Hear!, Hear!
Every kid in my ‘hood had a Schwinn banana seat bike. I told my parents I wanted one for Christmas and ended up getting a Sears knockoff called a Gremlin.
With peer pressure and all that I felt like I was driving a Yugo among Mustangs. Yeah, bad analogy but hindsight allows that.
My Mom said either play outside or do chores around the house. In the summer, I would literally, after breakfast, play outside from 9am and wouldn't come home until 8pm. I'd eat at my friends house.
We'd play in construction zones, on wet cement, parks, abandoned warehouses and cars.
So yes, Stranger Things is my childhood too. And yes, you gotta watch Season 2 and 3. It is a great show.
I’m in the suburbs of Chicago, and with the exception of ultra hot days like today (98 by our home’s thermometer), kids are everywhere. Day, night, doesn’t matter. Lots of backyard fire pits, bikes, and classic cars, plus noise to boot. It gives me hope.
I think my generation (born ‘85-90) was the last to have long Halloweens and stay out late at night. The kids around here don’t have a proper Halloween anymore thanks to “safety concerns”, and the trick-or-treating ends at 6pm. Period. Basically, two hours. Unless someone drives you to the really expensive areas or you hit churches and strip malls, that’s a small net of candy. I tell kids to come back at the end of the night for handfuls, and believe me they do. I also give breaks to high schoolers provided they don’t ride around in a car, because they missed out too, and for far longer than the wee ones.
It looks grim, I agree, but areas that are largely safe still have a lot of outdoor activity for children, and suburban parents put lots of kids in summer programs and sports. A few pools were put in neighbor’s homes nearby, and that’s gotten kids out for sure. I grew up with a pool and going to summer camps, and it doesn’t look like much has changed on that front.
Stingrays,,,yup.
I remember tying
Up a Transistor
Radio with lots of rubber
Bands to absorb the shock
When I was “getting air”
From some Righteous Jumps.
Man this photo reminds me of my childhood in the mid to late 1970s early 1980s!
Good observation and what I have noticed in my neighborhood too that is full of families and kids.
This platform we are on the Internet certainly changed the world slowly over the last 20 years.
It was great being a kid back then.
If you ever get a chance, then watch “The Americans”. Which is Cold War show from KGB operatives in America in the 1970s and 1980s (Northern Virginia Area). They come across normal parents. The kids, who have no idea their parents are KGB spies, are playing sports and doing the typical American things at the time. Anyhow, it is a good watch.
Keep in mind these are KGB operatives. So anything goes. It is wild and at times sickens you.
The racist history of newspaper editorial boards.
This makes me giggle. I grew up and still live on a small island. In the summer we got out of bed, had breakfast, put on a bathing suit - flip flops - towel and headed for the beach. We were there all day, alone, just kids. Lunch was when the Ice Cream Man came around in his white truck, you didn’t need money if you had an “account” and you paid your bill when you got your allowance.
I can’t imagine growing up any other way, no adults, no sun screen, no drownings, and no one got skin cancer. How could that be?
Why are you walking around town looking for little kids on the street?
I haven’t seen the show but I was a kid of the ‘60s too. Had a gold Schwinn stingray and rode it all day long. They must have been built tough because we did some crazy jumping with them and I don’t recall any serious breakage.
I’m sorry but how is this related to racism and typing?
There’s nothing more exciting than riding your bike barefoot, and have the foot slip off the pedal, and get stuck between the pedal and the road, with your big toe bent back dragging the pavement.
Kids these days don’t know what they’re missing.
I believe you, my good FRiend, who put it best, something like this:
It was like I went to bed on 11/8/16 with terminal cancer and woke up on 11/9/16 in full remission.
Streetlights.
When the streetlights cam on time was up.
I loved my Huffys. Probably wore out two of them. In the late 60’s my girlfriend and I would occasionally ride our bikes from Port Huronto Marysville, approximately 6 miles.
I rode my bike all the time. At night I would ride the gravel alleys that split the blocks between Pine and Howard streets that ran East/West between 8th and 16th streets. One night I was going full throttle when a car came onto a street I was about to cross. I hit the brakes and spun a 180. It was an exhilarating experience I will never forget.
My legs got really strong from all that bicycle riding. I continued riding bikes until shortly after I got married in 1974, age 21, when I bought a car.
If, during the summer I was inside I would read...whatever I could get my hands on. But I spent a lot of time outside just to avoid boredom. I got really good throwing a frisbee and on windy days would go play catch with myself if no one was around to play with. I got pretty good at throwing the frisbee into the wind that would blow it back to me.
Great times, great memories.
Now, I fear I’m spending too much time on the wayback machine, spending too much time reminiscing, and not enough addressing what needs to be done here. Been having a lot of health problems...haven’t eaten well in more than a year. No way could I ride a bike right now, but I hope, soon after the day after tomorrow, I will have a better idea what’s wrong with me.
Another great post, Sam. Keep ‘em coming.
Expected to read about how blacks think typing is racist because whites invented it and did it a lot, but got a bunch about going outdoors and zero on the former. Foiled again.
Some nerdy kids took typing. They were wedded to their Smith-Coronas and Olivettis.
“Hey, my bike!” I hear, as I ride off just as fast as I can.
Didn’t tread over there for a while after that.
Wow! Memories rushed in from that picture. Just like my kidhood too. I loved my banana bike. My pals and I ran the neighborhood all day long, went home for lunch and dinner, and went home after dark. We had forts and tents and played games and were outside all day long, all summer long. Kids today wouldn’t know what to do with themselves. We were busy all day! Went home exhausted and slept real good.