I remember the crunching scraping sound that the bumper on my mom's car made every time it hit the pavement when backing out of the driveway.
Removing the hub caps on my Dads 61 Pontiac Ventura so I could run it at the local strip then replacing them and washing the numbers off before going home. Gary
The smell of our small town fire dept. As a kid I loved walking into the FD and seeing the old trucks shining like they were brand new. The smell of musty firehose, along with gasoline, rubber boots and coats all blended together that really attracted me. I volunteered as a firefighter and EMT for 10 yrs in my early 20's to mid 30's. That attraction evolved into loving to help those in need.
We had an old air raid siren on the roof of the post office, I think it was there in case the Russians were coming or something like that. A couple of us climbed up there on a Friday night when we were about 15, and cranked the handle, it was pretty loud. After that, they put a metal strap with a padlock on the handle.
I remember riding in the push car I remember my dad taking the hub caps off the push car I remember pretending my trike was a dragster after spending the day at the drags I remember sitting in the dragster between races
Our town had that too. Right up until they tore down the old station, and built a new modern one. No more siren at all anymore. This is an awesome thread! I have literally just blown three hours on here....great memories! (I'm 37, so I remember some of this stuff...but not a lot of it) Thanks for sharing!
The town we lived near to had a noon siren also. Never really understood the purpose other than notifying the town people when it was mid-day; probably some tradition that continued on after the need was gone. Speaking of small towns........ ours was so small, no-one saw the need for a traffic light. Still that way.
Actually I think it was started just to test the fire system on a daily basis. Then everyone decided to time their lunch break to it.
I remember the Middletown, CT fire department on Main St. had a loud horn that would blow. It would sound a number of times, pause, then sound again, pause then again. If you had one of their local calendars, on the back was the code list of the address of the fire call. At that time, they were all three digit. I think they did away with it in the mid 70's.
Panty girdles (Grrrrrrr!) A bitch when you were drunk Party lines ( Mrs. Dumbrowski was ALWAYS on the phone) Operators ( my #? 91-J ) The ice man. ice boxes. stealing chips of ice off the truck in the summer The garbage man. ( "Tonto", who wore a wool ski hat year round) The guy who walked around ringing a school bell who sharpened knives and scissors. Burning trash ( blowing up my Grandmother's hair spray cans) Writing yours and your girlfriends name in the road with wax syrup filled candy containers ( looked like miniature Coke bottles). Going to the beach and writing your girls name on your back with tape ( early tats) Etc., Etc............... Thanks for the memories, Larry! ( jeezus, I'm gettin' old!)
Our city still has a huge siren on the city hall roof,,They use it anytime there is a fire to call the volunteers to come get the firetuck..I think you can hear that siren for 3 miles or more...
I remember fighting with my brothers to get the third row seat in our Caprice wagon. While facing backwards we would make silly faces at the cars behind us and engage in general shenanigans. The wagons hade style,unlike the soul-sucking minivans of today!
Sirens? Like this air raid siren here in the San Fernando Valley? There is one not even a block from where I live.There are still dozens of them in LA.They just never took them down!
Hey Gary, Nice photo... The ones in South Orange County that are 20 miles from the nuclear generating plant have been converted for emergency siren sounds. Also, some have been set up to warn coastal residents of an impending Tsunami approaching, if there is a possibility of an early warning. Beyond 20 miles? None that we can see. Supposedly, the wind fall out zone is limited to 20 miles...But, they have never seen the afternoon south breeze in the summer time when it blows hard. Jnaki That generating plant is being shut down and dismembered as we speak... So, all of those alarm poles will be switched over to the Tsunami warning sirens.
I remember when the tattooed lady was only in the side show at the circus. Changing oil and greasing the car every 1000 miles. Buying tires after 8000 miles changing plugs and points at 10,000 miles when air conditioning in a auto consisted of opening the vent windows to deflect air into the car.
I'm one of the younger fellars on this site, but I still remember the door creaking followed by a hallow clunk. Having to pull my license plate back to fill my tank. Mechanical button preset button radio. Getting third degree burns after getting into a convertible with black vinyl seats that had been sitting in sun all day
I grew up on the north end of Reading, Pa. I remember waking up every morning to the sound of a steam engine picking up a line of empty coal cars headed up north to get a load. The sound was so cool. If the wind was blowing the right direction you could smell the smoke from the engine, I kinda liked that. Miss those days!
First day of summer now, so I remember swimming and fishing in our pond; Dad coming home just after dark, cranking up the Farmall Cub and going out to mow one of the hay fields (one of the headlights was canted to the right so he could see better mowing.) As a young teen, helping our neighbor bale those same fields (after we got done raising steers.)
Shagging the car bumpers on the snowy icy side streets. Frozen Bell bottom jeans clunking as you walked. Plastic bags in your boots to keep your feet dry. UHF converters. FM converters. Skipping school so you could.......... Go downtown and sing with the " Morning moron fish and tackle choir" on the radio 101 wrif. Take the Stroh brewery tour (repeatedly). Party at "Hines Park" Hang out at "Heath Beach". Sit in someones basement and get baked. Riding dirt bikes in 'Terrace Woods" Arcades. Cruzin "Telegraph" Put Put Golf. Weekend house parties. D.R.E.A.D cards. Midnight movies. Greektown Detroit Dragway Milan Dragway Outer drive Rouge Park I could do this all night............FUN
It taking a minute or so for the tubes in the radio to warm up. I could be most of the way down the driveway before the music started.
Party line telephones. The test pattern on the tv when nothing was scheduled for broadcast. A prayer and The Star-Spangled Banner at the end of the broadcast day. Farm tractors driving down the road without getting creamed.
Thanks for bring this post back. Miss you Larry, raise some dirt up there cause we're all going to the other side. What size tires are you running?
Hello, Driving our hot rods and customs into the drive in complex was a weekly event. That big lit up sign was just speaking to us, not only for what was playing, but to make funny changes to the letters. Back in those early days of being a teenager, one was able to change the announcements on the movie marquees at the drive in theaters. It was a tough job, because the marquees were well lit and the public was always driving by the complex. Some were easy as the perpetrators were hidden by the nearby landscaping. Others were either too high or too exposed. (easy: Los Altos, Lakewood… difficult: Long Beach Westside and Circle Drive In…1000s of cars at all hours of the day and night going around the famous, Traffic Circle in Long Beach.) It was a cat and mouse game since the white coat guys would ride their bikes around the facility to check on things. Most of the time, the “white coats” were more interested in the “smooching” going on in the back rows. Or they were looking for those rowdy teenagers with rolling beer can races down the slopes of the drive in parking spaces. By the way, “full can” rolling races made little to no sound…empty ones…well… Very late at night or in the early A.M. were the preferred choice times for making changes to those marquees. These four drive-in theaters were situated in the four divisions of Long Beach, W,N,E,S. Finally, after many unauthorized changes that were made to those exposed drive in movie marquees, most managements put locks and barbed wire on the approach ladder to the marquee. Then, next, the local walk in movie theaters had outdoor marquees with interchangeable letters. More advertising for them to show the public what was playing in the hidden movie marquees located in the shopping centers and malls. But, after many unauthorized changes to some of the letters, they, too, got the clear lexan sheet with a lock on to prevent unauthorized changes to the letters. Jnaki But, sometimes, a radical change was made to a marquee that had funny implications…
The Jalopy Journal
