Most of those things were true for me. Although it was a paper bag for lunch, gas was 26¢/gallon during a gas war between Ohio and Kentucky. lol

My favorite fragrance was Muguet de Bois (lily of the valley)

My mom worked at our grade school so basically kept the same hours we did.

The rest is exactly how it was and it was pretty wonderful.

Many, but not all; some was before my time. I remember my dad would stop for gas and it was $0.50/gallon. HAHA yea that little triangular side window! I think it was technically for ventilation but certainly made it convenient for ash-flicking. And the HUGE cars!

You would have been the neighborhood weenie if you wore a bike helmet.

Was never into comic books, and no one in my family was a Trekkie. How I loved Wonder Woman with Lynda Carter in the mid-70s though! The special Christmas specials and the Olympics -- no spoilers back then, everybody watched it at broadcast time, and they were truly TV events.

My mom was a stay-at-home mom but did have a part-time job 1-2 days/week when the older kids could watch the younger kids, or grandma could baby-sit. No kid I knew *ever* went to daycare -- I don't even think there was such a thing back then, was there?

And the glorious freedom we had. Kids nowadays will just never experience this nor understand this. As long as mom had an idea of where we were going and who we'd be with, we were free to roam around the neighborhood, knocking on doors to see who come out to play or ride our bikes somewhere. Impromtu baseball and street hockey games (I really sucked at that so usually just watched), summer days that seemed to last forever with no sense of time other than dinner time and street-lights time (had to be home when it got dark). Looking back, it taught us life skills - I wouldn't trade growing up back then for anything.

Those nudie glasses where you add drinks and their clothes came off.

Dairy stores and candy stores in the neighborhood.

The Sun-In, Love's Baby Soft, teenage girls (and ladies) lying out in lawn chairs to tan to a dark brown crisp.

City kid here. Not every family had a car. We did, and I remember my dad doing runs to get the rest of the aunts, uncles and cousins to grandma's on Sunday for dinner.

Sneakers were "bad" for your feet.

Garter belts and girdles. Before pantihose.

Howdy Doody and Wonderama

One corded phone in the hall.

45 records and the stores that you went to to get them, after you heard them on AM radio. RIP Cousin Brucie (may be a NY thing)

Watching the Beatles on Ed Sullivan

I could go on forever.

Our skirts in 1968?had to touch the floor if we knelt on the floor, and yes, they made us kneel! In 1969, it was so cold, we could wear pant suits, but they had to have a matching vest or jacket.

I had been married three years before I could have my own credit card.

Even when I bought my Honda Odyssey in 2015, the salesman did not want to talk to me just my husband. He, bless him, said, ” It is not my car, talk to her!”

All our dogs ran loose in the neighborhood. None ever got lost, everyone knew whose dog they were. Our dog was getting fatter and we found out that she had a route each morning visiting neighbors' homes to get treats!

I remember Sat a.m. watching Fury, Sky King, Zorro, Lone Ranger and Whirlybirds.

I remember having only 3 networks to watch, PBS, plus 3 local out of NYC. I spent more time watching TV shows I disliked because it's what was on. I also remember looking forward to the Sept issue of TV guide where they had summaries of all the new shows. I'd study the schedule and figure out which shows I was going to watch on which nights. And I remember being frustrated because they'd start as school did so tv viewing had to compete with homework. And of course if you missed a show, you missed it. No recording. Maybe you got lucky and saw it in reruns. And then there were the summer fill in shows, my fave being the Smothers Brothers.

I remember being thrown out of the house if the weather was nice and having to come home when Mom rang the bell.

And something I wish I had now....as a kid, I'd get mad that we had to come in for supper as I was having such a good time! Nowadays, my life revolves around meal time.

I remember eating foods that would turn my stomach now...pop tarts, scooter pies, lucky charms, orange elephant peanut-shaped candy. Ugh!

I remember it was a *huge* deal if someone had a car with a clock -- which never worked right -- or FM stations -- or AC!

I remember my first transistor radio which I took to the beach with me, listening to Cousin Brucie, and my first digital clock radio with the numbers on tags that would flip over as the wheel turned.

And Paul was cute but I was nutty for George Harrison...

OMG, hobbitmom, yes to most! There was no doubt in my mind I’d marry Paul McCartney.🥰 Such a different world then.

A huge one for us here in SoCal is looking back at the prices of homes.😳 Young people could once actually afford a decent starter home. We thought the prices of homes back then were right where they should be.

Anyone remember Yardley of London products, Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy?

@chloebud... No. You are incorrect. He was going to marry me!! Instead he married Linda. It was OK (I guess) as he loved her dearly, and they were a good match. Then she died, and he married that horrid, awful gold digger gal with the one leg. She was only interested in how his $$$ could benefit her. He seems to be happy with wife # 3. They have been married for decades now with no drama.

captain kangaroo, mr. green jeans, moose!

and that woman on romper room who NEVER said MY name.

playing outside for hours and hours and knocking on the nearest door instead of running home when we had to go potty.

putting playing cards in the spokes of our bicycle tires and mom having to constantly buy new clothes pins because we used them for that more important purpose.

coming home, running to the bathroom and locking the door so we could put bandaids on every cut/scrape we got so mom wouldn't see the carnage.

never paid much attention to little joe cartright but LOVED his horse!!!

grudgingly put a dress and patent leather shoes on every sunday because that's how girls dressed for church.

LOL, no marriage but there was also Jane Asher before Linda! Agree Linda was a good match and wife #3. #2 was very unfortunate.😠

I remember that the price of a loaf of bread always seemed to be about the same price as a gallon of gasoline. Mother would have us walk to the grocery store to pick up a few things, probably to get us out from under her feet. We also walked to the elementary school.

I started working as a store clerk when I was 15 and never stopped working until I retired. Of course, I only worked part-time during the school year, usually 4 - 5 hours on Mon - Thursday and 8 hours on Saturday. Our non-grocery stores were closed on Sunday and Friday nights were for school activities.

It's amazing to me that I could afford a car payment, insurance, gas, entertainment and most of my clothing on part-time minimum wages. I doubt there's any way to come close to that today.

I remember when people used to get dressed up to fly. I also remember when a flight from LA to San Francisco was less than $12.

Coming home for lunch.

School clothes, and after-school clothes (we didn’t wear uniforms, we just wore one kind of clothes for school and rough-and-tumble after).

When it was our parents’ turn to host bridge club. we kids put cigarettes in the various cigarette boxes while Dad filled the lighters, then we played with the lighters. Got to watch TV in their bedroom while the grown-ups played bridge, drank, ate, and smoked. In the morning, the house smelled of stale cigarette smoke, but the sugar cubes from the coffee were still out, and Mom and Dad were still asleep, so we ate sugar and built blanket forts with the furniture and card tables.

Dressing up for our friends’ birthday parties.

The day it blizzarded, but the school superintendent could get out of his driveway so school was on. No school buses running that day, so we walked the mile-and-a-half to junior high school. In pants. First time. and not the last, there was no going back.

Freedom. We explored along the creek, went ”uptown” to buy candy from the drugstore, explored everywhere on our bikes. To and from school on our own. Picking lilacs from the Montgomerys’ fence bushes, to give our teachers.

We had a game called ”Laid By”. No need to clutch your pearls! The sidewalks were stamped every so many squares with the emblem of the company that laid the concrete. The game was to step on the “Laid By” emblem.

Summers playing Shadow Tag after dinner, and Hide-and-Go-Seek at dusk, and chasing fireflies.

I even remember gas wars when we paid 25 cents a gallon in our old VW bug. I remember three-channel TV: CBS, NBC, and ABC. I remember Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock shows, which were spectacular with only one 30-second ad midway through. I remember my mother sending me to the A&P for a loaf of poppyseed bread for 21 cents and Woman Day magazine sold for a nickel. I loved Twiggy and since I was skinny like her I emulated her outfits and might have drawn in lahes. Loved the Beatles and saw them on Ed Sullivan. Still in love with Paul. Wore Lily of the Valley perfume and sometimes Chanel no 5 which I guess is still around. Also loved LOVE products around 1970.

Chloebud, I was in love with Yardley products. The lipsticks, eye shadows and cologne.

Me and my friend tried to duplicate "The Shrimp" and Twiggy's look.

London Mod was the thing. And I liked Ringo.

These memories are fun. Yeah, I remember having a gorgeous tan was required. Dumb.

" Gas was 34cents a gallon "

The lowest price I recall was 0.19/gal here

I remember all of them. But I have to disagree with recycling wasn't a thing. People kept things and used them until they wore out.When they wore out they were often repurposed into something useful. Holiday items weren't packed away in specail boxes for each type. They were wrapped in newspaper or used gift tissue paper and packed in the same cardboard boxes the groceries came in. Milk bottles were picked up , sterilized and reused. Soda bottles were collected and taken back to stores to get your deposit back. The old quilt became the bed for the dog. Old funiture became wood to build something else. Recycling was very much a thing. It just wasn't a chemical process, but a lifestyle,

Drive in movies, roller rinks, bowling and hanging at the local drive ins (before McDonalds)

My first transitor radio which I won in a speed skating contest,

Yes dogs ran free, and my little mixed breed got impregnated by not only one but two of the males during her same heat cycle ( I believe one was consensual., she loved Rags, the other not so much.) LOL

Baby sitting 3 kids for 50 cents an hour

Swimming everywhere, the rock quarries the creeks and rivers and late night beach parties.

Sundays at the drag strip of watching the motorcycle scrambles

Sledding in the foothills on cardboard "sleds"

Hill climbing on motorcycles at the gravel pits.

As a kid in Michigan we’d bundle up in winter and walk far from home to go ice skating or sledding. I remember some people would flood their backyards to turn them into skating rinks. That all seems especially surreal after living in Southern CA for many many years.

Juke boxes were always on my radar. Every where there was music, I was there dancing.

Smashing cans on our heels and walking around with them.

Lucky Strike and don't strike back.

Hanging with friends and our trying Nair on our legs.

Yelling for mom to throw down .10 to buy a Mr. Softee.

Funny how we always knew our boundaries while playing outside. We never strayed beyond a couple of blocks.

Watching the snow come down and hoping for a "no school" day.

The milkman delivering milk in those glass bottles with the cardboard stoppers.

Black Jack Gum across your front teeth.

Funny, we could go uptown, nearly a mile. or explore along the creek, but we knew not to go further than 10’ into the woods half a block from our house.

We loved exploring in the new houses under construction in the neighborhood, collecting ”slugs”, metal discs cut, I guess, from junction boxes?

We did a lot of ”exploring”! Exploring at Grandma’s house was fun, too. She had a back staircase!

I’m reading all of these posts & enjoying my own personal memory lane trip with some of them. What strikes me overall though is kind of sad. It’s the loss of innocence for all of us. It begs the question - is our life really better than it was or than our parents lives were?

Well youth is a time of innocence and figuring out who we are. I don't see it as "better than" just different. I am grateful for my Catholic education and an upbringing that included mistakes and consequences and lots of love. I feel like it prepared me to become an adult and a generally good person. I can't think of anything better than that.

Thank you murraysmom! Your words have righted my course for my memory lane trip. I think I’ve become overly analytical about everything these past few days. My older sister has just gone through an unexpected health crisis right after losing her husband which has created lots of personal introspection and examination of life and its meaning. I too experienced a Catholic education and a strong family upbringing. We are indeed better for that experience and also among the more fortunate ones.

So many familiar things mentioned already. Someone mentioned Love’s Baby Soft and i do remember that fragrance, plus Youth Dew, Jean Nate and a few others that every girl just had to have. All the guys had to wear English Leather…or nothing at all.

Bass weejuns and Villager skirts and sweaters that matched.

A year or two later we were looking at mini-skirts on Twiggy wondering if we could get away with that. I saw a Mary Quant dress pattern I loved and found the fabric (or close enough to it) and a pattern and asked my mother to make it for me. She surprised me and did! I wish i still had that dress. When she wanted to & had the time she could sew beautifully. She also made my senior prom dress that was a dark green velvet top with a cream satin skirt. it was gorgeous. Anither i wish i still had.

Friday night football games with our friends, and dances after home games in the gym

In the days before high school it was definitely playing outside until you couldn’t see in the dark anymore. During the hot days, we’d hang out at someone’s house reading comic books, playing badminton, harassing the younger brothers, or listening to 45s.

Brownie and Girl scout camp every summer

I didn’t watch many cartoons until my younger brother started watching them. Then it was mostly Rocky and Bullwinkle and Roadrunner. I also liked Sky King.

The couple that owned the local theater showed great movies on Saturdays for kids. They had no children of their own but they loved entertaining kids and were rhe nicest people. You could buy admission a box of junior mints (my favorite) and a drink for less than 50 cents. For several years around Christmas they would have some sort of entertainment and a movie where all the local kids were invited to attend free. I have a photo from one year of the crowd taken from the stage. i can still identify a few of the kids i went to school with..

Gas was $0.68 a gallon. We protested not being able to wear shorts to school by wearing mini skirts. They let us wear skirts or shorts after that, but they had to be fingertip length. Still the rule today. A lot of the stuff on your list changed because people took advantage of things, and some changed because we got smarter. People snatched kids, so there is less freedom now. Litters don't exist of puppies and kittens anymore because we don't need proliferation of all these animals etc. Some things are better off now. Not everything.

The milkman delivering milk in those glass bottles with the cardboard stoppers.

i don't know how i forgot to list this one! our milkman drove a horse-drawn box-like wagon. we kids always looked forward to his arrival for very different reasons. all of the kids always gathered at the back of the wagon and he would pass out great big junks of ice. i always made a beeline to the front to pet the horse. mom always gave me a handful of sugar cubes to give him. i was in my glory!

We even had seltzer and beer delivered!

“I saw a Mary Quant dress pattern I loved…”

Outside, this made me smile. My mom made this dress for me that I loved. Wish I still had it, too!

KW, I am sorry to hear about your sister. I hope she comes through and is able to enjoy life again some time. I'm sure it's hard.

I understand your introspection too. This is a difficult time but I have to say that having voted early for the first time ever was very liberating. I can't change anyone's mind so letting go has been a good feeling. Tomorrow will bring what it will bring and we will make do with whatever happens.

I really enjoy strolling down Memory Lane with you all. It's fun to see how many things we have and have had in common. And Ninapearl, I could have guessed which end of the wagon was your "go to" because it would have been mine too. Such sweet memories.

I do think the sweetness and good times do temper my life today. I'm glad about that.

Nobody has mentioned "Doo Wop"

Or the Good Humor Man.

And not such good memories:

Avoiding public pools and large gatherings of children during polio season. Iron lungs and Sister Kenny.

Hiding under your desk for protection from an atomic bomb attack.

No, I didn’t forget about those, but later I remembered American Bandstand. Hated to miss it every week.

I remember lining up to get the sugar cube with one ofnthe polio vaccines. My Dad was chair of one of the local Polio campaigns. The sister of a good friend was treated for polio and i recall the turmoil thry went thru, the braces on her legs while just a small child. Fortunately she recovered and went on to live a full life.

My second cousin died of polio at age 12. I raced home from school to watch American Bandstand every day.

Calling the radio station to request a song, then sitting by the radio with your finger on the Record button of the cassette player, so you could tape it. Posting a friend at the door to keep your little brother from making noise.

Neighborhood kids of all ages playing together.

My Mom didn't watch soaps, but she and a neighbor (who became her best friend) had coffee together in the morning and the afternoon. They watched each others' kids. They supported each other.

One of the big reasons it's different now is because most families can't get by on one income. When both parents work, there isn't a support system of stay-home parents, or a built-in playgroup in the immediate neighborhood. Today, if you are a stay-home parent, you are either alone, or driving to scheduled playdates or coffee dates.