Growing Up in The 50's and 60's in Philadelphia and Delaware
County
Things I remember:
1. Tastykakes
2. soft
pretzels
3. steaks and
hoagies
4. people who
sold roasted chestnuts on the street in the winter
OK, those are the ones you were probably expecting.
Looking back, our lives were different in the 50's and 60's,
at least to me.
1. Cars had a
single, front seat. These were a make-out heaven. One hand was for driving and one was for holding. Why did we go from a bench to bucket
seats? Shouldn't we have voted or something?
2. It was a
time when I knew how to talk about music.
If someone recorded a dozen songs and made those songs commercially
available, they would have "made a record". Apparently use of the word "record" for such a
collection confuses people now.
Records came in albums and albums had album cover art, and text on the
back and text, occasionally, on the paper sleeve that the record came in. When you bought a dozen songs, you used
to get so much more than what you get now when you download.
3. If you heard
the word Cappuccino, you would assume it was a good Italian family name.
4. It was a
time when the only air bag in your car was when Uncle Elmer was driving.
5. It was a
time when cars were works of art - fins were in, and if your friend's parents
had a Hudson Hornet, you got to ride in a cross between a hearse and a
mechanical beetle.
6. It was a
time when vocabulary was rich - sampling history, entertainment and politics in
daily analogies. This
unfortunately has all gone out the window like high button shoes.
7. There were
formal battles everywhere, and you had to choose. These were more important than whether you were a Democrat
or a Republican! Which side were
you on? The Beatles or the Dave
Clark 5? Pepsi or Coke? Arco or Texaco? Chevy or Ford? Catholic or Protestant? Ivory or Dial? American Bandstand or
Aquarama? Penn Jersey or Pep Boys? The Bazaar or Jerry's Corner? Thom McAn or Father & Son?
8. People
actually felt good about putting a tiger in their tanks.
9. There was
ABC, NBC, and CBS. That was really
it.
10. Newspapers
were great, there were lots of them, and they were a part of our daily lives. We got the Philadelphia Inquirer (the
morning paper), The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin (the evening paper) and the
Delaware County Daily Times (on Thursdays).
11. Radios were
AM. You listened to the music on
the radio out of a 2-inch speaker during the day, and an ear bud late at night
or, if you were lucky, a bed speaker that you put under your pillow.
12. Nothing was
stereo.
13. People
drank everywhere - in bars, in cars, on porches, in yards.
14. The world
was black and white - TV, magazines, newspapers, and photography.
15. People
owned clothing that was formal (and often wore it); men had ties, jackets,
suits, and vests in their closets.
They were probably purchased at Robert Hall (when the value goes up, up,
up / and the prices go down, down, down . . . (you can finish it))
16. Comfortable
shoes were called sneakers, and had no connection to tennis.
17. People held
doors for others.
18. People let
you cross the street, in the absence of laws.
19. Central air
conditioning had little meaning.
You can't cool a house down by running cold water through your
radiators. (FYI, radiators
are in houses, not just in cars.)
20. People ate
hot breakfasts every morning. One utilized
a range to do this.
21.
"Drugs" meant aspirin or Alka Seltzer.
22. Cars
rotted.
23. People made
do with what they had, and were not ashamed of it.
24. People
liked stories about World War II, airplanes, and private eyes.
25. You didn't
fuck with grandparents. You
appreciated them.
26. If you were
going to take a trip, you'd likely get a map at the gas station. People knew how to fold up gas station
maps, and took the time to do so.
27. If they
looked like headphones, they were called earmuffs.
28. Santa was
real. He had helpers who dressed
up like him. End of story.
29. Snow fell
deeper.
30. Rain rained
harder and longer.
31. We wore
lots of ties.
32. Boys and
girls went on dates if they wanted to be together.
33. Clocks had
hands.
34. Clocks and
watches had to be wound up daily.
35. Church was
mandatory.
36. Family was
everything.
37. Just
because you die, it doesn't mean your television show won't continue to air at
the same day and time. See
Lawrence Welk.
38. Money went
a long way. It seems like, while
we had less money, we more often ate steaks.
39. Billboards
and ads for smoking and drinking were everywhere.
40. People
smoked and drank on airline flights.
Cigarettes were given to everyone, free, on flights.
41. Cameras had
flashbulbs, and you could only use them once.
42. James Bond
movies were based on Ian Fleming books that you had already read.
43. People
read.
44. People
shopped at the Food Fair or the Acme.
45. The Food
Fair gave out Top Value Stamps with every purchase. Some other stores gave out S&H Green Stamps. We would lick stamps, fill books with
them, and redeem books of stamps for everything from underwear to new cars.
46. Mom's meals
were threesomes. If you had
meatloaf and mashed potatoes, there was a corner of your plate that would be
empty, so you also had corn or green beans too.
47. "Big
Brother" was part of 1984, the future.
48. Barbie
didn't have a job or much of a back-story.
49. Fox was an
animal, not a network.
50. Dress shoes
and black socks went along with shorts just fine.
51. There were
small stores that sold mostly milk, called Wawa.
52. It was
enjoyable to go to the movies. You
didn't have the urge to kill anyone near you.
53. Drug stores
sold ice cream and soda, but not radios and grills.
54. You could
walk to a corner store for milk, soda, ice cream, canned goods, bread, and
candy. Within 10 blocks there was
probably a butcher store where you would buy your meat, as well as a barber
shop, pharmacy, bakery, and hoagie shop.
You knew where a drive-in movie was.
55. Men wore
leather shoes, and when the heels or souls wore down, they were replaced by a
shoemaker.
56. A gallon of
gas was 29.9. That's cents.
57. You weren't
afraid to take a bus, trolley, or the El into town.
58. If you
said, "into town" you meant Philadelphia, if you said "into the
city" you meant New York.
59. You never
needed exact change for anything.
60. Most places
didn't take credit cards, and most people didn't have them.
61. People sent
each other cards - you bought them at card stores, and sent them using U.S.
postage stamps.
62. You had to
lick the back of a stamp to get it to stick.
63. People
stopped at red lights, and often at stop signs.
64. We didn't
always make a distinction between local and national treasures. Couldn't you get black cherry wishniak
or Tastykakes anywhere in the country?
Didn't everyone know who Sally Star was?
65. Ovens were
things that were used weekly, and not just storage areas.
66. You knew not to buy a Dixie Cup unless you got the
little flat wooden spoon too.
67. Food came
to you. Mr. Softee (or the
competition, some pirate guy) rode through your neighborhood every day in the
summer. Perhaps someone came to
your street with a truck or a station wagon, and sold the things they grew on
their farm.
68. You bought a
converter box to attach to your TV to get additional fuzzy channels, UHF
channels.
69. You could
dream through catalogs. Every
house had the year's Sears catalog, probably a Penny's Catalog, a Top Value or
S&H Green Stamps catalog, and perhaps a Radio Shack or Heathkit
catalog. So many dreams!
70. Books had
hard covers.
71. Schools
required students to protect their schoolbooks. In addition to buying pencils and pens and paper to start a
school year, you probably also bought paper book covers, which were wrapped
around the books' hard covers, to protect them. This was not an option.
72. Your high
school played football on Thanksgiving Day.
73. Penn
football and Eagles football were played in the same stadium.
74. Ice could
be purchased at Ice Houses.
75. We ate
liverwurst, and liver, and baloney.
76. A Volunteer Fire Company was an important, integral part
of your neighborhood.
77. Families found
things to do on a weekend that were free.
We could walk around the feet of William (pronounced "Billy")
Penn on the top of City Hall, or go see the Liberty Bell in Independence Hall,
or tour the Mint, or go to the airport and watch airplanes take off and
land. (There were even observation
decks above some gates at the airport where you could not only watch planes
come in, but listen to pilots talking to the tower on the radio.)
78. At "Christmas
time", you went to Wanamaker’s to hear the organ play and to watch the
Christmas show.
79. At
Christmas, you went to 69th Street to shop, to see one or more Santas, and to
let the kids slide down a two-story slide that was built inside of a big
shoe.
80. Lawn mowers
were muscle powered.
81. The weatherman
on TV was on the faculty at Drexel - Wally Canan the Weather Man.
82. You
couldn't have imagined that the boss with the hot sauce would last for many
decades.
83. The only
really "coffee shop" you knew was one owned by Eight O'Clock, in
Manhattan.
84. If you
really, really wanted to splurge, you drove into town to Bookbinders, to spend
too much for some pretty good food.
(Get the snapper soup!)
85. Cigarettes
(and occasionally, cigars) were usually purchased from a vending machine (when
a pack was 40 cents).
86. In the
summer, everyone would roll their car windows down just a little, and roll them
back up every evening as the sun was setting. If you didn't do this, your car would explode and your
windows would blow out.
87. The
mummers. Still drunk, still very
difficult to explain to outsiders.
88. There were
department stores (not just Wanamakers) like Gimbels and Snellenburgs.
89. Code for
"going to Wanamakers" was "meet me at the eagle."
90. They were
Schmidt's, Schlitz, Esslinger's, Rolling Rock and Ballentine.
91. The
Mayfair!
92. Matchbox
cars were 50 cents or maybe more, but were worth every penny.
93. There was a
White Tower in Darby. (I was
shocked to learn that most were called White Castles!)
94.
"Real" Vanilla ice cream, from Dolly Madison and perhaps
Breyer's as well, had black specks in it (vanilla beans) and little pieces of
ice as well.
95.
"We" made train engines (so cool) at Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton.
© 2012 John Allison
