Memories of Growing Up in the 40's and 50's (and since, even)

email | 1/4/01 (this time) | Unknown

[Howlin]

Remember when McDonald's first opened with the stainless steel ledge out front? Remember that when you got out of the car, the people who worked there started yelling, "Can I help you?" before you shut your door.

*sigh* those were the days.

[RnMomof7]

My grand mother too..it was an "event " to go

Our local paper once printed a pic of downtown from the 40's. People were walking shoulder it looked like the mall at Christmas and it was spring. People REALLY loved downtown..

Speaking of hats remember when no woman went to church without one ?

[Howlin]

Our big treat was a visit to Howard Johnson's.

"We don't have Coke, we have HoJo's."

[wardaddy]

And we would call ahead to the Krispy Kreme on Government St to check when the red "Get em Hot" sign was lit. We'd take the old causeway across the Bay past the old Broussards which I think Frederic flattened.

Remember Wentzels and The Wagon Wheel?

[Howlin]

You can buy them FROZEN now........LOL.

[wardaddy]

The first McDonalds I remember in the early 60s was a chrome facade with of course the Golden Arches...and yep curb service.

Hell....all you drive up 7-11s (we called em Tote Sums) had curb service too.

[computerjunkie]

Paper dolls!! Ha! I still have the first set of Shirley Temple paper dolls I ever got!

[SAMWolf]

I know, we have one store out here that sells them, not quite the same but close enough.

[Howlin]

Two words: Winky Dink!

[Miss Marple]

I got a Winky Dink screen after I drew on the television screen with crayon. Ha!

[Howlin]

Remember that the first time TV stayed on all night was when JFK was shot. My kids just cannot believe that.

[FITZ]

Remember that when you got out of the car, the people who worked there started yelling, "Can I help you?" before you shut your door.

It's weird how they had all kinds of jobs in the old days that don't exist anymore. Gas stations had several people there to pump your gas and check your oil and tires ---and the gas was cheap. Even elevators had people on them hired to ask you what floor and get you there, and store bathrooms had attendants. Hardware stores had people to wait on you, all stores did. I don't know what people do for jobs anymore.

[Willie Green]

Willie,...o.k.,...how about 'Mushmouth' and 'The Kielbasa Kid'...?....(Cleveland T.V.)

No, we didn't get Cleveland stations in the 'Burgh.
But I do remember Josie Carey and The Children's Corner (PBS Saturday Mornings, 1955 - 1956)
We had the privilege of enjoying Mr. Rogers LONG before the rest of the nation!
(I was born in '52, so I was in the prime target audience for this one!)

(BTW, If you notice the titles of the opening and closing themes of this children's show, you'll get a real culture shock as to how PBS has changed.)

[FITZ]

Speaking of hats remember when no woman went to church without one ?

Or they took a doily from under some knick-knack and wore that!! Even a kleenex held on by a bobby pin! Strange days back then.

[cannonball]

Here is a tribute to all you folks going down memory lane. I got this from one of my classmates.

Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!

I Can't Believe You Made It !
If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, or 60's, looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have...

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.

(Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!)

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. Our parents knew that all the neighbors would watch out for all the kids.

No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight... we were always outside playing. We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games at all, 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out here in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it?

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... The teams actually kept score and the winning team was allowed to be excited and the losing team learned to be good sports about it and learned that, in life - sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.

Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade..... Horrors! Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Almost no one went to "preschool" and when we graduated high school we all knew how to read, use proper grammar and do basic math. We all learned how to count out change without a calculator to tell us the amount.

The worst problems in school were tardiness and chewing gum in class.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!

If you misbehaved - your parents spanked you and no one arrested them for doing that! We also learned that when a parent said "No" - they actually meant that and our lives would not be ruined forever by being denied every little thing we wanted at any given moment.

New toys were received on birthdays and holidays..... not on every trip to the store. Parents gave us gifts out of love....not out of guilt.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem
solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of
innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and
responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

And you're one of them. Congratulations!

[Howlin]

Remember grandma plucking a chicken??

OMG......flashback! We *never* gave her any problems after we saw her wring a chicken's neck!

[Miss Marple]

Ha! My DAD killed and plucked chickens...RIGHT BEFORE THEY WERE COOKED.

I am not very fond of chicken.

[mountaineer]

I have a record (33 1/3 rpm) of Josie Carey's Children's Corner. Who can forget such lovely tunes (sung by Fred Rogers) as "Meow meow meow meow beautiful, meow meow telephone," or "I give a hoot for you, 'cause golly, golly, you're neat"?

[firebrand]

You mean

Pepsi-Cola, sin rival,
Un refresco sin egal.
Todo eso y mucho mas
Pepsi-Cola, doble cantidad.

?

Sorry. We had Spanish-language radio stations even then where I grew up. And sorry for the possibly fractured Spanish. Never saw it written . . .

[Conservababe]

Lord love a duck, I would have killed myself on one of those mangles. Did you ever wonder why they called them mangles in the first place. My grandmother's wringer washer was lethal enough. LOL