I remember the tv repairman was a frequent visitor in the neighborhood in his station wagon packed full of vacuum tubes.

Party line phones, rabbit ear TV, black and white TV, Lone Ranger, Lost in Space, TV test pattern, 4 TV stations, large whitewall tires, milkman with wire basket and glass bottles with pull tabs, Dr. made house calls, pay phone and so much more...

quote:

Originally posted by Av8nShooter:
I remember the tv repairman was a frequent visitor in the neighborhood in his station wagon packed full of vacuum tubes.

My father was a electronics guy. Once a year, he pulled all of the tubes out of our TV and took them to the drug store to test them.
Mike

My first memory is of being taken to Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but the first historical memory I have is of Martin Luther King's assasination, and not long after, the moon landings.

I remember only black and white TV.

Leaded gas cost $0.30.

The first bike I remember was a Schwinn Stingray, one speed, coaster brakes, and gold.

They still delivered milk, and Charles' Chips.

Vaguely remember milk deliveries, but I was very young at that time. Remember the first color tv parent had, with rabbit ears, 3 channels, and it went off the air at night. Midnight?
Used to have a farm truck come by each summer with produce to sell, that was cool, since we were a residential area, just inside city. Not horsedrawn, though.
Remember listening to the radio shows, under the covers at night when I was supposed to be sleeping. The shadow, etc. Nobody locked their doors, and I could be out until dark, no questions. No way to find me, either, unless you knew my haunts to go searching.

Milk delivered at the back door. Cream on the top my mom separated off. Empties in the insulated box for return.
Riding my bike to the pool. To the library. To the... everywhere. Freedom! (And no helmets. Just side baskets). Playing cards with clothespins to give it that "vroom" sound!
Just before the nightly TV test pattern, the video with John Gillespie Magee, Jr.'s "High Flight," ending with "-Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."
"Don't sit so close to the TV, you'll ruin your eyes!"
B&W shows: Bozo the Clown (with Willard Scott), Pick Temple (D.C. local), Mickey Mouse Club.
Dad's Studebaker. Then, his Rambler.
A window air-conditioner in the living room. None in the bedrooms!
Baseball trading cards. "Pitch-back" practice net.
Telephone numbers of only seven digits, using mnemonics (e.g., "OLiver was 65). Called TI4-2525 for time, WE6-1212 for weather.
Wooden sleds. Roller skates with metal wheels (which later could be fastened to a board and made into a skateboard). Skate keys.
Lincoln logs (real wood), Erector sets (real metal).
Transistor radios. First AM. Then, FM. Gave way to 8-tracks. Then cassettes. Then CDs.
"War of the Worlds" in a movie theater. Starring Gene Barry.
Elvis. The Beatles. The Beach Boys.

Ah, reminiscences. I may come back for/with more.

An earlier poster mentioned that if he was out and about, there was no way to find him.
No such luck for me.
If I stayed out after curfew (dark), my Mother activated the neighborhood telephone chain alert system. Other Moms in the chain then called other Moms and a highly effective dragnet was put into operation. This often would involve my friends being interrogated as to my last confirmed sighting.
On once such alert, as I pedaled the five or six blocks towards home, four separate Moms hollered "you better get your ass home, your Mom wants you"! No matter what evil deeds I was planning, I always knew that many eyes were on me.
It takes a village to raise a child.

I remember watching the news showing the helo lift off the top of a building in Saigon, when I was four or five...didnt know what it meant then

got my ass whipped by neighborhood mom's...
I was also the remote as many of you were
Pay phones
no one knowing where you were for hours at a time
TV was black and white
70's kid

I reflect now and wonder at all the things my grandparents saw in their lifetimes...from horses to cars...rocketships, TV....

Mike makes a good point about previous generations.
My Grandfather was born in 1896 and was a WWI Vet. He did not pass on until the late 70s. Had to be amazing for him to see our moon landing.

quote:

Originally posted by HJrocket:
What is this TV you referenced? I tuned the family radio to Arthur Godfrey until' I went off war in the Army Air Corps in '44

A tip of my hat to you, Sir. That's the year I was born.

Did not believe TV even existed! Did not see one until I was 10 years old.

I was born in 1937, so was a kid in the 1940s. Our home had running water and indoor toilet, but no hot water. Took baths in a big galvanized steel tub with water heated on the stove. Around 1950 dad installed a hot water heater (tank with external gas-fired coil) and a stall shower--that was luxury! I listened to "Ma Perkins" and "The Guiding Light" on a console radio (tubes!) and on Saturday to "The Lone Ranger", "Sky King", and "Let's Pretend". My cousins and I rode the bus to the theater on Saturdays and watched the 4-hour marathon of a double feature, a serial, and beaucoup cartoons--cost a quarter. Played outside with friends and came home when the street lights came on. Our city did have a few streetcars, but electric buses were starting to replace them; most buses were still internal combustion. We had milkmen and houses had milk chutes. My dad became a milkman in the 1950s; I remember as a small child getting into family homes through the milk chute when they were locked out (left the keys inside)--tight fit, even for me. There were vegetable and bread trucks plying the neighborhood back then, too (and, of course, ice cream trucks!). We played in the street when heavy rains caused the sewers to back up. We drank from garden hoses. My cousins and I played croquet and board games. TV? I was in high school when we got our first one (B&W).

It was a great time to grow up!
ensigmatic pretty well described it (I hadn't read his when I posted mine).

flashguy

This message has been edited. Last edited by: flashguy,

I remember turning on the big radio in the living room and heard the report Pearl Harbor being bombed. I was almost 14 days short of 6.

My dad got a group of men on our block and formed a Civil Defense unit. The put a flag pole in our front yard and dad used to put the flag up every morning.

At this point, I am shocked to realize that I am closer to 80 than 50.

Early memories of riding in my Dad's 1948 Chevy.

quote:

Originally posted by ArLEOret:
I remember turning on the big radio in the living room and heard the report Pearl Harbor being bombed. I was almost 14 days short of 6.

My family was in California and I was exactly 14 days short of 4.

flashguy

I remember getting a new record and playing it as soon as I got home. Seems like just a week ago (it was).

Stuff I remember...

Black and white TV. We eventually got a huge color TV, 19" screen, the first in the neighborhood. Our neighbors used to come over and watch Bonanza and Disney's Wonderful World Of Color with us, until they got their own.

Used to watch Addams Family, Get Smart, Hogan's Heroes, Andy Griffith, etc. all in their first run. Used to sneak out of bed with my brother to catcha few minutes of The Dean Martin Show. I remember not liking Star Trek when it first aired, thought Lost in Space was better. Had a Winky Dink screen kit and watched the show.

Other TV moments: moon landing (my sister still has the drawings we made that night of the event), RFK assassination and funeral, the Sharon Tate/Manson murders. I grew up with the Vietnam War on TV almost every single night.

Even as a little child, I was well aware of who The Beatles were, the most popular musical entity at the time. In later years, their breakup was huge news.

I remember riding my bike to Thriftys to buy a 5 cent ice cream cone. In my early teen years, my brother and I used splurge and to go the greek restaurant near us for the Dollar Special; 1/4 lb burger, fries, unlimited chips and salsa, and a small Coke.

The most important book in our household was the Sears catalog. Not so much for purchasing, but to look and pretend what we would buy.

I remember mom sending me down to the grocery store on my bike on occasion to get some necessary ingredient for dinner. She'd often give me an extra 30 cents to buy her a pack of Salems as well.

The check-out ladies never even raised an eyebrow.

Of course, that was back in the days of the cigarette vending machines where you put in your 50 cents (or whatever it was), pulled out the knob, and got your pack of smokes. Everybody and anybody (including kids) could buy them whenever they wanted.

Cartoons were only on Saturday morning
Mom exersizing with Jack LaLane
Cigarette commercials on tv
Department store in town named Chinatown
Restaurant named Sambos
Milkman letting himself in twice a week, put the glass bottles in the fridge. Empties in a metal box on the front porch
Baseball cards in the spokes of your stingray
Real M-80 firecrackers
last family on our block to get color tv
last family to get a/c

Remember hearing on the radio that Hawaii became a state.