It was a bit before 1964 when I was in elementary school, but I remember mowing lawns to get a bit of cash, after which me and a buddy or two would walk a couple of miles across the large field and woods near our house to the gas station where they sold ammo. Shotgun, rifle and of course our round of choice .22LR. We carried our rifles with us right into the station and leaned them near the door while we bought the ammo. No one gave a second look.

In 1951-1955, my high school in Detroit, Michigan actually had a .22 rifle range on site (underground). When I went back in 2005 for a reunion, the range was no longer in use (or accessible).

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by kyoung:
When I was in high school, it was nothing to see pickups with easy rider rifle racks in the back window with a rifle or shotgun in them, parked at school.

Me too. I graduated from a small town high school, in not quite suburban Houston 40-some years ago. There were a lot of 870s and a few 30-30s in those pickups. It did change not long after that.

Circa 1958/59 I had my Remington 521T in my locker at St. Thomas Moore Elementary and then took it on the Portland (OR) city bus down to the Multnomah Athletic Club for Riflery Class.
I don't think my 2 grandsons would believe me if I told them now.

Yup, my dad took his gun to school everyday so he could hunt on the way home. It just went without saying.
In high school, my boyfriend took his deer rifle with him but kept it locked in the truck, (not in the rack) so he could head straight to the deer shack for the weekend after school let out. Never thought twice about scrambling over the case.

I had a Chebby 1969 C10 pickup while in high school, mid 70's era. It had a gun rack in the back window and I'd keep my Marlin/Glenfield 22 in it. Drove to and from school with that in the back window, never had any issue at all. Cops didn't care, nobody called the cops nobody even blinked or flinched or whatever. It was a total non-event.

I still have that 22 rifle after all these years.

The old '69 Chebby C10? It was purchased from a farmer, a well known cheapskate. I guess farmers had a need to be thrifty, then and now.

I got rid of it as soon as I could. It was a pain in the ass. Manual 3 on the tree, no power brakes, no power steering, nothing. No radio, no air conditioning, not even stinkin' armrests! Roll up/down windows cranks. NO carpet of course not, just rubber floor, which was easy to clean, just take a hose and wash it out Vinyl seats too dang hot in the summer and too dang cold in the winter. There was a knob on each side of the dash, that was a vent that opened and let in outside air. Very first time I pulled the knob open while driving a veritable chit-cloud of dirt and wheat dust blew out and into my face. Sneezing, coughing, I had to pull over and get out. Never the less, that ol' pickup gave me freedom to cruise around and do what I wanted, and that was wonderful.

There are many many ways life in the older decades were much better than life today, and of course modern day things, many of them, are better today than ever before. Medical care, for example, is vastly superior today.

Today, live is a pain in the ass. By that I mean we are constantly bombarded 24/7/365 by media, by noise, by manipulation, etc etc etc. We do not live today with peace and quiet. You have to go way out in the country, mountains, desert, etc to get some sort of relief, but it doesn't do much good as today we are addicted to our cell phones, email, texting, videos and video games and such. We are on edge because of the constant incessant barrage of political manipulation which is so bad we've gotten used to it and don't realize it's there.

My oldest brother graduated from high school in 1959, I was 18 months old. He had graduated from College and started a family before I got to the age I began to recognize people and know who they were. Never knew him as a brother, he was just an older guy than me, but was around. My point saying this is that he has a different viewpoint of what life was like, his life, than mine while growing up. I'll ask him what his thoughts are on this topic.
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I took my dad's Highway Patrolman to school for show and tell once. Nobody said a word. My teacher Mrs. Arestad, my principal Mr. Posey? Not a word. My classmates thought it was cool.

I can't count the number of times mom sent me to the store to buy her cigarettes (Salems). Nobody said a word.

And I, too, have fond memories of green stamps. Still remember where the store was. It's a liquor store now.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I took my dad's Highway Patrolman to school for show and tell once. Nobody said a word. My teacher Mrs. Arestad, my principal Mr. Posey? Not a word. My classmates thought it was cool.

I can't count the number of times mom sent me to the store to buy her cigarettes (Salems). Nobody said a word.

And I, too, have fond memories of green stamps. Still remember where the store was. It's a liquor store now.

When I lived at home (up to 1960), my parents would often send me to the store to buy their cigarettes (Lucky Strikes). I hated it and everything associated with smoking, but they were my parents and I did it. Back then we could buy Terpin Hydrate and Codeine cough medicine over the counter at the drug store, too (and it worked).

I was not, however, very old when the cocaine was removed from Coca Cola.

flashguy

I graduated high school in 1976. Was driving a pickup jr and sr years. Always had a loaded Winchester 1200 12ga, Rem nylon 66 22lr, Rem 788 22-250 and a six shot 22lr/22mag pistol in my unlocked pickup. Bought the pistol brand new from the gun store in the Goodyear tire store in town. The sales person knew me and all he asked me when buying it was your not going to get into any trouble with it are you. Nope don't plan on it and never did. Also never had any trouble buying ammo at anytime in my life. I made the money working my ass off doing a mans job and was allowed to spend it like a responsible person. That included buying alcohol from the age of 16.
Hell the TABC knew I was buying alcohol as a minor. Came home from school one afternoon and my dad was home which was rare. Said sit down we need to talk. Threw a business card across the table at me which read Jim Head-TABC. I about shit myself. Dad said Jim dropped by for a visit today and said your name had been kicked around as possibly selling alcohol to minors which I wasn't doing. Was told that I could buy all the booze I wanted but to not be selling it to others. Never sold it but did share a few six packs with friends out on our nightly spot lighting rides or chick hunting on the town drag.
Jim Head knew my dad from his days of being a reporter for the Abilene Reporter News when he covered the courthouse in Abilene. Dad used to go on raids of illegal moonshine busts so knew lots of people in different places.

Anybody else ever "cruise Main St."? That was a thing back then. From Taco John's down to Rosauers...13 blocks from one end of town to the other(not exactly a big city). Friday and Saturday nights it was steady line of cars going back and forth. Every kid with a car was there. Chevelles, Mustangs, pickup trucks, Pintos, Galaxy 500s...didn't matter. If you wanted to be anybody, you were there.

We called ours "The Drag", if you were low on gas you sat on the "Piggly Wiggly/Hoggly Woggly" or the Gulf station parking lot.

Yes, we cruised Main. My first st driving lesson was in a 57 Chevy while the owner was making out with his girl friend in the back. That was in 1964. That was also the year I bought my first guitar after that certain Ed Sullivan show. Good times

My first driving lsesson was in 1955. I had graduated from high school and was approaching my 18th birthday. My dad came to me one afternoon and said "Are you or are you not going to learn to drive?" (We lived in a city with good bus service and I'd not seen a need.) He began teaching me in his 1953 Ford, which of course had a stick shift. I was not very adept and he didn't have a lot of patience. When we went back into the house afterwards, my mom said she didn't know which one to feel sorriest for. I did eventually learn how to drive, but I never had the joy doing it that my father did.

In Detroit, the "drive" was on Woodward Ave., the central street through town. I believe it is still a practice for the locals, but I've not been to Detroit since 2011, and only for a quick tour of where I'd lived and schooled.

flashguy

Woodward Ave really comes alive for cruising around the 3rd Saturday in August. Cruisers from all over show up for it,
A few times I have heard of cars being shipped in from other continents for the fun.