What childhood memories can reveal about our age?

[Evo]

Banana seats on bicycles.

 

[Astronuc]

Door to door salesmen. The Fuller Brush guy. He always had those tiny lipstick samples to give out. Kirby door to door vacuum salesmen and the Avon lady.

I remember the milkman too and home doctor visits. I remember when they sold paregoric (opium tincture) over the counter for use by children.

We had a Fuller Brush man visit the second house we lived in (I only lived there two years before heading to university). I'd heard about such people on TV, but I was in high school before I actually met one. I think the Kirby guy came by once. I don't remember the Avon lady though. We didn't have such people when I lived in Australia.

 

[Andy]

I had forgotten just how old you guys are!

 

[Astronuc]

We had a Fuller Brush man visit the second house we lived in (I only lived there two years before heading to university). I'd heard about such people on TV, but I was in high school before I actually met one. I think the Kirby guy came by once. I don't remember the Avon lady though. We didn't have such people when I lived in Australia.

Banana seats on bicycles.

I had a really cool purple/maroon stingray with banana seat. It got stolen.

I then got a 3-speed bike, which I then rebuilt to a racing bike with a 65/13 (maybe later 72/13) gear ratio. I used to race cars down Main Street in Houston on that bike.

 

[DanP]

-You could actually make fireworks and small exploding devices to have fun on winter holidays without anyone going paranoid. He whose device made the louder boom was a hero :P
-KMnO3 was not listed on drug precursors lists
-I almost never seen a fat kid around
-two kids fighting physically on the playground was far from being the drama it is today.

 

[Evo]

I had forgotten just how old you guys are!

We're not old, we're timeless.

 

[Andy]

Timeless classics, i can just about remember the late 80's mainly 80's cartoons like thundercats and he-man.

 

[turbo]

Our milk was delivered by an old guy in a pickup truck. It came in glass bottles with paper caps, and it wasn't homogenized or pasteurized. The top 30% or so was pure cream - the herd was mostly Jerseys. The farmer told me one day that Holsteins only give water and he wouldn't raise them. Our school cafeteria served milk in little glass half-pints with paper caps.

All the cars had steel dashboards and no seat-belts. Eventually, Rambler/American Motors started producing some cars with padded plastic-covered dashboards, and they invariably split and cracked even in nice temperate Maine. All car radios were tube-driven and generally used 6V6 output tubes. If your radio started acting up, you'd have to dismount it and remove it from the dash to test the rectifier, preamp, and power tubes.

Coke was being produced in 6 oz bottles. My grandfather had a vending machine in his heavy-equipment shop that had started out a 1 cent, but over the years, he had taped over that price and written 2 cents, then 3 cents as the prices increased. If you bought a Coke from his machine, you had to drink it in the shop or waiting area, and put the bottle in the wooden crate by the door - he wasn't screwing around with rebates.

Central Maine had only 2 TV stations, and those were broadcasting (mostly local "talent") only from about 6am to 9pm or so. In later years, the stations would re-run syndicated WB shows before the evening news. Maverick, Sugarfoot, Have Gun Will Travel, etc.

If you were in a famous musical group, Ed Sullivan had a lot of say over whether or not you could get on prime-time TV, and even then, you'd be forced to lip-synch pre-approved versions of your hit songs.

If you had a telephone, it was a wall-mount with a magneto housed in an oak case. You had to crank that to get an operator, and give the operator a 3-digit number to connect with local phones. If you needed to call out of town, you had to ask for long-distance, so you could be connected with an operator with the ability to connect you to numbers outside your exchange. When I came back from college on a visit, the magneto phone was gone and a wall-mount slimline with a real dial had replaced it.

You could easily buy a used Winchester Model 94 carbine for under $25, though about the only cartridges you could find were either .30-30 or .32 Special.

When I went to college, calculators were banned from all course-work, tests, etc. The cheapest one around was a Bomar that could add, multiply, subtract, and divide. It was over $300 and the university didn't think it was fair that kids who could afford to spend a semester's tuition on a calculator should be given that big an advantage over those of us who couldn't.

 

[lisab]

I had forgotten just how old you guys are!

Are you getting forgetful in your old age, maybe?

 

[rewebster]

Ahahaha, the Air Blaster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxZu_Y_m8i4&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxZu_Y_m8i4

I keep it under the coffee table--and use it as a 'hmmm-how does it do that?'.


My mom got it for me (we lived in Orange Co, CA) when it first came out, along with the Hula-hoop, and the (almost) first Frisbee, called the 'Sailing Satellite' (which is in the other room hanging on the wall)--about 14 inch diameter and weighs over a pound.

It was so big (to me then), I had to 'invent' a new way to throw it with the side-arm two finger throw.

 

[Math Is Hard]

That's a little scary. I hope you don't have any posters of how he looks now.

No. He's definitely changed since his Tiger Beat days. :(

 

[Dembadon]

- Lite Brights
- Etch a sketch
- Reading Rainbow
- Atari
- Windows 3.1 (on a 386 and then a 486dx2)

I also had quite a few stories on cassette tapes. Most of them came with a circular "wheel" which had film placed around the edge. You'd then put the wheel inside of these red, goggle-lookin' things and pull down on a lever attached to said apparatus to make the wheel turn. As the story on the cassette progressed, you'd need to use the lever to turn the wheel and move to the next slide in sync with the story. There needed to be a light source nearby, however, in order to view the film through the goggles.

 

[Evo]

I keep it under the coffee table--and use it as a 'hmmm-how does it do that?'.


My mom got it for me (we lived in Orange Co, CA) when it first came out, along with the Hula-hoop, and the (almost) first Frisbee, called the 'Sailing Satellite' (which is in the other room hanging on the wall)--about 14 inch diameter and weighs over a pound.

It was so big (to me then), I had to 'invent' a new way to throw it with the side-arm two finger throw.

OMG, you have an air blaster! That commercial kills me. All the youngsters on here need to watch that commercial to see a bit of our past.

 

[jtbell]

I had one of the first generation of skateboards, with narrow steel wheels like they used to use on roller skates. In fact, they probably were roller-skate wheels, fastened to a wooden board.

I had to be careful going down the driveway or sidewalk so the wheels didn't hang up on a crack between the concrete sections.

 

[Astronuc]

I had one of the first generation of skateboards, with narrow steel wheels like they used to use on roller skates. In fact, they probably were roller-skate wheels, fastened to a wooden board.

I had to be careful going down the driveway or sidewalk so the wheels didn't hang up on a crack between the concrete sections.

My first skate board was more or less a board of polished wood on roller skates. One had to be careful of joints in the sidewalk and stones that would cause the board to stop. I skinned my knees, palms and forearms a few times.

 

[rewebster]

OMG, you have an air blaster! That commercial kills me. All the youngsters on here need to watch that commercial to see a bit of our past.

and it still works fine---it will 'move' things 30-40 ft away--just like it said in the commercial

 

[Dembadon]

I had one of the first generation of skateboards, with narrow steel wheels like they used to use on roller skates. In fact, they probably were roller-skate wheels, fastened to a wooden board.

I had to be careful going down the driveway or sidewalk so the wheels didn't hang up on a crack between the concrete sections.

My mom had given me a Banzai board very similar to the one in the picture. The board itself was/is made of solid metal and was very heavy.

 

[Danger]

This is weird. I'm seeing a lot of overlap from stuff that happened when I was a kid with stuff that happened when I was an adult... posted by the same people.
I remember sleeping with my cousin Marie because my mother was away (we lived with my aunt and uncle at the time). I was about 1 1/2.
I remember seeing my father, who I thought was a family friend, after we had moved from my aunt's place to one nearby. He worked then as a traveling encyclopedia salesman, and the first time that I remember seeing him was when I was sick and he brought me a Dinky Toy water truck. I still have that. It was at least a couple of years later that I realized he was my father.
Two moves later, I remember living with both parents in a 12' trailer on a farm that my dad got employment with. I was 2 1/2 then, which is when my parents got married. The patriarch of the farm paid me 5 cents per week for doing chores. While I don't specifically remember the event, my mother said that when I was 3 I strolled a mile or so out into the field, rounded up our 50 or so cows, and herded them in for milking. What I do remember about that time is that when I had accumulated 25 cents from my chore money, I bought a Golden Book of Mother Goose rhymes. In retrospect, it seems a bit peculiar that I could read at that age, but apparently I could.
Skip forward a few years to when I was about 7. We finally had a TV, in a new residence, which got 2 channels. Our dining room table was a 'card table'; a 1 x 1 m table with folding legs. When we weren't eating off of it, there was a blanket enshrouding it, and the underside was my 'fort'. (My bedroom was the couch, so that was my only private place.) I remember coming home from school and spending most of the evening throwing a minor tantrum in my fort because my Popeye cartoons were pre-empted... just because some guy that I'd never heard of got shot in Dallas.
I remember the Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, and also Elvis with a black bar superimposed across his nether regions because the network censors considered his hip gyrations obscene.
I know that Evo is within about 6 months of me age-wise. I always thought that Astro was a bit younger, but his postings indicate that perhaps he has a head-start on us.
When I was in high-school, the first 4-banger calculators were introduced. Add, subtract, multiply & divide. No memory. They were about half the size of a brick, and cost upwards of $500. If you were caught with one on school property, even just in the glovebox of your car in the parking lot, you were expelled on the spot.
Oh, yeah... and at the SF club that I belonged to in my 20's, the professional computer scientists in the bunch were discussing that no one could ever need or use a meg of hard storage.

 

[rewebster]

My mom had given me a Banzai board very similar to the one in the picture. The board itself was/is made of solid metal and was very heavy.

funny--our dad made us skateboards (out of skates and board)

 

[DanP]

I remember sleeping with my cousin Marie because my mother was away (we lived with my aunt and uncle at the time).

Was she hot ?

 

[Math Is Hard]

I had the first Barbie that was marketed, in her black and white stretch catalina bathing suit with her metal stand. And high heels.

I had the Sunshine Family dolls:

They didn't look at all creepy to me at the time, but now I am pretty sure the "Sunshine Family" was some kind of cult. Look at Papa's wild eyes and hair and Mama's homespun, docile sweetness. I think there were probably other "Mama" dolls you could add to the collection, as Papa required.

I made clothes for them with this:

which was basically a sewing machine shaped glue dispenser.

 

[rewebster]

Was she hot ?

I remember playing 'doctor'

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Was she hot ?

Only if you used hot air to blow her up?

 

[Huckleberry]

I remember my Mom sending me to bed early so she and my Aunt could play Atari. I remember watching Doctor Who with her. She loved Tom Baker. I once told her that the girl from Tales of the Golden Monkey in the episode where she was dressed like an Egyptian princess was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. I seem to recall her response was "Oh really? You think so?" There was also a girl in my first grade class I had a crush on that reminded me of Laura Engalls from Little House on the Prarie.

I remember my Uncle inviting me to play a game of Basic Dungeons & Dragons. I made an elf and named him Erkin. After he stopped playing I would draw my own dungeons on my Grandfather's work stationary pads and I'd annoy all my relatives until they would play with me. I'd hold the pencil pointing to their position on the map and describe what was happening. They got me my own books and I quickly found some people at school to play with, much to the relief of my relatives I think.

I remember wrestling in the playground and the teachers didn't stop us, but when we played football in gym class we used flags. I remember kids bringing in their Voltron toys and one kid had them all and made the giant robot. I was much amazed, though I preferred the show with the submarine in space. Every episode ended with it blasting something with an enormous beam that shot out of the front of it. At home I had tons of Matchbox cars, Tonka Trucks and Star Wars figures which the neighbor kids would always try to steal. My Mom worked at a Toy's 'R' Us store for a while. My Dad had a job deleading buildings.

My Dad got me a Huffy bike, I think for my birthday, and taught me how to ride it. I wanted a BMX because that's what all the kids were talking about at the time. I ended up loving my Huffy. That bike is still around somewhere. My Dad said that he never saw a kid crash as much as I did. He said I must have crashed into everything in the neighborhood.

I remember the 'thwip thwip' sound made from running around in the cordiroy pants that I wore. The first time I remember tying my shoes by myself was after a little league game. We were called the Lions, and I seem to remember the game was sponsored by the Lion's Club. I'm not even sure what that is. A few years after that they came out with velcro fasteners for shoes and I thought it was silly. They also had the high top sneakers. Those were cool. My older Cousin dressed like Madonna and acted like Billy Idol. She knocked the wind out of me with a football once.

 

[Borek]

Funny comparing things that YOU remember with things that I remember. Call it cultural difference.

Some things are identical - tube radios, limited TV (we got our first TV somewhere around 1972), non pasteurized milk in bottles (in Poland they were closed with thick alu foil, yellow for full fat, white for 2%).

There was a time when I was able to recognize almost all cars by their engine sound - partially because I have a much better hearing, but mostly because there were only several makes present in Poland.

Donald meant for us bubble gum with comic story, nobody knows where these were from, as they were not made in Poland and private import was impossible, yet they were present everywhere.

Dry soft drinks - I don't remember anyone dissolving and drinking them, we always ate them dry.

I remember when Coca Cola entered Polish market, earlier it was a symbol of American imperialism.

I remember each year in the summer listening to the news TV coverage of the shortage of the string for reaper-binders. It sounds hilarious, but that was always a real problem at the harvest time.

I remember ski made of wood.

 

[Andy]

Are you getting forgetful in your old age, maybe?

Probably, it has been a while since i have exercised the old noggin.

 

[Danger]

Was she hot ?

As a matter of fact, yes. At this moment, though, I'm far more interested in Huck's cousin.

 

[rewebster]

I remember ski made of wood.

we still have some pairs 'saved' from when we lived in Norway in the early 50's

 

[Danger]

we still have some pairs 'saved' from when we lived in Norway in the early 50's

Okay, you're officially old. I was born in the mid-50's.

 

[turbo]

My first several pairs of skis were entirely wood. When I got into JR High, I got my first pair of skis with metal edges (screwed on) and cable bindings. Boots were short leather lace-ups. My first pair of skis were just ash planks with upturned tips and the bindings were plain leather straps. To "tighten" them you just jammed the rubber pack-boot into them harder.

 

[rewebster]

Okay, you're officially old. I was born in the mid-50's.

well, you're old '-' a little...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I had one of the first generation of skateboards, with narrow steel wheels like they used to use on roller skates. In fact, they probably were roller-skate wheels, fastened to a wooden board.

I had to be careful going down the driveway or sidewalk so the wheels didn't hang up on a crack between the concrete sections.

And little rocks! Our neighbor had those little porous white rocks on her roof. Those things were responsible for several head knocks and bloody noses.

My first pair of roller skates had been my dad's skates when he was a kid. They were all metal with little leather straps. The base was a metal plate that could be adjusted to the foot size.

Lionel trains - wooohooo! And slot cars. I loved the smell of slot cars - lots of ozone.

 

[Huckleberry]

As a matter of fact, yes. At this moment, though, I'm far more interested in Huck's cousin.

Haha! I didn't get to spend much time around her. She was about 5 years older than me and was very busy doing important teenage things that I wasn't invited to. Grandma and Grampa usually disapproved of whatever it was she was doing. I have a feeling you probably would have liked her.

She was pretty cool with my sister and me. On special occassions she would invite us into her room to play, you know the normal bed bouncing, pillow fight, tent fort fun kind of stuff. I kind of idolized her as the coolest possible teenager in existence.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Here is a blast from the past. I just got off the phone with a person who works for a supplier of mine. He is 31 years old and didn't know how to send a spec sheet by email! Unbelievable! He has to fax it over. I haven't used my fax for so long that I had to look up the number.

 

[Andy]

Whats a fax?