My parents first got a central air conditioner when I was 7 or 8 years old (so, early 1970s), which was uncommon, and a bit of a luxury. Our “main” car (i.e., the one my dad drove, and which we took on family trips) had AC by that same time, though the secondary car (driven by my mom) still was no AC for a few years longer.
When we moved from Illinois to Wisconsin in 1975, my parents had central air installed at the new house, as well, though they probably only ran it for a couple of weeks, at most, in the height of summertime back then.
Commonly known as wing windows. In the first cars I remember, those windows were opened and shut with a manual latch. Later models had a small crank handle that opened and closed the wing window, just like the big window in the car.
And, speaking of cars, I believe the first car that my parents had with an automatic transmission was a Ford Maverick, purchased in 1970. Until then, every car was a 3 on the tree.
Yeah I grew up at the height of this in the UK, and the whole stranger danger thing was an obsession.
Particularly ironic as it transpires a huge number of the media figures known to children at the time were actually child abusers (Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris, etc). A better message would have been “someone you know from the telly: danger”
My Mom never learned to drive a manual transmission, so we always had an automatic. The first car I remember was an early sixties Rambler station wagon.
When I was a kid, we knew just about everyone on our block. We barbecued together on the weekends. The parents looked out for everyone else’s kids as well. We were a community of people that, for the most part, liked each other. If someone needed help, we pitched in and helped. If someone suffered a loss, we brought over food and mourned together. It’s perhaps the thing I miss most about those days of yesteryear. Today, it seems that most people keep to themselves.
My family – and most of the people we knew – used either inexpensive consumer-grade cameras from Kodak, which used film “cartridges,” or Polaroid instant cameras. The Kodak ones also used disposable flash cubes/bars: each photo taken used up one bulb.
Our '68 Valiant (the first car I ever drove) was an automatic. I hadn’t driven a car with a 3 on the tree until the late 70’s when I had to drive my drunk friend home in his AMC Hornet. I hated it!
When I was a kid, you sweetened things with sugar, or you used the artificial sweetener Sweet ‘N Low. Saccharine caused cancer in rats, so it wasn’t available anymore (that’s what we believed, never mind the ingredient list for Sweet ‘N Low), and there was no such thing as Equal or Stevia or whatever those new fangled packets are today.
I learned to drive on a ‘3 on the tree’. '64 Chevy van. Well, we also had a Chrysler Town and Country wagon. That was an automatic.
My work truck at the mobile home park my grand pa owned/built was a three on a tree. Chevy 327ci (pretty sure) I was 12yo. Insurance agents would have a heart attack about that today.
As a teenager in UK my friends were obsessed with these. They would add them to their minis (the old ones that were properly miniature) and other two door European compact cars, all very much not performance cars. As the least cool friend (who unfortunately was the largest) it was up to me to somehow squeeze in the back seats.
Needless to say they were not needed to cope with the G forces produced by the 1200cc engine (the largest available in the mini)
Made the mistake of putting my pops Sugar Twin on my Post Toasties once. Terrible aftertaste. Diet soda sucked until the 80’s as well. People under 45 are unaware how terrible sugar free drinks were at the time
They banned cyclamates that sweetened Funny Face drink mix in the 60’s. That ban destroyed the product.
(1949) We drank water from a hose. But not the first twenty seconds or so. That stuff was warm and nasty
YMCA was nude swimming for us guys. There always were some old farts hanging around.
Town swimming pool was just a dam on the old Farmington canal at a wide spot. Always muddy from hundreds of kids churning the water.
My older sister would chaperone me and the neighborhood kids to the movies on the bus to the next door city. She was nearly 10. We had a couple of bucks that covered the movie, hotdog, and a soda. One screen and multiple Westerns we’d see twice before heading back.
Girl friend in college, we needed some sexy stuff. There were no stores (that we knew about). You bought a Variety/theater magazine. The last few pages had catalog ads for “Adult games, novelties, 8mm films. Must be 21 or older. Send cash, check or money order (or stamps - yes stamps) to Skeevy Productions” at some PO Box in NYC. Allow 6 to 8 weeks for checks The catalog would come by whatever class mail was sorted by wolverines. It cost $6 or $7.
I’m 42 and the phone book thing is so true. We used to just look up where our friends lived and bike over without calling first. Now you can’t even get someone to answer a text in under an hour.
The catalog would come by whatever class mail was sorted by wolverines. It cost $6 or $7.