I Remember When . . . . . . .

...five and dime stores like Woolworth's were popular.  They almost had anything you could want to buy plus they had a lunch counter which served sandwiches, malts, cherry cokes, pies and so much more.  Cheap also. We didn't have a Woolworth's in Circleville but there was one in Columbus which I had been to many times in the 50s and 60s. Click Here to See the Lunch Menu. (Thanks to Wanda Sears for sending it to me)

....growing up in the 50s and 60s, my mother washing and hanging clothes on a clothes line. I can still picture her wiping the clothes line off with a wet rag to rid the line of dirt and bird crap. The clothes would be hung with wooden clothes pins that clipped the clothes to the line. After she hung the clothes up she would prop the line with a line pole and the clothes would just blow in the summer breeze. When the clothes were removed from the clothes line, I still remember how fresh they smelled. I also remembered the clothes being frozen on a cold winter day as they were taken from the line. I don't think I had ever seen a clothes drier until I visited a laundromat while in the Army. I also remember my mother using a soda bottle with a stopper with holes in it which she would fill with water to sprinkle the clothes before ironing. There wasn't any steam irons back then. I can still see the old RC soda bottle Mom used sitting on the ironing board.

.....our first washing machine was an old wringer type like this. When I was about 3 or 4 years old I got my arm caught in the wringer by putting my fingers in the wringer and it just took my entire arm through it. I had to go to the doctor and have an x-ray and my arm was put in a sling.

 .....laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden insdie the box.

....wooden ironing boards were used. They were really popular in the 30s, 40s, and 50s but families continued to use them during the 60s. Many folks still use them today. They are considered antiques now.

....all the homes I lived in and actually visited back in the 60s had only one bathroom. How did we survive? I had 2 sisters and a brother, mom and dad and my grandmother fighting over one bathroom.

....cars had a stick shift on the column Actually driver's training in high school was taught with a stick shift on the column. Our instructor who also was the football coach, (why did the coaches always get the cushy teaching job?) who would always take us up the steepest hill which had a traffic light and we had to take off while stopped going up a hill.

 ....fond and not so fond memories of the skating rink or roller rink as they are called now. Back then you skated with a date (in my case I fell down with a date) with the day's popular music playing and a cabaret of lights flashing around the rink. The couples skate with the lights turned down which was so cool then but not so cool especially with guys like me who couldn't skate too well.

 ...pizzas weren't delivered but milk was. The milkmen were the kings of 4am delivery. I remember the glass milk bottles that were delivered to your front door before you were even out of bed. The only person that heard the milkman arrive was the dog. You left your empty bottles on the front porch with a note inside the bottle telling the milkman what you wanted that day. I also remember that the milkmen wore white uniforms and drove those funny looking trucks. I also remember the breadman who not only brought bread to the door but all the sweet goodies he tempted you with. The one we had was the Omar bread company. I don't think they are in business any longer. If they are still in business leave me a message in the guestbook.

....newspapers were delivered by boys. Most boys had paper routes. I think the most I ever made was $8.00 a week but that was great money for a young boy back then. What I hated most was the inclement weather. I always liked the customers who tipped me and detested the customers who weren't home on collection days which was normally Friday night or Saturday morning.

....we had a dress code at school? That wasn't bad was it? Boys hair could not be over the ears and they could not wear duck tails that was prevalent during the 50s and 60s. Shirt tails had to be tucked. Girls' skirts could not be above mid knee. (Darn) Many got away with it especially if they had decent looking legs.

...we never had convenient stores back in the 60s like today's 7-11 stores. We got our last minute necessities at the corner market or neighborhood store. In my neighborhood we even had a place to buy meat over the counter which is not too common today. I remember you could run a bill at the store and pay on payday which many took advantage. This was before credit cards became popular. Back then you had a store credit card or gasoline credit card only. I think Mastercard began somewhere in the mid to late 60s.

...Super Duper Supermarkets were the money saving places to shop.

....home town dairies had the best ice cream and dairy products around especially my hometown's Blue Ribbon Dairy.

...we ordered hamburgers, hotdogs, fries and coke through a drive-in type speaker and a car hop would deliver your food and drinks on a tray that hung on your window. In my hometown the A&W Root Beer Stand and Noel's Drive In was the hang out. They were also favorite cruising stop offs.

 I remember the Papa Burger, the Mama Burger, the Teen Burger and the Baby Burger were popular at A&W Root Beer Stand.

....I would sit in the this metal chair on the patio listening to my transistor radio during the summer as I waited for my buddy who lived next door to get out of bed. I was always an early riser and he would sleep till noon. Wasting a whole day in bed never made sense to me. Remember these metal chairs?

....having a telephone in the home, there was only one and probably it was located in the living room and it was a rotary dial and on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some person you didn't know wasn't already using the phone line.

....automobile headlight dimmer switches were on the floor and the ignition switch was on the dashboard and the older folks called the car a machine instead of an automobile or car. 

....cars without turn signals which resulted in using hand signals to make a turn.

.....pictures were taken that had large flashbulbs like these.

....Blackjack, Beeman's, Clove chewing gum, and candy cigarettes,

....paraffin soda bottles with sugar water inside were a popular treat.

...bubble gum came with comics inside the wrapper like Bazooka Joe.

....smoking was suppose to be cool and was depicted in movies in a positive manner which resulted in candy cigarettes being sold for kids to emulate adults.

....soda machines dispensed glass bottles? Remember Hires Rootbeer and Suncrest soda pop that came in flavors like orange, grape, cream soda and strawberry? How about Nehi Soda? TV's Mash character Radar's favorite drink?

....RC Cola was a popular choice for soda pop?

 ....coffee shops, restaurants, and malt shops had booth jukeboxes?

....S&H Green Stamps and the catalog to order merchandise with your stamps was popular in most households. Even A&P Supermarkets got in on this stamp craze introducing the Plaid Stamps.

....everybody had to have a pair of PF Flyers to run faster than anybody else?

....I lived near railroad tracks and the trains would make a racket in the middle of the night as they came roaring down the tracks. In the 50s and very early 60s they had the steam locomotives instead of the diesel locomotives. Do you remember them? I do and I use to put a penny on the tracks so when they ran over it would flatten out to be as large as a quarter.

....playing marbles in the school yard and losing most often until I got good at it. I don't think kids play marbles anymore. I played so much that my thumb got real sore until I developed a callous. We all would go to school with our pockets bulging with marbles waiting for recess to play our favorite game. Remember these old fashion handmade marbles? They are worth a lot of money now. Most marbles today are plastic. These were great marbles although they did chip. Then they came out with what they called the cat's eye marbles. When they did these hand made marbles went the wayside.

....we use to play jacks. The jacks actually were made of metal. Today they are made of plastic.

.....I was twelve I cut grass with one of these push lawnmowers. It was probably about 2 or 3 years later that we bought a power mower. I also remember while in the Army we used this type of mower into the late 60s and even to the early 70s.

....I use to buy these at the local grocery store for about a dime to a quarter depending on the size. It would last a few weeks or until it ended up in a tree and off to the corner store I would go purchase another one.

....my mom bought these tablets as a requirement for school supplies. I can't remember what grades we used them but I assume it was in the early elementary years.

....many of us tried to sell these flower and garden seeds to win one of those prizes. I don't remember winning anything except a chewing out for ordering those seeds which mom and dad ended up buying. Did anybody really win any of those prizes?

.....playing records on these old record players and how they would skip if the record was scratched or because the needle started wearing out. You then had to place a nickle on top of the arm to keep the record from skipping.

....the old black and white TV took forever to warm up before you saw the picture.

....we always had our meals together sitting around our large dining room table. We talked, laughed, joked and complimented my mother on her cooking. I still remember those special Sunday dinners. Seems like it was always fried chicken which my mom was an expert at preparing. I think she taught Colonel Sanders a few things. Pretty sure that fried chicken wasn't the only Sunday dinner we had but it sticks to my memory more because it was one of my many favorites. I still have many of her recipes which were written on scraps of paper, napkins and on back of old used envelopes. Many still had the grease and food stains on them. Click Here for the rest of the story.

....school teachers dressed up while they taught at school. The men teachers wore neckties and a jacket while the women teachers wore dresses, their hair done and many of the women wore heels.

....ladies nylons came in two pieces. Long before panty hose.

....auto theft wasn't much of a problem. In fact the car keys were left above the visor or in the ignition.

....Log Cabin Syrup came in a tin. I think they started producing these in the early 1900s to somewhere around the 1930s and stopped altogether in the early 60s. Many are worth quite a bit of money now.

...Jade East and English Leather were the most popular after shave and

cologne for men. I still today use Jade East and English Leather occassionally.

Click Here to read about my Jade East adventure back in 1965.

...Speedy Alka-Seltzer ads filled newspapers and magazines as well as on TV and radio. When was the last time you saw or heard from Speedy?

 ... The Burger Chef in my hometown and across the highways of this great nation. The home of the 15 cent hamburger and the Super Shef. The Burger Chef in Circleville, Ohio was a crusing stop off for all of us teenagers.

....popcorn came in a jar and you cooked it in a pan and shook the pan while popping it on the stove or buying the other alternative was buying Jiffy Pop in its own popper.

....I used a "little dab will do you" with Brylcreem. Be sure not to use more than one dab. "The girls love to get their fingers in your hair."

 ....drinking fizzies was cool. Just drop the tablet of your favorite flavor in a glass of water and watch it fizz. I thought they were better than Kool Aid. What ever happen to Fizzies?

....ads like these were in magazines and newspapers. Go by Lazy Boy and pickup your Christmas album by Bing Crosby.

 ---girls would weave these rings from gum wrappers. I wasn't as talented and couldn't do it. Do you remember this fad from the 60s?

...when products like Lux Soap would use what was popular at the time to sell their products. In this case, The Beatles. I don't know what the Beatles offer was, but it could have been a picture or recording. Does anybody remember this offer?

....these signs were all up and down the highways. I couldn't wait to see what the next sign was going to say. They were humorous and was one of the best innovative advertising methods ever used during the 60s?

  ....Charles Potato Chips were delivered to your door in these tins. I recall they were kind of greasy. Huh? we liked greasy back then. They were probably cooked in lard.

...Zagnut candy bars were popular. I think they were made by the same company that produced the Clark Bar.

 ....Mallo Cups and Reese cups were my favorite candy back in the 60s.

.....the Lunch Bar candy bar that cost 3 cents. They are no longer around. If they were still around today and based on inflation, they would cost about 45 cents.

.....Tang Instant Breakfast Drink. Orange flavored and loaded with sugar ummmmmmm so good.

.....girls use to roll their hair before a date or before bed. How did they sleep with those curlers. You ladies care to comment?

 .....these signs were common especially in the 50s and 60s during the cold war.

 ....Grants or later on Grants City. Super large shopping store mostly household items and clothes. No longer in business. Do you remember Grants?

 .....although I remember these from elementary school in the 50s these were still prevalent in the 60s. Readers with the characters; Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot and Puff.

....the Kresge stores were popular. Most larger cities had them in downtown locations. I think they became K-Mart. Anybody care to comment on this?

....the girls wore Ambush during the 60s. Ambush was launched in 1955 and is still available today. Trisha Pierson of Mobile, Alabama commented in the guestbook about the girls wearing this during the 60s and aroused my memory of this.

 .....when the girls wore pedal pushers also known as capris.  Great for riding a bicycle.  (Thanks to Carol Ann Cella-Kirner of West Caldwell NJ)

.....the yellow 4-way traffic signal that hung from the middle of the streets.

....the barber pole. The barber shops were all identified by these barber poles. The BS was shuffled as the men and boys got their haircut. No women allowed except to wait on a child. (Just kidding) Although only boy's and men's hair were cut in the shops back in the 60s. They weren't hair salons they were known as barber shops.

 ...moments like these. You will never forget those times.

Who can ever forget those times of our youth. If you like to reflect back to those good old days then you won't mind looking back to the 50s. I think this is a real nifty look back then. I hope you enjoy it. Click here for a musical visual look back. Sit back and enjoy Do You Remember These?