Drugstore soda fountains–I haven’t seen those since the mid 70’s.
The cigar boxes that little kids would bring their pencils, crayons, paste, and scissors in when they first started school.
I’ve heard metal lunch boxes, at least for kids in school, have also gone the way of the dodo. The ones I see kids with now are cloth and plastic. Metal lunch boxes that I see in gift shops are marketed to adults.
Nighthawks (bullbats). Flocks of these birds used to drift across the sky on summer evenings, catching moths while emitting a Bronx cheer sound. Their numbers dropped suddenly in the mid 80’s and now I might see one every other year.
Western Union ended their telegram business only a few years ago, and their primary business now is wiring money.
Unlike the first ever telegram, whose words “What Hath God Wrought” have gone into the history books, we will never know what was in the last telegram, unless the sender or recipient decides to divulge.
I would love to find cigar boxes. My son went to a camp a couple years ago and the counselor had a bunch of them that the kids decorated. He keeps all his “treasures” in it - it’s perfect. They’re the perfect size for storing small things in. I was going to ask at our local tobacco store, but they closed down.
Locally-produced entertainment TV shows. There are some local church shows, school-related shows, news shows (of course), but not talk/variety shows, game shows or hosted movies.
Phone booths. I see some pay phones, but I haven’t seen a phone booth in a long time.
Gas caps hidden under the license plate or tail lights.
Coffee Percolators
Speedometers that were long sweeping arcs (all round or digital now).
Those little triangular windows just behind the A-pillar on cars that you could unlock with a twist of a handle and rotate them to provide air flow (as they stuck out, instead of rolling down). http://americandreamcars.com/1964buickwc052703.htm
Do they not offer this anymore? My 2000 car has crank down windows. I thought it was an option, but usually assumed by most salesmen.
No wind-up toys? You can get them at any touristy shop, like at a zoo, where we recently bought our nieces a little wind-up bug that zooms along the floor.
I still see those windows, just not on cars. Some vans I’ve ridden in have them. As for the phone booths, they’ve been nearly completely phased out because they’re not accessible for people in wheelchairs or the like.
The ones I see are called “candy sticks,” but they are still packaged in a cigarette-box style package – and have red tips!
My 2003 PT Cruiser has push-down door locks. They’re not golf-tee shaped, with a flare at the top, but have indentations to accommodate thumb and forefinger. The golf-tee ones are probably gone for good. Theft hazard.
The smoke shop here has given us a lovely selection of cigar boxes absolutely for free, even nice wooden ones. I have one with the words “Big Butts” etched on the top.
I remember as a child the “restaurants” at the thruway rest stops serving coffee, donuts, and really really icky sandwiches, like fake egg salad on white bread, wrapped in cling wrap. All gone now, replaced by Dunkin Donuts and such. Though some of them moved into the K-Marts - there is a K-Mart with a luncheonette still surviving here.
Cigarette machines.
Machines in the ladies room that dispensed for a fee other things than tampons - bandaids, safety pins, hand lotion packets, perfume scented wipes.