I Grew Up Back When - Post Your Memories...

Not sure why I thought of this but does anyone remember road side safety inspections? They police would randomly set up by the side of the road and stop cars for an inspection, lights, signals, tires, that kind of thing. My first few cars were beaters so I would have to do a quick u-turn when I saw an inspection ahead, my cars would never had passed.

Once they had one set up at our local fire station, which happened to be the same place you went to get the free blocks of cheese the government was giving out. My dad sent me to get the cheese but because of the inspection that was set up I had to park up the road at a school, walk down and get the cheese then walk back to my car. I'm sure the safety inspectors got a kick out of watching me knowing full well what I was up to since the school was in visual distance of the fire station.
 
Listening to the latest record in the Record booth before buying it...

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HMV Oxford street

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SmoothSeas said:
”And I see this WE ARE A GENERATION THAT WILL NEVER COME BACK. A generation that went to school and walked back. A generation that did their homework alone to get out asap to play in the street. A generation that spent all their free time on the street. A generation that played hide and seek when dark. A generation that made mud cakes. A generation that collected sports cards. A generation that found, washed and sold empty coke bottles to the local grocery store for 5 cents each. A generation that made paper toys with their bare hands. A generation who bought vinyl albums to play on record players. A generation that collected photos and albums of clippings. A generation that played board games and cards on rainy days. A generation whose TV went off at midnight after playing the National Anthem. A generation that had parents who were there. A generation that laughed under the covers in bed so parents didn't know we were still awake. A generation that is passing and unfortunately will never return!!...”
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You really brought good memories back to me!
 
On weekends, in 1960, my friends and I would pack peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with coke bottles (the thick glass coke bottles that cost 10 cents). We'd hop on our bikes with our fishing rods and ride to a lake in New York. We'd spend about 5 or 6 hours fishing. We were miles away from our homes. No concern about kidnapping or molestation.....life was safe. Then I'd come home and start my homework....doing reports on my Underwood typewriter. The ribbon had to be changed often leaving my fingers purple. Naturally, I made some typing mistakes and had to use that horrible eraser that always made holes in the paper. Toss the paper, start again! Ugh. Then my father would ask me to rake the leaves on the lawn (with a rake, no leaf blower invented yet). Lots of blisters. But the fun part was raking the leaves into a huge pile and setting them ablaze.....no permits necessary....everyone did the same on the block. The whole neighborhood smelled of burning leaves.... loved it.
 
There was music on the hit parade that I will always love:
1. Just Walking in the Rain - Johnnie Ray
2. The Wayward Wind - Gogi Grant
3. Que Sera, Sera - Doris Day
4. Standing On The Corner - The Four Lads
5. Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin
6. Hot Diggity - Perry Como

There was country music that I will always love:
1. Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley (I don't think this is very country????)
2. Young Love - Sonny James
3. Hound Dog - Elvis Presley (again, this is country????)
4. Singing the Blues - Marty Robbins
5. Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
6. I Walk The Line - Johnny Cash
7. You Are the One - Carl Smith
8. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

The music of the 50s could be understood. The singers had clear voices. Today we have rap or someone singing with a high pitch voice that, to me, sounds very much like my daughter's cat with it's tail stuck in the door. About rap? Don't get me started!
 
Packerjohn said:
There was music on the hit parade that I will always love:
1. Just Walking in the Rain - Johnnie Ray
2. The Wayward Wind - Gogi Grant
3. Que Sera, Sera - Doris Day
4. Standing On The Corner - The Four Lads
5. Memories Are Made Of This - Dean Martin
6. Hot Diggity - Perry Como

There was country music that I will always love:
1. Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley (I don't think this is very country????)
2. Young Love - Sonny James
3. Hound Dog - Elvis Presley (again, this is country????)
4. Singing the Blues - Marty Robbins
5. Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
6. I Walk The Line - Johnny Cash
7. You Are the One - Carl Smith
8. Folsom Prison Blues - Johnny Cash

The music of the 50s could be understood. The singers had clear voices. Today we have rap or someone singing with a high pitch voice that, to me, sounds very much like my daughter's cat with it's tail stuck in the door. About rap? Don't get me started
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Great post. Although, the country music list is inaccurately labeled. Elvis's music and others of that genre were not labeled country until Black music became a thing. Before then, it was "music".
 
GAlady said:
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Oh, yes, ours looked just like that except that the legs were cuffed and wide. It was the most horrible neon pea-green and it was thick broadcloth, so it had to be ironed after washing. It was guaranteed to fit no one.

I have my grandma's gym suit from her eighth grade. It was a navy blue dotted swiss bloomer suit with a skirt that buttoned onto it. She said they wore white knee-length stockings with canvas mary-jane shoes.
 
I was struggling in Algebra and a really smart girl lived close to me, so I asked her if she would help me. She asked her mom and she agreed. The girl was pretty, but didn’t have a boyfriend. After a few weeks of being tutored, I had figured it out. She said we could continue doing our homework together if I wanted to. I thought why not? This was in October. I went from a ‘C’ in Algebra to an ‘A.’

In March, I turned 16 and bought a clunker to get around in. It wasn’t all that bad, but it wasn’t as nice as my buddy’s Mustang. I never paid my tutor for her help, so I asked her out. She accepted and told me this would be her first date. At the end of the night, I walked her to the door and asked her if I could give her a kiss good night. She said ok, but it would be her first kiss from a boy, so she hoped it was alright. I kissed her and she wouldn’t let go. She asked how was that. I told her it was perfect and that she could kiss me anytime.

After that, we would take kissing breaks during our studies. It was a good time. Afterwards, we would laugh. We weren’t in love with one another. She ended up marrying a fellow classmate that he eventually became a professor at Akron U. She didn’t become a teacher, but instead, she became an RN. To this day, they still live in Akron.
 
Oh garsh, the picture of that gym suit brought back traumatic memories for me! 😱 Ours were dark blue and I hated that thing with a fiery passion. I also hated the public showers we were forced to do after wearing those horrid monstrosities. Walk past the teacher or someone she chose to replace her sitting there with a stinkin' clipboard as we walked past to make sure we were actually showering. Never knew how that was okay even back then, and NOW there's no way they'd get away with it. Oy. The memories!
 
I grew up in the 50's in what, for females, was a much different world. Very few worked outside the home and when they did, the pay they received was considerably less for the same job. They did not have access to many of the better paying jobs . They were expected to be stay at home homemakers who were submissive to their husbands - which meant for most never being permitted to say no to anything he wanted.
Later it meant never being allowed to have your own financial credit - having credit cards or being able to get a bank loan in your own name, etc. Much has been improved, but much remains to yet be corrected:, however, there are those who would turn the clock back on many issues. The "Good Old Days" weren't all that good for everyone!
 
Pookie said:
What I loved about growing up in the 60s and 70s was the fact that you didn't have to suit up like an astronaut on a spacewalk just to ride your bicycle.
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Yes, I ripped a lot of flesh in bicycle wrecks. Hit by a car (my fault) and got bandages by the score when I did the usual fall.
 

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