# Your at least 60 years old if you remember...



## Shrek

Posted 1/26/21 8:09 PM CST

... if you lived in town and the postal carrier delivered to the door side box, they tooted a whistle that delivery had been done and if on a rural route, after delivery, the carrier either double tooted their horn or knocked on the door or rang the bell if porch delivering a package.

Postal carriers then also often visited with their elderly live alone folks on their route for a minute or two as a wellfare check hello.

As the post office stopped using delivery whistles in 1966 or 1967 when we lived in town, I remember during summer our door to door mailman often didn't use his whistle and instead made his 9:30 to 11:00 route while singing some arias and if we kids were outside would tell us what opera the aria he was sing came from.

Although no longer using delivery signals, some of our rural carriers do door delivery to some of their slow creeping elderly folks on their routes to help them with the journey to the rural box and a welfare check and a few times, the carriers discovered the person had fallen and called the S.O. and EMS to help their mail client.

What are some of your 60 year old or older memories of the good things that were but no more? What are some that you see some folks keeping alive in the current era to a degree?


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## Alice In TX/MO

Front porch milk delivery in Austin in the 1950s. I had that pleasure again in Scotland in the 1970s.


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## frogmammy

Mail delivery TWO times a day!

Mon


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## Snowfan

Milk delivery. Bread delivery. Amish guy delivering sweet corn, eggs and butter.


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## Danaus29

I'm not near 60 but I remember when zip codes were made mandatory. For years my grandparents address was just Rural Route #2.


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## doc-

I had a newspaper route as a kid and collected pop bottles in my Radio Flyer wagon along the RR tracks to turn in for the 2 cent deposit....Kids today don't have those opportunities.

I'd use the money to buy Popsicles from the teenager who peddled a 3- wheeler equipped with freezer box/dry ice through the neighborhood on his daily route.

Softball or touch football in the streets. Typical huddle --- "John, you do a down-and-out by the Studebaker parked on the right. Fred, you do a button-hook on the sewer cover. Ernie, you go long and I'll hit you when you get to the fireplug." ...All patterns being drawn on your shirt front with your finger for better comprehension..

I'd also buy baseball cards. Doubles were attached with clothes pins to my bike wheels to make it sound like it was a motorcycle....Kids today don't have to use their imaginations like that-- their computer games make very realistic sounds for them. They don't know if they have bicycles or not. They never leave the computer screen long enough to go outside to see.

Produce Guy and the Rags & Iron Man doing their weekly routes thru the alleys of Chicago with their horse-drawn carts. Knife sharpener guy who peddled a 3-wheeler equipped with grinding wheel on a monthly route thru the neighborhoods.

Or what about making a purchase at a large dept store downtown? The sales person at the counter would write it up in their sales book, and send the slip and your money in a cannister by a rope & pulley up to the accounting dept on the mezzanine. Your change would come back by the same route.

Or the Ultimate-- If you're under 60, you have absolutely no idea what Freedom is. Don't kid yourself.


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## po boy

We lived on a rural route, Mr. Davenport was our mailman, and I could hear him whistling as he drove up to the mailbox. When my mom sent mail. she would put the cost of the stamp in a jar lid inside the mailbox and if there was change, it would be put in the jar lid.
I think in the early to mid-fifties, I was in the front yard and a farmer came by with a load of sugar cane and asked me if I wanted some, yes, and he threw several stalks off the wagon.


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## CKelly78z

I worked at our new Kroger grocery shortly after it opened in the mid 70s as a bagger. One of my jobs was sorting multiple pallets of returned glass pop bottles. Before the building was built, the lot was used for the when the circus came to town.


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## bamabear44

I remember milk being delivered... and there was a traveling salesman that sold produce and such,


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## Alice In TX/MO

I remember when a First Class postage stamp went up to a nickel.

I remember my mom talking about the Poll Tax, which was later outlawed.


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## 67drake

I’m not 60, but remember my mom and I returning my dads cases of beer bottles back to the liquor store, getting the deposits back, then buying full ones. 
Along with most other things mentioned here.


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## Alice In TX/MO

Daddy used to send me in the beer joint to purchase beer and cigarettes. I must have been about six years old.


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## 67drake

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Daddy used to send me in the beer joint to purchase beer and cigarettes. I must have been about six years old.


If I tried that my kids would come back with a bag full of jerky and Mountain Dew.


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## Alice In TX/MO

This may have been before the soft drink version of Mountain Dew.


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## 67drake

Doc mentioned the guy with the 3 wheeled cart sharpening knives. We had a guy who would push a cart up the side streets and had bells attached to the wheel so you would hear him coming. Dong, ding......dong, ding. 
I also remember on garbage day you could throw anything out on the curb-washers, driers, couches,tires. If they could lift it, they put it in the back of the truck and compacted it.


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## whistech

I remember most everything mentioned. One thing that just popped into my head was the Fuller Brush man.


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## whistech

How about buying ice in a 25 pound block that was cut off a huge block of ice with an ice pick or pulling up to the convenience store and a worker would come to your car to see what you wanted and then go in the store to get it and bring it back to the car.

How about shirts made from feed sacks?


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## Alice In TX/MO

I have a set of feed sack sheets given to me by my mother in law. Softest sheets ever.


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## whiterock

the smell of a country store. the farmers sitting around talking during rainy days while the women shopped, or picking things up for their wives while the wife stayed home. Getting mail addressed to me as Master . when i was a child. sometimes it would be addressed to Mt. Peak road, sometimes Route 3. Sometimes the town would be listed in the address sometimes just "city". If you went in a store you could charge things, then pay at the end of the month. , No credit card just a book in a drawer with your name on it. 
I didn't have a name some places, I was Dad's boy. You were Fred's boy or Tom's boy or Bill's girl. Directions were down past Dicks place take a left and go about 2 miles. My home place was used for directions for many years, now no one knows I live here or where it is.


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## emdeengee

Every outdoor skating rink had a hot shack with a wood stove with benches all around and an attendant to keep things warm and comfortable. We put our skates on in the shack, left our boots there and returned all day long to thaw out our frozen feet and faces. Mom would come up at lunch time to bring us lunch and a thermos of hot chocolate - and to make sure we were not getting frost bite and behaving ourselves. The attendant kept order and was free to send anyone home who waas misbaving in the shack or on the ice. As soon as we thawed out we were back out skating until the lights came on around the rink and then it was time for the hockey teams to practice or play.


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## Forcast

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Front porch milk delivery in Austin in the 1950s. I had that pleasure again in Scotland in the 1970s.


Greenspring dairy in Baltimore loved the cupcakes they offered. Still have one of the silver milk boxes that sat on grand moms porch


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## 101pigs

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Front porch milk delivery in Austin in the 1950s. I had that pleasure again in Scotland in the 1970s.


Use to save the Milk bottles. Penny deposit on the emply milk jars. 2 cents for 12 oz. soda bottles.


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## Shrek

Posted 1/29/21 11:19 AM CST

Into the early 1970s there were still a few folks around here on two and three household telephone party lines and each house had it's own ring sequence.

Also during that time with rotary phones, some of the kids found out that using a pencil to jam the dial between two digits created a low volume party line style chat connection of up to a few dozen participants.


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## jeepgrrl

CKelly78z said:


> I worked at our new Kroger grocery shortly after it opened in the mid 70s as a bagger. One of my jobs was sorting multiple pallets of returned glass pop bottles. Before the building was built, the lot was used for the when the circus came to town.


Lol I had the same job at Kroger’s in the mid 80s! I loved getting assigned the job of sorting the soda bottles! We would also get cases of returnable beer bottles in those reusable super heavy duty cardboard cases.


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## Evons hubby

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Front porch milk delivery in Austin in the 1950s. I had that pleasure again in Scotland in the 1970s.


My first thought was of milk deliveries on the porch. With the paper lids sitting about an inch above the bottles on frozen milk!


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## Forcast

Danaus29 said:


> I'm not near 60 but I remember when zip codes were made mandatory. For years my grandparents address was just Rural Route #2.


I had a route number till 10 years ago when 911 address started . our house numbers are the distance from hard to road.


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## Forcast

Evons hubby said:


> My first thought was of milk deliveries on the porch. With the paper lids sitting about an inch above the bottles on frozen milk!


Green Spring dairy in Baltimore best strawberry icing cupcakes! The sliver milk box on the porch was so much fun for us kids.


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## Rural Kanuck

Evons hubby said:


> My first thought was of milk deliveries on the porch. With the paper lids sitting about an inch above the bottles on frozen milk!


Ah yes, I remember helping my mother deliver the milk to the doorsteps of her customers back in the early 60s over in England. The crates of milk in glass bottles were delivered before dawn by truck and we loaded them into the Bedford van for delivery to each customers doorstep, the Bedford had sliding doors which meant that the doors could be left open for quick exit. If the customer wanted more than one or two bottles we had carriers that held 6 bottles but became quite adept at handling more than two without it. We had two types of milk, regular and Jersey which was a rich creamy milk with an inch or two of cream on top, few customers could afford this more pricey milk but once in a while we had a bottle of it left over and I got a treat at home ….. porridge or cereal with cream on it mmmmmm!

One time the truck was unable to deliver due to deep snow and we collected churns of milk from a local farm and went door to door with jug fulls to those customers we could get to......

I am sure it was not always fun for mum in all kinds of weather but I have fond memories of helping her on days when not in school.


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## Elevenpoint

Never got over the milk delivery in glass bottles.
Still get it today but have to pick it up.
Bonus is it has about 2 inches of cream on top.


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## Rural Kanuck

Nostalgia for an old-fashioned milk bottle


Why did glass milk bottles disappear from British doorsteps?



www.bbc.com





Remember doing this in the 60s in England


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## Olhomestead

Party line telephone line came to mind first. 
Kids going outside to play all day. Carrying a gun n buying bullets going hunting when 12 years old. Going fishing by myself. 
Seems like we were much more independent. 
When you got caught doing something wrong like riding your bike on the asphalt instead of the ditch , folks would ask who's your parents ?


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## SLFarmMI

I'm not 60 but I remember having a milkman. To this day I still have to stop myself from shaking the milk jugs. My brother wouldn't shake it (unless Mom caught him) so that he could have cream for his cereal. 

There used to be a dairy up around Lapeer, MI (not sure if they are still there) that sold their milk in bags. They made the absolute best chocolate milk on Earth. I wish I could remember the name of it because I'd take a road trip to get that milk.


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## Chew

We had a milkman when I was a kid. It was very coincidental that both of my parents have dark features and I turned out blonde haired and blue eyed. Love me some milk!


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## MichaelZ

Always loved those pop machines with glass bottles. Especially when we went to the "pickle station" with cucumbers that I picked from our neighbor's fields for a 50% share. That was my first job at about age 10. I clearly remember that giant cucumber sorting machine. I might earn between $5 and $10 each time and that was a LOT of money back then for a kid. Then I bought the pop, one of the only times I was able to do so. I would assume the "pickle station" is probably a thing of the past now too.


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## Rodeo's Bud

MichaelZ said:


> Always loved those pop machines with glass bottles. Especially when we went to the "pickle station" with cucumbers that I picked from our neighbor's fields for a 50% share. That was my first job at about age 10. I clearly remember that giant cucumber sorting machine. I might earn between $5 and $10 each time and that was a LOT of money back then for a kid. Then I bought the pop, one of the only times I was able to do so. I would assume the "pickle station" is probably a thing of the past now too.


I think it is now a bar in San Francisco.


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## vickinell

A lot of what was already mentioned. We had a skating rink in a tent. Boys in junior high could drive to school or around town with no driver!s licenses. No problem with the sheriff or deputy. At night on the weekend we would park around the square and visit with each other. On Tuesday nights it was chipo night at the drive in theater. You could bring an empty bag and a quarter per carload.


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## vickinell

I couldn't figure out how to edit so I am adding more in this post. We girls could only wear dresses to school. No pants except on snow days or western day. I went through a can of Aquanet hairspray each week. One year we cheerleaders hemmed our skirts above our knees and had to lower them to the middle of our knees. When a big cloud came up, the farms around us would come to my grandparents to wait out the storm in the cellar. So many wonderful memories at my grandparents home. Those were the good old days.


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## big rockpile

Milk Man I remember Guy coming getting milk cans out of Cold Water loading them in the Truck.

Remember Hickory Chairs with Woven Twine for Seats.

One room House divided by Furniture.

Wood Cook Stove.

Shooting Chicken for Dinner.

Picking Corn by Hand getting the Down Row.

Remember having Party Line when we first got a Phone in the '90's.

So much more.

big rockpile


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## Pony

I remember our mik man when I was a little kid. His name was Johnny, and he often gifted us with an orange juice or a pint of half-n-half. Delivery stopped when I was 6 or 7. Don't know if it was because the dairy stopped delivery, or if it became too expensive for the growing family.

There is a vague memory in my mind of my mother listening in on the party line. She had her hand over the mouthpiece, and would signal us kids to be quiet while she listened.

Like @vickinell, we were not allowed to wear pants to school! I went to parochial school, and the only thing we could do in the Winter was wear snowpants under the hated green plaid skirt. I attended public school for 7th grade, and got to wear pants in school all day long... Luxury!

I remember the butcher shop, and the sawdust on the floor. My grandpa was one of the butchers there, so we got the occasional treat of a slice of cheese or bologna. One of the other butchers, Jimmy Malone, would give us Kraft Fudgie treats. We liked Jimmy a lot. He went on to found Skandia Foods ETA: with Mr Carlson.

My friends and I would walk along the curb to look for dropped coins and pop bottles. We'd take the pop bottles to Grocery Land on Clark Street, and felt like we were zillionaires! Then, we'd take our hard earned cash to the corner store, and trade it in on penny candy.
Man, I miss penny candy...

Like many others, I recall staying out all day long, but I also remember having to be home from my friend Peggy's house by 3:00. I would catch all kinds of heck if I was even 30 seconds late.


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## Pony




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## doc-

Remember "Dime Stores?"..Then it became "Dollar Stores," and now, thanks to runaway spending in DC, those are a thing of the past too...What's next? Sawbuck Stores, then C-Note Stores? https://nypost.com/2021/09/29/dollar-tree-raises-prices-to-over-a-buck-on-many-items/


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## Pony




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## whiterock

I still have a pickup that needs two keys.


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## mrghostwalker

I remember walking to the corner store to buy cigarettes for my Dad. 
They never even batted an eye- just gave me the cigarettes'.


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## MichaelZ

I remember 10 passenger station wagons, provided enough of the passengers were half size! Double belting for safety even!


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## Pony




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## muleskinner2

whistech said:


> I remember most everything mentioned. One thing that just popped into my head was the Fuller Brush man.


Where I lived it was the Watkins Man. He drove a Ford Van, with drawers in the back. Came around twice a year, spring and fall. Had patent medicine, needles, thread, hair dye, yarn, seeds, cloth diapers, and diaper pins, most every thing a farm wife needed. And none of it was made in China.


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## Forcast

67drake said:


> Doc mentioned the guy with the 3 wheeled cart sharpening knives. We had a guy who would push a cart up the side streets and had bells attached to the wheel so you would hear him coming. Dong, ding......dong, ding.
> I also remember on garbage day you could throw anything out on the curb-washers, driers, couches,tires. If they could lift it, they put it in the back of the truck and compacted it.


Scissors sharper would come through the neighborhood. Big day for my grandmother. We had a rag man too.


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## MichaelZ

Smoking doctors and nurses! Folks sure loved their cigs!


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## doc-

Until the late '50s, in Chicago, the Rags 'n Iron Man and the Fruit & Veggie Peddler had horse carts and came thru the alleys once a week. (My aunt & I were in charge of shoveling the horse apples left behind for GranPa's tomato garden.) The Knife sharpener had a peddle tricycle set-up and came around every two weeks. The Popsicle Pete kid peddled his trike with dry ice cooler around every day or two in the summer jingling the bells to call us away from our ball games played in the streets.


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## Evons hubby

Party lines, roller skate keys, Bobby socks and saddle shoes.


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## Pony

Evons hubby said:


> Party lines, roller skate keys, Bobby socks and saddle shoes.


I never learned to roller skate as a child (I did pick it up when I was 35 years old, though).

Found a roller skate key when I was going through some of my paraphernalia the other day, and started humming Melanie's song. ("I've got a brand new pair of roller skates, you've got a brand new key...")


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## Evons hubby

Pony said:


> I never learned to roller skate as a child (I did pick it up when I was 35 years old, though).
> 
> Found a roller skate key when I was going through some of my paraphernalia the other day, and started humming Melanie's song. ("I've got a brand new pair of roller skates, you've got a brand new key...")


I like that song, but not real sure she was talking about roller skating!


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## emdeengee

People dressed up to travel on planes, ships and trains. Even on buses. The seats on a transatlantic plane were comfortably wide and deep so that you could stretch out your legs. Flights were much more expensive than they are now.


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## emdeengee

Teachers, nurses and doctors were not mandated reporters. When a child came to school with bruises, black eyes or even broken bones no one said or did anything. Same if your neighbours wife "walked into a door" or fell down the stairs once again. Thank god that has changed.


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## woodspirit

I remember when dirt was invented.


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## Evons hubby

Being able to buy tobacco, firearms, alcohol at many mom and pop general stores!


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## woodspirit

MichaelZ said:


> Smoking doctors and nurses! Folks sure loved their cigs!


I remember as a child being in the hospital and the doctor was always smoking a pipe in the room. Other nurses and doctors would smoke in the rooms too.


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## Evons hubby

woodspirit said:


> I remember as a child being in the hospital and the doctor was always smoking a pipe in the room. Other nurses and doctors would smoke in the rooms too.


When six out of ten doctors who smoked preferred Kent!


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## Pony

I remember waiting for the t.v. set to warm up...


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## Evons hubby

Waiting until Sunday evening to make long distance calls.


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## whiterock

Evons hubby said:


> Waiting until Sunday evening to make long distance calls.


with the operator's assistance. and the numbers started with letters and no area code while using a party line


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## Pony

Evons hubby said:


> Waiting until Sunday evening to make long distance calls.


I remember waiting until 2 am to run my QWK packets on my BBS, but I don't think you have to be over 60 to remember that.


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## alida

whiterock said:


> with the operator's assistance. and the numbers started with letters and no area code while using a party line


I remember that! My parents would say that they could hear "click click " on the party line when the long distance call was to Holland - and they'd hear Dutch. By the time I was old enough to physically reach the phone on the wall we had moved to a private line for the business.


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## JohnP

Alice In TX/MO said:


> Daddy used to send me in the beer joint to purchase beer and cigarettes. I must have been about six years old.


My mom used to send me for cigs in the 70s but it was a small store with the same person behind the counter all the time so I'm sure they communicated to make sure I wasn't buying a pack that she didn't send me for.
Can't think of any other old time thing aside from meat wrapped in butcher's paper, brown paper grocery bags only and your groceries being carried out for you every time, no ifs and or buts. Store measuring your feet for shoes every time. Barbers for males and hair parlors for females. That's all I got.


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## Pony




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## Danaus29

I have a few bandage tins around here somewhere. I think they are collectables now.


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## doc-

woodspirit said:


> I remember when dirt was invented.


Yea, dirt was still white when we were kids.


Pony said:


> I remember waiting for the t.v. set to warm up...
> 
> View attachment 101191


I wish I had back all those hours I wasted holding the rabbit ears in just the right spot in the corner of the room to the side of the TV so Dad could watch the ball game.


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## emdeengee

When you went to the grocery store there were employees there to help you. Especially in the produce, bakery, deli and meat sections When you bought fruit or veggies you put the item in a paper bad and then took it to the staffer at the weigh scales who then wrote a code and price on the bag.


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## Nimrod

The milkman had blocks of ice in his truck to keep the milk cold. He would chip off a chunk for each kid to suck on. Really refreshing on those hot summer days.

Movie theaters were the only place that had air conditioning so we would go to a matinee on hot days.

We were the first in our neighborhood to have a TV. It made us kids very popular because all the neighborhood kids would come over to watch it.

I remember the skating warming house had a red hot coal burning stove. I don't remember any of the kids touching it.

Fruits and vegetables were only reasonably priced when they were in season. No flying them in from New Zealand. An expensive orange in our Christmas stocking was a welcome mid-winter treat. Also got a dime in our stocking.

My parents first air conditioner had a small part that went in the window and another part the size of an entertainment center that went in the room. It could only cool one room so it was in my parent's room. Being adults came with perks, the kids sweated. The big electric motor was salvaged from that AC. It was put on the wood lath when that motor pooped out. I still have that lath and motor today.

The furnace had been converted from coal to oil shortly before the folks bought the house. It was still a big bulky thing and covered in what was probably asbestos. Dad converted it to a gas burning cube after a while. We had to remove the fuel oil tank then. Also knocked down the coal bin walls and cleaned it up. That coal dust was very dirty. 

The house still had the doors for the coal chute and the chute to put ice in the refrigerator from outside so the ice delivery man didn't have to come in the house.


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## Pony




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## Pony




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## Alice In TX/MO

Exactly


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## Forcast

Not putting postage stamps on the envelopes of your bills .


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## 67drake

Some of these may have already been mentioned, but
The coal delivery truck. 
A guy used to push a cart down the middle of our street with bells on it, like the Good Humor Mans truck. He used to sharpen knives, axes, lawn mower blades, ect. 
Only having AM radio. 
Not having Air Conditioning
Teachers whacking you in the head when you acted up in class
Writing in cursive 
Having church services in German, because so many members still spoke German. 
REAL cherry bombs on the 4th of July
Going to McDonalds was a treat


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## Pony

67drake said:


> Some of these may have already been mentioned, but
> The coal delivery truck.
> A guy used to push a cart down the middle of our street with bells on it, like the Good Humor Mans truck. He used to sharpen knives, axes, lawn mower blades, ect.
> Only having AM radio.
> Not having Air Conditioning
> Teachers whacking you in the head when you acted up in class
> Writing in cursive
> Having church services in German, because so many members still spoke German.
> REAL cherry bombs on the 4th of July
> Going to McDonalds was a treat


I remember the knife sharpening guy. Last time I let him sharpen one of my knives, though, he had gotten so old and so bad at it, he darned near destroyed the blade. 

Had a little red transistor radio, and I would listen to WLS and WCFL to catch the top 40 tunes. 

Attended church at St Alphonsus. Not only did they have high German mass once a week, they also had German School on Saturdays.


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## doc-

Pony said:


> I remember the knife sharpening guy. Last time I let him sharpen one of my knives, though, he had gotten so old and so bad at it, he darned near destroyed the blade.
> 
> Had a little red transistor radio, and I would listen to WLS and WCFL to catch the top 40 tunes.
> 
> Attended church at St Alphonsus. Not only did they have high German mass once a week, they also had German School on Saturdays.


Pony-- My uncle was Dick Biondi's sound engineer at WLS....We lived in Jefferson Park --all Volga Deutsch. Playing on the sidewalk, people walking by would ask me "Was sagst du?"..I'd answer "The Sox won, but the Cubs lost, as usual."

I listened for hours every night to ball games from St Louis, Milwaukee, sometimes Detroit and on rare occasions from Cincinnati on my crystal radio set...How the heck did those work without any electricity?


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## Evons hubby

doc- said:


> I listened for hours every night to ball games from St Louis, Milwaukee, sometimes Detroit and on rare occasions from Cincinnati on my crystal radio set...How the heck did those work without any electricity?


magic!


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## Pony

doc- said:


> Pony-- My uncle was Dick Biondi's sound engineer at WLS....We lived in Jefferson Park --all Volga Deutsch. Playing on the sidewalk, people walking by would ask me "Was sagst du?"..I'd answer "The Sox won, but the Cubs lost, as usual."
> 
> I listened for hours every night to ball games from St Louis, Milwaukee, sometimes Detroit and on rare occasions from Cincinnati on my crystal radio set...How the heck did those work without any electricity?


Dick Biondi, the Wild Eye-tralian! He's still out there, floating through the airwaves, on some JackFM affiliate.

Saw him at Skip's Swap Meet in Lake County quite a few years ago, maybe 2001? Sounded better in person than he did on my little red transistor radio from Walgreen's. 

And hey! Don't be dissin' the Cubs! As a Jeff Park resident, you should be a loyal North Side fan!


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## 67drake

There’s a name from the past. The auto shop I worked in, the boss would only let us put the oldies station on the radio. This was in the mid eighties. Dick Biondi was the DJ, but this was some FM oldies station by then. Magic 104? Don’t remember for sure. 
I remember Skips Fiesta on North. My older sisters would go there (I’m the baby of 5 siblings),by the time I remember it, maybe age 5, it was already closed down. I remember reading in Hot Rod magazine when they tore it down. Too bad someone couldn’t have opened it back up. It would be a hopping place today. We used to go to Polk Brothers next door constantly, as my dad was an audiophile. 
How about Kiddyland? My sister met my BIL who worked at Amlings (sp?) almost next door.


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## Pony

67drake said:


> There’s a name from the past. The auto shop I worked in, the boss would only let us put the oldies station on the radio. This was in the mid eighties. Dick Biondi was the DJ, but this was some FM oldies station by then. Magic 104? Don’t remember for sure.
> I remember Skips Fiesta on North. My older sisters would go there (I’m the baby of 5 siblings),by the time I remember it, maybe age 5, it was already closed down. I remember reading in Hot Rod magazine when they tore it down. Too bad someone couldn’t have opened it back up. It would be a hopping place today. We used to go to Polk Brothers next door constantly, as my dad was an audiophile.
> How about Kiddyland? My sister met my BIL who worked at Amlings (sp?) almost next door.


Yup, Magic 104! 

The one time my dad decided to take us to KiddieLand, there was a really bad storm and tornado warnings. At the time, I blamed my dad for the bad weather, because I knew he did not want to go. 

Polk Bros! My aunt's husband, Uncle Art, gave me his Polk-a-lay-lee. I moved that thing from house to house, and finally gave it away to my friend's husband because 1.) he actually remembered Polk Bros, and 2.) I was never going to play the darned thing anyway. 

I remember Amlings, too. Also, Frank's Nursery and Crafts.


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## Pony

Looks like the Wild Eye-Tralian is no longer on the air, but here's a story on him from this past September:









Ron Onesti: Dick Biondi celebrates his 'Big 89'


The Arcada Theatre will host a "Big 89th Birthday Celebration" for Dick Biondi this Sunday at 2 p.m. It is a fundraiser to benefit the completion of the film documentary on Dick's life.




www.dailyherald.com





And here's his world-famous song, On Top of a Pizza:


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## 67drake

Pony said:


> Looks like the Wild Eye-Tralian is no longer on the air, but here's a story on him from this past September:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ron Onesti: Dick Biondi celebrates his 'Big 89'
> 
> 
> The Arcada Theatre will host a "Big 89th Birthday Celebration" for Dick Biondi this Sunday at 2 p.m. It is a fundraiser to benefit the completion of the film documentary on Dick's life.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.dailyherald.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> And here's his world-famous song, On Top of a Pizza:


Great story!


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## Nimrod

I grew up in St. Paul. I used to lie in bed and spin the AM dial to see what stations were coming in that night. WLS was almost always a strong and clear signal. I remember the pizza song. Also regularly received a program called Bleeker Street that I think was from Little Rock. Once a station from LA was skipping over the Rocky mountains. 

The TV stations used to shut down at night. They would play the national anthem and then broadcast a test pattern for about 15 minutes before signing off. During a heated election one station gave both candidates 15 minutes at the end of the night to give their spiel to the public. They drew straws to decide who went first. The first candidate spoke for 12 minutes then played the national anthem and put up a test pattern. Ninety percent of viewers turned the TV off and went to bed.


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## doc-

WLS--World's Largest Store (Sears)
WGN-World's Greatest Newspaper (Chicago Tribune)
WCFL-Chicago Federation of Labor
WMBI- Moody Bible Institute-- I knew chics who would memorize the phone number of the MBI to be given out as their own to undesirable male "suitors."

Who remember's Chicago (or any city) newspapers-- Trib AM & PM editions every day--Sun Times (Morning edition) and Herald American (Afternoon edition) ?...Do kids have paper routes anymore?


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## Pony

doc- said:


> WLS--World's Largest Store (Sears)
> WGN-World's Greatest Newspaper (Chicago Tribune)
> WCFL-Chicago Federation of Labor
> WMBI- Moody Bible Institute-- I knew chics who would memorize the phone number of the MBI to be given out as their own to undesirable male "suitors."
> 
> Who remember's Chicago (or any city) newspapers-- Trib AM & PM editions every day--Sun Times (Morning edition) and Herald American (Afternoon edition) ?...Do kids have paper routes anymore?


I remember the World's Greatest Newspaper, and won't touch it now that they fired all of their conservative employees, vaxxed or not. 

The Sun-Times used to be two separate papers: The Sun and the Times. I recall the Herald-American, as well as the Lerner neighborhood papers. And the Daily Herald, too.

LOL at the MBI number. I have been known to use WGN or Wrigley Field phone numbers.


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## 67drake

doc- said:


> WLS--World's Largest Store (Sears)
> WGN-World's Greatest Newspaper (Chicago Tribune)
> WCFL-Chicago Federation of Labor
> WMBI- Moody Bible Institute-- I knew chics who would memorize the phone number of the MBI to be given out as their own to undesirable male "suitors."
> 
> Who remember's Chicago (or any city) newspapers-- Trib AM & PM editions every day--Sun Times (Morning edition) and Herald American (Afternoon edition) ?...Do kids have paper routes anymore?


I used to deliver the Trib and Sun Times before school while I was in grade school.
I always laugh when you see kids on TV peddling their bicycles up the street throwing the papers everywhere. I had a whole list of people that had special requests. Mr. so and so- inside the screen door, Mrs so and so- inside the inclosed front porch,ect.


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## Pony




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## weaselfire

If you remember the theme from Underdog you might be over 60... 

Jeff


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## snowlady

Here I come to save the day!


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## Pony

snowlady said:


> Here I come to save the day!


That means that Mighty Mouse is on the way!


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## Shrek

Posted 12/10/21 7:03 P.M. CST



67drake said:


> I used to deliver the Trib and Sun Times before school while I was in grade school.
> I always laugh when you see kids on TV peddling their bicycles up the street throwing the papers everywhere. I had a whole list of people that had special requests. Mr. so and so- inside the screen door, Mrs so and so- inside the inclosed front porch,ect.


We had a neighbor who worked circulation with our local paper when they were transitioning from kids on bike delivery to folks in cars delivery and he gave us all a laugh when he said despite cutting down the number of carriers, the same equation of big money spent for reporters , printing and other overhead still resulted in calls of missed papers, but instead of the collapse due to a bicycle tire blowing out and needing a 25 cent patch , it was because a car broke down.


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## Forcast

Grandmother taking a week to pick out the boxes of Christmas cards. Then writing notes on each one. Before she mailed them they got bundled into in state out of state and local.


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## Danaus29

"There's no need to fear, Underdog is here"

I don't know the "reach out and touch someone" jingle. I can name the products and sing the jingle for the rest. Do they even make Big Red gum anymore?


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## Pony

Danaus29 said:


> "There's no need to fear, Underdog is here"
> 
> I don't know the "reach out and touch someone" jingle. I can name the products and sing the jingle for the rest. Do they even make Big Red gum anymore?


Reach out and touch someone was Bell Telephone. 

Yes, they still make Big Red gum. DH has a packet of it in his lunch box.

And I am also one of those folks who can sing almost every jingle and theme song from my childhood.


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## Danaus29

Just watched the commercial on youtube. I don't remember seeing it.


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## Pony

Danaus29 said:


> Just watched the commercial on youtube. I don't remember seeing it.


I know that I saw it on tv, but I remember it more as a radio commercial.


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## Pony




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## Evons hubby

I cant believe I ate the whole thing.


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## Pony

Evons hubby said:


> I cant believe I ate the whole thing.


Like a spicy meatball?


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## Pony




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## Danaus29

Pony said:


> View attachment 104158


Wasn't he the history professor in _Back to School_?


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## Pony

Danaus29 said:


> Wasn't he the history professor in _Back to School_?


Yup. Sam Kinison. 

He was a stand up comic, who YELLED.


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## Danaus29

I heard that scene in _Back to School_ when I saw his picture. That's probably the only time I saw him in anything.


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## 67drake

Pony said:


> Yup. Sam Kinison.
> 
> He was a stand up comic, who YELLED.


I can still remember the first time I saw his stand up routine. “Why are people staving in Africa? Because they live in the f’ing DESERT!”


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## Pony

67drake said:


> I can still remember the first time I saw his stand up routine. “Why are people staving in Africa? Because they live in the f’ing DESERT!”


That's the first routine of his that I saw, too. Had me hooked right there. "GO WHERE THE FOOD IS!"


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## 67drake

I forgot one. You’re at least 60 years old if you……forgot what thread you posted a joke in, and then complain when you can’t find it, thinking a moderator deleted it.


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## Danaus29

67drake said:


> I forgot one. You’re at least 60 years old if you……forgot what thread you posted a joke in, and then complain when you can’t find it, thinking a moderator deleted it.


I'm not 60 but I resemble that remark.


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## doc-

The though struck me while sitting outside today waitng for the wife at the cliniuc, next to a MacDonalds-- I wonder how old you have to be to know what's the significance of the large, yellow, stylized "M" symbol of the corp? It's been decades since they built any like the origiinals.


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## Pony

doc- said:


> The though struck me while sitting outside today waitng for the wife at the cliniuc, next to a MacDonalds-- I wonder how old you have to be to know what's the significance of the large, yellow, stylized "M" symbol of the corp? It's been decades since they built any like the origiinals.
> View attachment 104276


Ah, yes.... The Golden Arches Supper Club!

I miss their original deep-fat fried apple pies. I'd save my change so that, when my friends and I met at McD's after our Explorer post meeting, we could get hot apple pie and hot chocolate. Guaranteed to cause a second-degree burn in your mouth.


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## Pony




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## Pony




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## 67drake

Pony said:


> View attachment 104297


Filmore5-3569
BTW, when I took a week off to go down to Florida this past summer, when I went back to work the following Monday I couldn’t remember the combination to my locker. I unlocked it every weekday for the last 4 years.


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## nodak3

I remember when REA came to our area, which meant we could get a tv.

And remember when either the horizontal or vertical hold would go out on the tv? Daddy or Mama would take the back off the set (unplugged) and look for a dark tube. Sometimes we just had to take all the tubes with us to the filling station and use the tube tester there. Find the bad one, come home, and replace them. Cross your fingers and hope it played. Casing head gas would corrode the channel knob innards. We learned how to pull that and scrub it good with Ajax, dry it, and put it in so the set would stay on channel.

Candy cigarettes and gum cigars. Green stamp Bibles in Sunday School.

Dresses at school was bad enough, but the can can petticoat craze, made of pretty nylon net colors and starched to a fair thee well were nightmares to sit on all day. Raw bottoms and thighs, crying when Mama sponged them with vinegar and then coated them with margarine. Supposed to make it quit hurting. It did not. But you smelled like a salad and felt like a buttered biscuit.


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## nodak3

Phone number Sherwood 6-3241. Mailbox 3f2.

The things we can remember. So why can't I find the remote?


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## whiterock

Greenwood 5-3616. What did I come in here for?


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## Pony

SUnnyside 4- 4105
5222 N Clark St Apt 3
Chicago 40, IL

The things you never forget...

Wow. I just remembered my BFF Peggy's phone number and addy... 
334-2891 
1617 W Carmen

And yeah, I often forget what I was seeking when I walk into a room. It's like each doorway has a memory vacuum in it, that sucks things out of your brain as you walk through.


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## Pony




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## Pony




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## gilleyb1958

Gas was $0.25-$0.35. After Martin Luther King was killed, riots and citywide curfew after dark.
JFK assassination, coverage on that was ruining my morning cartoon watching on the 3 channels we had.
RFK wasn't much better.
Mom watching the Vietnam death toll on the tv news and her crying about it while ironing clothes in the living room. She was a WW2 nurse.
Grim but that is what stuck the most.


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## Forcast

Bikini under pants. Marketed to non strippers.


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## Pony




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## Pony




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## 67drake

Pony said:


> View attachment 106504


It took me a minute, but then the lightbulb went on.


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## Pony

67drake said:


> It took me a minute, but then the lightbulb went on.


Me, too.

Now I am listening to America's Greatest Hits.


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## tarbe

Pony said:


> View attachment 106504


Took me a full 30 seconds to get that one! 

America!


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## Danaus29

Oh, I got it finally. I remembered a line from a Clint Eastwood movie that helped.


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## Pony

Danaus29 said:


> Oh, I got it finally. I remembered a line from a Clint Eastwood movie that helped.


Okay, I'm not sufficiently well-versed in Clint Eastwood movies to even attempt a guess.

Which line was it?


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## Evons hubby

Pony said:


> Okay, I'm not sufficiently well-versed in Clint Eastwood movies to even attempt a guess.
> 
> Which line was it?


Me too also?


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## Danaus29

_The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_, the name on the rock where the gold was actually buried.


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## Evons hubby

Danaus29 said:


> _The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_, the name on the rock where the gold was actually buried.


Ol yeller, lassie come home, and oh John… oh Marsha commercials.


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## Danaus29

Danaus29 said:


> _The Good, the Bad and the Ugly_, the name on the rock where the gold was actually buried.


About 9:15 into this clip.


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## Olhomestead

See a young boy heading down the road to go hunting. Bb gun on the ready to shoot anything that moved. Or fishing pole in hand. Walking around looking for returnable bottles to sell n buy fishing hooks. Being able to by 22 shorts when finally 12 years old n go walk down the road with a rifle. Bunch of squirrels stuffed in pockets to proudly bring back to mom for supper. She preferred a mess of bluegill filets. 
Cops didn't look like paramilitary n had a 38 special. Night stick, n knew how take a punk to the woodshed. Lot less crime too. 
Penny candy, carmels, rootbeer barrels n butterscotch barrels were 2 fer a penny. 
Folks didn't *****. And could party down all weekend n still show up ready for work on monday morning. 
Gotta whoah up a bit as I'm getting a bit meloncolly just thinking about it


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## Rodeo's Bud

Remember when RC Cola had prizes in the caps. 25 cents, 10 cents or maybe a whole dollar. Or a free bottle of RC.


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## gilleyb1958

I remember when I was about 13 a friend and me went to the mall to watch 3 Clint Eastwood movies.
Called my dad from a pay phone about 1am to come and get us. He worked nights and was up all night anyway.
That was a good time. No one was around and didn't have any fear about being out that late.
The Good the Bad and the Ugly was one of them.
I still watch those when they come on, good stuff.


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## Pony

Rodeo's Bud said:


> Remember when RC Cola had prizes in the caps. 25 cents, 10 cents or maybe a whole dollar. Or a free bottle of RC.


I do remember that.

Always preferred Pepsi, but free pop is free pop.


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## whiterock

RC Cola and a moon pie


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## Pony

How many will get this, I wonder....


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## starrynights

Pony said:


> How many will get this, I wonder....
> 
> View attachment 108750


'one of these days, Alice, one of these days....'


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## Danaus29

"POW! Right in the kisser!"


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## whiterock

to the moon alice


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## KC Rock

doc- said:


> I had a newspaper route as a kid and collected pop bottles in my Radio Flyer wagon along the RR tracks to turn in for the 2 cent deposit....Kids today don't have those opportunities.
> 
> I'd use the money to buy Popsicles from the teenager who peddled a 3- wheeler equipped with freezer box/dry ice through the neighborhood on his daily route.
> 
> Softball or touch football in the streets. Typical huddle --- "John, you do a down-and-out by the Studebaker parked on the right. Fred, you do a button-hook on the sewer cover. Ernie, you go long and I'll hit you when you get to the fireplug." ...All patterns being drawn on your shirt front with your finger for better comprehension..
> 
> I'd also buy baseball cards. Doubles were attached with clothes pins to my bike wheels to make it sound like it was a motorcycle....Kids today don't have to use their imaginations like that-- their computer games make very realistic sounds for them. They don't know if they have bicycles or not. They never leave the computer screen long enough to go outside to see.
> 
> Produce Guy and the Rags & Iron Man doing their weekly routes thru the alleys of Chicago with their horse-drawn carts. Knife sharpener guy who peddled a 3-wheeler equipped with grinding wheel on a monthly route thru the neighborhoods.
> 
> Or what about making a purchase at a large dept store downtown? The sales person at the counter would write it up in their sales book, and send the slip and your money in a cannister by a rope & pulley up to the accounting dept on the mezzanine. Your change would come back by the same route.
> 
> Or the Ultimate-- If you're under 60, you have absolutely no idea what Freedom is. Don't kid yourself.


Delivered the Salina Journal for a few years. On my bike.


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