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

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

[WVNan]

How sweet. Young people like you make me more optimistic about our country.

[Little Bill]

Scollay Sq., for novises, Stewart Street, Tremont Street, the Zone.

I remember going to an all night pizza joint on Tremont Street to get a cup of coffee, 2 am in the morning, 1969. I look like a cop, tall, thin, short hair, the pimps melted into the walls. I was installing an alarm system in a porno theater.

[Old Professer]

Born in 1940; remember sticking the cat in the upright section of clay drain pipe to see how long it took him to get out, peeing on the seat of the outside "one-holer" so my sister would have to sit on the ice in the winter at "last call," shooting my sister in the butt with my Red Ryder BB gun clear across the yard while aiming at the cat, running through the house with my fishing rod when my dad said he was going to take me fishing (too bad I was carrying the pole in both hands like I was pushing a lawnmower), licking a bare light bulb while watching my dad "sugar-cure" a pig (had the sucker in the other hand), catching my fingers in the Kitchen Aid mixer while making motorcycle noises with a cigarette pack, crying my eyes out the day the Sheriff came for my "egg-suckin' dog," sleeping with my dad's smelly workshirt the whole two weeks he had eye surgery a million miles from home, my sister wanting my grandma to make snow ice-cream from two-day old snow even after she was told it was too dirty (she asked my grandma why she couldn't wash it?), reading from the 6th grade book my first day in 1st grade in our three room school, eating crabapples until my stomach swelled up like a cow left in clover, and oh, so much more.

That's all gone now and most of the people are dead, but I go back and wake them up now and then and torment them one more time.

[WVNan]

LOL...those rags must have been some sort of punishment for those of us who dared to be born with straight, fine hair.

[tubebender]

cking cotton with the black share-croppers, because we were share-cropping too.

Been there and done that...My first sack was a strap sewed on a Gunny Sack. (burlap to you yung uns)I know there is a dress designer with that label.

[Willie Green]

Walgreens used to have this killer soda fountan.

I always liked true soda fountains where the "soda jerk" would first pump the flavored syrup into the glass then add the carbonated water himself. Of course he could also add ice cream or make milk shakes and sundaes as well. But even a simple soda was (IMHO) better and available in a lot more flavors than Coke/Pepsi/Sprite/Orange and maybe Root Beer that's around today.

[texson66]

One of my memories growing up in West Texas in the 40s and 50s was the Department Store shoe X-RAY! When you tried on your shoes you could see how well your feet fit in the shoes! God only knows how much radiation kids got from THAT!

[StormEye]

"Where did you grow up? Do you remember May Day and all the hippies in
tents all over downtown near the monuments?"

I grew up in Takoma Park, Maryland and Landover, Maryland.
Yes, I remember when the hippies fouled up the Mall.
They were always protesting in front of the Pentagon to; throwing red paint on the
outside walls to protest the Vietnam war. Just try that today and see what happens!

[WVNan]

Isn't it odd how the "good" memories we have all involve pain, hardship, or embarrassment? It is one of those oddities of human nature that we recall with fondness the most difficult times. Could it be that we realize that it was the hard things that developed our character? The painful things that suggest to us that we are stronger than we thought and make us proud to have lived through them with dignity? Look at all the things that have been recalled on this thread. The majority of them made life uncomfortable, if not downright painful.

[Willie Green]

Also wasnt Froggy & his magic twanger on BJ and Sparky?

Beat's me. I never heard of it.
But there were some other replies earlier on the thread that mentioned something about a "twanger".
(IMHO, sounded like the adults were getting a kick out of a double entendre joke with kids being totally oblivious to the "dirty" interpretation.)

[Exit148]

"----and the Inner Sanctum (a creepy open door sound at the start and finish of each show)."

Forgot that wonderful one! Loved it! There was just one radio in the house, and we'd gather near it to listen. No FM, either!

My mother was Canadian, and every Christmas either she would call her family in Montreal, or they would call her. It was a family event, and nothing was more intriguing than to hear the operator say "All the circuits are busy!" We'd all say, hushed ---- 'the circuits are busy'! We were so impressed.

Have we ever come a long way!! When I've been in China, I'd look at an old person and wonder just what they witnessed during their life. I knew they had been through turmoil that I couldn't imagine. I guess I'm now approaching that age where I realize that I've witnessed amazing things. Not life threatening turmoil, but just the changes that have happened over time. What an exciting, sometimes fearful, but always changing times.

[Nea Wood]

Everything's been mentioned about hair except for those VILE "Toni Home Permanents"!

Remember the commercials, "Which twin has the Toni?"

[Conservababe]

See post #196.

[Nea Wood]

Remember not being allowed to swim at that certain time of the month.

At some schools you could even get out of gym class at that time of the month. My aunt hated gym class, so she pretended to be having her time of the month once a week! LOL As a kid I remember seeing magazine ads for Tampax that were worded rather delicately. They'd say, "Can even be used by single girls, and you can swim and ride horseback while using them!" I remember thinking, "What kind of product can this be?" HA

[Nea Wood]

For me it was Dick Biondi on WLS.

I remember Dick Biondi. I even remember the radio jingle announcing his show. "Biondi blue horizon," it went!

[WVNan]

Remember the pain when those boll-points would run up under the cuticle of your fingers? I would try to keep up with Mammy Rose, who would be picking two rows at a time. I would always fall behind and get lonely and cry out to her and she would pick my row too until I caught up with her. She was the great love of my childhood.

[lizma]

New Rule, No Food

Are you serious?? Like that's going to protect us from another 9-11??? They're worried about "the power of cheese"???

LOL! I get most of my stash from Indy too. Stopping off at White Castle on the way to the airport is a tradition for me.

[WVNan]

Yes, I caught that when I came through there. I know a lot of people who were very thankful for the cotton picker.

[MilspecRob]

My G-D I just had a dream a few nights ago about the one in the old shoe store in Maplewood MO.!!! I think a class action case is in order !!!

[SupplySider]

I remember exercising in front of the TV, my mom with her Jack LaLane Glamour Stretcher, and my sister and I with our Glamour Stretcher Juniors.