I'm So Old I Remember...

[bearpoker]

I remember church keys that didn't open churches.

 

[Rexedgar]

I have a tv story from many years ago. “Wizard of Oz” was getting ready to play on a network station. There were a number of us and we had gotten appropriately tuned up in anticipation. When the show started we had someone up to adjust the rabbit ears because there was something wrong with the color. All of a sudden he hit the right combination and the color came in just right..............


Wizard of Oz starts in b&w and transitions to color after Dorothy arrives in OZ

 

[Josie]

I remember church keys that didn't open churches.

Hmm. What is that?

 

[Daisy]

I'm so old I remember the outhouse out back...hated it because it was always full of spiders and the stink....peeeuuuuwwwww...my Mom had what we called a slop jar because they were usually used for sloppin' the pigs...she would sit it inside the outhouse door and when I had to go, I would grab it and sit out in the yard on it to do my business...when I got through, I would sit it back inside the outhouse and Mom would empty it when she'd go, for me to use the next time...oh, yeah...we'd save all the Sear & Roebuck catalogs for wipin'...

 

[bearpoker]

Hmm. What is that?

It's a small tool. One end is pointed to open your beer can before there were pull tabs. The other end opened bottles before there were twist off caps.

 

[SenorXm/Sirius]

I remember collect calls, party lines and I was drafted.

 

[justabubba]

Hmm. What is that?

You’re not old enough to know

 

[soylentgreen]

I can remember when the country converted from that ridiculous old fashioned measurement of feet and inches to the better measurement of meters. Feels good to be living in the 21st century rather than still dragging along that ancient tech.

 

[Allan]

I'm so old I remember the outhouse out back...hated it because it was always full of spiders and the stink....peeeuuuuwwwww...my Mom had what we called a slop jar because they were usually used for sloppin' the pigs...she would sit it inside the outhouse door and when I had to go, I would grab it and sit out in the yard on it to do my business...when I got through, I would sit it back inside the outhouse and Mom would empty it when she'd go, for me to use the next time...oh, yeah...we'd save all the Sear & Roebuck catalogs for wipin'...

We had an outhouse for a while. In Manitoba in the winter you definitely didn't dilly-dally out there! In the summer it was full of wasps and I got to know by the tone of their buzzing when they were on their way up so I could stand and let them pass. The happiest day of our young lives was when a cow knocked it over and my dad finally put in indoor facilities.

 

[CimpleMan]

Riding in the back of open bed truck.

Waiting in line to buy concert tickets the day they went on sale.

Five dollar a carload drive in theaters.

California Cooler wine coolers.

 

[Helix]

My current home was decorated in true 70's style when we bought it - RED shag carpet, black wallpaper, and ... installed black lights!

I forgot about that! I remember using the reverse on the vacuum cleaner too, or, actually, plugging the hose into the other end. I still have a portable that you can do that with. This was our Hoover: The bottom was designed to "glide" across the carpet.

ours looked quite a bit like this one :



i'll have to ask my parents if they still have it somewhere. people thought it was weird to use it as a hair dryer, but to me, it's just one more piece of evidence that my parents are very intelligent. in the 80s, i could spike my hair with no product because that thing was like standing in a wind tunnel.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

I'm so old I remember when bands played ballads at concerts people held up Bic lighters instead of smartphones.

I'm so old I remember leaded gasoline.

(No politics, please.}

Six digit phone numbers starting with two letters, vacuum tube EVERYTHING, dial tones that sounded like a mechanical buzz instead of two mixed tones, cars that had no seat belts OR locking seat backs, leaded gas, the Hayes Film Office, cigarettes marketed ON radio & TV as good for your health, McCarthyism, WIRE recorders being more common than TAPE recorders in an office environment, boys being sent to "reform school" for wearing "long hair" (below the collar line) and two digit postal codes before ZIP CODE was invented.
(I grew up in "Bethesda 14, Maryland")
And segregation.
Yes, even in Maryland and DC.

That's the short list.

 

[SenorXm/Sirius]

Six digit phone numbers starting with two letters, vacuum tube EVERYTHING, dial tones that sounded like a mechanical buzz instead of two mixed tones, cars that had no seat belts OR locking seat backs, leaded gas, the Hayes Film Office, cigarettes marketed ON radio & TV as good for your health, McCarthyism, WIRE recorders being more common than TAPE recorders in an office environment, boys being sent to "reform school" for wearing "long hair" (below the collar line) and two digit postal codes before ZIP CODE was invented.
(I grew up in "Bethesda 14, Maryland")
And segregation.
Yes, even in Maryland and DC.

That's the short list.

Excellent point with the phone # starting with letters.. I still remember ours. VICTOR... VI...

We also had a TV that used a radio frequency remote control. We couldn't hear the sound but our cat sure did, every time we push the button on the remote he went running..

 

[Grandpappy]

I'm so old, I remember November 22, 1963. My teacher broke down in tears. The world changed that day. Not for the better.

 

[calamity]

I remember when I remembered everyone's phone number. Now, if I don't have my cell, I have no idea how to call anyone, not even my mom.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

My current home was decorated in true 70's style when we bought it - RED shag carpet, black wallpaper, and ... installed black lights!

I forgot about that! I remember using the reverse on the vacuum cleaner too, or, actually, plugging the hose into the other end. I still have a portable that you can do that with. This was our Hoover: The bottom was designed to "glide" across the carpet.

My maternal grandmother (Italian) in Long Island bought one of those.
She didn't like it but she continued to use it anyway, that was what was bought so that's what she used.
Some years later my parents went to some kind of a socialite dinner, I don't know what it was about, but anyway when we went back to Long Island to visit with Mama Bambina, they mentioned in passing that among the guests, they'd met Mr. Joseph Hoover, grandson of company founder W.H. Hoover.

(Bambina) "Oh really, you meet-a him? Did-a you hask-a him why he no make-a good machine?"

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Excellent point with the phone # starting with letters.. I still remember ours. VICTOR... VI...

We also had a TV that used a radio frequency remote control. We couldn't hear the sound but our cat sure did, every time we push the button on the remote he went running..

That would be ultrasonic. I remember those.
I think it was RCA that dubbed that type of control "Space Command".

 

[Crosscheck]

I'm so old I remember buying gasoline for $.25/gal and nobody had heard of leaded vs unleaded gas. Gas was just gas.

I'm so old I remember S&H Green Stamps.

Didn't we have Ethel and Regular?

 

[calamity]

Black and White TV, transistor radio, walkie talkies, Hot Wheels....steel beer cans.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Didn't we have Ethel and Regular?

Ethyl....tetraethyl lead.
But yeah the old joke was "You want Ethyl?"

"Sure, if she's workin!"

 

[Bum]

Didn't we have Ethel and Regular?

I remember, and still have, the red glass drinking glasses that my mother and father got when they filled the tank at Texaco stations...I have a near complete set.

 

[Crosscheck]

I am so old I remember our car trips, with mom smoking in the front seat and I remember no smell or discomfort. The back seat looked like a hut and travel entertainment was comic books. No seatbelt was available.

I still have a memory of talking to a police officer after I was riding in the backseat of a car without seatbelts and our car being hit head on. Was slammed into the back of the front seat and broke both legs.
But among all the broken metal and glass with lights flashing I can still see this officer's expression. To me he was like Superman came to save me.

 

[Rexedgar]

I remember collect calls, party lines and I was drafted.

“Greetings”

 

[Bum]

Black and White TV, transistor radio, walkie talkies, Hot Wheels....steel beer cans.

I remember the original "Red Line" Hot Wheels.

 

[SenorXm/Sirius]

That would be ultrasonic. I remember those.
I think it was RCA that dubbed that type of control "Space Command".

That's it... and IIRC there was actually a 'motor' that physically turned the channel dial. Hit the remote button and the channel dial would move/turn, 12 channel dial(2-13)... We got 4 channels, ABC, CBS, NBC and a PBS channel..