Back then I thought blue hair on old women was weird. Now I find it more amusing. If you’re going grey why stick to natural colors, of humans, when you have the entire rainbow to choose from? But if you’re tampering it’s rare to get the exact right color and hue to match your complexion.
Speaking of hair, it’s hard to comprehend how popular Perms were. Probably the biggest laugh I ever got from That 70’s Show was in the first episode they pan up to the face of the wacky neighbour to show his wild man-perm.
But then I was once a proud member of Mullet Nation. It wasn’t a lifestyle choice back then. It was just one of stock haircuts that barbers did.
I remember in the late 80s VH-1 wanted to brand themselves as the video channel for adults who still liked contemporary music and one of their ads was “we’re not the channel for people with blue hair” and showed a little old lady, then “and we’re also not the channel for people with blue hair” and showed a blinged-out punk.
Women in public with their hair in curlers. (Presumably now they use curling irons.) I remember my mother telling me never to do that. (By the way, she never told me not to drink or smoke, not that I ever did.)
Bar soap is another thing that Millenials are supposedly killing off; if so I don’t blame them a bit. Bar soap is messy and the soap dish you need for it takes up a lot more room on the bathroom counter than a container of liquid soap.
Interest in horse racing is fading. Not many young people go to the track any more. There aren’t as many racetracks as there used to be. The recent problems of horse deaths at Santa Anita will probably accelerate the trend.
Bowling is also not as popular as it once was. When I was a kid there used to be bowling alleys all over the place. Now there are just a few in the East Bay, where I live.
Miniature golf seems to have faded, as well.
It used to be common for people to carry matches or lighters. This was handy for things like lighting charcoal and campfires: all you had to do was ask if anyone had a match, and someone almost always did. Now you have to remember to bring your own.
Organ meats used to be more common. You’d find liver (both beef and chicken), kidneys, hearts, tripe, tongue, etc. at the meat counter at just about any grocery store. Many stores today carry only muscle meats. Also, I remember when they used to have coarsely-ground beef for chili. When was the last time you saw that? Or cube steak? On the other hand, it’s a lot easier to get ground turkey or chicken than it used to be.
Are there any full-service gas stations left? The places that would wash your windshield and check your oil while filling your tank?
Some things that used to be common have disappeared completely, like tube testers and cigarette vending machines.
Not just a rural thing; it’s still the law here that most shops over a certain size can only open for a maximum of 6 hours on a Sunday, and have to be closed by 6pm. Most opt for 10am-4pm, so you timed that badly.
Although they don’t have to, many smaller shops keep roughly the same hours, presumably on the grounds that when the big shops shut, the high street quietens right down. There’s usually a convenience store (chains like Spar, plus most of the supermarkets have mini branches sized just small enough to fall into the ‘small shop’ category) open somewhere in any decent size town until 10pm or so, but they’re often tucked away in the middle of a residential area rather than on the high street.
There’s occasional talk of dropping the rule as old fashioned, but obviously the convenience store chains like the law as it is, as do quite a lot of supermarket workers, as it gives them a time to do stuff like clean and change displays in peace without customers around that head office can’t take away.
Anyway, regarding the main topic; kiddie ice creams.
When I was a kid in the 80s, and well into the 90s when I worked in a gift shop, it was absolutely standard to have a choice of cheap ice creams and ice lollies for kids; ones that were maybe 1/4 the price and size of the adult size ones. They’d be the big sellers, 'cos why pay for a big ice cream that a little kid will only eat half of then feel sick?
Now, the same place I worked at then only stocks one type of cheap one, and that’s only because my Mum, who does the ordering, insists on having one cheap option. It barely sells. Almost everyone buys the big ones, regardless of the size of the kid they’re buying for. Oddly the number of people complaining about the price of the ice creams has also plummeted, even though the price has shot up compared to inflation.
Grocery stores and supermarkets closing on holidays.
As recently as the late 80s/early 90s, if you were making a dish to bring to one of the family food holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter) you’d better be sure to have all the ingredients the day before, because if you were missing something that morning, tough. Nothing was open. No replenishment beer runs on Memorial Day or Fourth of July, unless you went to an expensive liquor store. Recently, all the food places except Costco are open every holiday. Instead of making something, you can just drop by the bakery counter on your way to the relatives and pick up something.
Re: soap. I prefer bar soap in the bath because something squicks me out about rubbing liquid all over my body hair that somehow doesn’t bug me with head hair and shampoo. At the sink I guess I prefer liquid soap because it is convenient especially for shaving, but I use bar soap at home because I can use the remnants of the bar soap from the bath for my hands and face.
I have a vacation rental where we give the guests a choice in the walk in shower between a new paper wrapped mini soap bar and a full size squeeze container of liquid soap. Generally 50+ aged individuals use the bar soap and younger guests use the liquid soap.
When I was a kid, all adults were called Mr/Mrs/Miss/Ms.
I’m now 47 and have only ever been called “Mr.” twice that I can recall. In each case, it was the child of immigrant friends. All other children call me by my first name.
53 here, and prefer bar soap. I use a washcloth, and I like to lather the whole thing up before I start. When I’ve tried the liquids, it all soaked straight into the spot I squirted it on and it was useless trying to spread it around.
I suppose the liquid works if you’re just gonna run your hands over yourself (how do you get your back?)
“Get all the sports news instantly, dial 976-1313!” Why do I remember a jingle that I haven’t seen since I was a kid almost 40 years ago? In addition to dial time/temperature numbers, there were a lot more pay-per-minute numbers such as Dial-A-Joke.
Department stores aren’t quite dead yet, but in their heyday, it was pretty common for department stores to have their own in-house restaurant, whether it be a lunch counter or a fancy dining room.
you dont live in a Hispanic populated area, do you? cause all the stores in so cal are the opposite of this … in fact, I can get a whole pigs head for about 15 bucks and its used for soup …you toss the whole thing in until it boils down to the bone …