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I used to LOVE the Good Humor truck when I was a kid in Conn.
In SoCal, the last few years I lived there, there was a local beat up looking ice cream van that would drive down my street while playing "La Cucaracha" which means "the cockroach", LOL. Enough said about that....
Hence the term "Roach Coach". Though I thought that typically refers to taco trucks.
I used to be the gas attendant that did windows, checked oil and fluids plus filled tires with air. NJ is the last state that does not allow self serve gasoline which my dad lobbied in Trenton to stop.
My dad had the ashtray, not sure what happened to it when he died in 2006. His also had a ledge around the ashtray so you could put your drink on it.
I'm born in the mid 60's so some didn't apply like Ed Sullivan. I know our schools had the bomb shelter, I only remember fire drills, not going into the shelter.
I don't know whats so bad about wax paper. I didn't wear the Dr Scholls sandals, they always hurt my feet.
I did have the bike with banana seat. Mine was bought at Two Guys for sure.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ohio_peasant
Middle-of-the-road Gen-X'er here, born during the Nixon administration. Likewise, I remember most of those items. But are they worth remembering? They're consumer-products, often of a low-end sort. They are not culturally significant, apart from maybe a room in a museum of American History, decorated to reflect one or another particular decade.
Instead I'd nominate some other items, or practices:
* Writing letters, in ink, in cursive. In particular, using those "par avion" international envelopes.
* Engineering drafting, using a drafting-board, specialized pencils, compass, and "French curves".
* Hitchhiking rides, or strangers pooling together for rides long-distance.
* A "computer" was a giant machine in a refrigerated room, operated by people in white coats.
* An international phone call cost more per-minute, than a fast-food hamburger.
Most of the above changed in the mid to late 80s, when my cohort of Gen-Xers was in high school or starting college.
Any kind of "long distance" phone call, even 10 miles away would kill your wallet. My dad at work used to ring the phone twice while my aunt did three rings. We could never pick it up until 4th ring. We called aunt and dad at work
Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainrose
Do they still have ice cream trucks?
That was one of my favorite experiences — It was only certain days it came down our street, and all the kids in the neighborhood would come out and surround it.
Yes, Mr Softee and Good Humour come around my house in Jersey. Food trucks are making a big comeback but they aren't like lunch trucks of old. They cook the food fresh on the truck
Quote:
Originally Posted by FrannyBear
I remember every single one of those things. In our home -- there were 5 children -- and we were EACH allowed to pick one show a week to watch and the rest had to sit through the choices. I always picked Bonanza and one of my sisters picked The Patty Duke Show, My poor brother hated all our choices -- he always picked The Untouchables altho my mother disapproved and said it was too violent. What a different world that was!! We ALL were allowed to watch the Ed Sullivan Show because my dad liked it and the special treat was The Wonderful World of Disney and/or Animal Kingdom. That was when Disney was wholesome.
Finally I still love those electric skillets -- makes the best pan fried chicken ever.
I have a large fryer that I regularly use for breaded pork chops. It works for pancakes, grilled cheese, bacon; cooking multiples of anything you'd make in a frying pan. It's great to cook in, the temp is evenly distributed so everything cooks at the same rate.
We still have ice cream trucks on our block. One is Mr. Softee and the other I can't remember the name-nothing memorable. It plays Turkey in the Straw over and over. They usually start coming during the Easter/Passover school break.
When I was a kid, the ice-cream truck would appear daily in the summer. We didn't get ice-cream in the supermarket back then. It was only available at ice-cream parlors, carvel stands, and the ice-cream trucks. We had Good Humor and Mr. Softee, but also some local trucks such as Carousel and Something "Maid." We would scream to our mothers that the ice-cream truck was here and they would put some change in a paper bag and throw the bag out the window. We had to remove the bag from the bushes where it usually landed outside our apartment house. We lived in the projects. My mother only allowed ices if the temperature was over 90. Otherwise, ice-cream was permitted because it contained milk and was therefore more nutritious
Late 1960's HP and Casio calculators. The primitive ones before that, too.
Small silver compass.
The HP-35 was Hewlett-Packard's first pocket calculator and was introduced in 1972. In August 1972, Casio released the Casio Mini, their first personal calculator. Casio was selling desktop electronic calculators in the late 1960s. Many businesses were using Burroughs adding machines during the 1970s.
Still can't get old TV commercials out of my head.
1. The vampire saying, "Isodettes, they relieve the pain in the throat".
2. "Don't squeeze the Charmin."
3. "Certs... 2, 2, two mints in one".
4. "Oh I'd love to be an Oscar Mayer weiner, that is what I truly want to be."
5. "Ai, Yi, Yi Yi, I am the Frito Bandito. I love Fritos corn chips, I love them I do".
6. "I'm a Pepper, he's a Pepper, wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too, drink Dr. Pepper".
Wood cook stove with water reservoir.
The hand water pump in the kitchen that you had to prime only once a day.
Happiness was someone fixing the cracks in the outhouse so the snow didn't cover the seat and someone cutting paper.
Happiness was riding the horse to the blacksmith for shoeing.
The jobs I hated the most were cleaning out cow stalls and cleaning everyone's shoes.
I loved working in the fields, hitching the horses to the wagon, and driving them out to the field.
At ages 11 and 12 I worked at a beer hall and served beer to the farmers and learned to how to tap a wood barrel and get the perfect head on a glass of beer.
To this day I still don't like beer.
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