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Remember when...?
'Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fast food when you were growing up?'
'We didn't have fast food when I was growing up,' I informed him.
'All the food was slow.'
'C'mon, seriously. Where did you eat?'
'It was a place called 'at home,'' I explained. !
'Mom cooked every day and when Dad got home from work, we sat down together at the dining room table, and if I didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it.'
By this time, the kid was laughing so hard I was afraid he was going to suffer serious internal damage, so I didn't tell him the part about how I had to have permission to leave the table.
But here are some other things I would have told him about my childhood if I figured his system could have handled it :
Some parents NEVER owned their own house, wore Levis , set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card.
In their later years they had something called a revolving charge card. The card was good only at Sears Roebuck. Or maybe it was Sears & Roebuck.
Either way, there is no Roebuck anymore. Maybe he died.
My parents never drove me to soccer practice. This was mostly because we never had heard of soccer. I had a bicycle that weighed probably 50 lbs, and only had one speed, (slow).
We didn't have a television in our house until I was 19.
It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 am and there was usually a locally produced news and farm show on, featuring local people.
I was 21 before I tasted my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.' when I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.
I never had a telephone in my room.
The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.
Pizzas were not delivered to our home. But milk was.
Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing, without 20 profanity or violence or most anything offensive.
If you grew up in a generation before there was fast food, you may want to share some of these memories with your children or grandchildren. Just don't blame me if they bust a gut laughing.
Growing up isn't what it used to be, is it?
MEMORIES from a friend :
My Dad is cleaning out my grandmother's house (she died in December) and he brought me an old Royal Crown Cola bottle. In the bottle top was a stopper with a bunch of holes in it.. I knew immediately what it was, but my daughter had no idea. She thought they had tried to make it a salt shaker or something. I knew it as the bottle that sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Man, I am old.
How many do you remember?
Head lights dimmer switches on the floor.
Ignition switches on the dashboard.
Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall.
Real ice boxes.
Pant leg clips for bicycles without chain guards.
Soldering irons you heat on a gas burner.
Using hand signals for cars without turn signals.
Older Than Dirt Quiz :
Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about.
Ratings at the bottom.
1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines on the telephone
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels [if you were fortunate])
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S& H greenstamps
16. Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulb
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers
If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young (you can read this print)
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older (it's getting harder to read the small print)
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age (yeah for large print)
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt! (can see with biofocals, lol)
I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life.
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Now I'm longing for the 'Good Old Days'. Great post GM, ya gets a chitlet for dis one.
Edit: I guess I have to shovel a bit more chit B4 you gets one from me again.
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I have 2 small children, one of whom is now 3. If there's one thing I want them to know, it's the value of dinner with the family/eating at home/cooking good food/fast food is doo-doo...we eat out rarely, maybe once every couple of months. We spend good money to have what we need at home. We ensure some fun and diversity with the meals and my kid loves it...
Ronald McDonald, if you're reading this, you're marketing savvy won't win over my kids you son-of-a-bich!!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GMichael
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Older Than Dirt Quiz :
Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about.
Ratings at the bottom.
1. Blackjack chewing gum
2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water
3. Candy cigarettes
4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles
5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes
6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers
7. Party lines on the telephone
8. Newsreels before the movie
9. P.F. Flyers
10. Butch wax
11. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels [if you were fortunate])
12. Peashooters
13. Howdy Doody
14. 45 RPM records
15. S& H greenstamps
16. Hi-fi's
17. Metal ice trays with lever
18. Mimeograph paper
19. Blue flashbulb
20. Packards
21. Roller skate keys
22. Cork popguns
23. Drive-ins
24. Studebakers
25. Wash tub wringers
If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young (you can read this print)
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older (it's getting harder to read the small print)
If you remembered 11-15 = Don't tell your age (yeah for large print)
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt! (can see with biofocals, lol)
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25/25 for me, and I wear tri-focals.
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24/25. I don't remember news reels before movies.
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I barely broke into the older than dirt category...scored 16.
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4...I shall remember your names when you all are dead and gone...
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Only 10 for me. But maybe I'm so old that I've just forgotten some of them. :(
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I got one for ya - remember reading a book as a kid...because you wanted to read...for fun?
Remember when most junk food was more expensive to eat than healthy food...now its cheaper to buy a kingsized Snickers bar than it is to buy an apple or an orange.
I'm 44 yes old and I remember all but about three, but I grew up in a world where some of these things lingered on until the early '90s. In 1990, I knew of two places in west Tennessee that still had glass bottle soda in machines - one was a machine that displayed the bottles so that all you could see were the caps, all vertically, through a skinny glass door; a door which you could open, but not retrieve a soda until you put your money in (remember small cokes for a dime?) and you needed to be strong enough to pull the soda botle through the tight retainer - it was a right of passage to be able to pull a coke outta one of these monsters (in the south, they call every kinda soda 'coke'). The other kind was the older chest style dispensers, where you'd lift a lid, put yer coin in, and slide the bottle over to get your bottle out. I do believe that one is still in use. Did you know there are places you can buy a Chocolate Soldier? Do you have any idea what I'm Talking about?
There is a truck stop somewhere in Indiana that has table-top jukeboxes. Just incase anyone is still trying to picture what the hell that'd look like, it was the cover of two greatest hits albums:
http://www.alltunes.com/covers/f/for...ords/cover.jpghttp://www.alltunes.com/covers/d/doo...bies/cover.jpg
I remember that McDonalds was this place we'd get to eat at when we traveled to Michigan to see the grandparents, but I think my personal fave place to go there was the Tasty Freeze (you may have heard about their chillidogs). The south didn't start getting a lot of the national fastfood chains until the '80s, but we did have (in the larger towns and cities) KFC, which was everywhere and so was Dairy Queen, which was in our town. Then in the '80s we got Hardy's (they had the best burgers). But yeah yer right, eating out was something that happened every great once in a while.
Early credit cards were tin, and they had to make an imprint of it with a slide machine thingy and call your bank to verify funds right there. I still remember commercials for BankAmericard (now Visa). I had a credit card before my folks did ('86 - it was a Sears card). I think my first purchase was to buy a rearwindow louvre for my pos '81 Mustang.
Pizza was something you got at the drive-in movies for some reason, but we eventually got a real pizzaria around '78 (it was also the first video arcade). Pizza is better when yer younger (I still love it though). Speaking of video arcades, remember when that was the only place you could play video games. Sure, there was Atari and Commodore, but the games weren't as good as the ones you could find at an arcade. (my faves were Tank Commander and Tempest).
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I grew up in the big city, so we had eight Dairy Queens.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-LockBox
I got one for ya - remember reading a book as a kid...because you wanted to read...for fun?
I do. I do.... Can't seem to remember the sereies I used to read though. Something about a kid named Tom Swift and his atomic adam blaster (or something like that) D'm. I AM old.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-LockBox
Remember when most junk food was more expensive to eat than healthy food...now its cheaper to buy a kingsized Snickers bar than it is to buy an apple or an orange.
I remember... Apples were pennies. Now, forget it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-LockBox
I'm 44 yes old and I remember all but about three, but I grew up in a world where some of these things lingered on until the early '90s. In 1990, I knew of two places in west Tennessee that still had glass bottle soda in machines - one was a machine that displayed the bottles so that all you could see were the caps, all vertically, through a skinny glass door; a door which you could open, but not retrieve a soda until you put your money in (remember small cokes for a dime?) and you needed to be strong enough to pull the soda botle through the tight retainer - it was a right of passage to be able to pull a coke outta one of these monsters
It was tough to get a bottle out of one of these things. It was good that I didn't like soda (or pop), but my sister always needed my help.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-LockBox
(in the south, they call every kinda soda 'coke'). The other kind was the older chest style dispensers, where you'd lift a lid, put yer coin in, and slide the bottle over to get your bottle out. I do believe that one is still in use. Did you know there are places you can buy a Chocolate Soldier? Do you have any idea what I'm Talking about?
You got me on this one. I could make up an answer if you like, but FA would lose respect for me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-LockBox
I remember that McDonalds was this place we'd get to eat at when we traveled to Michigan to see the grandparents, but I think my personal fave place to go there was the Tasty Freeze (you may have heard about their chillidogs).
Tasty Freeze? That's a real place? I always thought it was just a joke from Cheech & Chong.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-LockBox
The south didn't start getting a lot of the national fastfood chains until the '80s, but we did have (in the larger towns and cities) KFC, which was everywhere and so was Dairy Queen, which was in our town.
Remember when DQ only sold ice cream?
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-LockBox
Then in the '80s we got Hardy's (they had the best burgers). But yeah yer right, eating out was something that happened every great once in a while.
We didn't start eating out till I was at least 12. McD's didn't show up in our town till a few years later. We went to a place called Perkin's Pancake or Carrols.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-LockBox
Early credit cards were tin, and they had to make an imprint of it with a slide machine thingy and call your bank to verify funds right there. I still remember commercials for BankAmericard (now Visa). I had a credit card before my folks did ('86 - it was a Sears card). I think my first purchase was to buy a rearwindow louvre for my pos '81 Mustang.
They were shorter too. I got mine in 1978 and bought a set of tires for my 1966 VW bug.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-LockBox
Pizza was something you got at the drive-in movies for some reason, but we eventually got a real pizzaria around '78 (it was also the first video arcade). Pizza is better when yer younger (I still love it though).
Pizza was what my mom used to make for us at home. Never knew it could taste so good.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 3-LockBox
Speaking of video arcades, remember when that was the only place you could play video games. Sure, there was Atari and Commodore, but the games weren't as good as the ones you could find at an arcade. (my faves were Tank Commander and Tempest).
There were no arcades around us until the later 70's. We went to the local supermarket where there were pinball machines available. 2 games for a dime. Games like Space Invaders and Breakout were the new toys that came out later. I later became an ace at Misstle Comand.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kexodusc
4...I shall remember your names when you all are dead and gone...
I'd get upset, but the way you always end up hurting yourself, I bet you'll go first.
Joke... joke. It's just a joke.......
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GMichael
I'd get upset, but the way you always end up hurting yourself, I bet you'll go first.
Joke joke. It's just a joke.......
That is both laugh-out-loud funny and, in macabre way, pretty ****ing funny...
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Feanor
25/25 for me, and I wear tri-focals.
You must be way too old to truly appreciate that nice system you have there. Maybe I could recommend a good home for it.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GM
Remember when DQ only sold ice cream?
No, I can't remember that, but I do remember when our DQ was a take-out only store (no seating, no drive-thru). Tasty Freezes were the same way - You remember the John Cougar (Mellencamp) song Jack & Diann? "Suckin on a chilligog outside the Tasty Freeze"
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I went to Dairy Queen this summer for the first time in years (me and ice cream don't get along), when did they stop using the name Mister Misty for their slushies?
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I read Encyclopedia Brown books - it was a series of books by Donald J. Sobol, about a kid named Leroy Brown, nicknamed Encyclopedia cuz he was so smart, who went around the neighborhood solving mysteries. I never knew I was reading anything all that popular...nobody else I knew liked them. But I've since heard references to him on some TV shows (an episode of Monk for example). The series started back in the '60s, and was pretty well established by the time I came around to reading them (mid-'70s). I'm sure Sobol never imagined that this boy's name would become associated with a Jim Croce song.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ForeverAutumn
when did they stop using the name Mister Misty for their slushies?
I only ever saw that product name in certain stores (not ours). But I haven't seen that name used in a long long time either.
DQs were different all over. Just like McD's, they marketed different stuff in different regions. The DQ where I grew up sold these mini hamburgers w/ square buns, but not in the cities up north (where there was a fast food chain called White Castle that sold them exclusively).
There used to be a specialty DQ store called DQ Brazier, which featured open pit grilled hamburgers, which was also Burger King's claim to fame. I know that some DQs still use open pit grills, some don't, but I haven't seen the name Brazier used in a long while.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GMichael
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Remember when DQ only sold ice cream?
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Yes, only "soft" ice cream. And in my part of the world, they were only open during the summer months. :2:
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 3LB
No, I can't remember that, but I do remember when our DQ was a take-out only store (no seating, no drive-thru). Tasty Freezes were the same way - You remember the John Cougar (Mellencamp) song Jack & Diann? "Suckin on a chilligog outside the Tasty Freeze"
What's a chiligog? Is it exclusive to Tasty Freeze?
;)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Feanor
Yes, only "soft" ice cream. And in my part of the world, they were only open during the summer months. :2:
Hey yeah, that's right. Only in the summer. I think that the one that we went to as kids is still only open in the summer, come to think of it. It's still ice cream only, no burgers and such.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ForeverAutumn
Hey yeah, that's right. Only in the summer. I think that the one that we went to as kids is still only open in the summer, come to think of it. It's still ice cream only, no burgers and such.
Ours still only opens in the summer, but it sells everything now. I think you can get an oil change as you eat now.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ForeverAutumn
I went to Dairy Queen this summer for the first time in years (me and ice cream don't get along), when did they stop using the name Mister Misty for their slushies?
When a girl named Misty sued 'em for copyright infringement...
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Hey bobby my man, I see that you've surpassed a milestone...5000 posts. Congrats.
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Good list.
My favorite 'fast food' as a kid was when my parents went to Long John Silver and I got a kids meal in a 'boat'.
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