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 "Mr. Tom Carter", and the tragic loss of both Mr. Carter and his wife. |
 A quick walk from school |
 of McDonalds. Back before Happy Meals, Inside Seating, and Playgrounds. |
 How Many Cones Did You Hit? |
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Remember... The Campus Sandwich Shop - The Place - North Miami Armory - Mary's - Lum's - Fun Land - 27th Avenue Drive-In - Turnpike Drive-In - Master's Field - South Beach - North Side Shopping Center - Royal Castle - Opa Locka Skating Rink - Utopia - The Rock Pits - Golden Q Billiards - Skateland Skating Rink - Greynold's Park - Tropical Bowling Alley - Dairy Queen - Ben Franklin Fireworks |
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Can You Remember Any Of These? Candy Cigarettes - Party Lines - P.F.Flyers - Butch Wax - Peashooters - Howdy Doody - 45 rpm Records - Green Stamps - Hi-Fi's - Corvairs - Tinkertoys - Mimeograph Paper - Blue Flash Bulbs - Roller Skate Keys - Cork Pop Guns - Drive-In's - Penny Candy - 8-Track Tapes - Beta Video Players - Lincoln Logs - Wash Tub Wringers - The Fuller Brush Man - The Fort Apache Playset - 15 cent McDonalds Hamburger - Reel-to-Reel Tape Recorders - 35 cent-a-gallon Gasoline - Metal Ice cube trays with levers - Soda machines that dispensed glass bottles - Newsreels before the movie - Coffee shops with tableside juke boxes - Blackjack, Clove, Teaberry chewing gum - Home milk delivery in glass bottles, with cardboard stoppers - Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside - Telephone numbers with a word prefix...(Murray 8-3788) - 5 cent Pack of Baseball Cards...with that pink slab of bubblegum. If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived!!! |
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Another Version... Closer to home Remember When... Read slowly and enjoy...Then, if you remember these things, close your eyes and take a mental stroll and go back...before the Internet ... before semiautomatics and crack...before SEGA or Super Nintendo... Way back... I'm talking 'bout hide and go seek at dusk. Sitting on the porch, Simon Says, Kick the Can, Red Light, Green Light. Lunch Boxes with a Thermos...that broke, chocolate milk, Sloppy Joes' and really dark green canned spinach served on melamine green dishes in the school cafeteria, penny candy from the store, Hopscotch, butterscotch, double-Dutch, jump rope, Roller skates with metal wheels- Skate-keys - Adjustable skates-Going to the roller rink! Jacks, Mother May I?, Hula Hoops, and Sunflower seeds, Old Maid and Crazy Eights, Wax lips and mustaches, Mary Jane's, saddle shoes and Coke bottles with the names of cities on the bottom, Running through the sprinkler, Running from the golf course "green truck", circle pins, bobby pins, Spoolies, Fizzies, Mickey Mouse Club, Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Kukla, Fran & Ollie, Spin & Marty...all in black & white. When around the corner seemed far away, and going downtown seemed like going somewhere. Bedtime, climbing trees, making forts... Backyard Shows, Lemonade stands, Slip and Slide (attached to the garden hose), glittered macaroni, Colorforms, Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, Sitting on the curb, Staring at clouds, Jumping down the steps, Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights, "company". Ringing doorbells and disappearing in a fit of laughter. Toilet-papering houses and running for your life so you won't get caught. The jingle of the white ice cream truck and a 10 cent popsicle. Sneaking off with the ice chips from the back of the McArthur Dairy milkman's truck. Sparklers on the 4th of July. Jackie Gleason as "the hometown star" (to the moon Alice!). Walking to school, walking to the store, walking everywhere! Being tickled to death, Running till you were out of breath, Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt, Being tired from playin'...Remember that? Not stepping on a crack...or you'll break your mother's back... Jacks, marbles ... Paper chains made from gum wrappers, Silhouettes of Lincoln and Washington in the classroom, the smell of paste, Silly Putty, the fumes from model airplane kits, those neat hobby shop plastic balloons that you made by squeezing the red goop from the tube onto the end of a straw and blowing them up (and the addicting smell and taste - didn't everyone always chew them afterwards!), canvas book bags, crowding around in a circle for the 'after-school fight,' then running when the teacher came. Jaw breakers and Lick'em-Ade. What about the girl that had the big bubbly handwriting...who dotted her "I's" with hearts?? The Stroll, the twist, the monkey, popcorn balls, & sock hops. Ankle socks, rolled up jean shorts. Flats.... taps on a guy's shoes. Vitalis! Remember when... When there were two types of sneakers (Keds and PF Flyers) and the only time you wore them at school, was for "gym." And the girls had those ugly baggy "gym suits". When it took five minutes for the TV to warm up. When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school. The smell of Old Spice, Dad in his white shirt with rolled up sleeves and scrolled wingtips. When nobody owned a pure bred dog. When a quarter was a decent allowance and another quarter a huge bonus. When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny. When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, for free, every time. And, you didn't pay for air. And, you got trading stamps to boot. When laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes, or towels hidden inside the box. When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it. When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents. When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed...and did. When the worst thing you could do at school was smoke in the bathrooms, pass notes, flunk a test or chew gum. And the prom was in the cafeteria or auditorium and everyone danced to the records, and all the girls wore pastel gowns and wrist corsages and the boys wore suits for the first time and we stayed out all night. Remember playing monopoly for days while sucking on the same "Sugar Daddy" caramel sucker (and then freezing it and starting all over again the next day), the chore of hanging clothes on the line, making popcorn in a big pot with oil to start and shaking and shaking it! Or Jiffy pop that turned to charcoal if you got distracted! Taking walks at night... How about The Twilight Zone, Combat, The Dungeon, Augie Dogie and Doggy Daddy, and Quickdraw McGraw? Who could forget Beanie and Cecil?! ( the seasick sea serpent) How about the girls who wore giant curlers all day Saturday under those chiffon scarves (you could tell who had dates by the curlers in their hair during the day!) in preparation for that special "Saturday night date"; then the same girls would go home and re-roll their hair again AFTER the date, and slept?! on those bristled curlers that poked like porcupine needles! Ouch, those stiff necks from too many porcupine curlers all night. If you were a blonde (or just wanted to be) Blondex shampoo was a must, (If you're a blonde, blondex is perfect for you....) and Herbal Essence ... Remember manual lawnmowers? And filling the plastic pool with water the first warm day of summer? Of course it was hours before the water was warm enough to swim in but did we care? How about classic words like "fink" and "fraidy cat", and "yeah, right!" Corvettes, miniature glass animals from Woolworth's, Pennywhistle shoes by Thom McCann , and Heaven Scent cologne by Helena Rubinstein?? Bucky Beaver, Chunky chocolate squares, Clearasil, and Noxema. "Take it off, take it off, take it all off!" VERY risqué! Phone numbers starting with a word....like MUrray 8-2730 or FRanklin 3-6026 or OXford 7-3215. Saturday matinees with tons of cartoons, 5c and 10c stores with wooden floors and tons of really cool stuff, going for a ride in the car as 'something to do', 45's (only 2 songs) and a case to hold them! When "Wonderful World of Disney" was the only color TV program! Adjusting the rabbit ears on the TV, ooooh and those aluminum glasses that made your teeth chill...! Remember being able to walk or bicycle ride anywhere and no one worried about you getting "snatched"? Maybe we worried about snakes or sand-spurs, but never strangers. Remember red pistachio nuts that you used as fingernails....and lizards for earrings...(gross now, but fun then)! Lightening bugs at night, freeze tag, Chinese jump rope, 7-up, spending the day cracking open coconuts that floated up in the canals ...and eating them...(cholesterol what?) Neccos, Bazooka, World's Finest chocolate candy bar sales at school, chocolate egg creams...Mighty Mouse, Gumby... How about ... grow your own sea-monkeys or charcoal crystals that you could buy from the back of comic books and superballs in every color of the rainbow! Cap guns, stilts, pogo sticks, wooden scooters made from discarded metal skates, sling shots, rubber band guns - homemade of course! When a '57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise, peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady and girls wore "his" class ring around the neck (you'll chip your teeth with that thing!). And no one ever asked where the car keys were, 'cause they were always in the car, in the ignition and the doors were never locked. And you got in big trouble if you accidentally locked the doors at home. No one ever had a key. Cars got a new look every year and we knew all the makes and models. Vespas. Cool "English" racer bikes that crashed and gave you skinned knees until you learned that the brakes were on the handle bars! And lying on your back on the grass with your friends and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a........". And playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game. Then...baseball was not a psychological group learning experience, ....it was a game. Remember when stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals, 'cause no one had yet to poison a perfect stranger. And...with all our progress... don't you just wish...just once...you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace ... and share it with the children of the 80's and 90's...?????? Can they ever feel like we did about... Dick and Jane-Baby Sally- Spot- Jack and Janet-Tip and Mitten-penny loafers - Girl Scout cookies-jukeboxes - white wall tires - Schwinn bikes - the twist - "Love of Life"- "The Secret Storm"-diners - prom gowns of taffeta and chiffon that flared outward from the waist down- Queen for a Day- rhinestone pins and tiaras-Sky King and My Friend Flicka-bomb shelters - Leave it to Beaver -Styrofoam surfboards-grandparents on weekends- loose change - cheap gas - A&W rootbeer - cruisin - 45s - the bop - malts- mini skirts - Sadie Hawkins Day- - pedal pushers - rumble seats - hop scotch - pogo sticks - stilts -Davy Crockett - Dick Clark and Bandstand - bell bottoms - madras shirts - rearview mirror- fuzzy dice -Elvis-pedal cars-frappes-ice cream scoops in wax paper cones and chrome holders that gleamed-booths and stools that rotated- vinyl seats-ponytails - ducktails - going steady - Mr. Magoo - polio vaccine - -root beer barrels - Car 54 Where are You? - Brylcream - Lassie - brown hair nets- Toni perms (who can forget that smell!)-Dippity-Do & Sun In-Formica counters- powdered milk-knotty pine- Ovaltine - cool cat -hip chick- flip hairdo's and falls that made you like Bardot- How about ironing your hair?-Bobby pins without the rubber tips-Hair Dryers with the hose and hood that billowed out over the juice can rollers-Jean Shrimpton fishnet stockings-Yardley make-up-Archie comics. The Red Hat Society still recalls, "Find a penny, pick it up, and all the day, you'll have good luck!", "Bread and butter come to supper!" "Star light, star bright, wish I may, wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight!" or how about Andy Devine's voice? "Plunk your magic TWANGER, froggy!" Guess that was a Buster Brown shoe commercial? Who didn't love,"Say good night, Gracie" Do you also recall when... The dimmer switch for your headlights was on the floor board? Studebakers - Blue flashbulbs in your camera (remember that smell?). How about Top Value and S&H Green Stamps? Metal ice cube trays with a lever to pull up so the ice would turn loose. Manual typewriters, carbon paper, mimeograph paper! Or the how about the rainbow crinolines drying in the sun after receiving a dipping in extra stiff starch? Or a baby-bottle sterilizer and making formula from scratch? Can openers called "church keys"? Silk stockings and garter belts! Remember drinking Mountain Dew, Fresca, Dr Pepper and Tab? Flicker rings? Using clothes-pins and card-board on the spokes of your bike to make it rip! Or using tin-cans and smashing them so they locked onto your shoe-soles then running around the neighborhood making sounds like horses! Shower baths in the backyard and holding a finger over the end of the hose! Drive-In Movies - Speakers that never worked -Sneaking in by hiding in the trunk of the car (what..you never did that? LOL) Going to FunLand and riding the Wild Mouse, cotton-candy on a paper stick instead of in a bag at the grocery store, Frank-n-Bun, Scotties on the beach, Jan's ice cream parlor, Mary's for garlic sticks, hanging at McDonald's ... Ice Cream came in Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla. Ice cream cups with wooden spoons. Dixie Cups tasting like velvet! Nutty Buddies, snow cones, fudgecicles ... Everyone went to the same neighborhood doctor (but only if you were dying!); that BIG hypodermic needle; everyone got the same medicine...Chericol. Drinking water from the hose, running through the (golf course) sprinklers, baseball with only 5 kids, playing in the street and never getting killed. Are you someone who can still recall 3D glasses, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Trixie Belden, Laurel & Hardy, Howdy Doody and the Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, Jack Armstrong the All American Boy, The Shadow knows...Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk, National Velvet...Liz Taylor...Pie, as well as the sound of a real mower and the smell of fresh cut grass on a Saturday morning. Summers filled with going to the "recreation camp" at the elementary school where we all wanted to play "knock hockey" and ping-pong, bike rides, climbing trees or making secret paths in the weeds and hiding there with a picnic lunch, going to the beach, skates with keys, playing night-time tag until way after dark, baseball games, bowling and visits to the pool, eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar, "OLLIE OLLIE UMPHREY!" If so... GOOD FOR YOU! Then came introspection and direction, the Beach Boys "in my room", Mick and the Stones - where everyone was looking for "satisfaction", and who didn't love the Fab Four - Beatles ("all I am saying, is give peace a chance")! That was the beginning of lost innocence and very different times; Kennedy and Viet Nam, rallies and sit-ins, peace and love, tie-dye and puka beads, hippies and love-ins, concerts and Greynolds Park, The Place, The World, Utopia ... Isn't great to be able to look back and say, "Yeah, I remember those times and they were special!" |