Before there was all the fast food places, there were little, and I mean Little Hamburger stands. With really good Hamburgers.... there's still a few around....the "Munch Box" in Chatsworth survived, I dated a girl in High School that worked there in the late 60's. I still go there for a Hick Burger. And then there were those metal art deco looking pre fab Hamburger stands that were in a few places in the San Fernando Valley...they had a counter with stools and looked kinda like a train car. Hmmm, I'm hungry.
I remember my first real car, a 1973 Datsun, yes I said Datsun, 240z. The first day I had it, I got a little squirly and hit a medium and dented three of the rims. had to lie to my Mom so I wouldn't get in trouble. She hated the car. I loved it. It was bright yellow, before yellow was popular, I stuck out like a sore thumb. I think that all the cops knew who I was. It must have been my pretty smile that kept me from getting any tickets or going to jail.
..the night a local kid, Richie Frolich bragged he could ride his Schwinn Stingray on a wheelie all the way around the block (about a 1/2 mile). Seemed every kid in the neighborhood got wind of it and came out to watch. Other kids on bikes followed him around to make sure he didn't cheat and when he completed the lap he achieved legendary status in that little corner of the world. Saw him at my dad's funeral 40 years later. I told the story in front of his wife and kid and he got this big smile on his face....then it kind of faded to sadness as we realized we can never go back. .
Just thought of another one. Dont know if it was the same in your town, but in Louisville, you could tell what neighborhood someone lived in if you had their phone number. Our exchange was "GL", and it covered the east end of town. GL-1 was closer to downtown, GL-2 and 4 covered both sides of the main drag heading out of town. The further out the main drag you went, it changed to 8 on the main road, and 6 and 9 on either side. So for example, if a friend at school told you his number was GL8-5555, you knew he lived within a couple blocks of the main drag on the extreme end of the neighborhood heading out of town. Sometime in the 70's the trend ended, and the GL was dropped for just "45". But I do remember giving someone my number once, and they asked how far up the hill I lived. It confused me at first, wondering how they knew that, untill they explained it to me.
7-8 years old. Sitting in my moms backyard and being able to hear the cars running at Detroit Dragway on Saturday nights. Sometimes me and my buddy Ed would get on the garage roof to hear better.
Been there, and done that!!I remember all that well. If I try to tell my youngin these things, she looks at me like I came from another planet.
sneaking out to dads truck, and listening to his gene tracy truck stop 8 tracks.OH YEA! DID I EVER TELL YA THE ONE ABOUT OL WONG THE CHINAMAN. BOY I USED TO LAUGH MY ASS OFF! DOES ANYBODY HERE REMEMBER GENE TRACY?
HA3-7357........ how come I remember that number from 1955, but I can't remember my phone number today?
Thats all we talked about back then in Australia. Getting a driving licence at 18 , getting drafted for Vietnam at 18 and the right to vote at 18. I also remember having a ball because life was less complicated.
Driving my 51 chevy pick up 250 miles on may pops with no spare to fish. Going fishing with 3 spares the next weekend. Tying a bread sack full of sand on above mentioned vehicle shift lever to hold it in 3rd. Taking above mentioned vehicle 15 miles down a dead end dirt road walking 5 miles to fish and coming back to find my battery jack and spares had been stolen(it was hard finding a 6 volt in the middle of no where) Trying to power my way through a sever leg cramp while attempting to screw my gal (now wife) for the first time in above mentioned rig. Makes me sad, I miss what seemed to be timeless days. Bought that truck for $75 in 71. Sold it in 78 for $350 and I thought I was happy to get rid of it.
And here they are....yup...same trees...if only they could talk... East Ave. behind what was the west grandstands......
Remember when a jetfighter almost crasched in to our house. Was sitting at the table waiting for breakfast and looked out of the window and there it was. Bare aluminium red around the air intake blue badge with the 3 yelow crowns saw the pilot in green coveral white helmet with a red stripe black sunglases or black shield on the helmet the wingtip about 3 feet from the ground not a sound .And then a loud bang my mother dropped my breakfast. The plane just managed to pass the roof of our barn i stared right in to the jet engine from behind when he took of He had cut the telephone lines thats abouth 12-15 feet from the ground
Phone # riverside 7034, why I remember that I'll never know. Also a lot older ,standing at the big end of Green vally raceway when the dragsters and funnycars went by. we stood right by the edge of the track and the track workers always tried to back up the crowd. Dumb thing to do now that I think about it, but the sound and feel of the cars going by 10- 20 feet away with no gardrail or fence between us and the cars was hard to resist .
great thread brings,back a lot of memories, the first time i drove my friends truck home from his grandparents, because he was sick, i did not have a drivers licence
like docc said, earlier.... when trains were gorgeous....and each passenger train company had a distinctive paint scheme...
The smell of the institutional liquid hand soap used in public grade schools when I was a kid. 40 years later, the election polling place was the local grade school. On the way out after voting, I stopped to use the restroom ... same smell! Talk about having some weird flashbacks! The same thing happened to me when I went to the bathroom at the gradeschool where my Mom teaches a while back. I also walked into another unforgetable smell, you know the smell of the catlitter stuff the janitor would lay down when someone pukes? I asked my Mom if one of her students had puked. Sure enough someone had.
the smell of ditto paper in classrooms....that purple ink used with mimeograph machines........ go to the very end of this scene from "Ridgemont High"..... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9huSs0g67c
Sure thing. I was an American Flyer kid, which was built by Gilbert, the same folks who made the Erector Sets.......
The Jalopy Journal
