# Things that you just don't see anymore. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 12, 2005, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705 "2005-02-12T04:01:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/81 "2005-04-02T22:44:15Z")
> [@F. U. Shakespeare](#): > > I’ve worn no pants but Levi’s 501s for a long time – they’ve been around since the mid 19th century. Wow. Isn’t it time to consider buying some new ones? ---
**Author:** ![Racer1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee59a6/32.png) [@Racer1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Racer1)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/82 "2005-04-03T00:07:28Z")
> [@ianzin](#): > > Milk in glass bottles with coloured foil denoting variations. I still get those delivered to my door every morning in London. Blue for skimmed! Good call on all the others though! ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Serpentine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3be4f8/32.png) [@Silver\_Serpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Serpentine)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/83 "2005-04-03T18:40:32Z")
Rabbit ears are alive and well. I bought a set from Meijer when I lived in MI. Down here, I’ve seen them at Target, Best Buy, and Blockbuster. Not hard to find. Also, I see Mercherochrome every now and then. Often enough to keep in stock if I used it. ---
**Author:** ![stanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@stanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stanger)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/84 "2005-04-03T19:22:49Z")
Although it has been over forty years since I have seen or used any **Mercurochrome** , I remember it. I remember my grandfather, and one time a neighbor, applying some to a scratch I got while playing and refering to it as “monkeys blood”. Anybody else ever here it called that? I also remember home milk delivery in the thick glass half-gallon bottles. They had a waxed cardboard stopper on top with a pull-tab. You usually had to shake the milk before you opened it to help mix up the cream that had accumulated at the top. My mother would take the old cardboard tops and wrap them in shiny aluminum foil and I would pretend they were silver dollars. Anybody else ever do this? Other things you don’t see anymore: Telephone numbers written with letters or “exchanges” in the prefix Machines in stores that told you your weight and answered a trivia question for a nickel The vacuum cleaner section at Sears with the ping-pong ball floating in the air above a vacuum outlet nozzle ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/85 "2005-04-03T20:25:24Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > And then Loreena McKennit, not the least bit political or right-wing, wrote and sang “The Old Ways”—Wistful, aching Celtic romanticism that carries on the cultural trail pioneered by Yeats and Joyce, the uncreated conciousness of my race. Celts are not in a position to dominate other nations by brute force, so their nationalistic consciousness is not taking a Fascist turn. Even though Yeats himself went Fascist in his old age, in his dotage. Loreena is in no way an artist who could be exploited by the right wing. She is free from all that. Not commenting on the substance of what you said, but Loreena McKennit is actually Canadian, from small town Manitoba, a nation that is not in a position to dominate other nations by brute force. ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2005, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/86 "2005-04-03T21:21:57Z")
Some that I don’t think were mentioned: Half-dollar and Silver Dollar coins Quality traditional slip-joint pocket knives for a decent prices Butane Gunracks in pickups Snow cone trucks with the crushed ice and syrup dispensers TV repair shops 4X4 vehicles with locking hubs \*formerly Machetero ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/87 "2005-04-04T00:01:45Z")
A couple of months ago I was given a half dollar coin in change. Surprised the heck out of me. ---
**Author:** ![a\_pirahna\_brother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4bbf92/32.png) [@a\_pirahna\_brother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a_pirahna_brother)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/88 "2005-04-04T01:32:18Z")
Arcade games in stores, gas stations, and restaurants. Fast food places selling real glasses as part of a promotion, I’ve got a set of _Empire Strikes Back_ glasses I got a Burger King (IIRC) back in the 80’s. For that matter, decent premiums from fast food places, I’ve got a couple of records, 45’s to be exact, from Burger Chef, yes, this does date me. A TV repairman under the age of 60, if you can find one Drugstores that sold medication, filled prescriptions, sold candy and greeting cards, and that was it. Lunch Counters at Department Stores, not snack bars, but places you could get real food. Last ones I know of were the ones at Woolworths and older K-Mart stores. Shampoo in glass bottles, I’m glad plastics took over here. Fresnel lenses you put in front of your TV Shoe repair shops, bigger cities have them, but it seemed most small towns had at least one. Regular gas under $1/gallon Re: some of the other items Sears aluminum siding - I haven’t seen ads for the siding, but I know of a Sears Monument Company, apparently its a division of Sears that sells grave markers. The only car I’ve ever seen there is apparently for the sole employee. Rotary dial phones - we have one at work, if the power goes out, our regular system is dead, but a rotary dial can still dial out and recive incoming calls. Motor oil in cans - This is something I’m glad you don’t see anymore, I hated these things. D. Pirahna ---
**Author:** ![DrLoveGun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@DrLoveGun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrLoveGun)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/89 "2005-04-04T01:57:24Z")
Wood burning kits…no, no, no, not that kind…The ones that had a tool that looked like a big soldering iron you were supposed to use to char designs on pieces of wood. Can’t imagine why **that** isn’t sold any longer;) Erector sets [/QUOTE] Wood Burning kits are still sold at many hobby shops. I only know this as my wife is forbidden from owning one. No good comes of this ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/90 "2005-04-04T03:41:48Z")
Sorry I got all political with this thread, which had no politics in it before I so rashly injected politics. I’m just on edge about Fascism these days, with reason. Yes, I know Loreena is Canadian, I was referring to her aesthetic use of Celtic tradition, which is in large part similar to that of Yeats. (Except for the Fascism.) Here’s something you never seen any more: car lock buttons flaring upward like golf tees, with a wider circular top extending out over a thin stem. They were made until sometime in the mid to late 1970s. Perfect for when you locked your keys in the car and needed to let yourself back in with a coathanger. Just as perfect for car thieves with coathangers. That’s why they don’t make 'em any more. ---
**Author:** ![Marlitharn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@Marlitharn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marlitharn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/91 "2005-04-04T11:32:28Z")
Someone upthread mentioned Easy-Bake Ovens and Cabbage Patch Kids; they’re both still around. I was half-watching some chatty daytime talk show the other day and they had the winner of the Easy-Bake Oven Bake-off on. And my daughter has two Cabbage Patch Kids, although come to think of it I don’t remember seeing them in stores before last summer. They still smell like baby powder. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that old animated Tootsie-Roll commercial, the one where all the kids are wearing bell-bottoms and singing, “Whatever it is I think I see/Becomes a Toosie Roll to me!” That and the “How many licks…” ad. It’s like Tootsie Roll paid for two commercials in 1971 and they’ve been running them ever since. Do they still show Schoolhouse Rock on ABC on Saturday mornings? [sub]_Conjunction junction, what’s your function…_[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![spingears](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@spingears](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spingears)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/92 "2005-04-04T11:53:14Z")
Some things you may not have heard of let alone seen or experienced. You might find some items in a museum, never for sale in a store. Castoria Carter’s Little Liver Pills Fels-Naptha laundry soap in bars. Washboard Laundry Plunger Clothes Wringer, hand cranked. Laundry (& bath) Tub. Ink wells, and steel pen nibs and holders, blotters. Fountain pens. Bottles of ink. ---
**Author:** ![Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@Scoundrel\_Swanswater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoundrel_Swanswater)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/93 "2005-04-04T12:21:04Z")
> [@Muad'Dib](#): > > Commercials for aluminum siding from Sears. They used to be on TV all of the time, but I have not seen one in well over a decade. I do not even know if Sears even does aluminum siding any more. > > What else? Coincidentally I just looked out at the windows and they are covering the building next to me in aluminum sidings. I thought that only existed in tv-shows about door-to-door salesmen, not in the real world. And it isn’t a small building either, it is a quite large warehouse. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/94 "2005-04-04T13:51:32Z")
> [@Shirley Ujest](#): > > Metal ice cube trays. > Remember the fun those were? > > _AIIIIIGGGGH! My fingers are stuck to the frozen metal!_ > > I miss the good times of trying to outsmart a kitchen instrument. Oh! I love these. My dad always said they freeze faster, so when I found some, I bought them for him. Evidently he was having a senior moment, because he said he hates them and is glad the majority of ice cube trays have tone to plastic. Try to be a good daughter… ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/95 "2005-04-04T14:02:50Z")
> [@a pirahna brother](#): > > Rotary dial phones - we have one at work, if the power goes out, our regular system is dead, but a rotary dial can still dial out and recive incoming calls. > D. Pirahna So can push button phones. As long as it’s not cordless. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/96 "2005-04-04T14:29:35Z")
> [@Ignatz](#): > > I still have my K&E (Kuefell and Esser) log log duplex decitrig model with leather sheaf that looped onto my belt. Wow. Flashback to memories of quick-draw contests in the hall outside 11th grade chemistry class. Pull the rule and flick the slidestick at your opponent. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/97 "2005-04-04T14:30:23Z")
Pinball machines ☹ I was just in a huge arcade, and was delighted to see a row of pinball machines along the back. As I got closer though, I realized it was not to be. They were all dusty, and unplugged. Where have all the pinball machines gone? (To the warehouse, I guess.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/98 "2005-04-04T14:57:53Z")
> [@a pirahna brother](#): > > Shampoo in glass bottles, I’m glad plastics took over here. > > Motor oil in cans - This is something I’m glad you don’t see anymore, I hated these things. I’ve never seen shampoo in glass bottles. Did it really come that way? I miss the cans of motor oil. Hated them, but I miss them. I used to carry a bad reproduction army M3 knife in my car so that I could open them. In the desert I could never seem to keep those spouts clear of dirt and grit, and the knife was better if I needed to add oil while away from home. I hated adding oil on the road. Nothing like spilling oil on a hot engine! :eek: Dad had a device that was like a funnel with a handle and trigger. You’d put the funnel spout into the oil filler hole and put the can on the handle, over the piercing thing. Pull the trigger (similar to one on a grease gun) and it would push the rear of the can, which pushed the top into the piercer allowing the oil to flow into the engine without spilling. He kept it in its original heavy plastic bag to keep the blowing dust and sand out of it. The plastic bottles are much better than the cans, but I miss seeing the stacks of cans at the gas stations. It’s also rather difficult to stack the bottles. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/99 "2005-04-04T15:26:57Z")
> [@Eats\_Crayons](#): > > Weeping willows. I used to see them all the time as a kid and my friend had an enormous one on his front lawn that servec uas well for all sorts of games. THey used to be all over town – I haven’t seen a single one in _years_. Even more or less regionally, it’s rare for me to see them. I love those trees! You don’t see them much because they’re a really poor tree unless they’re in the perfect place. They’re weak-wooded, so they tend to break up easily, and they’re hydrophilic, so they send roots everywhere in search of water (including septic lines, municipal water lines, etc. etc. ). They’re great next to a pond or stream, but horrible anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705/100 "2005-04-04T15:58:30Z")
Computer punch cards and paper tape (I still have a little “chicken plucker” device to punch holes) Coon-skin caps TVs with round screens Kids playing ball in the street Jalopies Milk delivery trucks with huge blocks of ice in the back Bonomo Turkish Taffy Movie double features, separated by cartoons and newsreels Gas for 25¢ a gallon Typewriters that used a ball with all the characters on it (What were those called?) People getting all dressed up, just to go shopping downtown. People getting all dressed up, to travel in a plane or train. Mimeograph machines and ditto machines Slide projectors that would melt the slides if left on too long Telegrams Type shops Indian-head or wheat-ear pennies, buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, standing liberty quarters, any kind of half dollars People yelling “Get a horse!” to people whose cars broke down by the side of the road Inner tubes Burma Shave signs [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-you-just-dont-see-anymore/289705.md?page=6)