Odd Things You Remember From Being A Kid

[lxskllr]

I had no idea the kind of machinery that was at the other end of those dial phones! I bow to the genius of the Strowger switch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNNKLuM8yY8

Here's a neat related video from 1951. It's Bell System talking about how awesome they are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AKA1Tk61uw

 

[Iron Woode]

LOL

I am seeing a lot of things I forgot I had:

metal Tonka Trucks - I had 3

Evil Knievel Cycle thingy

SSP toys from Kenner

real size GI Joe

that ridiculous Star Trek command bridge toy that opens up - I still have mine

there was a yo-yo craze in the mid to late 70's

 

[CA19100]

Here's a neat related video from 1951. It's Bell System talking about how awesome they are.

Cool!

 

[Red Squirrel]

Here's a neat related video from 1951. It's Bell System talking about how awesome they are.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AKA1Tk61uw

I love those old Bell System videos. :biggrin:

Even now, there's some rather interesting equipment behind your phone line. Look up DMS100. It's digital, but still has relays and stuff too. Ours has been running for over 30 years, it was the old mechanical switches before that.

 

[HeXen]

Remember the free party lines? Everyone yapping all at the same time to strangers, cursing each other and everything you can imagine. Kinda weird really.

One of my fondest memories is going to Hill's dept store and playing TMNT arcade that was next to a popcorn vendor where popcorn was made the right way, with coconut oil and high cholesterol butter. And it wasn't even cause the game was the turtles, it was cause it really was a very well made game with graphics, animation and gameplay far beyond what consoles had. Going to their electronics dept and seeing Atari 2600 games they were still trying to get rid of for $10, cheap Amiga/IBM dos games in a collection package, in the bargain bin for around the same price. The Atari ST, SMS and Nintendo consoles in display cases...a lot of variation considering. "Hills is where the toys are!"

And to this day i still remember the Atari jr 2600 commercial song. "The fun is back oh yes sirreee, the 2600 from Atari. THE FUN IS BACK!!!" lol. May not be totally accurate, i'll have to hunt down that commercial sometime.

 

[shortylickens]

I never knew anything about partylines until that lame ass fucking Victoria Silvstedt song.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Hahahah, I liked getting some Atari 5200 games really cheap when they were dieing out.

I liked the small penny gumball machines that had a small globe on top. It was the ebst thing about that place ... called a butcher shop. Remember those?

 

[shortylickens]

http://www.wat.tv/video/victoria-silvstedt-partyline-19nw5_2hpkz_.html

Not on youtube, for some ungodly reason. As if it needs to be protected.

 

[shortylickens]

http://www.clip4e.com/play_victoria_silvstedt_rocksteady_love.htm

Ditto.

 

[Wyndru]

I remember some of the things they sold at the corner store near my house:

 

[HeXen]

^ The last 2 i know they still sell, at least the "Kings" brand of candy cigs, i don't see them often though, depends where you go.. The first one, weren't those tubes made of wax? I remember they also made similar wax toys that had some kind of cheap tasting juice in it, I remember having one that was a wax harmonica that actually played...for some reason i liked chewing on those things.

 

[Iron Woode]

bottle cap candies
wax lips
giant pixie stix

 

[waggy]

you can still get those. in fact i have a few box's

 

[waggy]

bottle cap candies
wax lips
giant pixie stix

can still get those too. the local "candy" shop has them

 

[Iron Woode]

can still get those too. the local "candy" shop has them

yeah, but they were made with real sugar back in the day.

 

[Iron Woode]

and Lik-A-Stix

I also miss the original Laura Secord chocolate bars - Canadian product.

 

[waterjug]

Goodnight John-Boy.

Was in re-runs when I was a kid, but my mom remembered it from her youth. We used to watch re-runs together before I went to bed. We'd say that to each other from our rooms before we slept. I think I was still a good person then.

 

[Iron Woode]

Was in re-runs when I was a kid, but my mom remembered it from her youth. We used to watch re-runs together before I went to bed. We'd say that to each other from our rooms before we slept. I think I was still a good person then.

I watched the Waltons when it came out. That and Little House on the Prairie.

I also remember the cartoon These Are The Days.

 

[ScoobMaster]

Anyone rememember this from Saturday morning cartoon time?

The Laff-A-Lympics


Zany competition between teams of you favorite Hanna-Barberra cartoon characters. What was not to like. Go Scooby Doobies! (an watch out for those cheatin' really rottens!)

 

[Iron Woode]

Anyone rememember this from Saturday morning cartoon time?

The Laff-A-Lympics


Zany competition between teams of you favorite Hanna-Barberra cartoon characters. What was not to like. Go Scooby Doobies! (an watch out for those cheatin' really rottens!)

I remember that too.

 

[manimal]

Swimming in the pool in gym class everyone was naked. Was Same sex obviously. I had told my wife about this and she thought I was nuts till she went home to visit my family in the Chicago suburbs and one of my brother in laws told her some stories about our school.

Place was nuts in retrospect.

 

[TheSlamma]

Cassette tapes that someone tossed out the car so you could break it open and toss the spool over telephone lines like a stringer

lots more litter back then, could go gathering cans to take to the golden goat/can bank for extra change (Change back then was worth something.. especially for pinball!) or glass bottles to setup forts to shoot at with sling shots.

getting busted breaking the law was a severe ass beating from dad and not a day in juvenile court

Street lights that used to malfunction and get stuck and cause long traffic jams

Cars always on the side of the road from vapor locking

there was no lawn mowing service companies.. it was always us kids in the neighborhood that did it.

Door to door vacuum salesmen.. especially Kirby

Public parks were always busy on weekends

Smoking was allowed everywhere and those cheap tin foil ashtrays were all over the place

most people drove older cars.. the economy and credit wasn't like it is now when everyone gets a new car when it gets "old" in 3 years

 

[runzwithsizorz]

Something I miss from my youth, (sixties, early seventies), it was darn near illegal for a girl to wear a bra with a halter, tube, or tank top.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Was in re-runs when I was a kid, but my mom remembered it from her youth. We used to watch re-runs together before I went to bed. We'd say that to each other from our rooms before we slept. I think I was still a good person then.

We were all better people when we watched The Waltons.

 

[Schmide]

The Spinwelder.

I had one and it was a total gimmick. Nothing would hold together.