Things growing up have fallen by the wayside

[Koolau]

I don't think I've seen anyone mention mom and pop bakeries. There were a couple in my small hometown in the 60's and 70's that had been there for years. I loved the cherry pinwheels, basically a cherry danish shaped like a four-pointed star. They had seasonal items for holidays. I still long for the taste of their gingerbread men. Another bakery in town was famous for their dinner rolls. It got to be where there was a line at the door on Saturday to get rolls for Sunday lunch. In the 1980's, they retired and sold out to a company that scaled up the roll production to factory scale. They were not anywhere near as good. I don't think they're still in business

Amazingly enough, there is a bakery still operating in my home town which was around since I can recall (well over 60 years now.) At lunch during HS, some of us would walk down to the bakery and buy cookies - 3 to 5 cents each ca. 1963. My favorite dessert was the cream horn which, IIRC, was about 15 cents. But on my lunch allowance, I rarely bought one. Last I checked a few years back, their menu has changed little nor has the quality. The prices, however... YMMV

 

[isisdave]

Highway Patrol with Broderick Crawford!

It's still on Me tv! And followed by every other 60's show you can think of.

 

[ncbill]

I don't think I've seen anyone mention mom and pop bakeries. There were a couple in my small hometown in the 60's and 70's that had been there for years. I loved the cherry pinwheels, basically a cherry danish shaped like a four-pointed star. They had seasonal items for holidays. I still long for the taste of their gingerbread men. Another bakery in town was famous for their dinner rolls. It got to be where there was a line at the door on Saturday to get rolls for Sunday lunch. In the 1980's, they retired and sold out to a company that scaled up the roll production to factory scale. They were not anywhere near as good. I don't think they're still in business.


Another memory (Be assured ladies! I'm not advocating for this to return.) is women who never wore pants, only dresses. In the rural area where I grew up, you would see women outside doing chores wearing plain print dresses that fell below the knee. The last one that I knew died about 10 years ago. You could see her house from my dad's front porch. She mowed the yard and raked leaves in a long dress. I never, ever saw her in pants in the 50 years I knew her.

They're still around, but the prices they charge make even Panera Bread look inexpensive.

Spouse got a $20 gift card to a local one which was just enough for 4 pastries, not including tax.

 

[Koolau]

It's still on Me tv! And followed by every other 60's show you can think of.

Ah, yes. The Fugitive too. When the writing was good, it was really good.

 

[Pointby2]

Homemade go carts powered with small gas engines, rode them all around town. Kids played outdoors all day!

Makeshift baseball fields never know who owned the land where we played all those years.

Hockey in the streets in winter where the snow was packed down like a skating rink.

Also did a lot of ice staking which you don't see much of anymore. Ride horses with friends and mom would pack a lunch and away we would go. Not sure I would let my kid go horseback riding all day now, the world has changed.

Like someone mentioned don't see kids playing together like the old days.

Ah, ice skating. We used to put our hockey skates with the laces tied around our necks and wait at a stop sign for a car, then drop down and grab the bumper. Ride behind the unsuspecting driver until we got to the hockey rink six blocks away. Then flick ourselves off into a snow bank. Play hockey all day and repeat the trick for the ride back.
It was glorious fun until we learned that the manhole covers thawed first and our buddy hit one and broke his collarbone.
Life in the upper Midwest.

 

[JoeWras]

Ah, ice skating. We used to put our hockey skates with the laces tied around our necks and wait at a stop sign for a car, then drop down and grab the bumper. Ride behind the unsuspecting driver until we got to the hockey rink six blocks away. Then flick ourselves off into a snow bank. Play hockey all day and repeat the trick for the ride back.
It was glorious fun until we learned that the manhole covers thawed first and our buddy hit one and broke his collarbone.
Life in the upper Midwest.

What was your knickname for this activity? We called it "skitching"

 

[dfarr]

Ah, ice skating. Ride behind the unsuspecting driver until we got to the hockey rink six blocks away. Then flick ourselves off into a snow bank.

We did something similar to get to and from an old barn we converted to a cabin which was about a mile up the tracks. We'd jump a stopped or slow moving train and then dive off into a designated high grassy or snow filled ditch. Amazing the crazy stuff we did back then and "hardly" ever got hurt.

 

[JeKa]

Kids playing outside!

I had a great childhood back in the 60's. A neighborhood with hundreds of kids. During the Summer, we'd leave the house around 10:00, come home for lunch, leave again and show back up at dinner and maybe leave again until dark. My mom would scream "out of the house!" She basically had no idea where me and my brother were at any given time. And, of course, if she did ask we'd only give her a hint of where we "might" have been.

+++

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

Yes, that was a given to all sit and be together for meals. Lost forever, for most!

We sit together at the table for our meals eaten at home as well as when we have company. Our guests are aware of the 'no electronic devices at the table' policy at our home and enjoy coming over for dinner. If our rotary phones ever ring during dinner then that's what our answering machine is for.

 

[Ronstar]

Ah, ice skating. We used to put our hockey skates with the laces tied around our necks and wait at a stop sign for a car, then drop down and grab the bumper. Ride behind the unsuspecting driver until we got to the hockey rink six blocks away. Then flick ourselves off into a snow bank. Play hockey all day and repeat the trick for the ride back.
It was glorious fun until we learned that the manhole covers thawed first and our buddy hit one and broke his collarbone.
Life in the upper Midwest.

What was your knickname for this activity? We called it "skitching"

We called it "skitching" also. But we didn't do it wearing skates. We had a friend tow us behind his car while we were using an upside down car hood as a sled.

 

[ArmchairMillionaire]

We called it "switching" also. But we didn't do it wearing skates. We had a friend tow us behind his car while we were using an upside down car hood as a sled.

Whenever there was 6" of new snow we used a car, plastic boat sleds, some clothesline and a stick for a t-handle. Helmets? What were those? I remember doing this behind older vehicles and breathing the exhaust. I also remember the first time doing this behind a vehicle with a catalytic converter and it smelling like sulfur instead of partially burned gasoline. Plus front-wheel-drive cars didn't fishtail like the good-old real-wheel-drive cars used to. This was back in the mid '80s.

 

[Montclairbobbyb]

Indeed!

Kids playing outside!

I had a great childhood back in the 60's. A neighborhood with hundreds of kids. During the Summer, we'd leave the house around 10:00, come home for lunch, leave again and show back up at dinner and maybe leave again until dark. My mom would scream "out of the house!" She basically had no idea where me and my brother were at any given time. And, of course, if she did ask we'd only give her a hint of where we "might" have been.

I am one of 10 kids... We'd leave in the morning and be back for lunch and dinner... But we had to ask permission to leave the premises after dinner. If we ever came back home in between meals, our Mom would ask "What's wrong??"

Ahhhhhhh... THOSE we're the days. ?

 

[Scrumhalf]

Neither for me. I believe the ink/fountain pen is a great way to split off those of us in the Generation Jones generation (about '58 to '64). We're "officially" Boomers, but some cultural things Boomers talk about don't resonate with us. Ink wells and slide rules are perfect examples. So are calculators. We were the first to use them in school. Early Boomers never had the chance.

No this is a generalization that doesn't apply.
I'm a "generation Jones", born in 1958 and I used a fountain pen all the way through school and university from which I graduated in 1979. But this was in England, and my exams were always essays.
Having to write four essays in a three-hour exam, the ability to write quickly and have a pen slide easily over a page made a fountain pen essential equipment.

 

[cat4ever]

Playing outside, yes!

You're bringing back good memories. Tackle football, whiffle ball, kite flying and bikes we'd ride as far as our legs would take us. We were mountain biking on our ten speeds before there was such a thing as mountain biking. To this day I have no idea who's land we were riding on at the time, it was just some open fields that started at the end of one of our subdivision streets with trails, hills, trees, small creeks and a pond. The land was eventually turned into subdivisions but not until my youth was over in the 80s.

Thanks for the great topic.

 

[jollystomper]

Makeshift baseball fields never know who owned the land where we played all those years...

Growing up in the city, we had precious little grassy areas...

My area of the city had no grassy fields. We had to travel to a municipal park to find some grass. The majority of our baseball/softball games were played on concrete or asphalt school yards. The bases, home plate, and pitchers rubber were painted on, or taped down pieces of cardboard. Sometimes we would [-]steal[/-] obtain dirt or sand from nearby lots/construction areas and spread them around the bases and home plate to facilitate sliding. Ouch!

 

[Ronstar]

My area of the city had no grassy fields. We had to travel to a municipal park to find some grass. The majority of our baseball/softball games were played on concrete or asphalt school yards. The bases, home plate, and pitchers rubber were painted on, or taped down pieces of cardboard. Sometimes we would [-]steal[/-] obtain dirt or sand from nearby lots/construction areas and spread them around the bases and home plate to facilitate sliding. Ouch!

Our high school baseball infield was dirt. And it didn’t drain very well. I remember pouring diesel fuel on it and lighting it on fire in order to dry it out for practice and games.

 

[tmm99]

Levis 523. Stuck in the 90s...

 

[Retired Expat]

Another interesting service fall by the wayside!! Just asked my wife when did the mike deliver service stopped here. She said early 90's and we got mike delivered to the doorstep till that era disappeared.

But now you can get all your groceries delivered (if you live in the right area). So While not the milk man, ours also did juice and eggs, you can get most everything with Instacart and other services. Where I live the big supermarket would deliver from a list you give them online. They recently lost the supermarket in a fire and in a week had outfitted a warehouse and you could order for delivery or pick-up

 

[street]

Ah, ice skating. We used to put our hockey skates with the laces tied around our necks and wait at a stop sign for a car, then drop down and grab the bumper. Ride behind the unsuspecting driver until we got to the hockey rink six blocks away. Then flick ourselves off into a snow bank. Play hockey all day and repeat the trick for the ride back.
It was glorious fun until we learned that the manhole covers thawed first and our buddy hit one and broke his collarbone.
Life in the upper Midwest.

Now that is funny!!

 

[street]

But now you can get all your groceries delivered (if you live in the right area). So While not the milk man, ours also did juice and eggs, you can get most everything with Instacart and other services. Where I live the big supermarket would deliver from a list you give them online. They recently lost the supermarket in a fire and in a week had outfitted a warehouse and you could order for delivery or pick-up

Yes, that service has come back. My grandmother had her groceries delivered back in the 60's. It was something that little pops & moms did, and I don't believe there was a charge. Store closed about 6 an then they delivered.

 

[Zen of Conscious Living]

Things I miss from my youth

Playing Jacks
Hopscotch
Double-Dutch jump rope
Holding my best friends hand
Having freedom to play outside till the street lights went on
Yelling out the front door that "dinner is ready!" to the siblings playing outside
Open door neighbor visits. Mom would lay out a plate of peppered salami, Swiss cheese, pickles and the neighbor ladies would come over and sit, hang-out and share the neighborhood gossip.
Writing answers to test questions on my skin and wearing long sleeves to school on a test day so I could sneak-peek at the answers.
Getting new white buck shoes with that powder envelope that you smack on to whiten your shoes up.
Yardley Flavored lipsticks
Delicious Jolly's Hamburgers for 15 cents in Nor Cal
Jade East cologne
Penny Candies (I loved the kits, you got 4 pieces to savor)
Sugar Daddy Suckers pulling out your teeth fillings
Turning in Soda Bottles for money
Walking to the Store
Beatles posters taped all over our bedroom walls
The comic books at the neighborhood store
The smell of Grams old cabin in Russian River when you walked in
The inside pages smell of Old Books
Ratted hair for puff with those little clip velvet bows
Talking for hours to a friend on the land line phone on the wall.
Busy Signals
Making out in a car
Garter Belts
Elastic Kotex Belt (2 clips 1 for front, one for the back)
Kool-Aid (all that sugar, geez!)
When one of us five kids were sick mom would smash an aspirin between two spoons, add a little sugar and water and give it to us. Then we got one 7-up.
Just one.
Fishnet tights
Ice Milk ice cream
Fosters Freeze 25 cent giant cones
Running faster when you got new tennis shoes
Standing up, arms on the sill, looking out my upstairs window when I was about 14 years old wondering what was in store for me in my life. I remember this like yesterday and now I am turning 72 in October.

 

[Marita40]

Here is St. Paul, the rink blocks from my home is carefully tended in winter and ice hockey played day and evening. Kids are always walking by my house toward the rink with skates over their shoulders and hockey sticks in their hands. The sound of the puck and muted cheers are part of the winter landscape for me. We also have several venerable "white sugar and flour" bakeries in town. So somethings haven't changed too much.

 

[pjigar]

Back then (when I was 8 years old) my parents bought me a "lead soldier" kit. A mold, an electric melting pot and ladle and lead ingots. Yup, 8 years old and melting lead in the basement.

But those ingots were expensive, so we went out to where they were building and harvested the over pour from the drain pipe joints.

I did cast lead as kid as well! I harvested my lead from shooting range in after hours: scrapping the side of the dirt mound.

 

[street]

Dances on weekends from local groups was common. They were held in small town and small city halls. Kids from neighboring small towns came and they were some fun times. Some beer and drinking going and such, but I don't ever remember any drugs or if there was, I never knew about it or seen any of it.

This could still happen in rural area, but I haven't heard of any in my area. Advertising of a dance was just word of mouth from town to town.

There was a lot of kids starting up bands trying to be the Beatles or country music stars.

 

[street]

People had chickens in town that were fenced in was a common thing also. I don't see that anymore.

With the price of eggs now it would be a money maker today.