[winter4me]

My son and I were talking about this...he is 29, I am 61...thought it could be a fun thread

the percolator making coffee
dial phones, that ring (no, the sound re-created on a cell is not the same)
typewriters, black and white tv, the tv you just buy and plug in to watch, shorthand, eight tracks, (my mind is off today so I am looking for help/reminders....

[Webgoji]

Romper Room
Captain Astro
Saturday morning cartoons
VCR's (although I believe there are people that actually still have them)
Two-finger wide men's ties
"Gag me with a spoon"
Aquanet
Bands that didn't use AutoTune
DeLoreans
Arcades at the mall
MALL-BANGS!
Rolled up jean cuffs
Answering machines

[Citrine]

Smoking inside public places abolished ( jolly good)
Bus conductors ( unless u live in London)
Interesting topic I will have to add again.

[unaluna]

Telephone numbers without area codes
Alphabetic telephone exchanges - ie the first 2 places after the area code, like TI for Tiffany - was 84x. I saw an old photo advertising a local venue with this strange old phone number!
Postal codes (single or double digits) between the city and state instead of zipcodes
"Real" (not postal) state abbreviations: Mich., Fla., etc. - you could actually figure them out!

[gayleggg]

1, 2, and 3 digits phone numbers (mine was 297)

Party-lines(as in more than one family on a phone line. Had to listen to the rings to know if it was your phone call or someone else's and yes if you picked up the line you could here the other people talking.)

Girls could only wear pants on Fridays but no jeans.

[Koko2]

hotpants
moon boots
fiddle faddle
candy with sugar or brown sugar and no corn syrup
travelling circuses
five and dime stores
dollar stores that actually price everything at a dollar
downtown parades to celebrate home team
donkey basketball
hayrides
the Harlem Globetrotters
coin-dispensing slot machines
slots with mechanical reels
telephone booths
bumble bees
butterflies
board games (no one has the time anymore)
TV commercial breaks every 15 minutes rather than every 3 minutes
TV news that just reports the news without newscasters own commentary, editorial or lame attempt at John Stewart-type humor
TV shows that require actual actors (not reality TV)

[LiteraryLark]

The dial-up sound
Cassettes and recording songs on the radio.
Less traffic
No school shootings
The twin towers (not that I ever heard of it before 9/11)
The awesome 90s pinball game
The Oregon trail game
Atomic Bomberman
Wearing a scrunchie as a bracelet
Plaid

--90s Kid

[@nonymous]

Roosters in the morning
Crickets in the evening

[krisakira]

rewinding a video tape

[Catmom3]

Liddle Kiddle dolls
Howdy Doody TV show
Mr. Rogers Neighborhood TV show

[Auntie2014]

Winter Thank you for this post. I am going to snag your idea as a journal prompt for me to use when I am stressing out.

Most of the things mentioned are on my list so I won't repeat them.

The first that popped to my mind is the screech noise when the test pattern came TV when programming ended for the day.
Being able to play outside after dark.
Getting chunks of ice from the block in the milk man's truck
Hitching a ride up the hill behind the snow plow.
The Jewel Tea Man visits at Grandma's
An operator saying "central" before connecting to your party.
Real Garbage trucks driving down the alley and the garbage bucket hanging on the pole to keep animals out.
Burning trash in back yard incinerator
Roller skates with skate keys

[Webgoji]

UHF/VHF connections on the TV
Vacuum Tubes
Knobs on the TV
Radio programs
$0.99 gas
Carburetors
Cruising Main Street
BetaMax!!
Drive-In Theaters (although we still have one in Wichita that has digital high-intensity projectors ... EPIC!)
A&W Drive-Ins (my kids will never know what it's like to drink A&W from a frosted mug at the drive-in)
And on that note ... Frosted Mugs!

[winter4me]

Oh yeah, A&W at the drive in!
elevator operators
bathroom attendants (you give them a nickel, they give you a towel to dry your hands...)
the "beggar nuns" in penn station
no Velcro (I try to remember how the BP cuffs I once used worked without)
cap guns (the sound, the smell, the red roll of caps)
the milk man
the egg man
the knife sharpener (ding ding)
the fuller brush man
smell of shoe polish
little girls hair done in ringlets
bobby socks
fish net stockings
for the 'hoods' (later 'greasers') the pointy boots with the metal (like taps...oh I forget what they were called, clickity click down the asphalt)
going steady

[Webgoji]

Bottle openers on soda machines

[krisakira]

A horse is a horse, of course of course
And no one can talk to a horse of course
Unless of course, the horse, of course
Is that famous Mr. Ed!

[Webgoji]

Kung Fu Theater!

[Auntie2014]

Curling hair on beer cans
Sleeping on Brush Roller
Teasing Hair
Wringer Washers & Clothes Lines
Polyester Pantsuits
Spoolies
Dippity Due and the purple slime stuff before it.
The Permanent Wave Machine at the beauty shop
Going out with a yard stick to measure the snow to see if it was a foot deep = how we knew if school was closed.
The mailman walking a route
Learning to read with **** and Jane
Big Chief Tablets
The smell of mimeographed work sheets
Princess Phones and long cords attaching phone to wall
Walking two miles to school and liking it.
American Bandstand with **** Clark
45 Records with 2 songs only
Cherry Cola when they were made with real cherries and Cola
Paper Straws
Shakey's Pizza Broasted Chicken

[Citrine]

50 pence stores (now £1)
Woolworths (alas sigh, I loved those stores)
The Pop Man (like the milkman but with carbonated drinks instead, I loved the pineapple crush)

[winter4me]

the letter slot in the door thorough which mail came (twice a day once upon a time)
moms going to the grocery store in rollers and housecoats
taking a cool double negative photo, by accident (or on purpose)
candy cigarettes (can you Imagine? came in little cigarette boxes...)...glad those went
being a hobo with burnt cork makeup for Halloween
air raid sirens, duck and cover...

[H3rmit]

being able to walk from one end to the other of the city I lived in.
silence.
Lanolelle hand cream
interactions of people in public places (rather than staring at iphones)

[googley]

The Kingdome in Seattle WA (they took it down). Awesome stadium.
Cassette Tapes
Phones with the spin dial.
Every home having a land line.
Telemarketer phone calls during dinner time.
Glass milk bottles you return to the store.

[winter4me]

scrounging through the streets and bushes for bottles to return to the store for candy money
sun tan lotion that Promoted tanning, dark as can be at the beach
stick ball (anybody still play?)
booths at arcades where you could make your own record (a 45)
penn station when it was Grand...full of marble, wrought iron...that big clock
"counting back" change at the store counter (& the manual cash register)
coins of silver
(and those zinc nickels...)
hootenanny , go go boots
real winters in new England
bell and beads, suede jackets with fringe, handing out flowers
afros

Great thread!

Going from payphone to payphone in my town looking for change
Food stamps that looked like money, and you got 'real money' change back
Carnival every Summer with monkey tails (banana with chocolate coating)
Jelly shoes and slap bracelets
Garbage pail kids and My Girl
Full House being the most awesome show ever created lol
Shortage of food, fat people were very rare (there was only one 'fat' kid at school)
Gratefulness
Cloth diapers
Baby wipes were for rich people and were a luxury
Becoming "blood brothers" (thank you aids for making that one obsolete lol)
Belief in supernatural was not 'insane' but not believing was
People not always saying Me! Me! Me! I'm more important than everyone else! that was selfish
Making your own cake on birthday
Surge soda
Clarissa explains it all and Are you afraid of the dark?
No school uniforms at school ever, you could wear anything that covered your nakedness
Cursive writing
Summer started in May, NEVER June, and we went back in September, the end of it not August
Smell of firewood all through the town all fall and winter
Sally Jesse Raphael
Pluto
Saf-T-pops
Seat belts as an option
Otter pops
TGIF! Steve Urkel was radical =D SNICK was cool too.
Walkman was cutting edge technology
Computers were for rich people and scientists lol
Wax candy bottles
Everyone in a house shared the same corded phone. Also, if you didn't hang up after talking to someone or forgot to put the phone on the hook, the other person couldn't use their phone until you did lol (pre-butt-dialing)
Never knowing who was calling you (pre-call ID)
16 being the legal age to buy tobacco
Blockbuster being crowded or even open lol
Lamb chop and charlie horse
School house rock
Mini backpacks
Caboodles!
Lite brite
Pee Wee Herman (Mecca lecca hi mecca hiney ho lmao) and California raisins
Lunch kits with thermos
Peanut butter was not contraband
Easy airports! Remember home alone? They got there like 30 seconds before takeoff lmao
Carmen Sandiego
bobby's world
Wonder years
Ms. Cleo! Call me now!
**** Tracey
Getting your hair CRIMPED lol
ALF!
Smoking inside places, only "sophisticated" people smoked cigarettes lol
Punky Brewster

I'll leave it here but man, I'm totally back there now lol.

[JadeAmethyst]

eight tracks and cassette tapes
record players, records, and 45s
reel to reel tape recorders
transistor radios
shag carpet

[winter4me]

plastic over furniture
dots of pastel candies on paper rolls
granny glasses
inkwells in desks
grades for penmanship
transistor radios
the boogey man
soda fountain egg crèmes
playing with the mercury from broken thermometers
make up that ran
the twist, the pony, the jerk, mashed potatoes ...
limbo rock
furnishing apartments by going through the rich towns on trash night
prank phone calls