Memories of old people (your memories)

Anyone remember the old 8- track tapes? Or the 45 rpm records?

 

What's really strange about a lot of these is that I'm _still_ working with some of them.
Dial tones - I had to yell at the phone provider to get three faxes working, and show another one how their call notes beeping was blocking the postage machine from getting more funds. (apparently Pitney Bowes is too cheap to put a 'wait for dialtone' in the programming. They dial as soon as the line is open). I had a modem in my hand this morning.
78 RPM records. Looked at them yesterday. Have a turntable for them. Need to get more needles before I start converting records. Same with 45's and 33 1/3rds. Anyone remember 16 RPM records? (No, I'm not that old, but one of my turntables has a spot for them)
VHS - still use them. Still think they're a great format for their intended use, still ticked at the artificial 'let's make the copy look worse than the original' circuitry.
Test pattern. Got to see one just the other week
Atari - still have one, plus a Commodore 64
Manual typewriter. - you mean the Olivetti I have sitting by my couch?

Something nobody's mentioned as of yet.

The Little Brown Shack Out Back. Actually BANNED some places, despite not really being a health hazard (just an odor hazard). Anyone else remember looking out the moon cutout, and yelling from the back door to see if someone was in there?

 

We had a metal box on our front stoop for milk delivery.

 

The gas station attendant had one of thees:

 

When I started driving, gas was 25.9 every day of the week. The best I bought was 19.9. I filled up my VW for just $2.
$5 Levi jeans. Six cent cokes in bottles. Candy bars were 5 cents. Movies were 25 cents. I was in high school before I saw my first color tv. I didn't own one until after I was married.
There was a kids tv show out of Houston's KTRK that featured a woman in a black cat costume named KitTeRiK. They also had a morning show based on the space theme featuring Cadet Don who had a control panel of a supposed space ship. He was visited by an alien who landed in their parking lot. He was lost and picked up the KTRK signal. He was from the planet KaTaRK. He was a hand puppet worked by Don from the inside of a small "flying saucer."
I remember when I was about 5 I collected some snails I found under out house. I put them in a shoe box with some dirt. However, the next day, they had all run away.
The first president I remember was Eisenhower. He is the guy that brought us the Interstate Highway system. Before that highways went through every little town and hamlet out there. Taking a long trip took a really long time. Passing on a two lane highway was an art form.
Our first phone number was 8976.
My mother was the best cook in the whole world.

 

Remember biased tires with tubes? Radios with tubes?

 

I remember not knowing if my dad was coming home as he was in Iran for work when the hostages were taken. He was scheduled to be on a flight into JFK and we had no way of knowing if he actually boarded the airplane.

I remember watching the space shuttle explode live on television during school.

I remember TV going off the air at night and starting in the morning... Also I was the remote control and antenna tuner....

Also remember learning how to drive on a 3 on the tree F-100.

 

Charles Chips.

 

I remember sitting on the front porch helping my grandmother shell peas, or peeling apples for drying knowing there would be delicious fried pies that winter. I remember walking to the local mom and pop store every day to pick up some hamburger or pork chops or chicken for my mother to cook that night and never paying for anything until Friday when my mother would give me an envelope to take to the owner, who would then give me a piece of candy. I remember cold winter nights when my grandmother would put bricks in the oven to warm, then push one down to the foot of my bed to keep me toasty for hours. I remember shopping on Broad Street on Saturday afternoons when, if I was lucky, I could go downstairs in Kessler's Department Store where the toy department was and pick out a new accessory for my G.I. Joe, and later stopping by Murphy's, where they had one of those counters where the hot lights kept the nuts warm. We'd get a bag of warm cashews, and pick a drink out of the cooler. I remember earning a quarter for working in the garden and walking to Conn's grocery for a 10¢ coke from the crank machine out front and a 15¢ comic book (usually Sgt. Rock) from the rack.

 

Yup 25 cents per gallon when I was in college. I allocated $2 a week for gas. Plus they use to give you glasses, steak knives, dishes et cetera for a fill up.

 

Football didn't stop for commercials.

 

My mom still has that milk box in her garage.
The gas gauge in my first car didn't work but every Saturday dad gave me $2 for gas so I was good for the week.
I remember when we got cable TV for the first time and we were impressed with the extra 8 channels we received.
Rotary dial telephones, but remember the "party lines?" We were city folk but my aunt and uncle lived on a farm and they had a party line. I never could get used to the right ring tone for their number.
Getting sent to the principal's office meant you were in big trouble... and the parents backed the school officials.

 

We had a party line till I was in high school. Always had that nosy neighbor that listen in to the conversations.

 

We had an 8 Track in our Ford LTD in the 70"s. We used the 45's 33's and the 78's records.

Chucking soda cans before deposits on them; and the cans had pull tabs you pulled off.

Durring hunting season students could get on the school bus with their rifle for hunting.

 

And which was worse, dragging all those clay tablets to school or being kept after because your cuneiform was sloppy?

 

Speaking of school memories, our cafeteria ladies used to make their own rolls, even hamburger and hot dog buns, from scratch. They were light and fluffy, yeasty and soaked in butter. I can still taste them. They also used to make pizza from scratch that was as good as anything I've eaten since.

 

I remember soda deliveries and the seltzer bottles with the squirt nozzle.

 

I got my first fountain pen in the fifth grade. That was cool. I liked using a fountain pen.
Anybody remember Fizzies? They were like Alka Seltzer but they were fruit flavored. Also, I just remembered about flavored straws. You drink your milk through them and the milk is flavored with chocolate or strawberry flavoring.

 

I remember when Pop Tarts, Snack Pack pudding, and Count Chocula were introduced.

 

I remember as a boy walking a half block or so to the local Cal's Liquors with my older brother (he was 6, I was 4) to buy a box of cigarettes for my grandmother. She gave the two of us a hand-written note and a $5 bill to give to the counter clerk. She also said we could buy ourselves some candy. We bought some red licorice (2 for a penny), a Rocky Road bar (5¢, my favorite), and as well as box of candy cigarettes.


Cal's Liquors still in the biz a half century + later...