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Just about anywhere we went we walked laughing and giggling all the way. We had parties alot which consisted of playing Truth or Dare or Spin the Bottle while listening to Ricky Nelson, Elvis or The Everly Bros. etc... Refreshments were kool-aid and tuna or chicken salad sanwiches cut in quarters with chips. Every year we looked forward to the Fat Stock Show and State Fair. We would Scrounge up a cowboy hat,wrangler jeans and shirt then beg our parents for a new pair of Squaw Boots and off we went for an evening never to forget until the next year. Or how about when we tried to get as many as we could in a car to go to the drive in theatre. It only cost two dollars a car load so the more the merrier. They had chairs in front of the consession stand where you could set and watch the show.

I guess two of the things I loved doing the most was Hula hooping and dancing the twist. My biggest thrill was dancing on TV at "Teenage Downbeat"in 1959. My brother and I won the dance contest. He won a pair of snazy looking shoes and I won a gift set of Bonnie Bell products. That was the koolest. Thank God for our memories!

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OMG-loved your site. Brought back sooooo many memories.
How about riding your bike to the movie theater at 9:30am, paying 25 cents and watching cartoons & cliff hangers until 4:00 pm. (and having enough extra for popcorn and a coke). Remember collecting empty soda bottles from along the roadside and putting them into your basket on your bike, then taking them to the corner store and getting 2 cents each for the small ones and a nickel for the quarts. I remember buying a bagful of candy with that money, candy dots on paper, sugar water in wax sip-size bottles, a Baby Ruth bar that must have weighed a pound for a nickel. Remember the hatchway to the cellar? Remember sitting on it, with one or two of your best friends during summer vacation, asking "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?",
"I DUNNO, WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?" over, and over and over. How about Saturday mornings, getting up at 6 am so you could watch The Cisco Kid and Sea Hunt, before the cartoons came on at 7. Remember your folks getting the converter for the TV, so now you could get 3 stations insted of just one. Remember the long ride to the ocean in the summertime? (for us it was 5 hours), remember leaving at 5 am so you would still have enough "day" to have fun? How about sleeping on the rear window shelf? or the barefoot run across the parkinbg lot to the beach or boardwalk? Remember the ferris wheel, the bumper cars, the double-dip ice cream cone (the majority of which melted all over your hand, due to the heat, long before you got a chance to lick it). Remember the water powered rocket ships or flying a kite?
Just a few of my childhood memories.
Ron M. born 1948

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"Oh how I thoroughly enjoyed your website . I was at work on lunch and me and my co-worker started talking about penny candy, and next thing I knew we were strolling down memory lane. And how refreshing. I definitely will be back. I have one for you.

I was born in 1952 so I could totally relate to all that I read.

But growing up in a family of 6, we had so much fun and how about this one. Christmas time meant Mom putting out the same decorations year after year, but we thought it was great and me and my younger brother reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas” On Christmas Eve, and always getting a new pair of pajamas, that was definitely a known gift and then waking up in the morning and saying our prayer by the manger and actually visiting neighbors, who actually would have the old train set running around the Christmas Tree."

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"Or never dare saying you are bored - no such thing, hey how could you get bored when you get stand in the alley and throw stones and listen to them roll off the tin garage roofs!!!!"

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"When Sundays were just that, nothing at all opened, church was a given and no one dare cut grass or work, and all load into the family car and head off to Grandma’s or aunts and uncles. Yes, we actually knew our aunts and uncles and cousins back then."

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"Or did anyone every have cooked puffed rice? Well, sometimes my mom would actually run out of popcorn, and I think she always managed to have puffed rice (don’t forget back then it was probably around 29 cents!!!!) so she would put some butter and puffed rice and heat it up and that was treat until Daddy would give her another maybe $25 for next big grocery shopping!!!!! Yikes!!! But I never remember starving. "

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"On Christmas Day, I assembled a learning toy for my 8 yr old grandson....it was solar slide show IN 3-D, Glasses and all. He was amazed that I knew how to make it all work...yah I remember!"
Will

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"Thank you sooo much! The holidays are not so festive for me after my sister passed in 1999. Thank you so much for the memories. You have brightened my day & reminded me that Ihave had a wonderful life!"
Pam

"I remember going to the movies with 25 cents and getting to see the movie plus getting a popcorn and coke. WOW- what a difference today.
I also remember Sundays laying on our backs in the grass and watching the clouds roll by (naming each one as their shapes changed). That was such a beautiful time, but kids now-a-days have no idea the pleasure of doing just that. Or, playing in the fall leaves. Making a house with walls of leaves. Using stones and sticks for food and money. Today the stones and sticks are weapons.
All too often this day and age I hear "if only I could be little again!"
Mary

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"This helped me on my school project."
Angela

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"I really enjoyed going down memory lane. Everything, well most everything rang a bell and I went back in time as I was reading..ahhhh
I remember Christmas's in the 1950's.
The anticipation of Santa at the end of the Thanksgiving Day Parade kicked off the holiday season..not like now when the day after Halloween they have shelves stocked with Christmas items.
Years ago, it was exciting for a kid around the holidays. The females wore Christmas corsages..there were Santa's who gave out little wrapped toys..for free!

Then there was getting the Christmas tree and the smell just filled the room.The big colored lights and the tinsel that had weight to it and sparkled with the lights ...Family came to visit and EVERYONE got dressed up!

And kids were anxious to get home and get to sleep before Santa arrived in the middle of the night...The toys the next morning were the highlight of the day..some toys, as simple as they were, made you use your imagination..you could make a day go by just playing with the new doll house..having the little people come to life..building roads with the new set of blocks and driving little cars around the new roads you just built...a new doll with a carriage filled your hours of playing "house" ..it was a simple time back then, a little slower paced, people were nicer in general..you knew most of the owners of the mom and pop stores..they greeted you by name and really meant it when they said " have a nice day"...

I can look back and remember just having "fun"..if another kid called you a name, you answered with "sticks and stones break my bones but names will never hurt me" and you went on..you got over it! Halloween came along and ALL the kids from the area were all over the neighborhood..without their parents!   And the only reason Mom told you not to eat your candy while you were out, was because you might eat too much at one time and get sick...Ahhh, the good old days for sure!"

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I remember when school got out I'd hurry home to see The Little Rascals and Pinky Lee. Mom was always there--like most moms, she didn't work outside the home. We didn't have a car--so sometimes, as a special treat we'd walk downtown to meet Dad and walk him home from work. I really loved that.

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Do you know what candy was on the birthday corsages? I think 16 was sugar cubes, but can't think of what the rest were.

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I can remember getting my last doll (beautiful Sydney Jane) when I was 12 years old and in the sixth grade. Girls now are " grown up" by the sixth grade! I got my first pair of high heels (baby doll toes and cuban heels) when I was in the 8th grade and was so very proud and "mature".

Our small town of 1200 people had mostly dirt residential streets---very sandy at the edge and that's where we played. Just a big spoon for digging and an old pan to put the sand in and then dump it out and start over. Even though my family was among the more affluent in the area, we had one big Christmas present ( a doll with clothes or a bicycle) and a few smaller ones---that's all. What a life....I could walk anywhere in town whether it was light or dark. We often walked the 6 blocks downtown to the movie where we paid ten cents admittance and then walked home again. No need to worry about anything happening to us-- -if we fell and skinned a knee or anything else we just went to the nearest house and they took care of us, and called Mom to say they would bring us on home in a few minutes. Oh, what a life!!!

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I remember growing up in 60s and 70's. There was a vacant lot where the kids would gather to ride bikes and play turnpike. Ice cream trucks that were driven by a guy on a bike with the cart upfront. Parents weren't afraid to let you play out till dark. Kids were actually spanked in the store, and you were not afraid of the child protection services coming after you. I sure do miss growing up then... all except for the spankings. HA!

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Love the site - made me cry!
I remember playing 'King of the Hill' on a huge mound of dirt; and digging holes for hours for fun; Buster Crabbe as FLASH GORDON, Andy Devine and "Plunk your magic twanger, Froggy", Dr. Ben Casey and Dr. James Kildare, 'Duke..Duke..Duke of Earl', Chantilly, Buck Rogers (the original); the milk truck had blocks of ice for the milk, and the milkman would pick off hunks of it for all the kids; your first B&W TV, which was only on for a few hours a day; leaving your belongings outside overnight without worrying about them being stolen; day-of-the-week bras and panties; getting .15 or .20 and walking all the way up to the confectionery for a big dill pickle, which you ate on the way home; .10 packs of cupcakes, .10 Cokes, 10 for $1.00 day old bread; Lik-i-made; lying in the grass and looking at cloud shapes; looking for four-leaf clovers for hours; being truly happy to see family and relatives; being grateful to God for every breath He gives you, and just being content to be happy!

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How about playing marbles? With steelies and cat eyes, etc. Shooting them with your thumb and index finger, digging a hole (can't remember why we dug the hole, but I'm sure it was for a good reason in the game). Playing softball with all of the neighborhood kids, the local drive-in restaurant. No air conditioners, sitting in front of the fan to stay cool in the summer; Mom's didn't work, but were home when you got home from school; we actually had chores to do and didn't complain about it. Friday night basketball games and football games. Going to the local drugstore soda fountain for a soda and fries and meeting all of your friends there. Walking 3 miles just to meet your boyfriend. Didn't have a car back then.

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The big thing on the playground at school - the hot to the touch, or cold to the touch, jungle gym (monkey bars, whatever each area of the country called them).

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Oh yes, what a great era! I loved reading every bit of it, and can relate to every single thing. :) Would you know where we could purchase inexpensive souveniors for a "50th" bd we are planning in 2 months? What we would like to find are cardboard or plastic statues of Elvis Presley and/or James Dean, etc.? We have looked on quite a few sites, and are unable to locate any statues. My contact email is: dwchello@yahoo.com (6-1-05)

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Growing up in the 50's we didn't have the employment opportunities that today's generation has. You had to sell your time like mowing grass, shoveling snow, raking leaves, etc. The biggest fear was overcharging someone for your services.

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Playing hide and seek with the whole neighborhood being fair territory, or even better, walking on stilts

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Graduation from 8th grade - all friends & family came to see it.

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Remember when you went to the Worlds Fair and your mother bought you a hat with a feather and your name on it and were amazed how everyone knew your name.

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Now go to :
P a r t - 3
(Don't you dare miss this!)

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Jeanne

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