Good old days

[Lady Neysa]

The spinning, multi-colored "Special" that let you know a "special presentation" was coming up...and ALWAYS craving Dolly Madison snack cakes after seeing the commercial during the Peanuts show!!!

Oh gosh, I remember that!  It was so cool to be able to watch cartoons at night, and I LOVED the Peanuts! I always identified so well with Charlie Brown.  I always wanted the snack cakes too!

I also loved it when the wonderful world of Disney would show the Mickey,Donald and Goofy cartoons. That and the one with the park ranger and the bears. 

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

Erector Sets and if you where lucky you had a little electric motor to add to it.

Aye , an if ya was really lucky yer fingernail would grow back after runnin' it through the open gears

I recall taken' a plastic model 'o Wolfman's Wolfwagon and fixin' it atop a slot car around '66. Kids was always makin' sumthin' outa sumthin' else. Radio controlled model airplanes was commin' of age too. Crikey, nowadays nobody knows what balsa, silk an dope was about. I don't be missin' the cars 'o the age, but they was a whole lot easier to diagnose an fix than modern modern compucars. 45's? Oh , them newfangled records tryin to replace 78's. It'll never catch on

[Lady L]

I remember my grandma had a wringer washing machine and once a week, she did the  laundry and I would help her hang it on the clothesline. We had an electric washer though, at home. She would also make bread from scratch, kneading it and putting it on the radiators to raise. Smelled so good! Once a week, she would walk to the grocery store, because she didn't drive and we would walk along. There were only 3 blocks to the downtown and hardly any chain stores. Mostly independant, mom and pop stores. If you couldn't find what you needed there, you could order from the Sears or Wards catalogs. Never went to the metro area to shop.

We got 4 channels on our tv, which we got new when I was in Kindergarten. All the channels were in black and white. Channels 4,5,9 and 11. They had local/metro kids shows, game shows and news. Once, when I was in highschool, I was on a game show with Bob Barker! The question was about wind velocity and I didn't win, but I got a box of candy for a conselation prize.  My Grandma watched Art Linkletter every afternoon. She watched Ed Sullivan on Sunday evenings. We watched channel 4 WCCO/CBS the most. (this is CBS)

Today, I went into an antique store, I couldn't believe they had stuff from the 60s and 70s. I remember when "antique" meant stuff from the 1800s, not the 1900s.

Anytime we went somewhere in public, we could hear the elders speaking German. Don't ever hear that now. My Dad would bring home wooden fruit crates and we would build forts and mazes with them. Now fruit comes in cardboard boxes.

Doctors made housecalls. Seat belts were not invented. Radio stations went off the air at sunset. TV had only the test pattern all night and that was preceded by the national anthem. We didn't have a swimming pool, but there were plenty of lakes.
Smoking and drinking was allowed on tv, but not swear words or showing people in bed together. There was a lot more censorship. Gender roles were set in stone. 
I suppose I should just stop there.

[Baron Doune]

Cars with those wing windows.

That small triangle window you could fold out to catch the wind as you drove.

My first car, 73 Cutlass with a 350 and four barrel holly.  And street racing it on Sat nights.

Cruising the strip.

[Sir William Marcus]

The Frito Bandito.



Aye, yii, yii, yiiii,
I am the Frito Bandito.
I like Frito's Corn Chips,
I love them I do.
I want Frito's Corn Chips,
I'll get them from you.

*****
Aye, yii, yii, yiiii,
Oh, I am the Frito Bandito.
Give me Frito Corn chips
And I'll be your friend.
The Frito Bandito
You must not offend.

*****
Aye, yii, yii, yiiii,
I am the Frito Bandito.
I like to eat Fritos I like to I do.
If you have some Fritos I'll eat them for you !

[fluffy tail]

Christmas Season started the day after Thanksgiving. And always watching the Thanksgiving Day Macy's Parade.
Balloons like Snoopy and Underdog.

And your halloween candy was safe. You could so to a strange's house and still get "good" candy.

As for music how about the Monkee's.

[Deborah]

Ah, so many good memories posted here...

Getting up during summer vacation and walking the back road to the swimming hole...I never did swim (the Good Lord put stones in my butt and therefore I sink!), but I met all my friends there. A can of cola costing a dime. The biggest thrill of summer was getting on the back of the neighbor's dirt bike, and mom's admonishment to "Be Careful!" but not saying "no." Climbing trees. Going through a box of band-aids while building a soap box derby "machine."

Drinking from the garden hose after I got done manually mowing the yard. Three channels on television. Saturday morning cartoons. AM radio. The smiley face poster that hung on my closet door. Sundays at Gramma and Poppy's.

The biggest joke amongst us kids is the fact that my mom had us all spaced apart to almost different generations. My mom would dress me in PLAID...she would dress my brother in corduroy, and my sister in total green with Peter Pan collars. We all still pick at her over that! We tell mom all the time that she grew our characters through what she dressed us in! When we all recently took her out to celebrate her 65th birthday, that was part of the topic of conversation.

I could go on forever... I often wonder though, how the young'ns of today would fare back in our Good Ol' Days?

[laedyfaire]

Great memories here. Love them all! Remember most of them also.

I grew up in a New York city housing project and have tons of good memories..like....

Getting soooo excited when the Good Humor man came ringing his bell. All the kids would yell up to their moms by their first names, and the moms would come to the windows and throw down quarters wrapped in napkins!

Being able to play outside all day without fear.

Asking total strangers for money to buy Wild Irish Rose, and drinking it under the boardwalk! with no fear of cops! who looked the other way.

Asking total strangers for rides on their motorcycles. No fear..again.


The Flintsones on prime time T.V.

Mister Ed..the talking horse!

Cheap Cheap gas!

BUT we should remember that THESE are the GOOD OLD DAYS! Look back at last year's gas prices...I complained about them back then, now I would LOVE to see those prices again...

So here's to our new GOOD OLD DAYS in the making...as we speak...Peace...LF

[Rage]

My first car took only $5 to fill the tank...it was a Ford Maverick.

I remember the previous "fuel shortage" when they raised the prices and rationed gas.  People lined up for miles to get fuel.

I remember Billy Beer.  Jaque Cousteau.

1st car 1970 Firebird, $5 to fill the tank as well.

We (my family, I was rather young) went back to CA during the fuel shortage, driving a 1965 Malibu and having to wait overnight at a gas station because because it was an even day and we had an odd number plate. Plus it was prepaid. Never seen my Dad so upset.

Speaking of my Dad he collected beer cans and I remember the Billy beer can that he had. No one has ever mentioned that before so I just had to answer to this.

[laedyfaire]

oh...and looking foward all year to watching Charlie Brown's Christmas and Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer? before dvd's?

Playing Red Rover? Handball?

[anne of oaktower]

Just remembered a couple more BIGGIES from the Good 'Ol Days:

                        RESPECT and RESPONSIBILITY

Seems we were all taught at a very young age that we were to show respect to others - particularly our elders - no matter what.  There was no back-talk accepted.  You did what you were told.  Period.  We did not get away with arguing with our parents (especially in public!), our teachers, or any other adult. 

And responsibility went right along with respect.  When I screwed up (read: disobeyed), I knew I deserved my punishment.  Threatening my parents with calling Children's Services (because they were going to spank me for doing something I had been specifically told not to do) was not an option!  And we knew what it meant to have to help out around home.  It was our responsibility to do our part, and that's all there was to it.  (And forget being paid for it!)

Is it just me, or are both of these in short supply these days?

[Capt Gabriela Fullpepper]

No you are more than correct. My own children had ZERO respect for me growing up (or their grandparents,aunts/uncles. I said NO, my ex would give in. They got to a point that if I said NO to something I would get "I'm not talking to you"!

I guess this comes from an ex who had nothing and wanted to give the children everything. While i didn't have everything, I knew better than to back talk.

[Dayna]

"I  recall taken' a plastic model 'o Wolfman's Wolfwagon and fixin' it atop a slot car around '66."

Wolfman Jack  OOUUUHHHH!!!!!

Let the Midnight Special, shine it's everlovin' light on you 

Growing Hair Chrissy

Getting to stay up late Friday night to watch Johnny Carson

Respect and Responsibility - Heck Yes!  Adults were Mr. Mrs. Miss, Always!!!  Back-talk meant loss of priviledges, chores were part of the deal, and we did Not have our own phone, our own TV, our own stereo unless we were old enough to earn them.  No video games at all, that's what the arcade was for, you played against your friends at air hockey and pinball.  You walked to school, or rode your bicycle, if it was raining and you were lucky you'd get a ride to school.  If I wanted something that cost more than my parents were willing to pay, I had to make up the difference, and they had to approve of it.

On the other hand, now we don't turn our backs to things like child abuse because "You don't interfere with the way other people raise their kids", so it wasn't all sunshine and roses back then.

Dayna

[anne of oaktower]

No you are more than correct. My own children had ZERO respect for me growing up (or their grandparents,aunts/uncles. I said NO, my ex would give in. They got to a point that if I said NO to something I would get "I'm not talking to you"!

I guess this comes from an ex who had nothing and wanted to give the children everything. While i didn't have everything, I knew better than to back talk.

You, too, huh?  Sadly, I spent way too many years with a spouse who undermined everything I tried to instill in the children, and to a great extent even encouraged disrespect.  In fact, I was informed that since I was a stay-at-home-mom it was my job to pick up after them - not theirs.  How ridiculous is that?!

On the other hand, now we don't turn our backs to things like child abuse because "You don't interfere with the way other people raise their kids", so it wasn't all sunshine and roses back then.

Yes, of course.  There is a definite distinction between abusing a kid and giving them a good old-fashioned spanking when they truly deserve it.  I think the problem is that too often a good foundation is no longer laid while the child is still very young, so they're already out of hand by the time they're just a few years old.  And it just escalates from there once they enter school.

*Please don't get me wrong...I'm not saying that all kids are disrespectful and lacking in responsibility.  It just seems like the problem has grown immensely since I was a child.*

[escherblacksmith]

There were no good ole days, only our memories shade them as such.

I remember as many sucky days and things as a kid as I do as an adult.  About the same number of good stuff as well.

The only exception was disco.

That was never good.

*shudder*