OK, here we go: "I'm so old I remember..."

[trof]

Give us your best.
I'll start.

Milk delivered in bottles with the cream on top.
A five digit phone number that we shared with another customer on a 'party line'.
I think our ring was a long and a short.
I listened to the other customer.

You?

[mercuryblues]

1. I just had this discussion with my son

I heard him talking on the phone and he said, "OMG they killed Kenny" I told him he was getting old if he remembers that.

[trof]

2. Kenny who?

[mercuryblues]

17. It was a running joke on South Park

(Which is still on TV)

In almost every episode they killed Kenny. When his friends found out "Oh my God, they Killed Kenny"

[Shermann]

22. Still going strong in 2022!

That cartoon is timeless, no dating going on here.

[livetohike]

3. Wearing my skate key around my neck. The huckster

stopping in the neighborhood with fresh fruit and vegetables.

Hiding under my desk at school during nuclear drills.

The TV only aired three TV stations.

[calguy]

9. And the TV signed off at midnight

and started again at six am with "Farm Facts" in 1950's Iowa.

[SharonAnn]

10. Absolutely!

[SharonAnn]

16. Absolutely!

[Diamond_Dog]

24. And when it signed off, they'd play the National Anthem.

[calguy]

32. Oh yeah.... I forgot about that. lol

[Genki Hikari]

41. When they signed on in the morning, too

And this is what they had on the screen if you turned on your TV during the downtime:

[rubbersole]

14. Only 3 black and white stations. Had to adjust the rabbit ears to get NBC.

[trof]

52. Oh god. Skate key. Yes.

And skates wouldn't stay on Keds, no mater how tight you wound them.
Had to be leather soles,

[trof]

54. You had TV. I was 10 ,or 12 when we got a set.

[calguy]

4. I could find an empty pop bottle

Cash it in for three cents the neighborhood grocery and walk out with three pieces of candy.
Now that was living!

[elleng]

5. Nope, but Main 5 6521!

[Atticus]

6. Our family doctor made house calls!

At Halloween, we often got candy cigarettes as treats.

Cars had heavy-duty chromed steel front and rear bumpers.

Hula hoops.

White buck shoes.

Butch wax.

Penny candy.

[SharonAnn]

11. All of the above.

[Diamond_Dog]

8. Black and white TV, no remote.

And if it broke down, the repairman came to your house to fix it.

And doctors made house calls.

Transistor radios. Oh how cool,we thought we were taking our radio with us everywhere!

School lunch cost 30 cents.

[rurallib]

13. I even remember a little life before the television - sitting in the dark

listening to the evening shows on the radio.

[trof]

53. Oh yeah.

Gene Autrey and the Melody Ranch. Sky King. Bobby Benson (?) and the B Bar B riders.
The Shadow.
Superman.
And later in the evening, after supper Amos & Andy, Lum & Abner, Captain Marvel.
I had a Captain Marvel ring that glowed in the dark.
I would sit on the basement stairs, in the dark, just marveling at such a thing.

[Dave in VA]

31. My dad had a remote

ME!

[SouthernLiberal]

12. I am so old that I remember

From my childhood in the Bronx

Milk delivered in bottles, but homogenized
Word exchanges for telephone numbers (Ours JErome 6. Every one knew to only dial the first two letters)

Corner butcher shop

12¢ comic books

A 2¢ plain that still cost two cents

Egg cream sodas made by hand

The bagel and biali shops, right next to one another

Street gangs that protected little kids

Kosher pickles made in giant barrels, and sold for a nickel

[Ocelot II]

15. Slide rules.

Sonic booms.

TVs that you had to get up and turn a dial to change the channel, of which there were four.

Reel-to-reel tape recorders.

My grandma's refrigerator that had a cylindrical compressor on top and that vibrated so much that every once in awhile you had to push it back against the wall.

Also my grandma's toaster, which you put the bread in and closed a couple of panels and then turned the bread over when it was brown. You burned it if you weren't paying attention.

Our car that had back passenger doors that opened from fore to aft, which I nearly fell out of at age about three.

[applegrove]

18. The knife sharpener going around my neighborhood every year trying to

get customers with a horn or a bell. I never saw him. But he came at least once a year and went up and down the streets.

Using brightly colored telephone wire to make chokers and bracelets by wrapping it around itself.

15 foot snowbanks at the corner of streets. Now they cart most the snow away in trucks. We lived on a corner. The snowforts were legendary.

[C_U_L8R]

19. The smell of a fresh mimeograph

[MLAA]

28. In the morning by the teachers' lounge before class!

[FuzzyRabbit]

20. Blue laws: stores were closed on Sundays.

[rubbersole]

21. Honey came with a section of the hive in the jar.

[FuzzyRabbit]

23. Gas station attendants

The gas station attendant pumped your gas, cleaned your windshield, checked oil and tire pressure.

[Genki Hikari]

44. They had a place like that in Edinburg Texas

My mom lived down there in the 90s, and needed a housesitter while she was in Europe for the summer. I was "between jobs" at the time, so why not?

As per her instructions, she wanted me to take her car for a spin to keep the battery from dying. First time out, I saw it needed gas. I had seen the "full service" sign driving into the Valley, and stopped there for a fillup and overall check of the car. A good thing I did, too. The attendant found that the battery she'd had put in at Sears before she left? The tech hadn't removed the plastic wrap around it! Could have blown up the car, and anyone in it!

Anytime I see a full-service station, I pop in to give them the business, even if their gas is more expensive.

[Scottie Mom]

25. TVs with round screens that were...

...longer than they were wide.

[onecaliberal]

26. It's 10:00pm do you know where your children are?

[MLAA]

27. I remember...

Getting TV guide and Reader’s Digest in the mail
8 track tapes
Transistor Radios
Hang 10 t-shirts and bell bottoms
Hot Pants

[FuzzyRabbit]

29. Burma Shave road signs

[FuzzyRabbit]

30. Vaccinations at school.

The entire class would line up for small pox and polio vaccines.

[Arkansas Granny]

33. We lived in the country, so our milk came straight from our Jersey cows.

There were 8 families on our party line. It was a red letter day at home when we got the indoor bathroom completed. Woo hoo! We listened to "cartoons" on the radio on Saturday morning.

I went to a one room school house. One teacher, 8 grades, 50 kids. We had to carry our lunch since there was no kitchen or lunchroom.

[KarenS]

34. yikes!! alot of what you guys have said,,, plus

How about Encyclopedia Salesmen? My Parents bought us Encyclopedia Britanica's,,,, instead of browsing the internet I would pull a volume out of the bookcase and go through it...

Plus Sears & Roebuck's catalogues. I loved those things.

on edit:

making the treadle move so my GrandMother's old Singer sewing machine would work.

Plus my Mom made all my clothes.

[Frustratedlady]

35. Oh, my. Many years, many memories.

I remember metal drives during WWII. Dad saved all the barbed wire and any iron he could. We even made balls out of aluminum foil gum wrappers. Savings books with stamps that could be traded in for a bond when full. Joining the Civil Defense group that volunteered to watch the sky for foreign planes. Quarter/gallon gas. Cake mixes, sliced bread, Cracker Jacks w/toys inside, potato chips and the beginning of pizza places.

I remember our first TV which was a Halo-Light TV by Sylvania because Dad believed TV would be hard on our eyes. Neighbors would come and watch the programs until the news ended at 10:30 until they got their own TV. Mom would serve dessert or J-ello (lots of J-ello in those days). My first record player and 45s. I could only get one at a time and nearly wore it out before I bought another.

Getting to stay home for many days because snow filled the ditches and the buses couldn't find the road. Making yarn dogs or putting model airplanes together (with the strong smelling glue) to keep us from whining about being bored. Jack Benny, Red Skelton, Ed Sullivan and the Beatles. Mom always had the radio on to listen to Stella Davis, I believe the soap opera was called, while we washed and dried the dinner dishes. Chicken dressing day with 25 or so chickens lined up, the smell of feathers from hot water to loosen the feathers. Pork butchering day when Mom would make tenderloins for supper or she'd render the fat for lard and we'd sample the cracklings that came from the process. Donuts were also made after rendering.

Washing with a wringer washer, starching and hanging net cancan slips on the clothesline to wear under poodle skirts. Saddle shoes, white bucks (popular after Pat Boone), Jeans Day (once per year), sweater sets, bobby sox, hair pins and egg shampoo. Tailored one-piece gym suit for girls, freshman initiation, marching band, concert band and plays or operas. Declam contests, spelling bees and state basketball tournaments with a caravan of students/parents heading to cheer on our teams with PomPoms, balloons and posters hanging out the windows. Oh, in comparison to today's book bans, teachers had to keep an eye on the boys checking out the latest National Geographic magazines which was probably their sex education to a point. That was pretty racy at the time.

That is only a sample of what comes to mind. Thanks for the exercise.

[No Vested Interest]

46. First time I saw TV was in the local hardware store.

The tv set was placed on a table and card table chairs were placed in front where viewers (and prospective buyers) could watch during store hours.

[marybourg]

49. Stella DALLAS.

[Frustratedlady]

50. Thank you! I knew that didn't sound right. So much for my memory.

[marybourg]

51. Just don't ask me what I ate for dinner last night.

[MOMFUDSKI]

36. Watching Kate Smith Show

in the afternoon with my grandma. The smell of ground coffee at the A&P Store. Running to the corner store with a nickel to buy penny candy. Coalmen delivering coal into the basement via a chute. The rag man yelling "RAGS" driving thru the alley. The knife sharpener guy driving down the alley ringing a bell. The doctor making house calls with his little black bag. (I hid in my closet). So lucky to have those memories. Thanks for starting a really fun thread.

[nancy1942]

37. 1 room country school

Walked a mile to get there.
With an outhouse and a pot bellied wood stove.

[madamesilverspurs]

38. The Fuller Brush man,

the bread man, the milk man who sometimes came inside for a cup of coffee on cold mornings, vaccine on sugar cubes, kids in iron lungs, my brother's Lionel train set running in the basement, patent leather Mary Janes, my Betsy Wetsy doll, wearing jammies with feet, training wheels, paper dolls, the smell of the radio as it warmed up, water-filled bird whistles, painted turtles, the family car vapor locking in the middle of downtown, holding a mirror for Dad so he could see the television screen while twisting knobs on the back of the set, donning a black beanie with round ears to watch the Mickey Mouse Club, trying to figure out the Viewmaster by closing one eye and then the other, finding out the hard way that my roller skates didn't work on sneakers, Mom using a dish towel to fashion a sling . . .


.

[Genki Hikari]

43. When I was two, I ran away with the milkman.

Actually, I sneaked into his truck while he was delivering milk to the house. He didn't know I was in there until a few blocks away, when I said, "Where are we going now?"

Scared the crap out of him. He was nearly in tears asking me where I lived, who was my mommy, and I wouldn't tell him. I wanted to see where he went, what he did--all of that. He finally started going backwards on his route, to see who I belonged to. One of the customers recognized me and ratted me out.

Bummer.

[slightlv]

39. Gods, you guys... you're making me feeling REALLY old out here!!! (LOL)

I remember so much what you're mentioning!

Talking about phone numbers, anyone else have phone numbers that started with letters, once we *finally* got off party lines? I even remember ours! EM7-5484! Now, anyone want to tell me how I can remember a phone number I had when I was 3 years old, yet I can't remember this new phone number I have for my home phone now?! (LOL)

I definitely remember the Fuller Brush man! He came so often, I had a running joke with my mom about him. You see, everyone in my family is TALL. My brother and sister (both younger) are 6' tall or close to it. So were Mom and Dad. Me? I'm 4'9".... IOW, NOT TALL. One day, I asked her if there was *anything* she wanted to tell me about the Fuller Brush man, or the Milkman, maybe... (gryn)

I also remember getting into the movies and buying popcorn and a pop (soda for all you non-mid westerners) for 25 cents. And that included a cartoon, 2 movies, and an intermission in between the movies!

Know what I remember the most, tho, of those times? I'm so old, I remember getting on my bicycle after school and being able to ride until after dark, all over town and the surrounding areas, with no one looking for me or wondering where I was, or sending out search parties. Just me and my bicycle and the freedom of being a kid with a working body (as opposed to now that I'm a senior with an all but non-functional one!).

[Genki Hikari]

40. My grandmother was the last party line customer

In her area code. They still had to talk her into getting a Lifeline-subsidized private line. She didn't believe them about it being cheaper than what she was paying. "You're the phone company. You never cut bills."

[Genki Hikari]

42. Glass bottles of soda sold in regular vending machines

Last edited Thu Oct 6, 2022, 12:11 AM - Edit history (4)

"Ice chest" style soda vending machines, where you lifted the lid, put in your money, and slid the bottle over to get it out.

L'eggos pantyhose

TV soap operas being 15 minutes long

American Bandstand, Midnight Special and Don Kirschner's Rock Concert music shows.

When TVs were "sets" in wood cabinets far bigger than the screens.

Your car's bright lights being activated by a button you pushed in the floorboard.

Vinyl-roofed cars

When pickup trucks were for work, not show

My grandfather's push-button gear shift in the car.

Students having their own designated smoking areas at school

School cafeterias served real food, not pizza and chicken nuggets. Friday was either hamburger or pizza day. The pizza slice was a rectangle.

Gallons of milk came in paper cartons.

You needed a church key to drink canned soda.

Phones being hardwired inside your house.

Phones that weighed more than a gallon of milk.

Phonebooks from the phone company

Paying for long distance phone calls

Toll call charges between neighboring cities with different area codes

LPs, cassettes, 8 tracks

Entire swaths of the country with zero FM stations.

Even cheap radios being able to pick up AM radio stations hundreds of miles away--but only at night.

AM radio playing all kinds of music, and "talk" radio was the farm reports in rural areas.

Hours set aside on radio stations for listeners to dedicate songs to people.

The drinking age = 18.

Having color choices with appliances, sinks, tubs, toilets, and even paper towels and toilet paper!

If I think of more, I'll post more.

[Genki Hikari]

45. Here's something else I remember

Segregated schools where I lived. The separate restrooms and water fountains and the rest were gone when I was old enough to start retaining memories. My cousin, though, remembers my mother yanking me away from the "colored" water fountain when I got impatient for a drink of water.

And speaking of water fountains--those old water fountains that looked like white porcelain sinks, with the "flower" handle to make the water run.

And refrigerated water fountains that were bigger than a home water cooler. The school had to put steps next to it so the younger kids could reach the water.

Speaking of schools, do they still use that same weird-smelling sawdust concoction to clean up puke?

[Paper Roses]

47. This whole thread brings back so many memories.

Thanks for posting, it brings back "the good old days".

[Maine Abu El Banat]

48. My Jr. High

Had a student smoking area.

[trof]

55. Lots of interesting memories.

Thanks guys.

[lambchopp59]

56. Tail-end boomer, nearly but not quite retired

Fed up with some... quite a few... of younger generation sitting on the job playing with their cell phones for hours and getting away with it while working gen-X and seniors are far more productive. Work ethic got terribly lost with many of the millenials somehow.
I'd intimidated quite a few of that ilk from "clock milking" in my area numerous times.
But I digress...
Okay, though I don't recall milk bottle delivery, the leftovers of the industry became start-out furniture for many. Numerous friends dormitory flops I visited in the late 70's early 80's also were furnished with the abandoned metal milk crates stacked and drape decorated, disposed of once supermarket milk became the standard. They made good strong bookshelves for students everywhere. Some had "property of" metal stamp plates no one cared about, often the dairy or distributor had no use for the ones the waxed cardboard cartons didn't fit into anyway.

Both those bottles and metal crates have become rarities only found in antique stores.

[trof]

57. Our first 'dining table' was a huge wooden cable spool.