phone prefixes around here were Sycamore Atlantic Gilbert Cypress ours was...Hillcrest 7-4884 and all of Los Angeles County had ONE area code...213 Orange County had one...714 and we had no zip codes...big cities like El Lay had "zones".... no 911 my dad was a policeman in our town. he's bring the police car home every night, back it into the driveway and leave the keys in the ignition. here he is getting delivery of the new 1957 Chevy police cars. photo taken at the Santa Anita Race Track parking lot in Arcadia, Calif....we didn't use CA. It was either California or Calif.
Yep, those shelters were hawked the way cable TV is today, literally dozens of companies selling them. I've thought about putting one in now, not because of any threat, they are just a cool place to have. 10'-diameter culvert pipe buried in the back yard. One of my buddies back then got in a fight with his old man, and called him "Kruschev", it was considered worse than the F-word. His old man chased him around the block for an hour.
I know the first thing that I would do if an atomic bomb was going off nearby, is I'd get on a suit and tie....
Grandpa giving me $2 to go get myself a McDonald's Fish Sandwich, which I'd then ride my bike 2 miles to, eat, and come home...happy as a clam. Being encouraged to be outside and play as long as I "didn't do any stupid sh*t" Needing to be home by sundown Many fewer bills Hair on my head Digging for coal along the railroad tracks near Grandpa's house Playing in the pumpkin patch Eating pea pods right off the vine as the most wonderful thing in the world
My folks went out of town for the weekend and a buddy and me ran a hotwire from the battery to the coil and took my moms 67 cougar out crusing. I was doing a crowd pleaser (a smokin power brake) and blew the tire. Later in the night i was doing it again and the engine died as the points slipped, no able to diagnose the problem we pushed the car home 6 1/2 miles i slept good that night. The next day a friends older brother fixed it and my folks never found out, it took a few days to get the spare replaced. Having to wash levi 501's three times with fabric softener so they wouldn't rub your legs raw, they used to be thick and well made back then. Converse hi tops $8.87 new. Having to wait all day for the thanksgiving day turkey to finish cooking so i could have the little rocket that pops out when it's done, i was little but wth? Playing smash up derby cars on the kitchen floor. You would pull a zip strip and get the wheels spinning and set it on the floor and it would smash into another coming the other way sent by your buddy or brother and when they hit parts would fly everywhere (under the stove and refrigerator). The one with the fewest parts missing won. Going to indoor roadster shows, thats what they were called back in the early 70's and seeing all the wild cars with panel, lace, striped and flake paint. Chrome and blowers were everywhere, and i would beg mom to stop by the store on the way home so she could buy me a new model. 3wLarry, thanks for starting this thread, i have been walking around with a smile on my face since yesterday. I had a great childhood and it was probably the best time of my life, eat, sleep play no worries. Times were SIMPLE back then and people were all friendly to one another and would help whenever they could. I used to go borrow flour, sugar, coffee from the neighbor now i don't even know their names. You can't go back but no one can take away the memorries.
[/QUOTE] ...I like how they labeled the dog. There's a great Twilight Zone episode based on one of these shelters. .
...I like how they labeled the dog. There's a great Twilight Zone episode based on one of these shelters. .[/QUOTE] That's so you wouldn't confuse it with a Rat
Driving up to the service station for gas and use the washroom and being asked, "Number one or two?" Going into the hardware store on a Saturday morning and being greeted by the smell of kerosene and boiled linseed oil applied to the old maple floors early that morning. The new smell of jute twine and hemp rope. The sour smell of the new 'water paint' (latex) that Dad was having mixed up for the dining room walls. Checking out the new selection of 'Dinky toys" or 'Matchbox toys" that were displayed in the sliding glass cabinet. Pointing out the new roadster that you wanted to have but couldn't afford the 35 cents for it, Going in to the 5 & 10 cent store and getting a big plastic fire engine, complete with ladders and hoses for 69 cents Having a 10 cent hot dog and a 7 cent small coke at the F. W. Woolworth store. Going over to the candy counter and filling a small candy bag up with mixed penny candy like, green mint leaves, strawberries, nigger babies, licorice, ju-jube's, wax lips, glossette raisins, brown beans with peanut centers. Draining oil cans out behind the service station, so you had enough oil to put in the 38 Pontiac to get the oil mark to show on the dipstick. Then driving up to the pumps and putting in a gallon of gas for the evenings cruise to the local restaurant.
Being selected in grade school to go out back and clean the erasers by beating them against the brick wall. Playing kick-ball at recess in grade school with a huge red rubber kick-ball. Explaining to my Kindergarten teacher the age difference between her VW Beetle and my Dad's based on the size of the license plate light housing on the back. Sneaking peanuts and candy from the candy counter at Sears. Going to the department store in the big city and looking at all the new Corgis and Matchbox toys. Occasionally being able to afford one. Riding backwards in the 3rd seat of the Town and Country. In 4th grade having Pen Pals from Sweden and Australia and France. Getting spanked with a paddle by 6th grade band teacher for misbehaving. Jumping my 2-speed Schwinn off 4ft high dirt piles. In grade school, getting caught sneaking around the lumber piles at the lumber yard at the end of our street and worried about being sent to jail for trespassing. Buying Hot Wheels for 52 cents in 1969 with my paper route money. Having a big fan by the back screen door to pull air through the house in the summer. My JR high Civics teacher buying a new Riviera and bragging about being able to do a burnout away from the curb.
#walnut 63592 was my number. -Ickey Twerp hosted Slam Bang Theater -Gene Snow had a car lot in Downtown Ft Worth with killer used cars that had been hopped up a little. - The Green Monster was the biggest thrill to come to Green Valley Raceway. Damn, I'm old too
our phone number was 159R4, no dial on the phone set either..just pick it up and if no one else was on it...you made your call. Otherwise, it was a polite request (or more forceful if it was the local busy-body) to use the line...19 cents/gallon 102 octane gas...sloe gin for a hot night....
i remember my dads belt with the buffalo head nickels on it , i tried running and jumping a fence to get away from him, but i knew i couldnt beat my dad that day cuz he flew over the fence like spiderman and beat my ass. super nintendo and mortal kombat 1-3, and my crush that went to all the car shows with me Crystal i got my first kiss from her at a Sonic cruise
The one about getting drafted before there was a lottery really hit home. Drafted in the Marines no less. Talk about luck.
sheriff John every day at noon engener bill in the morning red lite green lite, clutch cargo cartoons, american bandstand every day , sea hunt ,Hyway patrol 2150, surfside six, fireball XL5,chiller on sat night on KTLA,KFWB/KRLA/KHJ/ and kam nelson on boss city, shes now a reporter on N.W. news in seatle still a honey! oh ascot race way on sat nights and lions on sundays. back when L.A. was great.
You have to be dressed for the occasion - no one's allowed in without a suit and tie! I remember the parents one of my childhood friends getting a lot of excavating done in their back yard. I thought, "Cool, Beverly's parents are getting a swimming pool." When I asked the girl about it, she said, "Naw, my folks are building a dumb fallout shelter." (This was just around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis) Her brother ended up using it as his photo darkroom in the '70s...
Add to the above: Drop drills at school where we'd all bend over under our seats or against a wall in a kind of foetal position and live while the teacher would be vaporized in the atomic blast. Yeah, right!
The sign on Wilshire Blvd that kept a tally of California's growing population... Jack rabbits in the park at the La Brea tar pits (before the Art Museum was built there). The opening of the Japanese Seibu department store, where Petersen's Museum is today. It didn't last long, as we all knew that stuff made in Japan was poorly made, cheap junk. The place did, however, give me an interest in 35mm SLR cameras... ...which years later meant I could use my L.A. Valley College press pass (I still have it) to get into places to photograph drag races at the likes of Orange County International raceway, etc.
I see kids wearing metal versions of the inserts as necklace pendants. Most don't know what they are.
I saw a company somewhere using that as a logo, can't remember where. When I lived in England in the late 70's the 45's didn't have the huge holes over there. If you did get one imported from NA with the huge hole the store gave you the centre for free. Here you had to buy them.
1971 some "wacky tobaccy", a lot of beer, and a 3 lb. bag of Taco Bell and.........Seymour! We'd laugh until we hurt all over....
Riding in my Grandfathers' Plymouth Fury, listening to the tick-took sound the turn signals made. OHHH and what great turn signals they were, big old gun sights on each fender with a flashing light in them, just in-case you didn't know which way to turn. The back seat was so big, me and all my cousins would be siting there comfortably. watching gramps drive us around and me watching the compass spinning away on the dash with each giant rolling turn he made.
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