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trof

(54,256 posts)
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 07:21 PM Aug 2023

OK, it's time for another "I remember..." post.

Here goes. I remember...

When you had to use hand signals for turns and stops in cars

When your airline meal tray had a free sample pack of cigarettes, usually Winstons. Four or five smokes.
Oh, and the whole airplane was a 'smoking area'.

Cockpit door was locked only for take off and landing. The rest of the flight it was open house. "Come on up and get the cockpit tour."
We'd even let a passenger sit in the pilot's or co-pilot's seat for a photo op.(I'm a LONG retired airline pilot.)

Knickers! I wore corduroy knickers with knee socks in grammar school. They made a "swoosh swoosh" sound when you walked. I've never understood the purpose/need for knickers.

I was raised in Alabama in the 40s and 50s and WE DID NOT HAVE SWEET TEA! If you wanted sweet tea you put sugar in it and stirred like hell. We had a long handled spoon that was called an 'ice tea spoon' to stir the tea with and no matter how long you stirred there would still be a detritus of sugar grains in the bottom of your glass.

OK, your turn.




32 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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OK, it's time for another "I remember..." post. (Original Post) trof Aug 2023 OP
How about getting dressed up when you flew? kimbutgar Aug 2023 #1
I flew on passes, but... trof Aug 2023 #5
My husband works for United and when we flew standby in the early 90's we stood out like kimbutgar Aug 2023 #8
TWA eventually dropped the dress code for that reason. trof Aug 2023 #11
Or on a train. Golden Raisin Aug 2023 #22
I have an iced tea spoon! 2naSalit Aug 2023 #2
We lived outside of Cleveland when I was young. likesmountains 52 Aug 2023 #3
Cool Joinfortmill Aug 2023 #4
I never flew till I was 21 but I remember going to pick someone up or take them there captain queeg Aug 2023 #6
Up until 9-11 you could drop someone off at the gate and pick them up from a gate. kimbutgar Aug 2023 #9
What I loved was ShazzieB Aug 2023 #24
Oh lordy. I remember the hari krishnas trof Aug 2023 #13
Telephone party lines. n/t GP6971 Aug 2023 #7
Oh yeah. trof Aug 2023 #14
It was a pain calling the grand parents... GP6971 Aug 2023 #17
My grandma had one of those. ShazzieB Aug 2023 #25
I never answered the phone at my grand parents or my GP6971 Aug 2023 #27
Gloves MoonlightHillFarm Aug 2023 #10
Hats and gloves Nanuke Aug 2023 #12
My grandpa ALWAYS wore a suit and tie. trof Aug 2023 #16
I remember wearing gloves to church myself sometimes as a kid. ShazzieB Aug 2023 #26
Let me guess. Purse and shoes...white patent leather? trof Aug 2023 #28
I grew up in Wisconsin Jilly_in_VA Aug 2023 #15
My grammar school experienced a post war 'boom'. trof Aug 2023 #19
Rock n roll on the AM dial, not hate RainCaster Aug 2023 #18
and at night we could get stations from all around the country rurallib Aug 2023 #21
My 48 Chrysler had a vacuum tube radio RainCaster Aug 2023 #23
In Birmingham I could get WWL in NOLA. trof Aug 2023 #29
I am in Iowa and we could get WWL also rurallib Aug 2023 #30
During Hurricane Katrina I watched WWL streaming until they were off the air. trof Aug 2023 #31
I listened to it on the radio on WWL until rurallib Aug 2023 #32
Frigidaire "Jet cone" washing machines lambchopp59 Aug 2023 #20

kimbutgar

(21,163 posts)
1. How about getting dressed up when you flew?
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 07:24 PM
Aug 2023

I remember wearing new clothes on the airplane. Now when I see people in shorts and flip flops I get grossed out.

trof

(54,256 posts)
5. I flew on passes, but...
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 07:32 PM
Aug 2023

For employees to fly in first class there was a dress code.
Coats and ties for men and skirts and dresses or suits for women.
They wasted us to look like the other first class passengers.

kimbutgar

(21,163 posts)
8. My husband works for United and when we flew standby in the early 90's we stood out like
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 07:46 PM
Aug 2023

Sore thumbs. Him with a tie and I basically wore my professional work clothes.

But in the 60’s and 70’s when I was a kid and we used to get dressed up to fly.

likesmountains 52

(4,098 posts)
3. We lived outside of Cleveland when I was young.
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 07:29 PM
Aug 2023

We'd get dressed up and go to Cleveland Hopkins Airport for dinner!

captain queeg

(10,208 posts)
6. I never flew till I was 21 but I remember going to pick someone up or take them there
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 07:38 PM
Aug 2023

You could all go up to the ramp and hangout while waiting. I personally wouldn’t get on till they announced last call or something. No security to go thru. But you had to get past the Harri-Christias. Or at least that’s what we called them. I never talked to them so I really don’t know what their angle was.

kimbutgar

(21,163 posts)
9. Up until 9-11 you could drop someone off at the gate and pick them up from a gate.
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 07:47 PM
Aug 2023

I used to love seeing reunions in the airport. Meeting at the curb is just not the same!

ShazzieB

(16,426 posts)
24. What I loved was
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:46 PM
Aug 2023

watching the person we were dropping off actually get on the plane, and then watching the plane take off. So much more fun than just dropping off someone at the terminal!

GP6971

(31,168 posts)
17. It was a pain calling the grand parents...
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:06 PM
Aug 2023

had to careful what you said.

Also remember later on when you only made long distance calls when the rates were lower.

ShazzieB

(16,426 posts)
25. My grandma had one of those.
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:54 PM
Aug 2023

I remember having to learn what her ring sounded like and still being afraid to answer the phone at her house in case the call was for someone else on the same line. And how you had to pick up the receiver to see if anyone was on the line to wait for them to get off before you could make a call. And worrying that someone might pick up the phone and listen in on you. What madness!

GP6971

(31,168 posts)
27. I never answered the phone at my grand parents or my
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 09:12 PM
Aug 2023

great aunts and uncles if if they asked me to. Never knew who was listening in.

10. Gloves
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 07:49 PM
Aug 2023

I remember having to wear gloves when going to The City (San Francisco)

And having to wear dresses/skirts in airplanes.

Nanuke

(488 posts)
12. Hats and gloves
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:00 PM
Aug 2023

In the early 60s my father would never leave for work without a hat, and trench coat over is suit and tie if weather required it. Likewise, my mother attended church with a stylish hat and gloves, and shoes and pocketbook that matched.

trof

(54,256 posts)
16. My grandpa ALWAYS wore a suit and tie.
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:06 PM
Aug 2023

Even on weekends.
He was a car salesman.
Chevys, Buicks, and Cadillacs.

When he got home from work, he'd take the coat off, but not the tie.
In his generation a tie really meant something about your social status.

ShazzieB

(16,426 posts)
26. I remember wearing gloves to church myself sometimes as a kid.
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 09:07 PM
Aug 2023

Especially on Easter Sunday. Every year, my sister and I would get new Easter dresses, with little hats and purses and white gloves to go with them. We were so excited to get all dressed up in our new outfits on Easter morning, accessorized with lacy anklets and white Mary Jane shoes.

Back then, we always wore our very best clothes to church, and on Easter, we wore the best of the best. We felt so festive! Checking out everyone else's new finery on Easter was a lot of fun, too.

Jilly_in_VA

(9,983 posts)
15. I grew up in Wisconsin
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:05 PM
Aug 2023

Having to wear dresses/skirts to school even in the coldest weather. We wore snowpants or jeans under them and took those off when we got to school, but if it was really cold the teachers might let you keep them on all day. (My school was built in 1905 and was sturdy but a little drafty) In winter there were rows of boots drying in the hall. By the time I got to Jr. high/ high school, we were "too sophisticated" for the pants-under-the-dresses bit, but skirts were long and we wore knee socks. Tall boots had not yet come in, but there were snow boots. We wore those and carried our shoes in special "shoe bags".

No sports for girls, and getting hauled into the office when a couple of my friends and I rolled up our skirts and ran on the track. We were lectured for being "unladylike".

trof

(54,256 posts)
19. My grammar school experienced a post war 'boom'.
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:09 PM
Aug 2023

An "annex" was added and the school rooms were heated with pot bellied coal stoves.
"Teacher's pets" got to put more lumps of coal into the stoves.

RainCaster

(10,884 posts)
18. Rock n roll on the AM dial, not hate
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:08 PM
Aug 2023

That was so nice, back then.
I also remember 28 cents per gallon gas.
high beams with your left foot.

rurallib

(62,423 posts)
21. and at night we could get stations from all around the country
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:30 PM
Aug 2023

and Canada and that monster from Mexico.

Who remembers KOMA in Oklahoma or WLS in Chicago?

RainCaster

(10,884 posts)
23. My 48 Chrysler had a vacuum tube radio
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:41 PM
Aug 2023

It could pull in stations from amazing distances. I lived in WA state and could easily get a Russian propaganda station out of Cuba. Radio Havana I think it was.
They don't make radios like that anymore.

rurallib

(62,423 posts)
30. I am in Iowa and we could get WWL also
Tue Aug 29, 2023, 07:32 PM
Aug 2023

It was so much fun turning that dial to see how far away we could get.

trof

(54,256 posts)
31. During Hurricane Katrina I watched WWL streaming until they were off the air.
Tue Aug 29, 2023, 07:47 PM
Aug 2023

I also watched huge wave rollers come up Wolf Bay. You could have surfed on them. Never seen anything like it on our placid bay.
I'm in coastal Alabama.

rurallib

(62,423 posts)
32. I listened to it on the radio on WWL until
Tue Aug 29, 2023, 07:53 PM
Aug 2023

somewhere @2 AM they stopped suddenly (my memory is not that good - sometime in the morning)

I was up that late because I was writing a letter to my Catholic diocese detailing sexual abuse from the 1960s. It was a strange night.

lambchopp59

(2,809 posts)
20. Frigidaire "Jet cone" washing machines
Mon Aug 28, 2023, 08:22 PM
Aug 2023

Kachunk kachunk kachunk kachunk kachunk for about 2 minutes per cycle.
My grandmother swore by that machine, that it was the better substitute for a good washboard scrub *than "them round and round thangs".

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