Things Forgotten

Ohh...they are beautiful!!!

CCinNJ
The next time I find a Buttoneer...I have to buy it.

Ebay.
 
Bart

CC, I think we have the same affliction.
 
 

It really is so much fun...and like the Cabbage Patch Kid Dad says..." no harm no foul" The really fun part is finding great treasures when people have no clue about what they actually do. Sometimes I don't know until I do some research.The price is right!

I find the industrial Buttoneers from time to time and the ladies think it's an old price tag gun.

I have to drag the Saladmaster out tomorrow. I love that thing and I think I paid $3 for it...never used in the box.

Garage sales were my downfall.  I only go now and then now.  I've found since working that I like to sleep late.
 
I love decorating a table with a theme and doing the meal to match.
 
My father had a collection of tiny sewing machines that really worked.  I like the old needle threaders but don't have any.

mar52

Men's Wide, White belts with matching white shoes.  Thank God

 
That was during my last year of high school Mar. It was mostly older, well off guys in their 50's or older that wore them like a uniform with burgandy pants and a matching burgandy print shirt as a common coordination sometimes topped with a sleeveless,white, pull over sweater with a deep neckline. I remember attending a meeting once where the group was divided between Dr's,Lawyers,and other professionals on one side and working class guys on the other. The seating just happened that way and I guess like attracts like. The speaker had a great time with this division calling attention to the 'Polyester Crowd" on the right. It was funny b/c they all looked like clones including the combed over hair. That was bad, then came the brushed denhim leisure suit and broad lapels or the "Chino Look". Lets not forget the complimentary, long sideburns that projected and squared off at the beard line. That started during the early 70's polyester days.  Oh, how about the Quiana fabric with the loud prints unbuttoned down the chest sporting a fertility symbol and guy's wearing pants so tight they spoke in a falsetto a la Saturday Night Fever.
 
Halston's 
 
Anyone recall the "jet set" and the lines like "If it's sunday, it must be rio"?
 
"Bet your bippy",
 
"Far out and solid man" Not quite what Link used to say to Julie but co-merged because of the influence below.
Dave?
Dave's not here! (think of this as impromptu responsive reading by any group under 25 to the calling of the name Dave)
 
Clacker balls
 
Round impressions in guy's wallets as a sign of (im)maturity. Zip-up wallets with western themes for guys. Later, suede coverings on wallets to deter pick pockets all because of Karl Malden.  Think about something. Everytime someone's wallet disappeared from their purse or pocket, Malden was just around the corner. Nobody ever suspected him, did they?
 
Being warned of guy's wearing glossy Patent Leather Shoes. Like any guy actually would be caught dead in a pair of oxfords under 30 back then.
 
Chapperones bringing out the towels if a sweater looked too tight or plunged too deep.
 
Platex's Living Bras (did anyone know what to feed them?)
 
Being seen and not heard. 
 

Excellent, Dawn!
 
Showers in Junior High and High School....
 
Junior High.  What's with Middle School?
 
Grammar School... It's Elementary, My Dear.
 
Black Bowling balls.  (I haven't been in years... do they exist?)

I don't know what living bras ate. Maybe a hearty meal. They had long 18 hour work days.

Girdles have morphed into Spanx.

Some hair straighteners come with a crimping plate. I have not seen anyone with crimped hair (outside of a theme party or Halloween) in a long long time....and NJ would be the place to see it...since the decade of the 80s sorta symbolizes NJ more than any other decade.



I had a set of Ka Bangers (clacker balls). Hours of fun...but drives people mad eventually.

Sit & Spin.

Clowns you punch. I am spooked by clowns so I never had one.

This is a story about a local store where you walk back in time. It is almost exactly the same as it always was...except for Spanx.

Barney Stock...

http://www.nj.com/jjourna..._l.html?mobRedir=false

DawnT

CCinNJ

Finger bowls

Aren't you a bit far north to know about these things?

Finger bowls were ever present in New England when eating steamers and lobsters. They always came with a lemon wedge and a warm napkin. You'd rub the lemon on your fingers, then rinse your fingers in the warm water and then dry your hands with the warm napkin.
 
Of course I remember when my uncle Ed saw his first finger bowl. He squeezed the lemon into it and proceeded to eat the water with a spoon. No one said anything to him at the table. I understand that my aunt did explain finger bowls to him later.
 
EDIT: Let me amend the above. Finger bowls were always there for steamers and lobsters in white tablecloth restaurants, not at clam or lobster shacks.

When I was 10 or so we went to a high end restaurant frequently that always had finger bowls. This was mid 1950's Chicago. Back in the day when you always dressed up for eating out, traveling by plane or train or even going downtown to shop. 

Marlene,
  in the 1950's We had "Intermediate" schools for grades 7 and 8 in the South Bay area.  When I returned to SoCal in the 1980's Hesperia and Victor Valley used the terms Middle School and Jr. High for both their two (in each district) schools for grade 6-7-8 in Hesperia, and 7-8 in VV.
label doesn't matter, kids that grade level should be quarantined for the whole time period !

In the '70s I went with a friend to a Polynesian restaurant on Los Angeles's Restaurant Row.
 
A small bowl with grey goo was put in front of both of us.  Tasted a miniscule bit and decided it was a finger bowl.  We dipped out fingers into it and decided it was not.  It was Poi.

My grandmother serving me the unlaid egg yolks taken from inside of the chicken in a little chicken soup.

The toast rack of my dreams...

http://www.metmuseum.org/.ah/works-of-art/1985.311

mar52
A small bowl with grey goo was put in front of both of us.  Tasted a miniscule bit and decided it was a finger bowl.  We dipped out fingers into it and decided it was not.  It was Poi.

Well, remember, one man's meat is another man's Poi, son.
 
Bart
 

mayor al


"Lic-M-Aide" The envelopes of powdered drink mix that you ate right out of the envelope/pkg.
Junkers Strawberry and Raspberry flavored cook-n-serve puddings called "Danish Dessert"

 
I loved that Lik-m-Aid stuff!!!  However, I must say that Pop-rocks are a very fun replacement. :))

During the cylamates era, that was very common for Kool Aid and Funny Face packets to be used for that. Kid's would sport a deeply stained finger like a status symbol. It would also stain your mouth. There were a lot of kids that looked like they had inflamed lips. Once the cyclamate ban forced the manufactuers to used sugar for pre-sweetened drinks, it was over. The big bags of sugar sweetened were granular and didn't work.
During that time, Giant Sweet Tarts and Jolly Rancher Cinnamon and sour apple "logs" I think the bars were called that were about 5" long x 1 1/4" wide filled in the gap afterwards. 

I got thinking about some of the crap sold to kids last night...naturally whammo comes to mind. These were fad toys I'm thinking about that made you part of an elementary school group.
 
Silly Putty  boys  came in an egg. It could bounce, lift print off newspaper and i'm not sure what else.
 
Super Stuff.  Sort of reminiscent of the green slime the boys were playing with when my kids were in school. It came in a pint cottage cheese container as a packet of powder that once hydrated with water turned into a rubbery pink goo that streched and you could blow bubbles into it. It would stick to clothes.
 
Super Balls. Boys. I think these are still around, but a buck or more was a lot of money for a little ball about 1 1/2" in the early 60's was a lot of money. Point was for the kid to smash the ball on the floor as hard as he could and it bounced real high and could make great marks on the ceiling and the best part was drop ceilings would steal the balls forever. Outside they often ended up on roofs.  Idiot boys never gave any thought to how many times it would bounce in a room and when they hit, they hurt! After use on pavement and rough surfaces, the balls would start to fragment in little,tiny, pieces leaving the ball covered in craters. I wonder how many have been recovered off roofs decades later.
 
Squirt Rockets. Boys. These lasted a long time in the grand scheme of the 60's, maybe because of the space age. Two plastic rockets that came with a hand pump. There was an extra large version too. You filled them up with water and pumped them up with pressure. Releasing the clip that held the rocket would send it pretty high. Most of the rockets kept the Super balls company on roofs for many years.
 
Hula Hoops. Girls. Need I say more. At one point they added something inside to make a noise. I think those were called Shoop Shoop Hula Hoops when they first came out. That recurred twice while I was in school. The original and the Shoop one.
 
I don't remember the name of what was a foam block in three colors white, pink and something else connected to two very long elastic bands. The point was to shake it back and forth. This was a girl's thing. Like boxball or hopscotch, there would be a line of players waiting their turns to participate. 
 
Squirt gun that came with a huge bottle of red, disappearing ink. Boys. Need I say more.
 
Frisbees..never went away even through ones that lit up and those that glowed in the dark.
 
Others I can think of that the CPSC would rather not. Lawn Darts, slip and slide, some idiotic head looking thing that connected to the hose and jumped all over the place and knocked out that loose tooth. Thing Maker sets and Vac U Form. The reason why many 50 to 60 y/o's are missing partial finger prints. Swing Wing cap with rotating streamer. The reason some of the same age group probably have cervical vertabrae injuries.
 
 Mr. Potato Head, later deemed racist. the original's used potatoes. Cooties. Looked like huge ants with removable parts. Lite Brites. Girl's only. You learned to be reclusive a few years earlier. Easy Bake Oven. Duncan then Aladdin YoYo's alternating with tops. Then came those gyrocopic tops from mattel. Hot wheels/tracks  replaced matchbox collecting and electric train sets. Nuclear play set from gilbert...be the only kid on your block. Just kidding, but they did have a nuclear kit.
 
One thing that shouldn't be forgotten was all of the gun type toys that would freak out the most DHS officers today. Radios that turned to machine guns with a press of a button. Realsitic looking pistols and rifles that took bullets with spring loaded projectiles that took "greenie caps" for the bang. Pop guns based on BB guns. secret agent kits that had more combinations of guns you could imagine and usually a camera too. Lots of bang toys that took caps like a spring loaded booby traps complete with trip wire. I'd love to see the look on someone in law enforcement's face if they came across some of these toys that were common place back then. The toy stores and departments used to look like armory's. Guess boys on Ritalin don't have much interest in things like this anymore.
 
Then there were the insider toys. You had to collect box tops, tokens, or buy (pester in children't currency) an expensive pair of shoes to quality. Code Rings, Pop Rockets. This was a new toy of the season.  

I always got summer toys for my Birthday...hoping to tire me out.

Including The Fun Fountain...which was no fun because the base was the head of a scary clown...and his hat flew in the air until you ran through and tripped over the hat or got clunked in the head..over and over and over. I am surprised I remember. I was not allowed to play on the slip n slides...they were too dangerous.

I bet I put 5000 miles on my Big Wheel...avoiding the Fun Fountain.

No Slip n Slides for us either.  We had the sprinkler that watered the grass.
 
CC, Love your dream toast holder.  Do you have any cruet sets?  I tried selling a bunch of them at my garage sale and no one even looked at them.  My mother uses hers to hold her mail.  The toast rack didn't hold enough.

To be fair I gave my Brother my Grandmother's beautiful cruet set & my Grandfather's ship in a bottle (that was really amazing) along with a globe that opens to a bar...to keep a tabletop my Grandfather made from matchsticks & their wine decanter set he had his eye on.

I have a few nice sets but I'd love to find something really special. I never know what I will find any given day. My downfall was when they turned an old soda factory into a thrift store full of treasures....within walking distance.


This cruet set would make me very very happy...

http://m.flickr.com/#/pho..._galleries/2346709219/

At least you had grass. The Fun Fountain had to be kept away from the tomatoes...peppers...cucumbers etc. so they would be safe. It was the little bit of cement that kept me from running fast enough through it...and it got me every time.
 
This commercial is full of something...
 

That cruet set is amazing!
 
Didn't have a Wiggle Worm, either.
 
We did have grass, but never Dichondra much to my father's chagrin.

Clothesline shortages due to double dutch jumping.

Clear vinyl dome umbrellas

I am on a roll...like Baoding Balls aka meditation balls.. They are for the hands. The hands... the hands ...the hands.

Abacus.

the hands.
 
Bent cane rocking chairs
 
Plastic blow up chairs
 
Bean Bag chairs
 
When I was a baby I didn't have a high chair.  I had what looked like a card table with the chair built in to it.  I forget what it was called.  :(

Yes, the hands. Thought I'd chime in with that one.
 
The bean bag chairs were great for sulking. Only problem was the styrofoam beads packed down after a while. I had a huge, display one that came from a Jordan Marsh window display that took up the center of my room. I loved that thing. We dumped everything out of it durin the mid 70's and put it into storage. Very heavy duty naugahyde one with a heavy zipper. I totally forgot about it and was bringing my dad back from the bank sometime around '93 and happended across a strip mall selling them. They sold bags of the beans and I bought 3 and dug it out and refilled it. The girls were thrilled. One problem though, as much as I loved it, this time around i found I couldn't get out of it in my 40's without holding on to something. I also remember not only bean bag chairs, but there was semi-furniture with bean bags, long, body pillow-like ones.
 
Ohh, remember those chairs that looked like a huge egg? Guy thing really b/c it was meant to hooked up to a stereo with speakers inside, but was a real cocoony exerience especially under certain circumstances.
 
Those hand chairs also make me think of the white TV's with the rounded corners that sat on a funky pedastal. Gee all this white with a white shag rug and white satin makes me start thinking of Ann Margaret and baked beans. Add a white water bed with faux fur comforter to that picture and we've nailed it.
 
Moving on with Juivenile Furniture. The advent of those tubular frame desks with the ubiquitous high intensity lights that somehow joined with clock radios a few years later. Must have endured quite a while, my kid's bedroom set was a tubualr bunk bed and desk set that was very heavily made we bought in sears when they still sold furniture.
 
Strobe candles... yeah, out of the blue.
Those old style record players that sort of looked like a big suitcase and the turntable swung down. Everybody had one before it took a degree in rocket science to turn on a "component system" We got tired of that stupid rectangular thing that fit over the spindle to play 45's and bought bags of those yellow things that went inside the hole. 
 
Digital clocks that had those flaps that came down or the rolling wheels with flat sides. That was early 70's high tech. See the high intensity light above and color in day-glow colors. Mine was green with yellow daisies. Same color and scheme as my funky Dynamo label maker and Stapler with a big paw where your pressed down.
 
Remember those hair dryers that were a big, round plastic thing that had two snaps on the side. You lifted up the top bell-like portion and it snapped into place from the base. It raised and lowered.
 
MIA bracelets
 
Instamatics and flash cubes. The roll film cameras b4 them when we were kids that had the little red window and used the flash bulbs. That smell and noise they made after flashing. Waiting over a week for the pictures to get developed. Those white Swingers that had the roll film with the little door on the back.  No thanks couldn't afford one. I had a cheap, mail-away offer Agfa instamatic camera instead of the Kodak's everyone had.
 
Everything had wood grained contact paper or faux finish. The camera, the TV, the inside of your car, your radio. It was on everything. The wood grain and white plastic look replaced the mod colors of the late 60's and early 70's.
 
Box fans on standing frames or in the window. The air conditioner of our day.
 
The first real digital watches from Texas Instruments that you had to hold the button and it displayed for a few seconds. They made them in pendants too. I think they were wood grained too.
 
Canvas Notebooks that were works of art by the time the year ended.
 
The green enviormental flag on everything.
 
The whole earth catalog.
 
Foxfire.
 
Done mental streaming.   
 
 
 
 
 

I think the only way to get out of that chair after 35...is from the floor. Easier than a "hand" from the children...who think it's funny.

I loved my toss across bean bag game . It reminded me of the carnival game where you had to get tic tac toe with wiffle balls inside a box. No leaning over the line!!! They mean it! No goldfish if you lean...even if the ping pong ball lands in the bowl.


Faux "rock" walls. The sheets were raised hollow and had a border of adhesive. It didn't matter if you lived where humidity was a factor. If one fell...it wouldn't hurt.

HEAVY duty backyard umbrellas that were mostly green on the outside...flowers underneath...fringe on the collar. You had to exercise along with Jack LaLanne to be able to get those cranked all the way.