In the 60’s, I had the very first skateboard in my hometown, if not the county!
I used to buy Popular Mechanics - a fun gizmo magazine back then. In one edition was a very small picture of some kid in California standing on a board with wheels that came from the old steel roller skates that were popular. (Hence the name “skateboard” for you young’ins.)
I immediately went downstairs in the basement, took apart an old pair of skates and nailed them to the bottom of a piece of wood.
Took it outside and with some nervousness, stood on it and tried it out.
It took some practice, some additional nails to hold those skates in place, but in short order, I was able to go down the sloped sidewalk on the street in front of our house.
Cars actually stopped to see what the hell that stupid kid was doing!
Two of my friends went tearing-ass home and built their own.
Pretty soon, we were the first three kids who were going down streets with steep hills on what looked like a death-trap invention to local parents.
“Real” skateboards didn’t get to our hometown until about a year after that, so when they actually went on sale, needless to say we were the best skateboarders in town.
So, did you have the “first” gizmo/gadget/toy/thing in your town/neighborhood?
We may have had the first microwave in our neighborhood, and possibly the first VCR. My parents were quite technologically advanced for the time. Unfortunately, they stayed there.
I had a pair of Birkenstocks back in 1984 or 1985, way back before they became the de rigueur footwear for college age neo-hippies, yuppie Deadheads and crunchy granola chicks everywhere, at least around these parts.
(I was about 14 years old, and I got a pair on sale at a local outdoor store, for probably around $25 bucks)
Wear pants to school, instead of dresses. (1968ish)
Can’t take credit alone, though. Another girl and I broke the rule together, which I think TPTB were looking for an excuse to relax, anyway. Nothing happened to us and the next day dozens of girls showed up in jeans.
My mom’s family was the first family on the block to have everything. From a calculator to a color TV. Right up until my grandfather died he attempted stay on the bleeding edge. Unfortunately, he didn’t understand half of what he bought and it ended up going unused and most of it was pretty obscure anyways. When most people were out getting iPods and Macs he was getting voice recognition software and fish finders.
As for me, I think I was one of the first people to get a modern big screen TV. I got a 50" Plasma about 8 or 9 years ago. Paid something in the neighborhood of $7000 for it. I was actually worried about mounting it on the wall opposite a picture window for fear that my house would get robbed…a few weeks ago I replaced it with a new one that cost $1250 and put the $7000 model on freecycle.
I was definitely the first person on my block to have a home computer, or want one. I had to construct it from a bare bones kit (circa 1976). I’ve probably had a lot of firsts in electronic equipment. Nobody much cared at the time. There’s probably a lot of firsts because I like gadgets and tools, nothing seems all that significant though.
Mine is so lame: first person in my town to buy a Gilette Fusion razor. I was there when they pulled the shrinkwrap off the pallet at midnight on street date.
I didn’t even like it, and have gone back to a Mach 3.
I’m the first one in my neighborhood to have a Nintendo 3DS. How do I know? Because I’ve had it 3 months and have never had a StreetPass while I’m at home. (The 3DS is constantly seeking out other 3DSes to share information with - if another one comes within 50-100 feet of mine, both systems get a hit.
All the cool new kids lunch snacks. Fruit by the Foot, Gushers, that sort of thing. Mom always picked up the new stuff for us to try. This also led to my lunch getting stolen because it was awesome.
Fall of 1983. I was doing the morning show on the local radio station here and stopped in to the local audio shop to see what was happening. The manager pointed over to the listening room and said, “I’m gonna blow your mind.” I sat down in the chair and he pulled out a silver disc. “Listen to this.”
I’m telling you, I had heard Billy Joel’s “52nd Street” album over and over, having had the vinyl for quite a few years. But I’d never heard it like I heard it that day.
I plunked down $800 for a Yamaha home CD player and over $200 for CDs. I took the player to work with me, wired it through the board, and was playing CDs in glorious AM mono. Even over the AM band you could tell a difference.
I was the first kid in my elementary school to have a color printer and AOL. The people where I grew up were really slow on getting computers, though.
I was the first girl in my high school to own a pair of Uggs. Ironically, I only wore them in cool/cold weather. Some of the girls wore them with skirts and in hot weather.
The gifted class lady got me all excited about “The Internet superhighway” back in Third Grade (1993), so my mum went out and picked me up a bushel of Internet…or was it a peck? I had an IBM Aptiva, and so she got “IBM internet access” to go with it.
28.8K connection. Mosaic…gopher…TELNET? Oh man I was king of grade school.
I got Sega Dreamcast the day it came out…and the HD-DVD adapter for my 360. I’m really hoping the 3DS redeems those early missteps, and yet it’s not looking good early on…
Doesn’t count as a gadget but I was the first female fire warden in our county in middle GA. when I was in fifth grade. I was so proud I got to wear the red fireman’s hat and knew in advance when we would have a fire drill…checked the girl’s bathrooms and teachers’ lounges etc.
I was the first one with cable, and therefore MTV. So all the slumber parties were at my house.
Dad always joked that he married Mom because her parents were the first people he knew with a color TV. Granddad was another one who wanted to be on the leading edge of technology. He paid hundreds of dollars for one of the first VCRs, and he was the only person I knew who had a car that talked. That thing was annoying though, every time you went around a corner it told you your fuel tank was low. I think he traded that car in within 6 months of buying it!
