Each of us will have childhood memories that will be different from our children and grandchildren. I’m not talking so much about places we went, what we were taught in school, or what we had for dinner. I’m talking about things that used to be popular when we were kids, but are no longer around.
Back in the ’60s and ’70s, we had candy that for the most part, is not available today, unless you go to a specialty candy store that sells the candy we used to get when we were younger. Remember having the candy cigarettes? How about Clove gum? Wax lips? They can’t be purchased at your local grocery store anymore.
Long gone for the car lot, is my first car, a Ford Pinto. My husband’s first car was a Chevy Impala. The Impala has stood the test of time and can still be found at a Chevy dealer, however, it is much more modern.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane and visit a few of the things that we had, but for the most part they are gone, just like my Ford Pinto, never to return.
Outside
- Telephone Booths – I’m not really sure if I have ever used a phone booth. They were great if you had to make a phone call when you weren’t home. Or you didn’t want your parents to know. The cost started at a dime for a local call, if I’m remembering correctly. As cell phones became popular the need for an enclosed phone booth disappeared. The difference that we can miss about a phone booth was the ability to close the door and have a sense of privacy. Today it is rare to walk a block in the business section of town without having to listen to one side of a phone conversation on a cell phone.
- Drive-In Movie Theater – I remember going with my family and also going on dates with boyfriends to Drive-In Theaters. Does anyone out there remember walking to the snack area and having to try to remember where the car was parked? Back then you couldn’t click your key fob and have the lights come on to help you find your row. Drive-In Theaters have for the most part disappeared. However, if you look hard enough, there are still a few left out there that continue to show movies.
Work
- Fax Machine Paper – Today fax paper is no longer on a roll. Any regular sheet of copy paper works in a fax machine. I remember the marvel of having a roll of paper that was silver on one side. The fax printed on the silver side. It was always a bit curled since it was on the roll for so long. And it really didn’t make a very good copy if you tried to copy it on your copier. But Fax machines were new and innovative.
- Manual Typewriter – Did you learn to type on a manual typewriter? I did. I didn’t think it was fun at all. Using a manual typewriter was replaced by spending many years using an electric typewriter. Electric typewriters were a huge improvement. Now, it seems typewriters have been replaced by computers.
Home
- Rotary Telephone – Remember how big, yet kind of cool, rotary phones were? Instead of punching in the phone number, you stuck your finger in the hole on the round dial. Then your finger pulled that hole to the beginning. Each number was entered that way. Not a very efficient use of your time. And they couldn’t be taken with you like a cell phone.
- Answering Machines – Answering Machines have passed on because of cell phones and the lack of landlines. Those are the phones at home that were attached to your wall or sat on your desk or countertop.
- Colored Toilet Paper – It has been a while, but I do remember having floral toilet paper. And of course, the rolls that came in solid colors of pastel pink, green, yellow, and blue. Now we have a choice of white or white.
- Black and White TV – Did you have one? I remember ours. It didn’t matter that it was only black and white when you were watching Felix the Cat. All TVs were built into a cabinet and they sat on the floor, not an entertainment center. And we had more exercise back then because remotes didn’t exist. If you wanted to change the channel or volume you had to get up and do it manually.
Miscellaneous
- Gas Prices – When I was a teenager there were gas price wars going on. Each station lowered its price as low as it could to get customers to drive into their station. Sometimes the lines were long. I remember gas being sold under thirty cents. That is something we will never come close to seeing again. Currently, prices are rising and I expect that it won’t be long before prices are over $4.00 where I live.
- Blue Chip and S & W green stamps – Mothers would collect these at the grocery store based on the amount of money they spent. My mom let us lick them and stick them in the books. Once you filled a book, you could count the number of books you had completed to see if you were ready to turn your books in for something special at the Redemption Store. Maybe a new toaster or a place setting of dishes.
Yummy
- The Helm’s Man – I can remember him opening up the back of his van to show my mom what he had for sale. There were shelves and glass pull-out drawers. Delicious bread, donuts, and sweet rolls were on display. The goodies were brought to our house fresh. Eventually, it became easier and less expensive to go to the local grocery store.
- Pop Shoppe – Did you have this place? Even though in California we have always referred to these drinks as soda instead of pop, I know my cousins in Minnesota would call it pop. My family would go to The Pop Shoppe and pick out the flavors we wanted. Instead of buying a 12-pack of one flavor as we do now, we were able to pick out the flavors we wanted. There were no 2-liter plastic bottles or aluminum cans back then, only glass bottles. We went home with our glass bottles in a red plastic crate. We could have three orange, two rootbeer, one grape, two black cherry, one cola, etc. until we filled up the crate. The Pop Shoppe started in London, Ontario, Canada, and made it to 8 states in the United States in the early ’70s. They had 26 flavors. They ended up closing up and coming back again, but I don’t really think they returned to the United States.
Even More Yummy
- Burrys Cookies – We had the joy of buying the broken cookies at a Burry’s Cookie factory nearby. They were less expensive but just as tasty. They started business in 1888 in New Jersey. Some of the products I remember were the Scooter Pie, Gaucho peanut butter sandwiches, and Fudge Town cookie. The Scooter Pies and Fudge Town cookies were the best. We loved them. The Fudge Town cookies had scalloped edges with chocolate creme between two cookie layers and even some creme coming out a hole in the middle. From 1936 to 1989 they made Girl Scout cookies. They were bought out by Quaker Oats in the 1960s and now their products include donuts, pizza, Equal sweetener, English muffins, Bagels, and Oyster Crackers. Unfortunately, no more cookies.
- Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlor – They were the birthday party place with all kinds of ice cream concoctions and sandwiches The trough was a huge wooden trough full of the ice cream equal to 6 ice cream sundaes. If you finished it by yourself you were awarded a certificate saying “I made a pig of myself at Farrell’s.”
- Assorted candies – Do you remember any of these? Black Jack and Clove gum? Bubble gum cigars? The big wax lips? Brach’s stars chocolate candy? Chiclets gum? Sugar Daddy on a tightly rolled up paper stick? I believe they also had chocolate-covered ones. Bazooka Bubble Gum wrapped in a flat package with, was it baseball cards? Cracker Jacks with real prizes that were not child proof but they were so much better than the current tattoos or stickers? And one of my favorites, Jolly Rancher Fire Stix.
All Good Things Come to an End
These are only a few of the things that you could find in the ’60s and ’70s, that are no longer around today. It’s great when something is replaced with a big improvement, but some things were special and we wish they could still be around today. Maybe not my Ford Pinto, but at least Burrys Cookies Scooter Pies. Yes, there are substitutes out there, but they are not the same.
I haven’t even mentioned VHS tapes, ashtrays in cars, or black and white photos. Of course, they may not really be what we thought were good things. They served their purpose and have been improved or gone away.
I know there are many more things that I didn’t mention, including my mom wearing big white hats to church. Do you have memories of something that was around when you were a child, that is now a thing of the past? Whether it be a toy, food, or your car, please comment below. Everyone loves a walk down memory lane.
I remember using Memorex cassette tapes to record music from the stereo. We’d patiently wait for our song to come on the radio, run, then hit record!
I remember that. What a pain it was to try to start and stop at the right time, without recording over part of another song. Thanks for the reminder!
Love this list. I still remember buying candy cigarettes at the local candy store and playing with the dial on my grandparents’ rotary phone.
Adriane,
Those were the days! There are so many good memories from our childhoods, that need to be shared. They are things our children, and in my case grandchildren, will never experience. I’m happy that you enjoyed the list and have your special memories from those days.
Cracker jacks!! One of my favorites
There were so many great things in the 50’s and 60’s. Cracker Jacks were great! Especially the prizes that you had to put together to make little cars and other things. Thank you for reading the post and commenting.
Ha, I remember some those items and some I do not. One thing I do remember is I grew up wearing jeans and so did my classmates. Now, it’s leggings and not just for kids it has become popular for everyone.
Megan, Life does continue to change, doesn’t it? It’s great to have happy memories of our past. And it’s wonderful that we can pass those memories on to our families.