ma'am. Yoo-Hoo choclate drink. RC Cola Howdy Doody I REALLY do miss the old days.
I was raised with a large family...my mom is one of 9 kids...and it was always weekends and summers at my grandparent's. All my uncles, the youngest being 10 years older than me, would take me fishing, or to the hobby shops, or camping, or just keep me entertained with G.I. Joes...the big ones, not the little 3 inch guys...etc. Or we'd sit around and watch Rat Patrol, Combat, Hogan's Heros, Get Smart, and a whole buch of other good stuff! My grandprents always had "their" music playing, or some of the old radio shows that were still on AM stations at the time. Family gatherings were always full of stories, of my grandparent's travels across the country. My grandfather worked for Morton-Thiokol, the company that built the Trident ICBM, and space shuttle booster rockets, among other things. So the whole family was criss crossing the states between Binghamton, NY and Salt Lake City, UT. Lots of cool road trip stories, home movies, pictures, etc. Memories of a much simpler time. All the neighbors knew each other, all the kids played together. There was no gang threat, no drug war, no "Trenchcoat Mafia" crap. Just good folks watching out for each other, and thier neighborhoods. So here I am, in the 21st century...weren't we supposed to have flying cars, and be living on the moon by now? My "grandparent's music" is now mostly what fills my iPod, my house looks like a cross between a tiki bar, motorcycle & hot rod repair shop, and swank bachelor pad. Some folks get it, some don't. I still hold the door for people, stand when introduced to someone, offer a chair to a lady first, speak to my elders respectfully...sir & ma'am... and use quirky out of date words as everyday vocabulary. Doesn't feel out of place to me. Maybe I was just born 25 years too late. Maybe us young'uns are the start of a revisitation to a happier time in our country's history? Who knows? It's too bad we progressed our society away from this way of life. Hopefully, as my son grows up he'll pick up these "old" traits that I have. If not, then at least let him pick up a wrench!!
Man - the memories. We lived in La Mirada for a year or so before coming back to Oregon - lived on Bridgport drive - went back a few years ago - every street was renamed in spanish...... I remember a dairies store on the corner with a dairy behind it, going to drive in's with pajamas on - we always fell asleep before it was over. Seeing Johnny Weismuller at Big Boys and getting his autograph, dugout seats at the Dodgers games, Dad working for 'Monkey' Wards on Rosecrans, the smell of those machines that poured hot plastic and made figurines of monsters - even one that made whales at Marineland of the Pacific. The Monsanto dream house, real horses, Cowboys and Indians at Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm - when it WAS one - with a great Chicken dinner restaurant out front, LA city hall was an amazing building to a little kid. Hollywood? Dreamland...... It all makes me think of a lot of things... *Transistor radios *AM stations *Watching "Portland "wrestling on Saturday nights with my 80 plus yr old Grandmother - she loved Dutch Savage. *3 in one or 'Stylizing' model kits *88 cent stores *Watching doughnuts going up conveyor belts and falling into hot oil at the Mayfair Market *Laughing at crappy toys that said "made in japan' and hoping that no one bought us any for Christmas or birthdays *Begging Dad to take me to the new car dealerships in October or so for the new car showings....hoping to get a dealer promo model! *The smell of a Lifesavers book in your Christmas stocking *Dad Blowing the 'carbon' out of moms station wagon on Sunday. *Taking a bath on a Sunday night after dinner, and looking forward to Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom followed by the Wonderful World of Disney. *The slot car track down the street - how cool the guys there were, never could afford one. *Seeing a GTO go down the street and chirping the tires in 3 gears - how the heck did they do that?? (Mom and Dad always had automatics).... They say that today will be tomorrows good old days. Let's hope so, but will it be the same?? Probably not. We HAVE lost a lot of that innocence we all remember and reminisce over. At least we have the memories!!
Oh!! Almost forgot....y'all are gonna piss yerselves silly at this one!! So, we're all in Camp Shelby, MS for our deployment mobilization, and getting settled into our barracks. We all pull out our goodies... laptops, magaines, etc. Some of the guys even packed Playstations to bring over. One of the guys pulls out an Atari 2600. They reissued them with a bunch of the "classics" already loaded. Yes, I said an Atari 2600. Yes, it was 2006 when this took place. As he pulls out the joysticks...remember those little boxes with the stick and red button?... one of the "yougsters" says, "what the hell is that?!" Jaws dropped, joints creaked with arthritis, and hair got grey. He had no idea what an Atari was!! Never seen one in his entire life!! Had we really gotten that old, that quick? Seemed like it was just last week I was layin' on my belly in front of the tv, playing some Space Invaders. Time flies when yer not payin' attention, I guess.
When I was 6 or 7 I had my own 22 semiauto Remington rifle , my buddy had a over under 22-410 shotgun/rifle combo. We could take them out plinking & such anytime we wanted & did , especially during summer vacation. Now, on the backside of that , I can't even think of anything that would make me want a 6 year old to have a gun at his disposal all by themselves. We used to play mumbtely-peg with pocket knives at school recess, every boy had a pocket knife.
I'm 59, I remember never locking your door, even at night. Never locked your car either. At school we had an army cadet corps, and drilled with .303's, and once a year had a live shoot. Lots of kids had air rifles (BB's), from age about 11 I used to cycle all over the city, even at night, no problems. The world stopped turning when Kennedy got shot, as it did for the lunar landing, and Clays first big fight. We held doors open for our elders, and for females, and we gave up our seat on a crowded bus for a female or an adult. If we transgressed, a cop was more likely to give us a good kick up the arse and a warning. Yep, I miss those days too. I can live without computers, CDs, DVDs, digital this and that, power windows and a/c, political correctness etc. Of course I dont, I just tolerate them, but the 50s and 60s were a magical time, for me anyway. Sigh........
Did Western Speedway in Gardena become Ascot Park? If not, where was it? I grew up about 5 miles from Ascot and I remember hearing the roar of the cars when they were on the north end of the track. "Ascot in Gardena. Where the 110, 91 and 405 freeways...collide!"
Hell, my bosses favorite word is still "Swell" Ha! "That's just swell" Good thing I don't have to call him Sir.
north of the border "coast to coast" has a different meaning and is still used all the time...any hockey fans here?
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