# What today's younger generation will never know:



## horseless carriage (Feb 12, 2022)

Telephone booths, bus conductors, trafficators, (those little semaphore arms that pre-dated car indicators.)
We are lucky enough to still have a paper boy, even though he is 68 years young, we are also lucky enough to still have a window cleaner.
What was common place in your youth that's all but forgotten today?


----------



## Murrmurr (Feb 12, 2022)

Talent. That's most apparent in the music industry, but it's rare in other areas, too.


----------



## MMinSoCal (Feb 12, 2022)

Typewriter, fax machine, Rolodex, filing cabinet, answering machine, cassette player, carbon paper


----------



## Bellbird (Feb 12, 2022)

I still use my fax machine, prefer to use that at times instead of email. 
I miss not having a milkman


----------



## RadishRose (Feb 12, 2022)

Dial telephones, VCRs, breadman, milkman, dry cleaner deliveries.


----------



## fancicoffee13 (Feb 12, 2022)

MMinSoCal said:


> Office:  Typewriter, fax machine, Rolodex, filing cabinet......


Or those nice fellows that checked your oil, wiped your windows and pumped your gas for you at the filling station.


----------



## C50 (Feb 12, 2022)

I was thinking on this subject just the other day.  I'm not sure why but the first thing that popped in my mind was the headlight dimmer button you had to push with your foot.  I think those were gone by the 80's.


----------



## fancicoffee13 (Feb 12, 2022)

C50 said:


> I was thinking on this subject just the other day.  I'm not sure why but the first thing that popped in my mind was the headlight dimmer button you had to push with your foot.  I think those were gone by the 80's.


Gone are the days when there was no microwave, Keurig, and things like the internet, cable, etc.  lol


----------



## Chris P Bacon (Feb 12, 2022)

fancicoffee13 said:


> Or those nice fellows that checked your oil, wiped your windows and pumped your gas for you at the filling station.


----------



## hollydolly (Feb 12, 2022)

We still have a milkman, altho' I don't get my milk delivered because his milk from the dairy is almost 3 times the price of the supermarket but my next door neighbours get their milk delivered, along with  orange juice and eggs and yoghurt and bread . He comes around 2 or 2.30am.. and delivers to the doorsteps, and to my knowledge the milk has  never been stolen , which is amazing


----------



## Chris P Bacon (Feb 12, 2022)




----------



## win231 (Feb 12, 2022)

Records & Reel-to-Reel tape recorders.


----------



## Alligatorob (Feb 12, 2022)

horseless carriage said:


> What was common place in your youth that's all but forgotten today?


More or less unlimited fishing.  

In my youth Florida had no saltwater licenses and almost no seasons or limits.  Huge difference today, seems like you need to call a lawyer to figure out what you can legally keep, and be ready for the answer to usually be no.  Guess overfishing (some of it by us back then) has taken it's toll...


----------



## horseless carriage (Feb 12, 2022)

Some fascinating memory lane prompts. For what it's worth, we still have, and use, a finger dial phone, however, it's connected at the socket to a modern phone so that we can identify incoming calls. There is also the problem of voice menus, when you get asked to press: "One for the money,two for the show," dialling it will simply get you cut off.

Carbon paper, ugh, the mess I could get into with that stuff. We have a two drawer filing cabinet, it's very useful for keeping and retrieving documents like motoring insurance, amongst other things.

That floor button for the headlight main beam may have been moved to a column or stalk button on the steering column, because it was so easy to catch either the brake or clutch pedal and by the time you had corrected the error, the poor motorist approaching from the opposite direction had a face full of headlight beam.

Records are, surprisingly still popular, but the days of dedicated record shops are long gone. Records today are mostly sold online but if, like us, you find yourself at a vintage fair, you will discover that not only old records being bought and sold, but new ones are also up for sale. Thank goodness for that, it means that our jukebox is not redundant yet.

You never see dedicated stores for things like women & men's clothing, or made to measure suits, I remember some of the names of those stores, such as: Alexanders, Burtons, Hepworths and others. Same with shoe shops, Saxones were very popular back in the sixties. Back then though, nobody "dressed down." 

We don't have dustmen (garbage collectors) anymore. Our waste is still collected though, but households have to segregate everything. We have five receptacles called wheelie bins. One for recycling another for garden waste, a third for disposal, the fourth is for anything glass and the last, a small bin for waste food, that includes potato peelings, egg shells, tea bags as well as mealtime leftovers. There was a time when it all went into one single bin, that bin would be lifted shoulder high and emptied into the truck. I have an amusing anecdote about that. I will post it next time.


----------



## dseag2 (Feb 12, 2022)

The ability to connect with other people aside from social media and their smartphones.


----------



## Chris P Bacon (Feb 12, 2022)

Gas for less than $2 per gallon, airports with no security checks


----------



## Jace (Feb 12, 2022)

So much of all of the above!


----------



## jakbird (Feb 12, 2022)

Gas station promotions:  Two I remember are the Wiki-Wiki dollars (Johnny Carson loved to use them in the monologue) and the fake tiger tail from Esso/Exxon, put a tiger in your tank.

Top 40 radio: I listened to KHJ Boss Radio in Los Angeles, with the Real Don Steele.  At night it was Wolfman Jack, or Art LeBeau and the Golden Oldies after midnight.

In the Deserves to be Forgotten category:  Maypo cereal, perhaps the worst breakfast cereal ever devised by man.  Maple syrup flavored flakes.  The TV commercial for it was a classic, "I want my Maypo!".  No one wanted a second box.

60's Saturday Morning cartoons: Animation so violent it turned all of us into mass murderers.  Space Ghost led the way, along with the likes of ThunDarr the Barbarian, He-Man and the uncensored Road Runner cartoons.  Lest we forget, the animated Star Trek series was in there too, with some of the finest writing, from actual SF authors, in any TV series.

Cigarette commercials:  Some of these were brilliant, made you wanna watch for them.  My favorite was Benson & Hedges 100s, where the end of the cigarette was smashed in some odd way because it was longer than usual.  And the jingos!  "To a smoker, it's a Kent!", "L.S.M.F.T, Lucky Strikes Mean Fine Tobacco", or the Marlboro Man riding off with the theme from the Magnificent Seven.


----------



## Lavinia (Feb 12, 2022)

Having just one television channel....and in black and white.


----------



## horseless carriage (Feb 13, 2022)

Who remembers Trading Stamps. Over the pond they were S&H Green Stamps, here they were known as Green Shield Stamps. Much the same as today's loyalty cards, traders gave them with your purchase, you filled your saver book(s) and redeemed those saver books at the trading stamp showroom. To my fellow UK members, did you know that Green Shield still exists? When, back in the seventies the Middle East wars were doubling fuel prices almost daily and queues at the garages were a way of life, motorists were more concerned about having enough fuel more than they were bothered about their stamps. It was at that point that Green Shield morphed into Argos. 

A trading stamp controversy ensued in 1964, championed by Sainsburys, with a parliamentary proposal for a “Trading Stamps Bill” in the UK. The legislation aimed to limit and regulate the giveaway of cheap promotional coupons that could be redeemed for discounted or free products at participating retailers or catalogue companies. In the end, fears that regulation would stifle innovation and upset customers (who loved the discounts, gifts and promotions) triumphed and the legislation was put on ice. 

Stamp vendors such as the Green Shield Trading Stamp Company were allowed to flourish. Sainsburys called Green Shield a plague on the retail industry. As it turned out their loathing of Green Shield caused them to lose top spot to Tesco, who had given stamps from the outset.

Sainsbury's having lost out to Tesco for the top spot still carried the chip on their shoulder as they lagged behind in innovations such as loyalty cards, which the then boss, David Sainsbury, famously dismissed as "electronic Green Shield stamps." But talk about irony, when the management of Green Shield saw the writing on the wall and morphed into Argos, they kept the trading name, Green Shield. Argos proved to be a huge success. So who do you think that the owners of Argos are today? None other than Sainsburys. I love it.


----------



## Mandee (Feb 13, 2022)

I remember coal deliveries, the pop wagon and haven't seen a rag and bone man for years. 
Does 'bob a job' still happen anywhere ? The little toys inside cereal boxes. 
Bonfire night is also not the same now - I think they are mostly 'council' run these days.


----------



## hollydolly (Feb 13, 2022)

Mandee said:


> I remember coal deliveries, the pop wagon and haven't seen a rag and bone man for years.
> Does 'bob a job' still happen anywhere ? The little toys inside cereal boxes.
> Bonfire night is also not the same now - I think they are mostly 'council' run these days.


The traditional Rag & Bone man with his horse and cart, and a balloon or a gold fish in exchange for your old tat is long gone... but we do have an 'Any Old Iron'  type of  guy who comes around once a month in his truck collecting anything that might be made from metal..old washing machines , dryers, pots and pans, bikes .. anything that can be melted down..


----------



## Chris P Bacon (Feb 13, 2022)

Prank phone calls!
“Hello … Is your refrigerator running?”


----------



## Trish (Feb 13, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> We still have a milkman, altho' I don't get my milk delivered because his milk from the dairy is almost 3 times the price of the supermarket but my next door neighbours get their milk delivered, along with  orange juice and eggs and yoghurt and bread . He comes around 2 or 2.30am.. and delivers to the doorsteps, and to my knowledge the milk has  never been stolen , which is amazing


@hollydolly  the local thieves are probably dairy free


----------



## Della (Feb 13, 2022)

Irish Setters, Collies.  All my neighbors had big beautiful dogs, now it's all Pit Bulls and Poodle-mixes.

Baby dolls.  I go shopping for dolls at Christmas time and it's all Barbies and Bratz.  I guess little girls don't dream of being mommies these days, they dream of being teenage girls in hooker outfits.


----------



## horseless carriage (Feb 13, 2022)

Della said:


> I guess little girls don't dream of being mommies these days, they dream of being teenage girls in hooker outfits.


Is it really the little girls? At that impressionable age they are hardly likely to know to whom they are dressing up for.
https://www.todaysparent.com/blogs/skimpy-halloween-costumes-for-little-girls-is-disturbing/
That link doesn't show any excess but all the same it really isn't for children.


----------



## Lewkat (Feb 13, 2022)

Balloon bicycle tires and patching same when one got a flat.  Getting dressed up to simply go shopping.  Ration books.


----------



## hollydolly (Feb 13, 2022)

Della said:


> Irish Setters, Collies.  All my neighbors had big beautiful dogs, now it's all Pit Bulls and Poodle-mixes.


well, we have had  3 poodle Mixes..( Labradoodles)..and they are beautiful, and also a chihuhua .. we've also had until the last 3 years ..a Doberman, a Belgian Malinois , a rescue Staffie.. a rescue Pitbull... several mixtures.. all rescued ( except the labdradoodles and the Belgian Malinois) ..and all beautiful..and exceptionally good natured....just a small example of them here ..









 Dobi
Dobie & Staffie... both people pleasers...





Labradoodles






Doberman- Chihuahua- Miniature Labradoodle







9 Year old Dobie, with a 12 month old Belgian Malinois..in the exercise yard together  ( both trained security dogs).. but with gentle natures around children and other dogs..






tiny yorkshire-terrier..cross, rescue ....who had a huge playful character


----------



## charry (Feb 13, 2022)




----------



## C50 (Feb 13, 2022)

When was the last time an elementary age kid brought home a clay ashtray that they made in art class?  These days the kid would be suspended for such a project.


----------



## caroln (Feb 13, 2022)

MMinSoCal said:


> Typewriter, fax machine, Rolodex, filing cabinet, answering machine, cassette player, carbon paper


Being a secretary back in the day, my best friend was a bottle of white out!  That or those little strips of white paper you stuck behind the typewriter key to erase the mistake.


----------



## Paco Dennis (Feb 13, 2022)

Fresh water


----------



## caroln (Feb 13, 2022)

I remember attaching playing cards to the spokes of my bicycle wheels with a clothes pin.  It made a really cool noise!


----------



## Della (Feb 13, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> well, we have had 3 poodle Mixes..( Labradoodles)..and they are beautiful, and also a chihuhua .. we've also had until the last 3 years ..a Doberman, a Belgian Malinois , a rescue Staffie.. a rescue Pitbull... several mixtures.. all rescued ( except the labdradoodles and the Belgian Malinois) ..and all beautiful..and exceptionally good natured....just a small example of them here ..


All your dogs are beautiful, Holly.  In fact I was going to include Dobermans in my idea of big beautiful dogs but I wasn't sure whether it was Dobermen or Dobermans.  I just miss those breeds I mentioned that were everywhere when I was young, due to the movies, I expect.


----------



## IrisSenior (Feb 13, 2022)

Camping when I was young was basic: canvas tent, picnic table, campfire site, all meals outside, swimming in a fresh water lake and surrounding by parents and siblings. Some of the younger generation could still do some of the above but in my day, I had no comparison to today's tech. life.


----------



## Chet (Feb 13, 2022)

Walking to school instead of being bussed. Pencil sharpeners. Getting up to change the TV channel. Test patterns on the TV.


----------



## horseless carriage (Feb 14, 2022)

Cranking handle to start a car. The cynic in me thinks that the starting handle disappeared because it made car servicing easy. Turning the engine over slowly means you can find TDC. Top Dead Centre. Being able to do that means you set and adjust the points and the engine's firing sequence. If all that sounds like gobble-de-gook, it's because no one ever services their cars anymore. How can they? The starting handle has long gone. 
Some engines are transverse and some are elsewhere, like in the back, but front, inline engines could still have that handle. But there are some drivers that beggar belief. 
https://www.republicworld.com/enter...up-his-electric-car-at-gas-station-watch.html


----------



## JaniceM (Feb 14, 2022)

Chet said:


> Walking to school instead of being bussed. *Pencil sharpeners*. Getting up to change the TV channel. Test patterns on the TV.


I've been tempted to ask if my little grandkids know what pencils are...  
The oldest already had an email account shortly before turning 6...


----------



## Chet (Feb 14, 2022)

horseless carriage said:


> View attachment 208527
> Cranking handle to start a car. The cynic in me thinks that the starting handle disappeared because it made car servicing easy. Turning the engine over slowly means you can find TDC. Top Dead Centre. Being able to do that means you set and adjust the points and the engine's firing sequence. If all that sounds like gobble-de-gook, it's because no one ever services their cars anymore. How can they? The starting handle has long gone.
> Some engines are transverse and some are elsewhere, like in the back, but front, inline engines could still have that handle. But there are some drivers that beggar belief.
> https://www.republicworld.com/enter...up-his-electric-car-at-gas-station-watch.html


Then there are motorcycles without kick starters anymore. The one on my '78 Yamaha 650 came in handy a few times when the battery was low. Kick start was super easy on the old two strokes having low compression.


----------



## Tom 86 (Feb 14, 2022)

My Dad's gas station in Ohio.  12¢ a gallon gas, full service of your car.  War bonds, towels that came in dish detergent.   An so many more.


----------



## palides2021 (Feb 14, 2022)

MMinSoCal said:


> Typewriter, fax machine, Rolodex, filing cabinet, answering machine, cassette player, carbon paper


Interesting you would say those - I still have my fax machine, filing cabinets, answering machine, and cassette player.


----------



## palides2021 (Feb 14, 2022)

I remember going to the bank and they would offer home products like a toaster if you opened an account.


----------



## MMinSoCal (Feb 14, 2022)

FEDCO, Gottschalks, Woolworths, Montgomery Ward, Kmart (almost), same with JC Penney.  Of the luxury stores on the West Coast: Bullock's, Bloomingdales, May Co., I. Magnin.


----------



## C50 (Feb 14, 2022)

horseless carriage said:


> View attachment 208527
> Cranking handle to start a car. The cynic in me thinks that the starting handle disappeared because it made car servicing easy. Turning the engine over slowly means you can find TDC. Top Dead Centre. Being able to do that means you set and adjust the points and the engine's firing sequence. If all that sounds like gobble-de-gook, it's because no one ever services their cars anymore. How can they? The starting handle has long gone.
> Some engines are transverse and some are elsewhere, like in the back, but front, inline engines could still have that handle. But there are some drivers that beggar belief.
> https://www.republicworld.com/enter...up-his-electric-car-at-gas-station-watch.html


Points? TDC? Geesh, next you're going to be talking about carbuators, external fuel pumps and drum brakes.


----------



## MMinSoCal (Feb 14, 2022)

palides2021 said:


> Interesting you would say those - I still have my fax machine, filing cabinets, answering machine, and cassette player.


I still have my typewriter somewhere in the garage! If I read the Thread Title correctly, it asks for what ‘today’s younger generation will never know’.


----------



## MMinSoCal (Feb 14, 2022)

PanAm, Eastern Air Lines, America West, Continental, Northwest Airlines.  A few toiletry brands: Breck, Faberge Organics, Flex, Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific, Agree.  Some are still available online, but no longer manufactured in the US, or quality is not the same.


----------



## horseless carriage (Feb 14, 2022)

C50 said:


> Points? TDC? Geesh, next you're going to be talking about carbuators, external fuel pumps and drum brakes.


You've obviously seen my car. 

My bicycle is even older, there again, so am I.


----------



## horseless carriage (Feb 14, 2022)

Who remembers getting paid weekly, in cash? You had a purposely made cash envelope and your wages were made up in cash. There would be an advice note that we Brits referred to as, a pay slip. It gave all the details of hours worked, tax and any other deductions.


----------



## Grampa Don (Feb 14, 2022)

win231 said:


> Records & Reel-to-Reel tape recorders.


My 15 year old Granddaughter collects vinyl records.


----------



## Irwin (Feb 14, 2022)

Good music, affordable housing, a world without the Internet...


----------



## C50 (Feb 14, 2022)

horseless carriage said:


> You've obviously seen my car.
> View attachment 208596View attachment 208597
> My bicycle is even older, there again, so am I.


Car and bike both turned by an old crank?
(shame on me but I couldn't stop myself)


----------



## horseless carriage (Feb 15, 2022)

C50 said:


> Car and bike both turned by an old crank?
> (shame on me but I couldn't stop myself)



You could be on to something there. Another oldie in our home is my 1940's, valve driven Juke Box.
My missus is forever saying that if I crank up the volume any louder, I will go deaf.

Imagine if that happened, I would never hear the end of it.


----------



## Fyrefox (Feb 28, 2022)

Telephones, corded to the wall, and usually just one in each household, often in a central location where parents could hear every word that you said on one.  Want to talk privately to someone?  Know the location of _pay phones, _another forgotten artifact of a bygone time…


----------



## rgp (Feb 28, 2022)

Murrmurr said:


> Talent. That's most apparent in the music industry, but it's rare in other areas, too.




  But ....... what they lack in talent ...... they make up for in volume !


----------



## Jan14 (Feb 28, 2022)

Communicating by writing letters and anxiously waiting for the physical mail to come. Party lines, waiting for neighbors to get off of the phone so that you can use it.


----------



## fuzzybuddy (Mar 3, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> The traditional Rag & Bone man with his horse and cart, and a balloon or a gold fish in exchange for your old tat is long gone...


Hollydolly, you have to translate for us, Merkins Thanks.


----------



## hollydolly (Mar 3, 2022)

fuzzybuddy said:


> Hollydolly, you have to translate for us, Merkins


Oh..ok... , when we were kids in the 50's and 60's..  there was a Rag & Bone man, basically someone who collected everyone's old rags, clothing etc.. and various other things to sell on .. he'd go street to street on a horse and cart once a week , calling out ''any old rags'' or blowing a horn.... and we kids would beg our mothers for anything to give to him, so we could get a Balloon, or a free goldfish in a little bag....






I haven't seen a rag and bone man since I was a child.. but when I googled for pics for you. I found that there's still some rag & bone.. or Totters ..or junk dealers still using Horse and cart in the North of England...to say I'm surprised is an understatement.. 

modern version...


----------



## Signe The Survivor (Mar 4, 2022)

The kids today in the Summer months do have the rare Good Humor Ice Truck that comes by the local neighborhood if they are lucky and if they do have that they have to pay an arm and a leg for one ice cream cone. In my day they not only had that that patrolled the neighborhood in the Summer on a regular basis, but we also had the Snow Cone Truck and the Mr. Softee Truck which sold soft serve ice cream and floats. They don't have those any longer or not at least in my area.


----------



## horseless carriage (Mar 4, 2022)

Jan14 said:


> Communicating by writing letters and anxiously waiting for the physical mail to come. Party lines, waiting for neighbors to get off of the phone so that you can use it.


----------



## Chris P Bacon (Mar 4, 2022)

5¢ candy bars


----------



## Tish (Mar 4, 2022)

The screeching noise of dial-up internet.


----------



## Chet (Mar 4, 2022)

Signe The Survivor said:


> The kids today in the Summer months do have the rare Good Humor Ice Truck that comes by the local neighborhood if they are lucky and if they do have that they have to pay an arm and a leg for one ice cream cone. In my day they not only had that that patrolled the neighborhood in the Summer on a regular basis, but we also had the Snow Cone Truck and the Mr. Softee Truck which sold soft serve ice cream and floats. They don't have those any longer or not at least in my area.


We had a Dairy Dan come through the neighborhood.


----------



## timoc (Mar 4, 2022)

Collecting jam-jars and taking them to the corner shop for a few pennies.


----------



## caroln (Mar 4, 2022)

timoc said:


> Collecting jam-jars and taking them to the corner shop for a few pennies.


Your post reminded me of when my friends and I collected empty glass soda bottles and turned them in for, if I remember right, 2 cents each.  Back then we were always busy doing _something_!


----------



## C50 (Mar 5, 2022)

Boiling water in a sauce pan to make instant coffee.  Sucking on Saccharine(sp?) tablets like they were candy.  Cars built without seatbelts.  Having to eat liver and onions for dinner once a week.


----------



## caroln (Mar 5, 2022)

C50 said:


> Boiling water in a sauce pan to make instant coffee.  Sucking on Saccharine(sp?) tablets like they were candy.  Cars built without seatbelts.  Having to eat liver and onions for dinner once a week.


OMG, liver and onions...my mom made that once in awhile, too.  My dad and I hated it.   No, I mean _really_ hated it. The smell, the taste, the texture, ugh! Being the thoughtful person she was though, she made 2 dinners. Liver for her and my sister, something (anything!) else for me and my dad.


----------



## charry (Mar 5, 2022)

charry said:


> View attachment 208314


I had a penny tied on to the arm of mine !!


----------



## Mitch86 (Mar 5, 2022)

Everything is getting better and better these days. I have six Amazon Echo Shows which have artificial intelligence and talk to me all day and do all kinds of amazing tasks like making telephone calls, playing music, showing the the status of my deliveries, setting alarms and, of course, even giving me CNN without a TV (old hat now).


----------



## C50 (Mar 9, 2022)

Something today's generation will never do.....play with mercury in science class!  I remember Mrs. Phillips putting a bit in our palm so we could squish it around and see how it reacted.


----------



## Grampa Don (Mar 10, 2022)

C50 said:


> Something today's generation will never do.....play with mercury in science class!  I remember Mrs. Phillips putting a bit in our palm so we could squish it around and see how it reacted.


And rubbing it into a penny to make it look like a dime, with bare fingers of course.


----------



## Pepper (Mar 10, 2022)

I was an elementary school kid in the mid-fifties and my teachers all knew Mercury was dangerous and should never be handled by bare hands.  I specifically remember an incident where a thermometer broke and the teacher was screaming not to touch it and called the janitor to clean it up.


----------



## Grampa Don (Mar 10, 2022)

Pepper said:


> I was an elementary school kid in the mid-fifties and my teachers all knew Mercury was dangerous and should never be handled by bare hands.  I specifically remember an incident where a thermometer broke and the teacher was screaming not to touch it and called the janitor to clean it up.


We didn't do this at school.  I don't remember where we got the mercury.  Also, when I had a sore throat, our Doctor and my Mom would swab it with Mercurochrome.  Nasty tasting stuff.


----------



## Pepper (Mar 10, 2022)

Grampa Don said:


> We didn't do this at school.  I don't remember where we got the mercury.  Also, when I had a sore throat, our Doctor and my Mom would swab it with Mercurochrome.  *Nasty tasting stuff.*


"Is mercurochrome toxic?
Merbromin is a combination of mercury and bromine. *It is harmful if it is swallowed*."

I remember the stuff too, but not for anything internal!  Was it blue?


----------



## Grampa Don (Mar 10, 2022)

Pepper said:


> "Is mercurochrome toxic?
> Merbromin is a combination of mercury and bromine. *It is harmful if it is swallowed*."
> 
> I remember the stuff too, but not for anything internal!  Was it blue?


Here's what Wikipedia says " The U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1998 classified merbromin as not generally recognized as safe due to a lack of recent studies and updated supporting information."  It's not sold in the US anymore.  It left a red stain.

We did a lot of dumb things in the old days.  I once saw one of my cousins swabbing his throat with iodine.  My Mom's iron had an asbestos cord and she had an asbestos pad to sit it on.  We had an unvented gas heater in our den.  Both my parents smoked a lot, so I was raised breathing it.


----------



## peramangkelder (Mar 10, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> The traditional Rag & Bone man with his horse and cart, and a balloon or a gold fish in exchange for your old tat is long gone... but we do have an 'Any Old Iron'  type of  guy who comes around once a month in his truck collecting anything that might be made from metal..old washing machines , dryers, pots and pans, bikes .. anything that can be melted down..


@hollydolly I remember the 'bottle-o' coming along prior to recycling or getting a refund on your bottles
He would take all the empty bottles for scrap


----------



## dobielvr (Mar 19, 2022)

MMinSoCal said:


> FEDCO, Gottschalks, Woolworths, Montgomery Ward, Kmart (almost), same with JC Penney.  Of the luxury stores on the West Coast: Bullock's, Bloomingdales, May Co., I. Magnin.


I miss Gottschalk's and Mervyn's.

That's where I bought a lot of my clothes and shoes.


----------



## Pink Biz (Mar 19, 2022)




----------



## JonSR77 (Mar 19, 2022)

RadishRose said:


> Dial telephones, VCRs, breadman, milkman, dry cleaner deliveries.


We had a milkman also. He was my best friend's Dad.  Super nice guy.


----------



## JonSR77 (Mar 19, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> The traditional Rag & Bone man with his horse and cart, and a balloon or a gold fish in exchange for your old tat is long gone... but we do have an 'Any Old Iron'  type of  guy who comes around once a month in his truck collecting anything that might be made from metal..old washing machines , dryers, pots and pans, bikes .. anything that can be melted down..


there is a singer named "Rag & Bone Man"

very good pipes on this man...


Rag'n'Bone Man - Human (Official Video)


----------



## hollydolly (Mar 20, 2022)

Yes I've heard Rag N Bone man sing...


----------



## Packerjohn (Mar 20, 2022)

How to be politically incorrect, how to have a BB gun fight and how to have a sling-shot fight.  Oh and the wonderful fun of tipping over an outhouse on Halloween Night.  It was tricky because you didn't want to fall inside while tipping it over.  I know because I experienced all those things when I was young and "wild."  I don't do those things anymore.  Must be "old age."


----------



## spectratg (Mar 20, 2022)

Chris P Bacon said:


> 5¢ candy bars


Ah yes!  In the 1950s during the summer, my Mom would occasionally give me a quarter and I would ride my bike up to the local mall (outdoor of course, the indoor type was not in vogue).  So at the drug store, I would buy a 10c comic book (usually Superman) and a 5c candy bar, then go to the lunch counter and get a 10c Coke.  I would sit there, eat my candy bar and drink my Coke, while devouring the comic book from cover to cover!  I was in hog heaven!


----------



## spectratg (Mar 20, 2022)

C50 said:


> Car and bike both turned by an old crank?
> (shame on me but I couldn't stop myself)


I need to go to a story my mother told to me about learning to drive that type of car, circa 1922.  She was 12, her older brother was 16 and had a car (I don't know the details of how he got it).  He was taking my mother for a drive one day, pulled over to the side of the road and told her to get behind the wheel.  So that is how my mother learned to drive at the age of 12, no driver licenses needed back then.


----------



## Pecos (Mar 20, 2022)

How to pick cotton by hand, how to clean fish, how to call hogs, how to change a bicycle tire, how to drive a stick shift car ... just to name a few.


----------



## Timewise 60+ (Mar 20, 2022)

Packerjohn said:


> How to be politically incorrect, how to have a BB gun fight and how to have a sling-shot fight.  Oh and the wonderful fun of tipping over an outhouse on Halloween Night.  It was tricky because you didn't want to fall inside while tipping it over.  I know because I experienced all those things when I was young and "wild."  I don't do those things anymore.  Must be "old age."


John, you bring back some great memories...I grew up in the high mountains, Rocky Mountains in the USA...and we were doing the same thing...great memories, and no one "shot their eye out"....SMILE


----------



## jimintoronto (Mar 20, 2022)

caroln said:


> Your post reminded me of when my friends and I collected empty glass soda bottles and turned them in for, if I remember right, 2 cents each.  Back then we were always busy doing _something_!


Here in Ontario empty beer cans and bottles are worth ten cents each, so it is rare to see any of them lying on the ground. The Beer Store takes them in and gives you cash . Many seniors here have a side job collecting the bottles and cans for cash. My crushed beer cans are worth about $10 a month. Liquor and wine bottles are also worth ten cents each at the Beer Store refund section.  As a result our road sides and parks are pretty clean, compared to other places. JimB.


----------



## Timewise 60+ (Mar 20, 2022)

spectratg said:


> Ah yes!  In the 1950s during the summer, my Mom would occasionally give me a quarter and I would ride my bike up to the local mall (outdoor of course, the indoor type was not in vogue).  So at the drug store, I would buy a 10c comic book (usually Superman) and a 5c candy bar, then go to the lunch counter and get a 10c Coke.  I would sit there, eat my candy bar and drink my Coke, while devouring the comic book from cover to cover!  I was in hog heaven!


I collected pop bottles and turned them in at the local store for two cents each.  Sometimes we would get enough to get a comic book (Superman, Batman, Flash, Elastic Man and a chocolate soda at the local drug store.  After reading the comic book for a few days, I would go to my barber and he would give me a nickel for any 'new' comic that was in good shape.  Sometimes he had a comic I had not read, then we would just swap.  Good old days they were...


----------



## Timewise 60+ (Mar 20, 2022)

What happened to learning to read music and play an instrument?  Was required in my day beginning in 3rd grade.  We then played in band and sang in the choir.  Seems like in grade school, everyone did something in music...part of a well-rounded education!


----------



## JustDave (Mar 20, 2022)

C50 said:


> I was thinking on this subject just the other day.  I'm not sure why but the first thing that popped in my mind was the headlight dimmer button you had to push with your foot.  I think those were gone by the 80's.


I lived in Montana.  The nearest Volkswagen dealer was 90 miles away, and I finished buying one in the early evening.  As I was driving home in the dark, I could not find the dimmer switch, which was OK, because the lights were already set to dim.  They took the thing off the floor completely.  I stamped all around, stopped the car, and couldn't figure it out.  I drove all the way home not knowing where the switch was.  Eventually, I found the thing on the signal switch.  How inconvenient!  I can't remember if I eventually blundered onto it or read the manual.


----------



## JustDave (Mar 20, 2022)

Mandee said:


> I remember coal deliveries,


Remember that wall paper cleaner that was like Play Dough?  You would roll it into a snake and drag it down the wall paper to get rid of the coal soot.  It was fun doing it in the spring.  It would leave this dramatic clean streak.  It always amazed me how dirty the walls got over the winter.


----------



## jimintoronto (Mar 21, 2022)

JustDave said:


> Remember that wall paper cleaner that was like Play Dough?  You would roll it into a snake and drag it down the wall paper to get rid of the coal soot.  It was fun doing it in the spring.  It would leave this dramatic clean streak.  It always amazed me how dirty the walls got over the winter.


Imagine what the  coal dust did to your lungs ? JimB.


----------



## Lanny (Mar 22, 2022)

Pink Biz said:


> View attachment 213809


Very nice post!  All those home remedies were used on me as a youngster. Seeing that picture of Bob Barker on The Price Is Right put a smile on my face. Brings back memories of when I was in college in the mid-Seventies. The Price Is Right was huge among college kids in my area in those days. The soap opera "The Young and the Restless" and "General Hospital" too. Even among the guys.
I remember the TV room in the student center would be packed every morning with kids watching The Price is Right and "The Young" between classes. And when Luke and Laura got married that was a blockbuster. Standing room only.


----------



## JustDave (Apr 23, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> The traditional Rag & Bone man with his horse and cart, and a balloon or a gold fish in exchange for your old tat is long gone... but we do have an 'Any Old Iron'  type of  guy who comes around once a month in his truck collecting anything that might be made from metal..old washing machines , dryers, pots and pans, bikes .. anything that can be melted down..


Yeah, I remember that guy with his horse and cart making his way through the alleys of suburban Chicago.  He would make his presence known by continually calling out, "Rags and old iron," but he had a different first language than us, and my friends and I thought he was saying, "Rags-a-lion."  I asked my mother what that meant, and she told me what she thought he was really saying.  I listened carefully after that.  Nope, I was still sure it was, "Rags-a-lion."  My friends and I would occasionally find ourselves yelling, "Rags-a-lion!"  It was fun to say.  He also sharpened scissors, and while I don't remember him actually picking up any rags and iron, I do remember many women coming out to have him sharpen up their kitchen tools.  I guessed he was an expert at that.


----------



## JustDave (Apr 23, 2022)

hollydolly said:


> We still have a milkman, altho' I don't get my milk delivered because his milk from the dairy is almost 3 times the price of the supermarket but my next door neighbours get their milk delivered, along with  orange juice and eggs and yoghurt and bread . He comes around 2 or 2.30am.. and delivers to the doorsteps, and to my knowledge the milk has  never been stolen , which is amazing


We had a milkman, and most of our neighbors did too.  But here's a new one I think.  We also had an ice man, because we had this wooden ice box in our pantry, and the ice man would come in with a big block of ice he carried on his back with a huge pair of tongs.  I thought this guy was really important, because he was the only one who could keep our food cold, and he must have been really strong.  He came about every other day.  As far as I knew, he was probably more important than the president.  Then one day we got our first refrigerator, and put it next to the kitchen sink.  It had a freezer so we could keep ice cream, but only about two pints would fit in the freezer.


----------



## hollydolly (Apr 23, 2022)

JustDave said:


> Yeah, I remember that guy with his horse and cart making his way through the alleys of suburban Chicago.  He would make his presence known by continually calling out, "Rags and old iron," but he had a different first language than us, and my friends and I thought he was saying*, "Rags-a-lion."  I asked my mother what that meant, and she told me what she thought he was really saying.  I listened carefully after that.  Nope, I was still sure it was, "Rags-a-lion."  My friends and I would occasionally find ourselves yelling, "Rags-a-lion!"  It was fun to say.  *He also sharpened scissors, and while I don't remember him actually picking up any rags and iron, I do remember many women coming out to have him sharpen up their kitchen tools.  I guessed he was an expert at that.


Exactly the same here..we thought he was saying the same as you.. because that's how he would be calling out...rags-a-lion...what he was saying was ''Rags or any old Iron''... ..but yes here he did get a lot of old iron and rags.. . the mothers would allow the kids to take out the old clothes to him, and we children would get a Balloon, or a Gold fish in a plastic bag of water depending on the amount we took to him..


----------



## Tish (Apr 24, 2022)




----------



## mrstime (Apr 24, 2022)

I was 10 years old when I saw the first TV. We had the Milkman, the Ice cream man, the iceman and the Helms bread man!

DH grew up in New Mexico, got his drivers licence at 14 but drove the tractor well before that . His mother taught him to drive when he was 9 so he could drive their long drive way to catch the school bus.

Kids today probably don't even realise we didn't have TV until I was in my teens. 

I'm in fact, really glad we didn't have computers when our kids were growing up. We did have encyclopedias (those were sets of thick books), for any young ones reading here. There was no fighting over the TV because there were only 2 channels when they were growing up.


----------



## dseag2 (Apr 24, 2022)

We had the full set of World Book encyclopedias.  They were bought one or a few at a time so it took me forever to get to XYZ.  I thought as a kid that if I read through all of them I would know everything there was to know in the world.   

Hard to believe, but they still sell them!

https://www.worldbook.com/world-book-encyclopedia-2021.aspx


----------



## Murrmurr (Apr 24, 2022)

Anyone mention Panty Raids yet? You'd go to jail for that now, for sure.


----------



## SeniorBen (Apr 24, 2022)

dseag2 said:


> We had the full set of World Book encyclopedias.  They were bought one or a few at a time so it took me forever to get to XYZ.  I thought as a kid that if I read through all of them I would know everything there was to know in the world.
> 
> Hard to believe, but they still sell them!
> 
> https://www.worldbook.com/world-book-encyclopedia-2021.aspx


On sale for only $599.00. That's $400.00 off! I'm getting two sets at that price!   

It's hard to believe they're still in business. Who on earth would buy them?

I just took another look. That's the 2021 edition for $600. The 2022 edition is full price of $1,000. WTF? They must sell them to libraries or something.


----------



## oldman (Apr 25, 2022)

Loved being a kid in the 50’s and 60’s. Going to drive-in movie theaters and restaurants. Things were much more quiet and simple. We didn’t worry about getting kidnapped and our parents didn’t discuss family matters or yell at us using foul language. We had chores to do and didn’t need to be constantly reminded. Our biggest catastrophe was when the chain on my bike broke.


----------



## Chet (Apr 25, 2022)

The ability to hang your thumb out on the side of the road and hitch-hike and do so safely.


----------



## Marie5656 (Apr 25, 2022)

*Life before the internet....actually having to work at looking things up. Or the concept of having ONLY real life friends...not internet friendships.
Do they still have Drivers Ed in school? Or Home ec or wood shop.  I so wanted to take shop..but that was just for boys.

When I was in school it was dresses only for the girls..until I was about a senior*


----------



## mrstime (Apr 25, 2022)

Chet said:


> The ability to hang your thumb out on the side of the road and hitch-hike and do so safely.


Guys could but in those days no decent girl would even think about it.


----------



## C50 (May 6, 2022)

Who remembers earning double digit interest on savings accounts and your local banks?  That will never happen again.


----------



## Murrmurr (May 6, 2022)

Marie5656 said:


> *Do they still have Drivers Ed in school? Or Home ec or wood shop.  I so wanted to take shop..but that was just for boys.*


Some high schools still do, but parents have to pay for it. Last I checked the cost was $350. That was at least 5yrs ago.

Some schools dropped the behind-the-wheel part of Driver's Ed, a lot of them dropped it altogether.


----------



## GoneFishin (May 6, 2022)

Doctor house calls.
Milk delivered right to your door by the milk man.
5 cent beer.
50 cents per gallon gas.
1 cent candy.
Fountain pens.
Adding/subtracting/dividing/multiplication done in your head without the help of calculator.
Writing.


----------



## Nathan (May 6, 2022)

horseless carriage said:


> What today's younger generation will never know


Every generation has it's own style and priorities.  It would be interesting to know what today's generation say in 50 years, but then we'll never know.


----------



## JimBob1952 (May 6, 2022)

The fun of getting a letter from a friend.  And something called Wite-out, used to fix "typos" on documents. 

Important people had secretaries, either young and attractive or (if the person was really important) older and somewhat terrifying.  Sometimes they had both. 

Lines in the dormitory on Sunday nights to use the single pay phone.  

I worked in ad agencies with "art departments" where people cut and pasted (using x-acto knives and paste) and actually drew things by hand.  They used Letraset letters to make "comps" which were then photographed and turned into magazine ads through a mysterious process.

No more slide rules, thank God.  I never could figure those stupid things out. 

The place where I swim has a substance called Vitalis in the men's locker room.  I use it to make my sparse but unruly hair look neat.  I'm not sure it is sold anymore in the real world.  Is Brylcreem sold anywhere?


----------



## JimBob1952 (May 6, 2022)

Also, I seem to recall that people used to dress up to take plane trips.  And I know my mom used to dress up to go shopping downtown with her friends on a Saturday.


----------



## Paco Dennis (May 6, 2022)

Nathan said:


> Every generation has it's own style and priorities.  It would be interesting to know what today's generation say in 50 years, but then we'll never know.


I agree...I would have to answer the OP with


----------



## spectratg (May 6, 2022)

Nathan said:


> Every generation has it's own style and priorities.  It would be interesting to know what today's generation say in 50 years, but then we'll never know.


I just hope that civilization hasn't collapsed due to the (apparently accelerating) climate change effects, for our grandchildren and their grandchildren.  I am not optimistic, but, hey, maybe technology and AI might save the planet!


----------

