bettyandbob Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 My dad removed all the seats from our cars and installed seatbelts in the 60s. And he made us wear them always. Except when we rode in the bed of the truck. Thinking back that was odd --trying to go for more safety and throwing all safety out the window. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 We didn't have remote controls for the TV. You had to *gasp* get off your duff to change the channel. LOL I don't really miss that though. We had a phone with a dial and a cord. No computer. No Internet. No free music videos on youtube so when I wanted to copy a song I'd put a cassette tape into my boom box (LOL) and wait until it got played on the radio and then make a very lousy sounding copy of it. Mixed tapes. MTV used to play music videos. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink and Green Mom Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 My little NJ town didn't get cable TV until 1987. I remember going to my Aunt's house in Edison, NJ to watch the big premier of Michael Jackson's Thriller video. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I have a friend who makes popcorn on the stove. It's delicious! Our family was one of the last. We got our first color TV in 1970. One aunt and uncle who didn't have kids were the first people we knew with a color TV. Every year we and our cousin's family would go there to watch The Wizard of Oz, so we could see the Oz part in color. The adults hung out in the kitchen drinking coffee and eating Italian pastries while us kids were parked in the TV room (do people still have TV rooms?) to watch the movie. It was 73 or 74 before we got color TV. My grandparents bought it for my parents one year at Christmas and went on and on how ridiculous it was that my parents had not purchased a color tv yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ikslo Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 The playground at my elementary school had no fence. On one side of the building there were frogs and turtles, by a water source (can't remember now if it was a small pond or a creek), and on the other, forest. Our play equipment was there under the trees. We would swing high to try to touch the branches of the trees, and throw stuff up into the trees, climb trees, play hide and seek. As long as we came back when the bell rang, we could wander free. This was in the 80s. I was 1st/2nd grade. After 2nd grade they closed the school down and combined us with the main elementary. I take that back - there may have been a chain link fence way at the back of the property. But that didn't stop the boys. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MEmama Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Circling items that you wanted for Christmas in the Service Merchandise catalog. If you ordered from there, you had to wait weeks or months and then pick the item up from the little shop downtown. No kid nowadays could even begin to imagine that! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Circling items that you wanted for Christmas in the Service Merchandise catalog. If you ordered from there, you had to wait weeks or months and then pick the item up from the little shop downtown. No kid nowadays could even begin to imagine that! Ah yeah, but it was the Sears or JCPenny catalog at my house. 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Most of the shoe stores waited on people. They'd measure your foot and bring out various pairs to try. Maybe some super fancy places still do this, but no back in the day they all did that. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 This is making me feel old. thank you so much :glare: :laugh: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Circling items that you wanted for Christmas in the Service Merchandise catalog. If you ordered from there, you had to wait weeks or months and then pick the item up from the little shop downtown. No kid nowadays could even begin to imagine that! Yeah! I asked for a doll and was so excited. My dad drove me down there to pick it up. The box was suspiciously small. Turns out they somehow mixed up the order and sent walkie-talkies instead. So I had to wait all over again! I seriously considered just taking the walkie-talkies. Similar with glasses. First I had to wait until my parents could afford the eye doctor visit, then I had to wait until they could afford the glasses and make time to take me down there and get them. I was in 3rd grade by the time I finally got glasses (couldn't see the board in KG). My teacher had started punishing me for "not wearing my glasses" before I even got them. Things sure are different now. I can place an order with Amazon, and sometimes it arrives on my doorstep the next day. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Other than the no carseats, people still do two-week camping road trips. That's what we do on vacation. No AC, even... ours broke. In 2015. Yep. I've done this almost every year since my second was one year old. We still make popcorn on the stove, and our children still get to explore in the woods behind their schools. There are drive-ins, and sit-in movies at the park in the summer. http://www.seattlemet.com/articles/2013/6/20/the-states-best-drive-ins-june-2013 We save money on cable so we still have to use aluminum foil on our antenna to watch football. Apparently I am living in 1965 though I didn't know it. We had a remote control growing up though, LOL. I do remember looking things up in the encyclopedia instead of on Google. We had my grandfather's old set. There was only one Korea and one Germany. Germany finally got back together so that's come full circle, but most of the rest of the information was outdated and sometimes just wrong. So then you had to go to the library and look it up in the slightly newer encyclopedia. Or more likely, choose something more perennial for your report, like a historical event that occurred long before the encyclopedia was compiled. I am so in love with the Internet. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 We also had 2 VW buses, the first was a pop top camper which my dad modified the interior. He took out the middle seat and put in a sink, small frig, and a fold down table. It was $3000 brand new. We later had a VW hatchback. Since the engine was in the back, my brothers and I were regularly roasted alive. There was no air conditioning in the car and we lived in Florida. We often took pillows to sit on. Plus, my dad smoked. The windows were always down and there were louvered side windows. Cigarette ash would get blown back on us. But we always had fun, every car trip was a song along. "This land is my land..." Every christmas I think of the Brach's Royals and the peanut butter filled hard candy peanuts that we used to get, which can no longer be found here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tsuga Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Most of the shoe stores waited on people. They'd measure your foot and bring out various pairs to try. Maybe some super fancy places still do this, but no back in the day they all did that. Where do they not do that that is a shoe store and not a discount retailer? I swear I am truly living in a different universe. My daughter had her feet measured just this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Excelsior! Academy Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I turned 40 this year and can relate and remember a lot of these! Though I did have a computer in my first grade classroom. :001_tt2: I watched the Wizard of Oz for the first time on a black and white computer. Anyone remember the old TRS80's? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I turned 40 this year and can relate and remember a lot of these! Though I did have a computer in my first grade classroom. :001_tt2: I watched the Wizard of Oz for the first time on a black and white computer. Anyone remember the old TRS80's? I took the first programming class that my high school offered. We learned Basic, used TRS80's, recorded our programs on cassette tapes. I'm old enough to have been required to take a year of Fortran for my engineering degree. :zombie: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Where do they not do that that is a shoe store and not a discount retailer? I swear I am truly living in a different universe. My daughter had her feet measured just this year. I haven't encountered a shoe store in a long time that does that. Although there really aren't a ton of shoe stores around anymore except in the mall. I usually go to Famous Footwear. They definitely charge enough to warrant service, but they don't do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I turned 40 this year and can relate and remember a lot of these! Though I did have a computer in my first grade classroom. :001_tt2: I watched the Wizard of Oz for the first time on a black and white computer. Anyone remember the old TRS80's? In elementary school we had a computer room. There were maybe 10 computers in there. So we'd go there once in awhile for a computer lesson. Usually it was three kids to a computer. I remember this long set of steps written on a chalk board. So we'd practice inputting the steps. After all of that it just changed the color of the screen. I though computers were pretty useless. LOL 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lady Florida. Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Where do they not do that that is a shoe store and not a discount retailer? I haven't encountered a shoe store in a long time that does that. Although there really aren't a ton of shoe stores around anymore except in the mall. I usually go to Famous Footwear. They definitely charge enough to warrant service, but they don't do that. The only shoe stores around here anymore are places like Rack Room, Payless, and Famous Footwear. They leave foot measuring thingies all around the store, but you measure your own (or your child's) foot yourself. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz CA Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 In the mid sixties, my mum still bought sugar as a sugarloaf, which she took apart with shears. So there was actually really something called a sugarloaf? I have never seen one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Atlanta before I-285 (yes, I am that old :lol: ) When we moved there, Highway 41 was known as 'the four lane'. And no I-285 yet. I'm envious of those who had the station wagons with the backward facing 3rd row seat. I thought those were awesome but we never had one. Loved riding in the one my friend's folks had though....with the faux wood on the side. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 As we're switching from swiping credit cards to using the chip (chipping? Is there a verb for this yet?), I'm reminded of the old sliding devices they used to have that made impressions on carbon paper from the credit cards. And full service gas stations. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bettyandbob Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Yes how many people know what "cc" means. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Yes how many people know what "cc" means. I remember when cc switched from meaning carbon copy to courtesy copy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) dp Edited December 23, 2015 by Cinder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbi in Texas Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 As we're switching from swiping credit cards to using the chip (chipping? Is there a verb for this yet?), I'm reminded of the old sliding devices they used to have that made impressions on carbon paper from the credit cards. And full service gas stations. I remember those old credit card machines. If the purchase was over a certain amount (I think $50 for Visa and $75 for discover) we had to call an 800 number to get an authorization code. LOL 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I laugh at how many of these are vehicle related. When I was young and my dad first started working as a carpet cleaner he had a used olive green Toyota pickup as his work truck. There were only two seats but he took both my brother and me around with him. So I got to sit in the middle on an upturned five gallon bucket with a lumpy ninja turtles pillow on top. Oh yes, my mom was never told about that :rofl: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted December 23, 2015 Author Share Posted December 23, 2015 I know this isn't the point, but WHY would anyone have to drive 1000 miles to find a primitive campsite??? This does no compute. It was 100 acres of wooded family-owned land in rural Tennessee, not a publicly accessible primitive campsite. We first started camping there when we lived in the same state but continued the tradition every summer for the 12 years we lived in South Dakota. I'm not saying that it makes sense; it is just what we did. :huh: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaBearTeacher Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Free meals on airplane flights that came in little trays with divided compartments. Most people did not like airplane food but I did. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MamaBearTeacher Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Just leaving my bike on the ground at the side of someone's driveway without a lock and not worrying about it getting stolen. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BooksandBoys Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Riding in the back of my friend's parents' pick up truck going 65 miles an hour down the highway, no belts, no cab. Riding my bike, at age 10, 3 miles to meet up with a friend, then riding together another 7 miles to the nearest town so we could hang out in the library and spend our nickels on candy cigarettes. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura in CA Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) Going on field trips in high school with 6–8 kids from my field biology class sitting in the bed of a pickup truck (with a roof over the bed, at least). No seat belts, of course. The teacher in the passenger seat up front, and the truck's owner (a girl in the class) driving. Very exciting on sharp turns when you "accidentally" were thrown against that cute boy in the class ... :) ETA: Also, going around town with my best friend's family with most of us kids in the bed of the pickup. My son got to do this in Mexico recently and loved it. Edited December 23, 2015 by Laura in CA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 My kids' feet were measured at Dick's Sporting Goods last year, so that still does happen (if you ask). :P But I rarely buy shoes in a store any more; I have better luck online. Amazon does not measure our feet. Computers. I was born into a world where there were none. In elementary school "computer" was what graded the Iowa tests every other year (offsite of course). Around 4th grade, our school got these adding machine type things that tallied how many answers we got right. It wasn't until 8th grade that I had the use of an actual computer. The computer teachers were all men, and they assumed that making video games was the deepest desire of every school child. I did learn a little BASIC, but I got bored with the limitations. So much work for so little reward. In college or grad school I learned some other language - don't remember what now. LOL. Obviously it didn't make much difference. So yeah, I thought computers were pretty dumb, but my brother was enthralled with them. He is still a computer nerd. More power to him. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foxbridgeacademy Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) I remember laying in the back of the truck bed going down the road on the way back from the lake and watching the sun through the trees, being so tired I could fall asleep as we bumped along. My school invested in a computer lad when I was in 5th grade and once a week we got to play Oregon Trail and the one where the Indiana Jones guy swings on vines? We were special since we were the first grade school in the district to actually get computers. Edited December 23, 2015 by foxbridgeacademy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) Cousins and I prancing at the "backseat" of my aunt's pickup while on bumpy rural roads. 8 of us in a sedan; a child sitting on the lap of the adult at the passenger side and five kids at the back. Two kids to a cinema seat in the days of pay per seat. Call to listen to a prerecorded story. It changes every day and a different number to call for different language. There were bus conductors who would punch your bus ticket. When it is normal to walk into a store and be allowed to use their phone to call parents. When you can buy things at your neighborhood store, run out of cash, take the goods and come back later to pay. When my local mom and pop store tells my parents that I have already bought the daily newspaper so they won't get a copy as well. When my family practitioner's nurses has seen me since I was a few days old and treat me like an honorary niece. The family practitioner gave me discounts for being a regular (not his fault, concurrent health issues) When my dentist gives me a discount for being his hostel/dorm-mate in university. When another dentist gives me a discount for being the fiancée of his ex-classmate. Sugar cubes for coffee ETA: I helped my dad feed scantrons into the scantron machine at his school. He had three classes of 40 kids. Using the cyclostyle machine Putting the corded telephone headset on the "music machine" while yelling for the person to come to the phone. Edited December 23, 2015 by Arcadia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Remember when you had to wait until after midnight to call home from college because that's when the rates went down to 10cents/minute? But that was ok because mom was 5 time zones away so it was still early there? No? Well, I remember. :D 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 (edited) The only shoe stores around here anymore are places like Rack Room, Payless, and Famous Footwear. They leave foot measuring thingies all around the store, but you measure your own (or your child's) foot yourself. We have a Clark's in town. The assistant measures your child's feet with an electronic gauge, then goes to get a selection of suitable styles in the right length and width. She will thread the laces for you, then check the fit by watching the child walk, pulling at the heel, and running her hands all over the feet. Edited December 23, 2015 by Laura Corin 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted December 23, 2015 Share Posted December 23, 2015 Remember when the grapes were just piled into a section of the produce chiller at the grocery store and not separated into bags? On the one hand the grapes do stay in better shape not being manhandled by anyone looking at the grapes. OTOH you're not-so-subtly encouraged to buy more grapes than you might want to. My dc were surprised to see me take a bunch of grapes out of a bag once and put them into a plain produce bag. They didn't even realize it was "allowed." 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawana Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Penny candy! Taking a nickel or dime or even a couple pennies to the neighborhood store and selecting licorice whips, gum balls, or whatever to be put into a tiny brown paper bag. Good times! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 The 1970's era VW van was designed for 7 passengers. ???? we had a 67 - and it was easily designed for 8 or nine. (if you put three in front because it was a bench.) no seatbelts. of course - you could also easily squish more people in one. (especially kids.) brother used to clamber into the back on top of the motor. we also had a roof rack for ours for when we went camping - along with two dogs. we drove it down the coast to stay with an aunt in newport. I found one online, that had been restored in pristine condition. I've even found a tent that looks like one. . . . (not that I want it, but . . .nostalgia.) I remember one Christmas eve, something shorted out on the way home from my grandparents house. my grandfather had to come pick up all five of us - with all our presents, and take us back to our house. he had a 60's era bug. . . . . (I hate the new ones. the engine is in the front. that's just . .. wrong. right up there with a Porsche cayenne.) all the wiring was exposed - and fairly easy access for my siblings to hotwire . . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Yes how many people know what "cc" means. and how many people have actually used carbon paper? when typing up papers??? 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pink and Green Mom Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 A few years ago my friend asked me to review her resume she was updating since her last job some 20 years ago. In the "other skills" section she had that she could operate a Telex machine. For those who don't know they were a precursor to a fax machine. :lol: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 and how many people have actually used carbon paper? when typing up papers??? :seeya: 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 We have a Clark's in town. The assistant measures your child's feet with an electronic gauge, then goes to get a selection of suitable styles in the right length and width. She will thread the laces for you, then check the fit by watching the child walk, pulling at the heel, and running her hands all over the feet. Wow, that's service! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 and how many people have actually used carbon paper? when typing up papers??? Never But I did type my papers on an electric typewriter until my 3rd year in college. I used to buy the erasable paper. I do not miss that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Never But I did type my papers on an electric typewriter until my 3rd year in college. I used to buy the erasable paper. I do not miss that. I loved to play with my dad's manual typewritter. (and press all the keys at once so they'd get stuck together. ;) ) ​ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Driving to Disneyworld from OH in a Ford station wagon: 2 adults, 2 teens, 2 elementary age kids and one golden retreiver. I was one of the little ones in the back with the pop up seats and no seat belts, no movies, no headphones. We did have A/C. We went straight through since we had 3 drivers. Free range childhood. I was often miles from home on my bike and my mom had zero way to know where I was for hours and hours. This was true in newly developed suburbia with little traffic, many vacant lots and a creek, as well as in a rural home location on almost 400 acres. There we had ponies too! Finding our own fun with no electronics out in the country. We had a tv, but if the weather was even windy, it had no reception at all. (Instead the usual three channels!) We had a dog, ponies, books, a huge closet full of games, a playroom, an orchard, a garden, interesting buildings (a boarding school campus) and 6-8 friends within a mile or so. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onceuponatime Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 When I started high school my typing class had manual typewriters. By my senior year they were all electric with correction tape on the spool above the ink. I remember sore pinkies from typing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FriedClams Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 (edited) Card catalogs at the library. The feeling of the dime/quarter in your sock to use the pay phone to call for a ride home. WAITING...ALONE...for mom to pick us up from bball practice...in the cold, locked out of the school. Some parents would offer a ride, but with no phones and knowing mom was coming, we'd wait. I hated that. Little League. Oh the LOVE!!! Old, hand me down, polyester uniforms. A new plastic trucker cap with a white W on it - like every other kid in town. Extra gloves in "the bag" and 3 team bats for the whole team. Leaving your glove on the field so the kid on the other team without one could use it. That's NOTHING like youth baseball now! Youth bball was even better. Hand me down uniforms for the older kids... Sweaty "pinnies" for younger kids. Water fountains for a drink. ETA - Since it's Christmas.... Drooling over the Sear's catalog...the big one! Edited December 24, 2015 by FriedClams 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kewb Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Remember when you had to wait until after midnight to call home from college because that's when the rates went down to 10cents/minute? But that was ok because mom was 5 time zones away so it was still early there? No? Well, I remember. :D A few weeks ago my dh said something about having the kids call a relative and without even batting an eye I said to wait until after 9 when the rates go down. He looked at me and then cracked up. At which point I was like "right, we pay a monthly fee now." 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julie Smith Posted December 24, 2015 Share Posted December 24, 2015 Most of the shoe stores waited on people. They'd measure your foot and bring out various pairs to try. Maybe some super fancy places still do this, but no back in the day they all did that. I was at a new Walmart recently and they didn't even have a shoe measuring device. I ended up talking to two people in the section, employee and boss of the area. Both seemed to be surprised that I wanted one and didn't already know my sons shoe size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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