Posted on 07/16/2002 9:13:00 AM PDT by chance33_98
What meal or food reminds you of your childhood? Anything unusual you ate that you remember?
font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">I remember Start powdered breakfast drink...like Tang only better! Also, Kellog's Puffa Puffa Rice cereal. Part of the jingle went: A new-a a now-a a-Kellog's a-bring-a you...toasted, toasted rice" - something like that. Big Buddy gum. Two that have been mentioned, but need another nod are Whip 'n' Chill and Bubs Daddy gum. Well...think I'll grab my Super Ball and ride my Stingray bike (with the banana seat of course) over to the junior high. Be back for dinner, Mom! --- Rich, Bloomfield Hills, MI, 1957
MilkShake Bars
I had a sweet tooth for Holloway's "Milkskake" candy bars and "Mallo Cups" made by Boyer. Milkshakes candy bars tasted something like a malted Mars Milkyway would and Mallo Cups were similar to the shape and size of Reese's Peanutbutter cups except with marshmello centers. I know where some of the old types of candy are still sold that some of you mentioned like the wax coke shaped bottles with different flavors of drink inside. I've seen them at Cracker Barrel Old Country Store and Restaurant. Along with other old familiar candies. Too many to list. I really enjoyed reading everyone candy memories. --- Billy, Nashville, TN - 1957
Bond's Ice Cream Parlor
We visited the one in Clifton The name of the shopping center was "Styertown"
When you went to Bond's with the gang, you always got the AWFUL -AWFUL milkshake. After drinking 3 (in one sitting) the fourth was free. Most of us had trouble getting the third one down. If you accomplished this task, your name went on a list posted on the wall. There was a lot of barfing associated with the Awful-Awful. Better than the Awful-Awful was the Pig's Dinner. This was a wooden pig's feeding trough, lined with waxed paper, and containing the largest ice cream sundae you ever saw. After finishing one of these, you got a button which stated - "I was a pig at Bond's" These buttons were collected, and most of us put them on our sun-visors. --- BJH, Carlstadt, NJ 1960
ChoChos
When I was a child growing up in Brooklyn, New York, I loved to eat Cho Chos so much that I got the nickname of "Cho-Cho". My family moved west when I was 10 years old and I never saw or heard of them again. Many years later, while working in the city of Oceanside, Cal., I met and married a wonderful woman. Lo and behold, while talking of our pasts, Doris mentioned how much she used to love eating cho chos as a child while visiting her grandparents in St. Louis, Mo. This was the first person I had ever met who even had heard of this treat. We often have wondered whatever happened to those delicious Cho Chos. --- George Ahrens, Brooklyn, NY 1931 (currently residing: Oceanside, CA) married to 1947 Baby Boomer: Doris Ahrens, St. Louis, MO
Double Delight Ice Cream Bars
My gosh, I remember Double Delight ice cream bars, long and narrow vanilla w/a tunnel of fudge through the middle. Also Sweetie Pies, like moon pies only better. The best soda's were Nesbitts orange, strawberry and grape. Nutty Buddy ice cream cones. Fizzies, tho the ones they have out now are not as good as the originals. Walnettos; now there is a candy they need to revive! I also was hooked on Jello's Whip N Chill and Jello 1,2,3. The original candy cigarettes actually helped me quit smoking. 7-UP bars first came in milk chocolate, then they made them in dark chocolate. I thought I saw some on the market about 15 years ago. My Gramma had a small grocery store and I remember sneaking pop from the garage. Quench was one of the greats, a grapefruit soda that really quenched your thirst. Eskimo pies were called ice cream slices. Thanks so much for the website, it brings back so many wonderful memories. --- Judi, Kalama, Washington 1955
Radioactive Candy Powder
When I was in junior high, the rage was that powdered fruit-flavored stuff in a flat envelope. Pour it onto your tongue and it effervesced! To a kid, it was a cool thing. I liked the grape flavor. There was a rumor that they were radioactive, which made them even more desirable to some. In 6th grade, it was Now Or Laters, which, when pronounced by my deeply southern schoolmates sounded like "annihilaters", which confused me; having moved from the midwest. They still make them; they're like Starburst Fruit Chews. Space Food Sticks ruled. In 5th grade, everyone had to have Whacky Packs bubble gum. Not for the gum, which probably no one chewed, but for the stickers that satirized popular consumer products. Rice-a-Phony, the San Francisco Treat. --- John Reep, Jacksonville Florida, 1964
White Tower Restaurants
The last "official" (still owned by the company) White Tower Restaurant closed this past November here in Pittsburgh. It was just torn down recently. When I was an usher at a downtown movie theatre I used to eat at the Sixth Street White Tower everyday. Where else could you order a burger, have it cooked fresh and actually eat it in one of those stupid 15 minute dinner breaks?
I also remember when Hardee's was Sandy's here in the midwest. Was it me, or were they better then? Here's a really hard one. It might be Pittsburgh only, but here goes. Braun's used to bake these. They were sort of like Twinkies, but the had a rasberry swirl inside of them. The called them Captain Astro Snacks. Complete with a mascott in what looked like a metallic gold colored Flash-type costume. No one seems to remember this but me. --- Steve, Pittsburgh, 1961
Shakey’s
Until I read John's memories [below], I had forgotten all about Shakey's pizza parlor -- we had one here, too. I recall going there with some high school buddies in the early '70s. They served a weekday lunch buffet with all-you-could-eat of pizza, fried chicken, and fried potatoes. Some of the pizza toppings seemed pretty exotic at the time -- such as pineapple with ham, etc. I wonder if any Shakey's restaurants are still in existence today. Also, I can recall in the '60s we had a hamburger stand called Chuck-a-Burger. Don't think many of them remain, although I do believe one is still in operation in the St. Louis area. Also, like Diana, I recall Sandy's. At some point it did become a Hardee's, though I don't recall in which year. --- Dave, Belleville, IL, 1957
More at the link
Remember it took like 30 seconds for the picture tube to warm up and the picture to come on, before the days of "Instant On"?? Now the EPA is trying to get rid of that immense 5 watt warming circuit. They must be nostalgic, too.
Black Jack Chewing Gum (fan page)
I don't know how well a box of gum "keeps" sitting on the shelf.
I remember well the lunch counter/soda fountains at Woolworth's and Walgreen's, both near Devon & Western. (BTW, here in St, Louis, "soda" = "pop" or "soda pop," but when I hear "soda," I always think of something with ice cream in it.)
I remember, too, the nut & candy counter at Sears-Roebuck's, the one at Lawrence & Damen. Loved the salted cashews and the pistachios (the kind that made your fingers all red).
Prince Castle! I thought I was the only one who remembered that! Better burgers than White Castle. Also, there was a similar place called Cock Robin.
Remember Lockwood Castle, on Devon out by Central? A soda-creations place, all kinds of huge ice cream sodas, club BLTs, etc.
Then, of course, if you're talking Chicago, you're talkin' hot dogs, pizza, and Italian beef. For hot dogs and Polish sausages, I remember the original Fluky's, on Western, on the other side of Pratt from where it is now. Steamed poppy-seed buns, grilled onions, hot peppers, big pickle slice--that's the ticket. There was also a good place for dogs and Polish on Devon, almost to Kedzie (near Thillens Stadium). By my house, Ruby's (Devon & Rockwell) for dogs, burgers, and rib-eye steak sandwiches.
Lots of Jewish delis near my house, too. Devon between Western and California (that was my "turf") was mostly Jewish businesses in those days. There were still some Swedes (like us) living in the neighborhood, but our stores were more on Clark Street, between Foster and Bryn Mawr--Andersonville. Grandpa Henrickson used to take us there to Villa Sweden for Sunday dinner.
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