Bring back the good o' days, Things ..........

[autumnsmommy]

What about video discs...the huge ones you put in the player, cover and all? This was around beta-time.
Love's Musky Jasmine was my fave, heartbroken when that went away
What about the button bags with the little covers that matched every outfit? And I still eat raw cookie dough-oatmeal raisin-I figure the fiber counteracts the samonella.

 

[EMom]

Where to start?

My parents must have relaxed or lost their minds by the time I came along, because they bought me the BB gun I requested at age 5. It's not as if they didn't recognize the potential for disaster. My older brother had shot my mother in the backside with one years before, leaving a permanent scar.

They also got me the highly coveted BLUE Easy Bake oven long before the recommended age of 8, dangerous lightbulb and all. I have repeated this tradition with DD, but must mention they not longer have lightbulbs.

Dolls......I had the auburn haired Chrissy doll whose hair grew. She lost most of it in an incense fire. Don't ask. I had Baby First Step. She had a face like Chuckie and walked like Frankenstein, but I loved her. Baby Tippy Toes was similar, but easier on the eyes. I had a Staci doll (Barbie's British friend) who said things like, "I think mini skirts are smashing." My friend had a Mrs. Beasley doll that creeped me out. When I spent the night with her, I turned that thing around or put in the closet before I went to bed. My Ken doll had plastic hair.

I had the Trixie Belden mystery series. I think she was a poor relation to Nancy Drew. I lived for my mother to receive her McCall's magazines, because every few months, it had a Betsy McCall paper doll and doll clothes in it.

My mother took my sister and me to see Gone with the Wind when I was in first grade because it was re-released for the first time in YEARS. Clark Gable made an impression even then. I've been a GWTW fan ever since. I was a Trekkie before they were called that and was thrilled to meet Gene Rodenberry in college. I watched The Wonderful World of Disney every week, but didn't go see Disney movies that much. I was more into Dark Shadows movies (never missed the TV shows.....Oooh, that David Selby) and Planet of the Apes movies. I even had the Dark Shadows board game. My parents did not know what to make of this. I blame it on the BB gun.

I was so happy when straight hair went out and Farrah hair came in. My naturally curly hair could do Farrah proud. Before that, we wore hip huggers like every one else, but in my neck of the woods, we called them peanut pants. The favorite brand we wore had peanuts on the THREE snaps....too short for a zipper....so that's what we called them. I remember the platform shoes with fish in them, but never had any. How cruel were those???

By the time I was born, the Vietnam War was well under way. It took up a big part of the news and my family watched the news every night. It was years before that war ended and my mind somehow almost thought the news was pretty much The Vietnam Report with a little weather and a few miscellaneous stories thrown in. When it did end, it was strange to hear something else on the news. It had been Vietnam my whole life. My brother was considerably older and he was of draft age. But he had a health issue and my parents seemed almost thankful for that. It was not life-threatening, but no one would ever send him to combat. I remember watching the draft lottery and not understanding that having your number (birthday) called early (getting a low number) was a BAD thing. To me, having your number called was like winning a prize. My brother was friends with a bunch of brothers...probably 5 of them were draft eligible, due to multiples. Some were watching the draft with us when their brother's number was called and they all got quiet and said, "That's _____'s birthday." I said something like, "He won, he won," not realizing their brother was heading off for 4 years in Vietnam. Luckily, he came home.

On a lighter note, my parents hauled a friend and me to see KC and the Sunshine Band. I think I was in jr. high. By a fluke, I got to meet KC. My friend did not. I was the envy of all the girls at my school. KC and co. were all very nice and let us hang around for a long time.

Contrast that to when I was 16 and a friend and I went to a Bob Seger concert. We were on the front row. As luck would have it, there just weren't many attractive girls near the front, so my friend and I were serenaded by both the opening band and Bob. Bob was really hot then, so we were eating it up. A member of his crew comes out with backstage passes and asked if we'd like to come backstage. Bob and the band would like us to join them. Then they would like us to join them after the concert. Now, in all fairness, we both looked older than 16.

My friend, who was....shall we say......a bit more worldy than I....was all over the offer and just about to clutch that pass when I stopped her for a chat. I told her I didn't think it was such a good idea to go backstage and go off partying with them. SURE IT IS!! Mmmm, I don't know...What if they expect something? THEY WON'T DO THAT! But what if they do? IT'LL BE ALL RIGHT! At this point, I got the feeling she wasn't nearly so worried about unreasonable demands as I was. I told her there was no way I could explain a little long-haired Bob Seger baby to my mother in 9 months, so I was not going backstage or off to a hotel. Since I was driving, she was out of luck. The crew guy and his passes went backstage and the girls around us looked at us like we were nuts. To this day, when Bob comes on the radio, I smile a wicked little smile.

 

[MomWith2Cinderellas]

Growing up in a building in Brooklyn NY....These are some of the things I remember and miss....

Not having an alarm system.
Playing outside in the summer for hours with friends and my parents not worrying about a thing (until of course the Son of Sam!).
Bathing on tar beach with baby oil. YIKES!!
Watching Abbott and Costello movies on WPIX on Sunday mornings.
Walking to school during a snow storm and always landing on my butt because I feel on the ice!
Sitting in school in mid June and dying from the heat because the school was not air conditioned.
Playing monopoly on a Saturday night while listening to Elton John's Good Bye Yellow Brick Road.
Walking down the block and getting a Shatskins Knish!

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

What I miss most....
The "Munsters"
Good ole days of the 60's and 70's....

I watched the Munsters all the time, and some show about a spy, something "Smart"? Does anyone else remember that? That's going to bug me all night trying to remember the name of that show .

 

[IDoDis]

I watched the Munsters all the time, and some show about a spy, something "Smart"? Does anyone else remember that? That's going to bug me all night trying to remember the name of that show .

That was "Get Smart" with Don Adams and Barbara Feldon. I didn't care for that show, but my mom was a die-hard for it!

 

[jamesmommy]

I watched the Munsters all the time, and some show about a spy, something "Smart"? Does anyone else remember that? That's going to bug me all night trying to remember the name of that show .

"Get Smart", with Maxwell Smart and Agent 99?

I was a strange child, my favorite show when I was little was "Dragnet". I mean seriously, how many 5 year olds got into that show?

 

[AlexWyattMommy]

Maybe the same amount who watch Omaha's Wild Kingdom & The Lawrence Welk Show? I still remember watching those with my Grandparents on the weekend.

 

[asa'smom]

drive in movies

 

[samanthacatangel]

Growing up in a building in Brooklyn NY....These are some of the things I remember and miss....

Playing outside in the summer for hours with friends and my parents not worrying about a thing (until of course the Son of Sam!).

Oy my gosh, I remember this! We would be playing outside, and if a Volkswagon came along, we would run onto our stoops. I somehow think he drove a Beetle, or that's what was reported.

Speaking of stoops, anyone play stoop ball?

Samantha

 

[wdwshopaholic]

OMG. I got a tag!!

LOL

 

[DisneyDVC]

this is a great thread. It brought back so many memories.

 

[vsimeone]

Speaking of stoops, anyone play stoop ball?

Samantha

Not Stoop Ball but how about Ghost in the Graveyard? SPUD? Witch in the Well? Kick the Can?

Growing up in the city, we made up games to play in the parking lots and tiny backyards and through the alleys. I miss some of those games! My kids have never even heard of them!

 

[irishvixen]

I remember munchee's (little monkey type doll), gremlins, Charles in charge, body on tap shampoo made with real beer, fragle rock, the muppets, sha na na, barbra mandrel sisters, dick van **** show, hardy boys, bowery boys, three stooges, laurel and hardy, and the drive-ins. You know some of these things still exist. Like we go to the drive-ins still (of course we have to drive awhile to get there but its worth it) and we go to a&w with car hops still, my kids play outside (we have a neighbor hood watch and a small town) but I still keep a good eye on them, we have a roller rink. I just noticed that some ppl don't even know they are still around up here but I do research them and take advantage of them. Heck I made Jiffy popcorn last night while watching the bad news bears because this thread brought back so many memorys. Thank you OP. Oh yeah and what about rainbow bright doll! And ghost in the grave yard rocks, we played it awhile back at a family picnic type deal but of course only the brave!

 

[marcyinPA]

Oh and who on here wore Jam shorts???? I had the knock off flea market ones, but I had them in all kinds of crazy colors!!

They have those on ebay too... Just in case anyone wants a pair..lol

OMGosh, these were all the rage when I was a senior in H.S. I had one real pair and several knock-offs. I remember wearing one pair with a sweater top in a matching color. I was such a fashion disaster!!

 

[punkin]

I remember munchee's (little monkey type doll)

Completely OT, but when I was in Disney last week, I saw Monchichi dolls in the China pavillion at Epcot. Brough back memories.

 

[brandylouwho]

I grew up in the country...

We rode our bikes everyday on GRAVEL roads, down a steep hill too. The only neighbor kids for miles lived right across from us on a dairy farm, so sometimes I helped out because I wanted to. I guess O thought it was fun (what was I thinking?) Or maybe I just wanted them to be able to play sooner. I have always been thankful my parents weren't farmers (those kids worked hard).

We'd jump off the top bales into piles of straw in the haymow (sp?). It is amazing we never broke a leg, or worse--our necks. I'd come home all dusty and dirty and itchy too.

That farm also introduced me to the miracle of life (I witnessed a calf being born when I was rather young).

We were outside all day every day in the summer and got the best tans.

I loved My Little Ponies, Rainbow Bright, Punky Brewster.
My 3 year old is now enjoying the Ponies that we found in my mom's attic. I am so glad that she saved them for me.

 

[MomWith2Cinderellas]

Oy my gosh, I remember this! We would be playing outside, and if a Volkswagon came along, we would run onto our stoops. I somehow think he drove a Beetle, or that's what was reported.

Speaking of stoops, anyone play stoop ball?

Samantha

We loved stoop ball....I was never any good at it, but it was fun trying!

The Son of Sam also liked the long dark haired girls and I remember my sisters had really long dark hair and they opted for shorty haircuts until he was caught! lol

I also remember going to SI as a child and going to Farrell's Ice Cream Shop (I think that was the spelling). WOW! What memories!

 

[eh24fan]

some more I thought of........
Eight tracks
"where's the beef"
Sticker Albums
garbage pail kids
Charles and Diana's Wedding
American Bandstand
comic books (little lu lu, richie rich, archie, casper and wendy, etc.)
Fat Albert and The Cosby Kids
The Waltons
bozo the clown

gosh I can go on and on............

Garbage pail kids!! I loved them! And I was named after Erin on the Waltons. LOL

 

[eh24fan]

Oh and who on here wore Jam shorts???? I had the knock off flea market ones, but I had them in all kinds of crazy colors!!

They have those on ebay too... Just in case anyone wants a pair..lol

OMG ! I wanted REAL ones so bad and my mom said not a chance in you know where was she paying for them. LOL SO i had the knock off's too. Then a few years later, my step mom still had her's. hehe SHe's nearly my age so she was super cool to me then.

 

[GOOFY4DONALD]

I remember munchee's (little monkey type doll), gremlins, Charles in charge, body on tap shampoo made with real beer, fragle rock, the muppets, sha na na, barbra mandrel sisters, dick van **** show, hardy boys, bowery boys, three stooges, laurel and hardy, and the drive-ins. You know some of these things still exist. Like we go to the drive-ins still (of course we have to drive awhile to get there but its worth it) and we go to a&w with car hops still, my kids play outside (we have a neighbor hood watch and a small town) but I still keep a good eye on them, we have a roller rink. I just noticed that some ppl don't even know they are still around up here but I do research them and take advantage of them. Heck I made Jiffy popcorn last night while watching the bad news bears because this thread brought back so many memorys. Thank you OP. Oh yeah and what about rainbow bright doll! And ghost in the grave yard rocks, we played it awhile back at a family picnic type deal but of course only the brave!

I loved Sha Na Na!!! I watched them every Saturday morning. I had forgotten all about Munchichi's (sp?) until your post. Does anyone remember lip smackers? Dr. Pepper was my favorite. Every Christmas I got a plastic candy cane filled with lip smackers.