OT: Bygone Behaviors

[wire chief]

In the late '40's my mom would put me on the #23 bus, telling the driver (who she did not know personally)
that my grandma will be waiting at Hudson Blvd. and 67th St. (3 towns away). I arrived safely each time.
I was 6 years old.

Are their acts you know of that are no longer part of our culture?

 

[phil sampieri]

In the late '40's my mom would put me on the #23 bus, telling the driver (who she did not know personally)
that my grandma will be waiting at Hudson Blvd. and 67th St. (3 towns away). I arrived safely each time.
I was 6 years old.

Are their acts you know of that are no longer part of our culture?

How about the key to the house was under the milk box or the the doors were never locked

 

[Icebear]

How about the key to the house was under the milk box or the the doors were never locked

You mean it isn't there any more?!?

 

[meyers7]

In the late '40's my mom would put me on the #23 bus, telling the driver (who she did not know personally)
that my grandma will be waiting at Hudson Blvd. and 67th St. (3 towns away). I arrived safely each time.
I was 6 years old.

Are their acts you know of that are no longer part of our culture?

When I was 7-8ish, my mom would send me to the grocery store to pick up a couple things. It was only a couple blocks away though. I did have to cross a couple streets. Doubt too many parents do that anymore.

 

[TDiNozzo]

I use to be a crossing guard and step out into the street to stop traffic for the smaller kids.... Don't think I would do that now.... In fact, all I see are old people doing it.... Maybe I have a future.......

 

[johnnyc]

Being disciplined by adults in the neighborhood other than your parents.

 

[JRRRJ]

When I was 7-8ish, my mom would send me to the grocery store to pick up a couple things. It was only a couple blocks away though. I did have to cross a couple streets. Doubt too many parents do that anymore.

I was probably a year or so younger the first time my mother sent me to the store with a quarter to buy a pack of Raleighs for her. It was close -- the backyard of the house to which Buck's Store was attached abutted the backyard of my house. So all I had to do was walk halfway around a short block (there was a fence between the yards). My pay for the effort was the candy I could buy with the 4 cents change.

We never locked the car.

We rode our bicycles everywhere, and drivers were observant enough that we didn't die from our frequent inattention to traffic. (There was traffic, it was a large town.)

We drank untreated water from ponds and streams.

We didn't fly anywhere -- feet, bike, car, bus.

I often walked to high school, even though there was a bus available -- it was only a bit over two miles.

Playing games with baseball cards (matchem, topper, closest-to-the-wall, etc) to win someone else's cards at recess in elementary school.

School outings on foot.

Walking barefoot on the street or sidewalk or in the parks with no nasty or painful repercussions.

Collecting cans & bottles to make money on the refund at the store.

Putting salt on the driveway and sidewalks.

Those would be mid-50s to mid-60s.

 

[intlzncster]

This is an old people only thread, isn't it?

 

[DaddyChoc]

as a 14yr old my friends and I would catch the Greyhound from Downtown Hartford to Grand Central Station NYC, shop on 42nd street (peeking at the peep shows) hop in a cab to Delancey & Orchid Street buy our leather coats (in the middle of the summer) have a few slices of pizza at a shop at the end of Orchid. hop back in a cab to 42nd and 8th Ave by 4pm to catch the bus back to Hartford, early 80's #TBT

 

[Husky25]

How about the key to the house was under the milk box or the the doors were never locked

Replaced by the keypad and auto garage door opener.

This is an old people only thread, isn't it?

At 37, I don't typically consider my self old. Only a couple times.

How about these?

15-20 house paper routes by 12 year olds. Not town wide delivery by 52 year olds (taught responsibility and the value of a dollar).

Riding a bike out of the neighborhood to Soccer/baseball Practice.

Bike riding without a helmet.

Car travel in the front seat at 5 years old.

Car travel in the way back of station wagon without a 3rd row seat or seatbelts.

Cheating the Collect Call interface when you needed to be picked up from school (the 90's version of a text message) and payphones in general

Pagers were for doctors or drug dealers

 

[KnightBridgeAZ]

Agree with most, but not sure what is historical about salt on the driveway and sidewalks. While I never used it on the driveway, up until we moved I used to use it on both the front steps and the sidewalk. Both traditional and more modern "salts".

Also, when you didn't have to be excessively careful not to touch someone (not that I like being touched, I was a bit infamous at my job for not being touchy / feelie, I just don't think I'm being attacked if someone touches me). At the recent WNIT championship, my wife tapped the knee of a kid behind her who kept yelling (continuously) "sit down coach" at Vivian, even though she was just coaching standing (as was the home coach). He thought it was a "T" for the coach to be standing. In any case, he called arena security and wanted my wife ejected for touching him. Since there was an usher sitting 3 feet away the whole time, and the whole situation was obvious, the security basically told him to settle down, but as the usher said when we were leaving after the game "it is a whole different world now".

 

[Dove]

When I was around 5 there was an old man who walked up and down our street. We called him the Candy Man as he always gave us us sweets. Today, he would be hauled away and arrested.

 

[intlzncster]

When I was around 5 there was an old man who walked up and down our street. We called him the Candy Man as he always gave us us sweets. Today, he would be hauled away and arrested.

These days that's a horror movie.

 

[BooRadley]

In my younger days, crushing beer cans in one hand was a 'manly' show of grip strength before it became an easy & efficient way to store recycleables.

YOPB

 

[johnnyc]

as a 14yr old my friends and I would catch the Greyhound from Downtown Hartford to Grand Central Station NYC, shop on 42nd street (peeking at the peep shows) hop in a cab to Delancey & Orchid Street buy our leather coats (in the middle of the summer) have a few slices of pizza at a shop at the end of Orchid. hop back in a cab to 42nd and 8th Ave by 4pm to catch the bus back to Hartford, early 80's #TBT

A cab? What were you slumming?

 

[Joobie]

I was 6 when Nana would send me to the bakery to get a loaf of Italian bread on Sunday morning. No streets to cross tho & less than a block away. The woman who worked there affectionately called me "stinky" & gave me a free cookie.
Free rein in my neighborhood for bike riding, playing stick ball on a dead end street, or running around someone else's yard. Plenty of supervision coz everybody's Mom was home.

At the end of Summer, the largest employer in town would have the local theater do an afternoon of cartoons on Saturday. We got free pencil cases along with our animation.

 

[CL82]

Free reign as a kid, as long as you were home when the street lights came on. Biking into other towns to see friends, hiking for miles in the woods were all fair game.

 

[Bestiarius]

Hitchhiking everywhere.
unwrapped Halloween candy

 

[Vowelguy]

I'm one of the younger ones around here, and even I note that the very act of walking to school by yourself is gone.

In the mid 70s, I walked to kindergarten by myself or with a couple of friends. About 3/4 of a mile.

That would never happen today. Unfortunately the times we live in now.

 

[rvwsleep]

I was probably a year or so younger the first time my mother sent me to the store with a quarter to buy a pack of Raleighs for her. It was close -- the backyard of the house to which Buck's Store was attached abutted the backyard of my house. So all I had to do was walk halfway around a short block (there was a fence between the yards). My pay for the effort was the candy I could buy with the 4 cents change.

We never locked the car.

We rode our bicycles everywhere, and drivers were observant enough that we didn't die from our frequent inattention to traffic. (There was traffic, it was a large town.)

We drank untreated water from ponds and streams.

We didn't fly anywhere -- feet, bike, car, bus.

I often walked to high school, even though there was a bus available -- it was only a bit over two miles.

Playing games with baseball cards (matchem, topper, closest-to-the-wall, etc) to win someone else's cards at recess in elementary school.

School outings on foot.

Walking barefoot on the street or sidewalk or in the parks with no nasty or painful repercussions.

Collecting cans & bottles to make money on the refund at the store.

Putting salt on the driveway and sidewalks.

Those would be mid-50s to mid-60s.

The earliest deposit/refund system implemented in the U.S. for bottles and cans was 1972 in Oregon.

 

[jimazee]

Agree with most, but not sure what is historical about salt on the driveway and sidewalks. While I never used it on the driveway, up until we moved I used to use it on both the front steps and the sidewalk. Both traditional and more modern "salts".

Also, when you didn't have to be excessively careful not to touch someone (not that I like being touched, I was a bit infamous at my job for not being touchy / feelie, I just don't think I'm being attacked if someone touches me). At the recent WNIT championship, my wife tapped the knee of a kid behind her who kept yelling (continuously) "sit down coach" at Vivian, even though she was just coaching standing (as was the home coach). He thought it was a "T" for the coach to be standing. In any case, he called arena security and wanted my wife ejected for touching him. Since there was an usher sitting 3 feet away the whole time, and the whole situation was obvious, the security basically told him to settle down, but as the usher said when we were leaving after the game "it is a whole different world now".

1) A bit more 'historiccal' may be using ashes from the coal stove on the sidewalks and also the road/hill? (Especially interesting when the ashes were still hot from the fire)

2) 1) Reminds me of recapped tires, which were commonly used for both snow tires and regular to save $$$.

3) The thing about 'touching' people is creepy. Similar to the danger of being arrested or at least suspected of bad intentions for smiling at or saying 'Hi' to a youngster in public, especially while shopping.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

The earliest deposit/refund system implemented in the U.S. for bottles and cans was 1972 in Oregon.

When I was a kid, the 50s, 12oz. soda bottles carried a 2 cent deposit/refund. Quart bottles were worth a nickel. The bottles were washed out and reused too. A case of beer came in a heavy duty cardboard box and the empty bottles were placed back in the box and everything returned. There may not have been a law requiring it but all bottlers did it.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Replaced by the keypad and auto garage door opener.
Car travel in the way back of station wagon without a 3rd row seat or seatbelts.

Or the open back of the pickup

 

[RegisteredUconn]

When I was 7-8ish, my mom would send me to the grocery store to pick up a couple things. It was only a couple blocks away though. I did have to cross a couple streets. Doubt too many parents do that anymore.

I have a letter from my grandfather to his father telling of my mother taking two friends to the then equivalent of a 7-11 and treating them to some candy. She told the shop owner to put it on her father's tab. He did. My mom was three-and-a-half at the time.

 

[RegisteredUconn]

Agree with most, but not sure what is historical about salt on the driveway and sidewalks. While I never used it on the driveway, up until we moved I used to use it on both the front steps and the sidewalk. Both traditional and more modern "salts".

I can't remember anyone putting salt on a driveway or even shoveling one. You just drove over the snow. Roads too.