The milkman brought our ice cream, too. We were served by the Carnation truck. The whole milk came in clear bottles, and the skim milk was in brown glass bottles.
WSM-AM 650, Nashville, Tenn.
KVSP “Power Jam” 1140 AM, Oklahoma City, Okla.
KVOO AM, Tulsa, Okla. (I think they still simulcast on AM)
KOMA simulcast on AM until February of this year in favor of a news/talk format (in fact, a day ahead of schedule, thanks to the Columbia disaster).
That’s off the top of my head. I guess AM is still viable (albeit barely in this day and age) in more rural areas, due to the coverage, etc. Demographics obviously come into play, as well.
Forgive me for not feeling sorry for you Maureen - I hit the big 40 next March.
Padeye - yep, Meatloaf really captured the essence of the drive-in experience:
C’mon! Hold on tight!
Though it’s cold and lonely in the deep dark night
I can see paradise by the dashboard light
Paradise by the dashboard light
You got to do what you can
And let Mother Nature do the rest
Ain’t no doubt about it
We were doubly blessed
'Cause we were barely seventeen
Meatloaf graduated from my rival high school in Dallas, TX - Thomas Jefferson High. How 'bout that.
They still make and sell these. I worked this summer at the factory that makes them. I ate those things right off the line… and helped design some improvements to the machinery that makes them.
Only in Canada, you say? Looks like you can order some here:
http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/aaasmt/index.php/url_indprod?xlc=1092
I guess I’m the only one here old enough to remember gas wars? When gas stations used to compete with each other by lowering their prices, often ridiculously? I remember in 1970, when I was high school, the local price of gas dropped to 10¢ a gallon for a couple of weeks. Man, those were the days.
Up until this year, the last time I went to a drive-in, I was about five years old, and we saw a double feature of Meatballs and Grease. However, just this past summer I located one in Warwick, New York. It’s a bit of a drive, but watching a horror movie in the comfort of your own car is divine … even if the long, dark drive home is a little creepy and you’re low on gas.
Some other things I really miss:
Shrinky Dinks. I think they recently started selling them again, but I’ll bet anything that they’re not those hard, sharp pieces of plastic anymore.
Fun Dip. I see it every now and then, but it’s just not the same unless you buy it at the community pool snack bar and it tastes more like chlorine than anything else.
Rusted monkey bars over gravel playgrounds. You took your life in your hands every recess. These days, my friends have kids that make it to their tenth birthdays without ONE set of stitches!!
The USA Cartoon Express. What’s wrong with cable TV these days??
Roller skates that slipped on over your sneakers and that you tightened up with a skate key. Later on, boot skates with a gigantic rubber stopper in the front for doing those cool tricks at a roller rink.
Double features of first-run movies at the local movie theater. Heck, just being able to sit on the theater all day if you wanted, for the price of a single admission. It was a great way to pass a rainy Saturday afternoon, especially if you liked the movie.
Pine Bros. cough drops (especially the honey flavored). No medicinal value as far as I could tell, but boy were they tasty.
O’Boisies potato chips. I LOVED those things. Sooo good.
My grandfather was a milkman, I believe.
There’s a drive-in right here in Atlanta. We went looking for it once, but it was in a kinda-iffy neighborhood that I didn’t want to be in after dark. Still, it’s there.
And Dairy Queen? We’ve even got a DQ in the mall by my house.
Still have your “Whip Inflation Now” button, Mama Tiger?
For all of you who miss the milk man, don’t forget his brother the bread man! He brought all kinds of processed Wonder-type bread, Tastykakes and boxes of doughnuts.
Also, you Philly pensioners might remember the late great Willow Grove Park, Hanscom’s Bakery, The Hot Shoppe and Horn & Hardarts.
I have had milk delivered every Friday somewhere around 2 AM for years. You can get cream or half-and-half as well and around Christmas they have eggnog available. Glass bottles, too. I get 1% and it tastes like whole milk. Yum!
Metal bandaid containers, holding bandaids that had to be opened by pulling a red string that would often cause additional cuts.
Baseball card gum.
Some fun chains that I am pretty sure have closed down:
Lum’s (beer and hotdogs in a nice environment – how did they go wrong?
Ollie’s Trolleys – great ice cream, fries and burgers. I never saw one standing empty. How did they go wrong?
Dee-Lites – delicious dietetic fast food. they were popular too, but i read they expanded too fast and went bye-bye.
those whirling seat things on playground – iron bars in an octagon with wooden seats on the perimeter, rotating around a central post – the thing to do was for one or more kids to push it as fast as possible while the others hung on for dear life. Can’t imagine why they aren’t around any more.
Anybody ever watch those PBS/Discover Channel specials on Roadside America. I wasn’t around for most of it, expecially those weird pre-Interstate highway attractions, but I’ve seen their remains on occasion and man, I wish they were still around.
Cool commercial architectuve like they had in the 50s and 60s. Sometime in the 1970s, the architects all decided that inventive, fun designs weren’t cool any more, and they’ve turned out nothing but crap ever since.
You guys have covered a lot already, vinyl, milk delivery, ice cream truck, drive-ins, Mmmmmmm space food sticks.
How 'bout Night Flight on USA
Wacky Taffee
Soul Train and American Bandstand
Carnation Instant Breakfast - I used to like to not stir it and eat the lumps.
Pedal cars
Clackers - Anyone remember those?
Posters inside albums
Almost forgot. You can still get Pine Brother’s cough drops at Sweet Nostalgia. . Not to mention chocolate cigarettes, Charms and Fizzies!
For the drive in lovers:
This site lists drive-ins that are still open in the US, Canada, and Australia, right on down to the street address.
This one has some neat stuff on it, as well as info on drive-ins still operating in the US.
My local supermarket sells space food sticks. I bought a pack recently in a fit of nostalgia, and they were terrible…
Well still have a drive in!
Course they sold it to a trailer park. The only reason it hasn’t be leveled yet is there’s some kind of permit/red tape thing going on.
ahem that should read
Well WE still have a drive in.
Omigosh, I almost forgot!! Pixie Stix(okay, yeah, but just at Halloween) & peppermint candy cigarettes!!! 8 Track tapes (thankyou, thankyou, thankyou). Gremlins, Pacers, and all the jokes that went with them. Billy Beer…can’t believe I remember Billy Beer…
And I really MISS hand written letters. Emails just ain’t the same.