Posted on 10/09/2018 7:29:41 PM PDT by vannrox
This is a walk down “memory lane” as I relate what it was like growing up as a young boy in the early 1970’s. I was in my early teenage years. I went to school, watched a lot of television, and played with my friends. Enjoy…
As strange as it seems, there is very little on the internet about what it was like growing up in the 1960’s and 1970’s. It’s almost as if it was scrubbed from existence. In it’s place we now have the Obama narrative of a racist nation and terrible injustices. That narrative has nothing to do with reality. It is a scripted lie intended to manipulate people into believing something that just isn’t true.
Here, in my own little way, I would like to relate some stories of what it was like for me growing up as a kid. For “shits and giggles” I have chosen the year of 1971. It was the last year that I had as a kid before I had to go out and work at 14 in the coal mines.
This narrative takes place in Western Pennsylvania. We lived in a small town about a two hour drive from Pittsburgh. It was a hilly and tree shaded world, with railroad spur lines that snaked in and out of the hills and crossed over viaducts and into tunnels. I well knew those lines as I would often walk along them with my friends on hikes and adventures.
Visiting my Aunties
Many weekends my parents would drive into Pittsburgh to visit my relatives. Both were from Pittsburgh, though from different areas. We would take turns visiting the families. In the morning we would visit my father’s family, and in the afternoon we would visit my mother’s family.
(Excerpt) Read more at metallicman.com ...
1971
For a good chunk of the year nuns ruled my weekdays until 3pm.
Late afternoons were for ‘smear the queer’ and other ball games. Sometimes we played with ropes.
When at home I had to listen to my parents.
My parents were married and lived together (and did until they died).
Saturdays were for fishing with my father. We used a 2 cycle motor which used an oil/gas mixture. It had 5hp and I could drive it. It made lots of smoke but we thought carbon was good for plants.
Children from the local large city would ride into my neighborhood on bicycles. In the group one bike would contain 2 children - the rear one would have bolt cutters in his hands for severing locks from the bikes of my friends.
Gilligans Island was a popular TV show. Danger Will Robinson was a phrase you heard on TV. Speed Racer was still watched.
A war was going on but we didn’t know much about it until my friend’s much older brother died in it.
Disco sucked.
Did I mention the original Cotton Bowl Jams?
KZEW...The Zoo.
Other than the Army in ‘69/71, the 60’s and 70’s was the best time of my life.
Bicycling down steep freaking slopes without a helmet.
I graduated in 65 but still remember the 70s. It was not that different from the 60s and the 60s in rural Florida was not like the 60s in California.
There is a TV show titled “That 70s Show”. I sort of liked it then realized every one of them were doing drugs, drinking while underage, and having sex.
That is not remotely like when I was in high school. The more I watched it the less I liked it.
Seems we were more social and did more activities with friends back in the early 70’s. The 9v battery operated transistor radio was the portable device if one used them at all or just on occasion. The 8 track player was short lived and soon gave way to cassette players. Politics? Who gave a rip about that stuff as a teenager. Families overall were much more intact back then too.
Yeah, I think I saw 1 episode and didn’t identify with that show. I don’t think I’ve seen a sitcom since. On top of that, the episode I saw was something about a foreign exchange student losing his ‘green card.’ Foreign exchange students don’t have a permanent resident ‘green card.’ Are the writers stupid or do they think their audience is?
You are basically correct. 1967 was actually the last year there were no pollution control regulations for passenger cars. If you take a look at engine specs you will find that compression ratios for most engine families peaked in 1967 to 1970 and started decreasing from that point forward. Changes were made to the way specs were reported in 1971 to basically hide the decline.
Why would compression ratios decline? Aren’t they more economically efficient?
I’ve read this and other of his before, usually worth the time to read aside from his weird stuff.
I was never that good at making friends, but I did learn how to do it. I had to take a chance, every so often, develop a thicker skin and a better sense of humor. It’s hard to learn that online, I would imagine. It probably takes a lot longer, because you can just ‘disappear’ from an uncomfortable situation with literally, the press of a button.
Skype On...Skype OFF, so easy!
Southern California. Corona Del Mar 1971. Skin diving a lot. Working in dads tool and die shop in S. El Monte. Visiting friends Tony Capanna at Hot Rod City in Torrance. Keith Black of Keith Black Racing Engines. Ed Iskiderian of Isky Cams. Building mini bikes. Jr. All American Football, Corona del Mar Coronas. Reluctant Nixon voters my parents were. They were happy though that the Kennedy’s were shot. Parents liked George Wallace. Alice Cooper. Deep Purple. Black Sabbath. ZZ Top. Who’s Next.
Basketball practice Sunday nights. TV trays. Huntley and Brinkley.
Read it. Loved it. Thanks,
Good memories... right in my early - mid teen years.
I’m trying to resist talking about the music of the 70’s b/c I don’t want to disrespect the poster by hijacking the topic.
Still, in my head, I often take little trips back to that time, and listen to the Top 100 tunes of the year on New Years Eve. All that really seemed to matter then, who the Top 10 songs were.
Yeah, the smallest engine we owned in the 70s was the 318 V8 in my Dodge... Heck, my mom drove a car with 400 cid.
I was the mother of 5 in the early 70s——the stories I could tell,and I’m sure there are PLENTY I never heard.
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