Nostalgic Memories of America

August 17, 2003 | Myself

[hardhead]

This is a Sunday afternoon exercise in fun and memories of days-gone-by. We do a lot of fightin' and arguin' here in FR during the week, so on Our Lord's day of rest, how about relating your memories of things that have passed on into the dustbin of American history - things you yearn for or wish were still among us.

Have you caught yourself saying to your kids or your friends, 'well, when I was a little kid, we did it this way' or 'we didn't have any money but we were happy'.

[hardhead]

I hope that no matter your political or religious philosophy that you can enter this 'No-Man's-Land' and just dredge up some good recollections of your past. I thought about my own fond memories and it wasn't much of a battle - a trip on a train, walking into a butcher shop and telling the butcher what cut you wanted and from which piece, penny candy, sitting out on your porch at night, actually talking to your neighbor, living in an extended family where everybody took care of everybody else and the government didn't get involved. On and on.

[netmilsmom]

I really wish that my girls could know what it was like to leave in the morning (after the work was done of course) and know that one must make it home when the street lights came on. To be at another child's house and have that mom hand out home made popsicles on tupperware sticks. I would like them to be able to trick or treat. Stay out for two hours and the delight of getting in line at their own home only to have mom or dad pretend not to recognize the angel or princess at the door.
My girls are driven for fun because the only kids here are spoiled brats who own every toy ever made and dying for real adult attention. I can't stand it.
Thanks for this post, it will be fun.

[mrtysmm]

"Sunday Dinner"...which was always at 2:00...sharp. Nobody questioned it, they were just there. There were 'pickins' before and conversation about the past week, good or bad. It was a time the entire family got together. I still have 'Sunday dinner' even tho our family is somewhat dispersed. Those who can be here are, those who cannot at least call. It always did, and does seem a way to end a week and start a new one.

[jocon307]

Two or three things I remember,

1. the butcher shop, going with my grandma and her reminding me that I couldn't take his usual free slice of bolgna on a Friday. I love bolgna to this day, and its because of that man.

2. going out for the sunday papers with my dad and brothers on a saturday night. and we'd get candy too, for sure. and coming home and reading the comics and then watching the great old comedies on TV. Like the Marx brothers, or anything with Bing Crosby or Bob Hope.

These are the things I remember. We knew they were great at the time, I wonder what my daughter remembers that's the same.

[Arpege92]

The look on my hubby's face when we found out that I was going to have a baby boy! Although, that was almost twelve years ago, I will forever remember that!

[hardhead]

Speaking as a member of the male persuasion, you are 100% right - there is absolutely nothing in the world more supernatural and lovely than the glow of a pregnant woman or one who is ready or has given birth. My wife, I love her and bless her more each day than yesterday for the lives of our 5 children.

[ThreePuttinDude]

The taste of a Root Beer flavored Popsicle on a hot Chicago afternoon.

[hardhead]

Regarding your tagline, that would be wild - at two very 'nostalgic' stadiums!

[Proud2BeFree]

Sitting at the piano with my grandmother teaching me songs that her grandmother taught her; Sunday afternoons in the swing on her porch, no matter what the season; Running home from school because Mom said that morning she was making homemade vegetable soup; Hopping on the bicycle and running downtown to the A&P; Going through the little drive through window at the bank on my bike to deposit the money in my savings account that I made cutting grass or selling greeting cards; Friday nights at the football game, then hurrying home because Mom and Dad were having a drop in, gathering in a bedroom with my siblings have having a mini-party in there; Saturday mornings riding bikes up to the football field to see if there were any of those little footballs the cheerleaders threw still there; playing football in the side yard with the guys from the neighborhood; getting in some minor trouble (like one of the group throwing a water balloon at one of the old ladies in the neighborhood) and rushing home to confess to Mom because it sure did go a lot easier when she heard it from us, rather than the little old lady who was sure to call; all those wonderful times when the cousins from the extended family visited - Granny and Grampa's brothers and sisters grandkids; listing to stories about my grandparent's past; Then there were the times sitting on the porch at the beach hearing stories of how it was during the Depression, World War II; hearing of things like ration cards, and mandatory lights out curfews along the coast in case a German U-Boat was off the coast and might decide to fire.

It's funny isn't it - not a single thought was on something material. Nothing a toy or a present. Most of it was about my family.

[EllaMinnow]

I watched "To Kill a Mockingbird" with my kids a few weeks ago, and I told them how much my childhood was like that. Going anywhere in town that I wanted, as long as it was within walking distance and I was home for meals. So much freedom, and so much fun.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" took place in the 30's, and I was a child in the 60's - but the southern childhood of long summer days and bare feet was the same.
I don't know when it disappeared, but my kids surely didn't have the same kind of freedom.

[Arpege92]

My hubby is a devoted father with a great deal of love and patience! Just last week, my hubby left the house to go to work but forgot to say goodbye to our son before he left. I didn't think nothing of it but fifteen minutes later, he called our son on the phone and told him that he forgot to say goodbye and that he loved him. My son and I are very thankful to have this man in our lives. :-}

[cake_crumb]

Huge barrels of enormous, Kosher dill pickles, serve yourself. Cream soda. The swimming hole, even for those who had a pool. Hunting for nightcrawlers. Camping in the yard. Being allowed to play competetive games in school and getting prizes for winning. Playing mudball and paintball with rubber band and stick guns. Model rockets. Sparklers. The time my brother and I tried to build our own two man glider, which we crashed (ok, not such a good memory, but we were only 9 and 11)

[hardhead]

See, marriage is still alive and well in the republic! Our kids have often said that some of their friends have told them: 'You are so lucky, your parents are still married!' My parents were married 55 years when my pop died. My grandparents were married 75 years!

[Ol' Sox]

I remember hearing the bell of the Good Humor ice cream truck coming down the street. I knew for certain that I had no money but stuck my hand in my pocket anyway and found the quarter that my mom had stuck in there! Enough for a Toasted Almond!! Thanks Mom!

[bonfire]

Hide and Seek outside on summer evenings with the neighbor kids.......

Watching ENDLESSLY for U.F.O.'s......

Putting on neighborhood plays .....

Singing harmony with my mom and sis while doing dishes.....

[freedumb2003]

All the neighborhood kids playing Monopoly until midnight in the neighbor's back yard when we were like 12 or 13. All ethnicities, but nobody noticed since designated victimhood was still 5 or 10 years away.

Having all the kids in the neighborhood write, direct and then put on a play for the adults - parents and non-parents alike -- who paid a nickel to get in (it was usually in someone's garage or back yard) to see it.

Making a really neat fort out of blankets, cardboard boxes and ingenuity. Then getting extension cords and sleeping all night while eating too much junk foiod we bought with the deposit from coke bottles.

Ah, today's kids miss all this between being coddled by over-protective parents and mesmerised by TV and video games.

[suzyq5558]

a couple of things i remember are my neighbor who lived down the road made hires rootbeer from scratch and it took a week to make,all the kids in the rural area where we lived went to mrs. Stalders house for rootbeer.
we rode our bikes to the lake to go swimming.
we were gone from early morning intill dark having fun and not one adult ever worried about where we were. i loved living out in the country as a kid. we still live out of town and i do let my kids ride bikes and go down the road to play with the nieghbor kids.
but i worry if i dont know where they are because you never know nowadays and thats sad.

[hardhead]

Depending where you lived, big barrels of SOUR pickles and black olives! I used to run to my aunt's sub shop for lunch from school (3 blocks away) and get a sub sandwich, a 10-cent soda and have 5 cents left for the pinball machine. (my 50 cents a day lunch money)

[Jim Scott]

Random memories:

Going 'down celler' to keep cool on really, really hot days. Inner tubes in tires - complete with patches - that made dandy flotation devices at the lake. My red and cream-colored Schwinn bicycle that had one 'speed, 'coaster' brakes and a neat speedometer that I once got up to 30 mph on a downgrade. New Buster Brown shoes every fall for school. Coke and Pepsi-Cola in thick bottles (the Coke bottles were green). Brylcreem ("a little dab'll do ya"). The excitment of the 'Good Humor man' coming down our street, complete with his white uniform and cap. Ordering a '2-cents plain' at the soda fountain when funds were low.

On the radio (with it's glowing vacuum tubes): 'Amos and Andy', 'Life with Luigi' (Basco) - played by J. Carroll Naish, 'Our Miss Brookes' and of course 'Dick Tracy', 'Fibber McGee and Molly' along with (later)'Gunsmoke' and Bob Hope, Jack Benny, Fred Allen (Allen's Alley) and the 'quiz shows': 'You Bet Your Life' with Groucho Marx, 'Break the Bank' with Bert Parks (later the Miss America Emcee for years) and the 'soap operas': 'Young Widder Brown', 'Stella Dallas' and many more. I even remember the tear-jerker 'quiz' show: 'Queen For a Day'. I loved radio and it fired up my young imagination in a way that TV never could.

Party lines, wash hung out to dry every monday, Dad coming home with pastry every Sunday morning, everybody 'dressing up' for church (men in suits, women in dresses) and store clerks who actually wanted to help you and acted happy that you were in their store. Huge 78 RPM records. Mom's wringer washer that I was always told to keep my hands away from.

Yes, unfortunately we had segregration and we sweated in the summer without air conditioning, we didn't have computers, the internet, cell phones, color TV or lots of other good things that we now take for granted, like cars that go 150,000 miles with few problems (50,000 used to be average, 100,000 was really pushing it for most vehicles) but we had a simplier way of life in many respects , compared to today, and certainly more public decorum and friendlier attitudes toward one another. Life changes and we all have to move on but it's always pleasant to also take a moment to look back, too. Thanks for the opportunity to do so.

[cake_crumb]

"Depending where you lived, big barrels of SOUR pickles and black olives! I used to run to my aunt's sub shop for lunch from school (3 blocks away) and get a sub sandwich, a 10-cent soda and have 5 cents left for the pinball machine. (my 50 cents a day lunch money)"

Heheh...I did something similar at a tiny deli down the street.

[Comus]

Blue Laws. Remember when stores were not open (in the South anyway) on Sundays? In small towns, most everything closed on Wednesdays also.

[Allegra]

Riding bicycles all day without helmets or shinguards or any of that silliness. Skateboarding down the "suicidal" hill in front of our house...again with no protective gear.

Swimming pools with high and low diving boards and deep ends.

Having Mother home waiting when I came home from school...all the way through high school and smelling dinner cooking.

Catching fireflies in jars on summer nights.

Archie, Superman and Batman comics...for about 10 cents apiece.

I also like to horrify my friends' kids today by telling them we had to get up to switch channels on the TV...and we only had five channels.

[Maria S]

When I was a kid (in a very small Texas town):

1. No movies were shown on Sunday, and almost everyone went to church and Sunday School.

2. Saturday afternoon was always at the movies, which cost a dime. And another dime for a pop and a package of Charms. "War of the Worlds" was one of my favorites. There was always a cowboy serial along with the movie (a few minutes shown each week with a cliffhanger for next week) and there were ALWAYS cartoons. Drive-ins were in vogue a little later on; necking and making out were also in vogue a little later on.

3. We always had to bring our white gym suits home on Friday after school, get them washed and ironed, and have them for Monday morning.

4. Girls could NOT wear any type of pants, slacks, jeans, etc., to school. Shorts would have been unheard of!

5. Kids in the country had to get up earlier to catch a bus to town; the driver would have killed anyone who talked loud, cursed, been disrespectful in any way! And the parents would NOT have said a word.

6. We did not have pop machines, candy machines, or anything else like that in school. You either ate in the cafeteria or brought your lunch. We ALWAYS had only fish on Friday (catering to Catholics, I guess, even though most of us were Southern Baptist) No one complained.

7. We did not chew gum in school, there were no cell phones, and girls who smoked (in the bathrooms)were considered sluts. Guys who smoked were considered studs.

8. During the 'greaser' years, some guys wore their levis so low their butt cracks showed; their hair was longer, greasy, and in the ducktail style. Girls wore cardigan sweaters buttoned up in the back, "circle" skirts, and as many starched net petticoats as we could get on.

9. Elvis, Rick Nelson, Bobby Darren...enough already!

[Allegra]

Oh, and Fizzies...these flavored tablets you could drop into a glass of water to make a soft drink. We used to just eat the tablets, licking on them as we held them in their blisterpacks.

[hardhead]

I don't know if this is a dream or not, but I seem to remember from my kidhood, you could buy a package of straws that had chocolate on the inside. You stick them into a glass of milk and after a couple of slurps, voila' - chocolate milk.

[Paulus Invictus]

How about non-stop sports seasons? We went from one season to the next with nary a seam--baseball to football to basketball to hiking, to fishing and hunting and summer swimming. For us boys, it was heaven. Sadly, it came to an end with WW II and many of the boys gave their lives, were wounded or captured by Nazis or Japs.

During the pre War days people were happy, helpful, cheerful, and hard working, even in the depths of the Depression. No one went hungry in our town and we knew most everyone. There were no illegal drugs, no profanity or obscenity was heard in good company and selling porn was a Federal crime. School was tough, but we learned all we needed : English, math, science, music, art, foreign languages and a lot more sports. Everyone went to Church and practiced their religions as best they could. It was the best of times for many of us.

[ivanhoe116]

WOW! You really hit home JS!

I'd like to add after Sunday dinner and 'Gunsmoke', the family ping-pong tournament in the basement along with the unveiling of the latest model cars in September.

[hardhead]

Along on this subject, I sincerely believe people nowadays actually wish for a simpler life and time. To prove a point to our daughter, we bought a video tape of Howdy Doody and sent it to our grandson (2-1/2). Up to that time he was a fanatic for the blue dog, what the heck is his name. Now if you remember Howdy Doody, it was a gentle kids show featuring puppets. Well, from the minute Thomas (our grandson) wakes up, all he wants to do is watch the Howdy video. Nuff said.

[ErnBatavia]

oldtimecandy.com has a ton of this stuff...

[ivanhoe116]

I don't know if this is a dream or not, but I seem to remember from my kidhood, you could buy a package of straws that had chocolate on the inside. You stick them into a glass of milk and after a couple of slurps, voila' - chocolate milk.

No dream! I remember them!

[Allegra]

Hey, thanks! I might have to order some of those just for a trip down Memory Lane. I used to particularly like the root beer and grape flavored ones.

[Allegra]

could buy a package of straws that had chocolate on the inside.

They had strawberry flavoreed ones too, but the chocolate ones were far and away the best.

[mrtysmm]

I've read them all here so far. Please keep them coming. This is a wonderful nostalgic way to compare our past with others from other parts of the country. So many things I've forgotten have been listed...and I hope many more to come. I think I'll just keep coming back to this site for as long as it's here. Thank you all for your contributions. It's great to remember and share.

[cake_crumb]

"Blue Laws. Remember when stores were not open (in the South anyway) on Sundays? In small towns, most everything closed on Wednesdays also."

I remember that. In the rural area where I live, many businesses still close at noon on Wednesdays.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Lemonade stands. Kids out playing during summer vacation, instead of being locked in day care centers. Pick up baseball games in the evening, with all the kids in the neighborhood playing.

School lunches that consisted of real food. The smell of real gasoline and cigar smoke at the gas station, on a hot day. Dick Sinclair's Polka Parade tv show. My dad would pick me up and waltz me around the living room when I was a toddler. Food didn't have warning labels. 5 cents for an ice cream cone at Thrifty drug store, 29 cent nail polish at Woolworths. Fireworks from the Red Devil stand on the Fourth of July.

When kids were kids, instead of a social problem. Remember when democrats were still Americans? Remember when time moved a lot slower? When Christmas decorations in stores didn't appear the day after Halloween? When we used our imagination for Halloween costumes, instead of buying them?

[ErnBatavia]

Warning - they give you gas. Send some to sis for the next family gathering!

[RadioAstronomer]

S&H Green Stamps. :-)

Getting my first telescope was an endeavor in itself. I saw it in an S&H Green Stamp book. Oh it was glorious. It stood as high as I was with a wooden tripod base and a cadre’ of lenses. The tube was gray aluminum and the there was a side mounted guide scope. I no longer remember how many books of stamps that scope required but is was a huge number. So for an entire summer I stood outside of the local Safeway and helped people carry their groceries and asked if they would be willing to relinquish their S&H stamps. I patiently filled each book one after the other until I finally had enough to acquire the scope. It took all summer but it was worth it. I sent in the books of stamps and waited for the telescope to arrive. It seemed at the time like an entire lifetime went by before it did. Finally a huge package arrived and it was the scope. I set it up in the living room and carried it out to the back yard that night. Thru that scope on that very evening I saw for the very first time with my own eyes the rings of Saturn. To this day I remember that moment and I still have that very scope to today. It is no longer used as an instrument, however, it graces a corner of my living room and it is most precious to me.

[Allegra]

Oh..and building forts by meshing pine tree limbs together out in the woods and trying to keep it secret from the boys.

Finding the boys' forts and the pilfered "Playboy" magazines within.

[rockfish59]

The post ties in with my screen name.

When I was a kid in 1959 and we used to fish at the old ferry slips behind the Ferry Building in San Fran.
The rock cod we caught were huge, along with ling cod, perch, striped bass, flounders, cabezon, etc.
When I die and if there's a heaven, that would be the place for me!

On the dark side, whenever I hear the word 'Nostalgia' I am reminded of the crooks & thieves of 'Nostalgia-Cycle' in Huntington Beach, CA!

May they rot in hell forever!

[hardhead]

And don't forget, Christmas decorations at that time included scenes from Bethlehem - with no apology.

[Allegra]

Warning - they give you gas. Send some to sis for the next family gathering!

ROTFL! More like keep 'em away from Sis at the next family gathering!

[ivanhoe116]

Just remembered another one...balsa wood gliders. You popped out the parts and slid them together and flew all over the place. They had a small metal weight on the front. Other more 'expensive' models had plastic landing wheels on flimsy wire struts...with rubber-ban propellers.

[jonsie]

Taking the watermelon off my Uncle Leo's truck in Mississippi and hauling it to the creek to let it cool. After swimming with all the water snakes, busting open the watermelon was a great treat!

[Allegra]

You know...reading these, (I'm loving them all!) it's clear that we all played outside MUCH more than do kids today.

This could be the very simple answer to the "child obesity" problem the lib-media are always wringing their hands over.

[rockfish59]

Blue laws!

Sounds like we could use that now. Shut all the stores and 24 hour joints down at 6 PM!
Just think of the energy saved and probably a great reduction in crime!

[ishmac]

How about non-stop sports seasons?

Ha, I knew that routine well as a competitive swimmer. I remember getting up at 5:30 am to drive to morning workouts when I was 16. Swim from 6-7:30. Full slate of classes at school. Then 2 more hours in the pool, from 3:30-5:30. In the summers we'd have two-a-days M-F, then 3 hours on Sat. morning from 6am to 9am in an unheated pool. 10-15,000 yards per day. All this around having a summer job. Never made a dime out of it. Memory I'll never forget: making nationals in high school, and the Indiana high school championships.

[yankeedame]

Sitting on the curb on a warm summer afternoon with your friends and eating the cherry sno-cone you just bought from the "ice cream" man and his merry, little yellow truck with the little tingling bells on top.

[hardhead]

Being a model builder as a kid, I remember three brand names that had some fine kits: Strombecker's - solid hardwood model planes; Guillows and Comet. Remember the 10-cent Comet kits? My cousin and I thought we were equal to the best rocket scientists at the tgime and decided to build ourselves a three-stage rocket. We couldn't get ahold of any rocket fuel (smile) so filled the propulsion chambers with torn off match heads. It must have taken all the matches in our small town to make the rocket. We set it in a small pit near my cousin's home, attached a long fuse, lit it and ran like the dickens. It rose into the air about five feet then toppled over and caught the dry grass on fire. We were darned lucky my Uncle Leo didn't whip our butts with the branch of a near-by willow tree.

[rockfish59]

Playing outside!

It's true! I was rarely home and always hated when it got dark as we couldn't see the baseball.
The only real worry was running into the bully here and there.

Nowadays, I carry a .357 in my belt!

[cake_crumb]

Ah, speaking of Mom...decorating Christmas cookies with Mom and Grandma...and Mom's homemade bread. Licking the beaters. Making homemade Play Doh. Pillow fights. Popcorn made in a pot, with oil. One of us occasionally whipping the lid off in a fit of enthusiasm and havong pop corn fly all over the place. Mom waxing the floor and telling us we were all allowed to 'skate' around on it as much as we wanted in order to buff it (any other time we weren't allowed)

I carried the traditions forward and did all these things with my kids later.