I got most of these from here but I remember all of them and I added a few.
I remember when you had red and green mills for sales tax (valued at 1/10 and 1/2 a cent).
I remember carbon paper.
I remember the smell of the mimeograph.
I remember when the mail man delivered mail twice a day.
I know why we “dial” a phone number or “turn” it to a certain television channel.
I remember the fading “dot” when you turned off the television.
I used to draw against Matt Dillon in the opening credits of “Gunsmoke,” and won every time (of course, I was just using my finger, while he had a real gun).
I’ve illegally copied music by holding a tape recorder up to an AM radio.
… And that you used to have to push “record” and “play” buttons to get it to record.
I’ve opened and played with a new box of Lawn Jarts.
I’ve opened a can of Spam with a key (and tuna fish too).
I remember when milk was delivered to your porch in quart-sized glass bottles. Then they made half gallon bottles.
I’ve opened a bank account with one dollar.
I remember buying bottled sodas for a nickel.
I remember the ice-man carrying a block of ice up our steps with a giant pair of tongs for our non-electric ice box.
I know what a bank book is.
I remember not having an indoor toilet… and when we got one put in what used to be a closet. I was the first to use it but I was afraid to flush it. I had to have Dad flush it for me.
I remember the insurance man coming every week to collect a 12 cent weekly premium.
I know there used to be leaded gas.
You could only get watermelon in the summer.
Silver coins were in circulation.
I remember adjusting roller skates with a skate key.
I remember phone booths.
Crushing soda or beer cans took a LOT more effort, because they were made out of tin instead of aluminum.
When you returned soda bottles, they sent them back to the factory to get refilled… and you got your two cent deposit back.
If you couldn’t afford a color TV, you could buy a plastic overlay for your screen that was blue on the top and green on the bottom.
DAYUM that makes me feel old,loved the fading dot on the tv
Holy crap! How old are you? I remember them all too! Except 2x day mail and milk delivery. You must have lived in the big city.
Dammit, I’ve become an old geezer, I remember about 95% of those
and I do remember the smell of a mimeograph paper,I thought it smelled good, but maybe i’m remembering the buzz. dunno
I guess St. Louis would be called a big city. I’m probably not as old as I feel righ now, but I am old.
Jonco, You left out needing a can opener to drink beer
and has anyone else heard a bottle/can opener referred to as a church key?
Anybody remember foot x-ray machines in shoe stores? http://articles.mercola.com/ImageServer/public/2008/January/1.3fluoroscope.jpg
In cars – Switch for high-beams located on floor, operated with left foot?
Pop-tops all over the beach? http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/395424/2/istockphoto_395424_old_pull_tabs.jpg
Everybody in the house running to answer the one telephone?? “I GOT IT I GOT IT!!!”
“I’ve illegally copied music by holding a tape recorder up to an AM radio.”
Careful, the statute of limitations hasn’t expired on that.
“I’ve opened a bank account with one dollar.”
And over the years that dollar has grown to 56 cents.
I also remember being a video game junkie…I played Pong for hours.
OMG….Lawn Darts were the best and I never was maimed or injured.
I still call a can opener a church key
Burger Chef… http://www.hopkinsvillenostalgia.com/BurgerChef.jpg
McDonald’s before drive-up windows.
Those tvs with the fading dots…You also had to wait about 60 seconds for them to ‘warm up’ after turning them on before you could see a picture.
Yeah that leaded gas was an orange color. I remember turning the television antenna by hand to get better reception. When we got one with a motor on it we thought we were living rich. You left out eight track tapes, Jon
Remember when TV’s had a little light below the screen to remind you that it was turned on? And the test pattern that appeared on the off-air stations (all three of them). The milk was put into insulated boxes on the porch and heaven help you if you forgot to get it out and put it in the refrigerator. I remember that “Have Gun, Will Travel” followed “Gunsmoke” on Saturday night. My family went across the street to watch a neighbors TV with a 12 inch screen. I also remember opening a savings account with a nickel at school, as well as opening an insurance policy at school. And Coke bottles used to be stamped with a bottling plant name on the bottom.
Mike, you left out four tracks!
I can never forget 6 of the best on each hand.Diss a planet arian ism.
Om gunna hunt em down wen om ded as wel.
Good one Gary.
And party lines on the phone. You had to share the line with 2 or 3 other people.
S&H Green Stamps and Eagle Stamps.
Slipping dimes into little cardboard slots in a little dime-holder booklet in grade school. But I’m too damn old to remember why.
Dad putting all the seats down in the bach of the station wagon and then driving like a crazy man so we’d roll and bounce around back there.
Remember CB radios: breaker breaker good buddy how bout a 10-32. Somebody gimme a 10-36, need to know if I got time for a 10-100, and lets keep that 10-34 good buddy, I’m on 10-17, maybe you could 10-5 for me, tell’em to hold me a stall at the next pitstop 10-20…that chili’s goin thru me like a dose a salt, what? yeah I know i’m 10-11 son, but that chili’s get’n the best of me, Son i’m gonna back on out o here, that pitstop’s in sight and i’m unbucklin, downshift’n, and clench’n, don’t leave much room for jaw’n. Catch you on the flipflop…….OH SH!T
LOL @ Gary. That’s funny. I remember a lot of these, too.
DJ, the cardboard coin holders were for the annual “March of Dimes”.
A point of clarification: a church key is a bottle opener, not a can opener.
When we turned on the TV we had 2 channels…CBS and NBC. Now I have 150 channels and still can’t find anything to watch…go figure.
No, no Carter. One end was for bottles and the other end was for cans. Trust me on this.
A church key…..only in STL, LOL. A tavern on every corner.
Klaw…My Dad used to use that term also…Ohio. Wikipedia has a good article about them.
I am only 32 and remember a lot of these. Some are US specific but we had milk delivered and 4 of our 5 cars have the high beam switch on the floor. I remember when you couldn’t but meat after 12 on Saturday and all the shops were shut for the weekend. I also remember my step mother having Wednesdays of, she was a teacher, so she could o the housework and household shopping!
Can someone explain the first one?
My dad sez they were like tokens, less than a penny.
Even without my dad’s help, I figured that much.
I remember too many
drive-in movies, rootbeer stands(A&W),RC cola bottle caps with a 10 cent winner underneath the cork, oh yeah!
Our house had a milk delivery box in the side wall, with an outside and inside door. And a coal chute. I remember how pleased my dad was to get an oil furnace and not have to deal with that darn coal furnace.
I don’t remember red and green mills …that’s a new one on me! I don’t remember twice a day mail, but I was probably too young to notice. I recall everything else.
Can someone explain these red and green mills please? I just don’t understand.
I suppose the first question is “what is a mill?”
Oops = I just answered all over myself. How embarrassing
That should have had a link it it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill_(currency)
The “(currency)” is actually part of the URL and it won’t work without it.
(that was much harder work than it should have been. Sorry about the spamgasm)
an overlay for B&W tv? Anyone want to explaing this one further?
Sue, Good one. We had a coal furnace too. We had a coal bin in one room in the basement. We had to carry buckets of coal to the hopper that had a corkscrew like rod in the bottom that fed the coal into the furnace. All we had to do was make sure the hopper (about the size of a small car trunk) had coal in it everyday. I’d forgotten about that one.
yeah sales tax was like 2/10th of a cent so you’d give them two red mills. Then it went up to the ungodly half a cent on a dollar.
i remember pogs.
11 cent White Castles.
This is so cool. Remember paper boys? Folding papers and putting them in that big cloth sack with the single strap – each person wanted it different “in the mail slot”, “inside the screen door”, “in the milk box”, and if you did it you got a nickle tip every month when you collected.