Remember When

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wins my vote for the greatest commercials of all time - NYC dude for sure
"Crazy" Eddie Antar was later jailed for fraud





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Quote: EvenBob

Remember when we paid every bill with a check. There were no debit cards, there was no direct deposit, there was no electronic payments. If you paid a bill, you wrote a check, stuck it in an envelope and put a stamp on it. I haven't mailed a letter in over 10 years. I have no idea what postage is now. I suspect .60 or $0.65. If you're under the age of 25 chances are you've never written a check in your life and probably never will.

I write exactly one check a year, $880 for a year's worth for my storage unit. That place is so antiquated they don't take debit cards.

On a side note, I read recently that babies born today may never need to learn how to drive. By the time they're 18 years old, we should all have self driving vehicles.

I remember when I was in 8th grade in 1962 something happened and my dad had to go to a loan shop downtown, Liberty Loan, and borrow $50 that he paid back $5 a week plus interest. Today this seems ludicrous, $50? In 1962 that was $450 in today's money. Still kind of a ridiculous amount of money to borrow, even today. But in 1962 you could buy a halfway decent used car for $50. That was the year my great-grandfather died, my dad's grandfather. He had to travel back east and I think the $50 paid for the airfare of flying to Delaware and back. $50 went a long way in 1962.

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a must for every secretary and boss pre-computer







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Quote: lilredrooster

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"Thriller" was another good one from back in the day - hosted by Boris Karloff who got famous playing Frankenstein
this one features a hot 60s style babe as the cheating wife
the other link is to "Chiller" - yet another one that I used to waste time with as a kid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zWtht7XjvFE


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Naked City was a really high quality production serial from around 1961.

When I started practicing law in 1980 my office did not have word processing equipment; my secretary had an IBM Selectric typewriter and used carbon paper.

No wonder she got pissed when I asked her to change something, she had to start over again and retype it.

Similarly, there used to be a court stenographer present during all on the record court proceedings, taking everything down in their shorthand and later typing it up for the record; now it is all on video.

It's amazing that we used Edison's inefficient filament light bulbs for over 100 years before they came up with something better. My house was built 170 years ago and doesn't have enough windows. So I used to burn 15 watt bulbs 24/7 in five different places in the house. On the package it said the bulbs should burn 1500 hours. I started checking and they didn't even last 1000 hours. So every time I changed the bulbs I would write down the date keep the receipt and the packaging and when it burned out I sent everything to GE and without question they would send me a refund. 15 watt bulbs we're kind of expensive.. I did this for over a decade got bored with it so I stopped. These new LED bulbs are fantastic, I have yet to have one quit working. They are supposed to last year's. They never really stop working, they just get dimmer and dimmer until they're producing almost no light. I bought 20 of them at Walmart for under $5 which I'm now thinking might be a lifetime supply.

You always knew when it was Saturday in the 1950s in my neighborhood. Blue Collar houses and on every street there would be at least 10 guys working on their cars in their driveway. Hoods up, messing with the engine, underneath changing the oil, vacuuming the interior, hand washing it with a hose and a bucket of soapy water. And in the garage playing loudly was the Saturday baseball game. If the men weren't doing that they were mowing their front yards with a push mower. If you owned a used car in the 50s you had to be a shade tree mechanic. There were no oil change places, you made an appointment at your local garage. Every guy I knew changed his own oil, including my dad. This is in the spring summer and fall, in the winter you did it in the garage.

This is huge nostalgia for me, there was always something special about Saturdays in the 50s. There's even a Saturday evening post cover the shows a city block with man working on their cars on a Saturday. I couldn't find it but this one will do.

For kids in the fifties / sixties, Saturday morning meant CARTOONS!

Rocky and Bullwinkle.

Fractured Fairy Tales.

Many others, all lined up til noon or so, at which time we went OUTSIDE to play.

Often we went to the movies in the afternoon: extra butter on the popcorn, please.

We never went to the movies on Saturday in the summer, that was only during school months. In the winter we went to the movies almost every Saturday with about fourteen hundred other screaming kids.

Quote: EvenBob

You always knew when it was Saturday in the 1950s in my neighborhood. Blue Collar houses and on every street there would be at least 10 guys working on their cars in their driveway. Hoods up, messing with the engine, underneath changing the oil, vacuuming the interior, hand washing it with a hose and a bucket of soapy water. And in the garage playing loudly was the Saturday baseball game. If the men weren't doing that they were mowing their front yards with a push mower. If you owned a used car in the 50s you had to be a shade tree mechanic. There were no oil change places, you made an appointment at your local garage. Every guy I knew changed his own oil, including my dad. This is in the spring summer and fall, in the winter you did it in the garage.

This is huge nostalgia for me, there was always something special about Saturdays in the 50s. There's even a Saturday evening post cover the shows a city block with man working on their cars on a Saturday. I couldn't find it but this one will do.

Quote: daveyandersen1

Quote: EvenBob

You always knew when it was Saturday in the 1950s in my neighborhood. Blue Collar houses and on every street there would be at least 10 guys working on their cars in their driveway. Hoods up, messing with the engine, underneath changing the oil, vacuuming the interior, hand washing it with a hose and a bucket of soapy water. And in the garage playing loudly was the Saturday baseball game. If the men weren't doing that they were mowing their front yards with a push mower. If you owned a used car in the 50s you had to be a shade tree mechanic. There were no oil change places, you made an appointment at your local garage. Every guy I knew changed his own oil, including my dad. This is in the spring summer and fall, in the winter you did it in the garage.

This is huge nostalgia for me, there was always something special about Saturdays in the 50s. There's even a Saturday evening post cover the shows a city block with man working on their cars on a Saturday. I couldn't find it but this one will do.

i remember my goofy neighbor painting his car with a brush in his back yard..yes I said a brush This was around 1958 or9

Quote: daveyandersen1

i remember my goofy neighbor painting his car with a brush in his back yard..yes I said a brush This was around 1958 or9

It was not that uncommon. You could do a pretty good job if you used an expensive brush and a good lacquer. You couldn't even see the brush strokes. But you had to do at least three coats and it was time consuming. Still cheaper then Earl Scheib for $29.

Earl Scheib was a true American success story. Graduated high school in 1925 and by 1928 had his own gas station in Los Angeles. He began painting cars as a side job and soon sold the gas station and opened a car painting company. By the end of World War II he had franchises in a bunch of different states and was making his own paint. He was a fixture on TV in the 50s and 60s. He started with nothing and with hard work and entrepreneurship was worth tens of millions when he died at age 84.

I remember in 1965 my cousin had a 52 Chevy, a real big boat. He had it painted bright green at Earl Scheib. I went there with him and was struck by the fact that every single person working on the paint line was Black. It was a really crappy job, the air was so thick with paint fumes it made you sick just standing outside. They all had masks on but still it had to be a very unhealthy place to work.

I hated Saturdays in the summer. I was forced to mow the grass every Saturday and it was torture. My dad always wanted it cut criss crossed so I had to do twice the work. I vowed that when I got older I would never cut grass again. It has been about 30 years since I lended my lawn mower to a friend and never asked for it back. I will never cut grass again.

Quote: EvenBob

i remember my goofy neighbor painting his car with a brush in his back yard..yes I said a brush This was around 1958 or9

It was not that uncommon. You could do a pretty good job if you used an expensive brush and a good lacquer. You couldn't even see the brush strokes. But you had to do at least three coats and it was time consuming. Still cheaper then Earl Scheib for $29.

Earl Scheib was a true American success story. Graduated high school in 1925 and by 1928 had his own gas station in Los Angeles. He began painting cars as a side job and soon sold the gas station and opened a car painting company. By the end of World War II he had franchises in a bunch of different states and was making his own paint. He was a fixture on TV in the 50s and 60s. He started with nothing and with hard work and entrepreneurship was worth tens of millions when he died at age 84.

I remember in 1965 my cousin had a 52 Chevy, a real big boat. He had it painted bright green at Earl Scheib. I went there with him and was struck by the fact that every single person working on the paint line was Black. It was a really crappy job, the air was so thick with paint fumes it made you sick just standing outside. They all had masks on but still it had to be a very unhealthy place to work.

there was a paint shop just down the street from my house .When we were kids we would just walk thru the place ..I remember seeing alot of paint mist in the air. I thought it smelt good..The place was not very well ventilated..I suppose the guys that worked there probably got lung cancer or lead poisoning..horray for OSHA they put a stop to that..

Quote: DRich

I was forced to mow the grass every Saturday and it was torture.

Me too.

Most of the time I just buckled down and did it but once in awhile I'd get a 'wild hair" and deliberately mess up, leaving an uncut line or two of grass.

My dad would see this and say disgustedly "Get your brother out here to finish it up."

Heh heh heh ,,, the plan worked.

Quote: DRich

I will never cut grass again.

I hated the Briggs & Stratton push mower we had and I swore when I started working I was going to get a riding lawn mower. My first one was in 1969 and was a 1963 used Wheel Horse like the one in the pic. It lasted 20 years and guys would bug the crap out of me when I was mowing the lawn to buy it from me because they are collectible. It was still running when I sold it. Then I got another Wheel Horse used, and bought the John Deere below about 10 years ago. I have almost an acre to mow and doing it on a John Deere is an absolute pleasure. There is nothing work-related about it. The guy driving the John Deere is not me, but I do have the wagon which is very handy. John Deere's are pretty expensive but this will be the last lawn tractor I ever buy. If you ever want a jolt of testosterone, get a Deere and use it frequently. It's a blast.

Quote: MrV

Me too.

Most of the time I just buckled down and did it but once in awhile I'd get a 'wild hair" and deliberately mess up, leaving an uncut line or two of grass.

My dad would see this and say disgustedly "Get your brother out here to finish it up."

Heh heh heh ,,, the plan worked.

Lucky you, I didn't have a brother. If I missed something my father would make me start over completely do another double cut.

Here is something very few here will remember. Traveling anywhere before there were freeways. Every summer we either went to West Virginia or to Delaware from Michigan. My dad's family was from West Virginia and his parents now lived in Delaware. In the 1950s you had to travel by two lane state and federal highways. Not only you but all the 18-wheel trucks. So you were constantly playing the game of pass the truck and not get killed. This was the hay day of the CB radios the truckers used to avoid the police. Cops were on a quota in those days and had to write x amount of tickets everyday so they would hide behind billboards and on side roads and the truckers would alert each other as to where the speed traps were.

There were no franchise fast food restaurants except for maybe Dairy Queen and a few others which were mostly around big cities. All along the state and US highways were Mom and Pop restaurants. Dixie Fried Chicken, or Fat Bob's Grill. Of course they all went out of business when the freeways came in the sixties. I live two miles from a former US Highway and about eight miles from where I live was a Mom and Pop restaurant that had been there since the thirties. It somehow managed to survive all the way until the late 90s. It was only open Thursday through Sunday and it was jam-packed every hour it was open. They had one meal on the menu. Pulled pork, mashed potatoes and blueberry muffins that were about the size of a grapefruit. And it was super cheap. They brought you out a platter and half of the platter was a pile of pulled pork and on the other half was a pile of mashed potatoes with homemade gravy. And a big basket full of blueberry muffins. You could not eat all of it, you took the leftovers home. The Waitresses were all old because they worked here for decades, the tips were that good.

Problem was, they were famous for their gravy. People would come in and just buy a quart of gravy. The secret was the gravy cooked on the back of the stove 24/7 365 days a year. They just kept adding to it everyday. The health department eventually closed them down to the dismay of everyone. They were open from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. And there was always a line summer and winter. They only had pulled pork, mashed potatoes and gravy, but they were perfection. That's what you got its those mom-and-pop joints on the old highways, the ones the trucker's ate at. The restaurant was in an old farmhouse and the owners lived upstairs just as they had in the 1930s. It's a way of life that was a big part of America and is totally gone now. I'm thankful I got to eat their dozens of times before they closed, it was a real time machine into the past. Quaint does not even describe it.

KFC started in one of those Mom and Pop State Highway restaurants. Colonel Sanders owned a gas station that also had a small restaurant. He made his now-famous fried chicken and customers loved it and we all know how that turned out.

you guys had it made we never got a motorized lawn mower until the 70s Me and my brother{ mostly me] had to use the old mans push mower the kind with no motor[can't remember what there called..I remember he never sharpened all those blades either.. We had a little yard though.. But when I was 9 or 10 it seemed huge..

Our lawnmower was ancient. It had metal wheels and was dull as shit. Whenever possible, I'd borrow our neighbors. With ours, you had to push really hard to accomplish anything, while the new models would glide thru the rough.
I haven't mowed grass in many years and hope I never do again.

Quote: daveyandersen1

you guys had it made we never got a motorized lawn mower until the 70s

We moved from the city to the country in 1960 and my dad had to buy the Briggs & Stratton cuz a push mower was not going to cut it, literally. Even with the power mower cutting the grass took a couple hours of hot sun and mosquito bites.

Quote: billryan

I haven't mowed grass in many years and hope I never do again.

Get a good riding lawn tractor and you look forward to it. Get one with an umbrella and a beer can holder you'll mow the lawn twice a week. Every guy going by in a car with his wife and kiddies see's you and wishes he was you..

Quote: EvenBob

Get a good riding lawn tractor and you look forward to it. Get one with an umbrella and a beer can holder you'll mow the lawn twice a week. Every guy going by in a car with his wife and kiddies see's you and wishes he was you..

They already do, and would even if I was pushing the mower my grandfather inherited from his great ucle.

Quote: billryan

They already do, and would even if

Okay Paul Newman/Bill Gates, whatever you say.

Remember Howard Johnsons?

They used to be "the" dining option when traveling the highways of the middle Atlantic and New England states.

Quote: MrV

Remember Howard Johnsons?

They used to be "the" dining option when traveling the highways of the middle Atlantic and New England states.

Fried Clam Fridays. Waitresses would tremble when my Rugby team would storm the place.

True story here.
In the early 1970s, my friend's dad worked at a HoJo plant in Queens Village. One of his co-workers disappeared during his shift. Months later, his ring was found in some processed frozen fish. The supervisor had killed the man and dumped him in the processing batches.

Quote: MrV

Remember Howard Johnsons?

They used to be "the" dining option when traveling the highways of the middle Atlantic and New England states.

Howard Johnsons we're always around the cities. They were way out of my dad's price range anyway. We always took a picnic basket full of bologna sandwiches potato chips and Kool-Aid. And drove straight through without stopping. There were lots of cheapskates in the fifties and my dad was head of the list.

Quote: MrV

Remember Howard Johnsons?

They used to be "the" dining option when traveling the highways of the middle Atlantic and New England states.

I still see several of what used to be Howard Johnsons around town. The buildings are iconic.

Kind of like Pizza Hut. There are still many Pizza Huts around town, but none of them are in the standalone iconic 'hut' buildings any more. There are many buildings that used to be Pizza Huts, but now are occupied by other business.

And by the way, you are all soft! I mowed not only our 1/4 acre yard, but 2 or 3 of the neighbor's yards with a walk-behind mower. The neighbor across the street paid me $12 and it only took about a half hour to mow. Not a bad wage for a kid in the 80's. I still mow my yard today (literally, I will be mowing it this afternoon!).

Quote: MrV

Remember Howard Johnsons?

They used to be "the" dining option when traveling the highways of the middle Atlantic and New England states.

My parents used to take us kids to Howard Johnsons on one of our birthdays as the birthday person got a free meal. I always got the fried clam strips.

Quote: Joeman

And by the way, you are all soft! I mowed not only our 1/4 acre yard, but 2 or 3 of the neighbor's yards with a walk-behind mower. The neighbor across the street paid me $12 and it only took about a half hour to mow. Not a bad wage for a kid in the 80'x.

*sigh*

One hot summer day I asked the owner of an apartment complex if she'd pay me to weed her garderns.

Worked like a dog for eight hours, at twenty-five cents per hour.

Of course, a candy bar only cost a nickel ...

In the summer of 1970, the super of an apartment building hired me to do some part-time work. I was 12 and a dollar an hour seemed fine. At first I'd only work 2-3 hours a week, picking up dog crap and garbage spills. Then the summer came and it was 2-3 hours almost every day. Before I'd been paid at the end of every day but now he tells me I get paid once every two weeks. Two weeks go by and I'd worked 28 hours so I'm expecting $28. I'm leaving and have not been paid so I ask him. He reaches into his wallet and hands me a $20 bill. When I say I'd worked 28 hours, he tells me I have to factor in taxes and how I'd drunk some of the staff's soda, etc, etc.
My Dad is overseas in Vietnam so my Mom's brother is keeping an eye on us. He knows I'm getting paid and asks me what I'm going to do with it. I tell him how they took $8 out for taxes and stuff and he says something isn't right. He goes and has a talk with the guy and when I next go to work, he hands me a ten-dollar bill. He says he forgot I was tax-exempt and was giving me a ten cents an hour raise.

I had a paper route as a boy; good way to earn some money, learn self-discipline, and develop social skills when collecting the payment due every Friday from customers..

Do they still have paper boys anymore?

Quote: MrV

I had a paper route as a boy; good way to earn some money, learn self-discipline, and develop social skills when collecting the payment due every Friday from customers..

Do they still have paper boys anymore?

Most places I've lived switched to Adults in the mid to late 80s. On Long Island, the switch came after a young carrier got killed one morning in an area that was deserted on Sundays. If I remember correctly, the killer was a local delinquent just a few years older.
Back then, the paper was an afternoon paper except on Sunday, but soon after switched in seven-day early am delivery.

Quote: billryan

Most places I've lived switched to Adults in the mid to late 80s.

Around 89 or 90 a woman I knew a South Bend woman who had the paper route during the week and her 19 year old daughter had the Sunday route. She had to get there at 4 a.m. and get into the back of a van and sort the papers. While she was doing this she was joined by a guy of ethnic origin about three times bigger than her who smacked around for a while and then raped her twice. I had already been on record as saying this woman was nuts to let her daughter be in that kind of neighborhood at 4 in the morning because she was a drop dead gorgeous college student. Soon after that the paper quit letting women have the Sunday route. I was the only one who was not totally shocked that this happened, that this girl got raped. Way too many people walk around with their head shoved up their butts because they love the view. Rape is almost always a crime of opportunity. Young girl, 4 a.m. In a van all alone here comes a drunk guy on Saturday night on his way home. They never found him because they probably didn't even look.

It is a really beautiful spring day Michigan, sunny and 65. Sometimes for a few seconds I will get flashbacks to how I used to look at the world when I was a little kid. It was full of wonder and possibilities and mystery. Sadly I get none of that now. The wonder is gone, the possibilities are very limited, the mysteries are few and far between. Of course my opinion when I was a kid was based on naivete. I knew nothing about anything and my view of the world was based on assumptions. The world is still the same, it's me that has totally changed. Sigh..

Remember when I posted this commercial the other day?



If I keep this up, I'll have as many posts as Billryan.

Remember when I posted this commercial the other day?



If I keep this up, I'll have as many posts as Billryan.

Remember when I posted this commercial the other day?



If I keep this up, I'll have as many posts as Billryan.

Remember when I posted this commercial the other day?



If I keep this up, I'll have as many posts as Billryan.

Remember when I posted this commercial the other day?



If I keep this up, I'll have as many posts as Billryan.

3 would have been funnier, but 5 might bring on the temporary ban hammer (or a warning)...

Funny stuff, five times over!

Quote: Keeneone

3 would have been funnier, but 5 might bring on the temporary ban hammer (or a warning)...

I've been watching this movie for 10 minutes and it's kind of boring how he keeps hitting the hammer on the ground.

Quote: Keeneone

3 would have been funnier, but 5 might bring on the temporary ban hammer (or a warning)...

I've been watching this movie for 10 minutes and it's kind of boring how he keeps hitting the hammer on the ground.

Hey, have you got some kind of spastic thing going where you keep hitting the "post" button?

Blockbuster Video
I recently watched the documentary about this store in Bend Oregon. Enjoyed it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Blockbuster



One thing a number of people mention in the film is the smell of the store. I personally do not remember a "Blockbuster smell" but it would be interesting to visit the store and smell for myself.

Reminds me of a local marine store. I wonder what business this used to be??? ;)

Quote: MrV

Hey, have you got some kind of spastic thing going where you keep hitting the "post" button?

It was totally intentional Funny I was thinking 3 was the limit and I wasn't the only one. I wonder how many I could have done before I was suspended. Could have possibly done hundreds before anyone was on who cared and noticed. I was just feeling goofy having some fun entertaining myself for a bit.