I remember when.....

[LordBest]

I remember when real fruit jam outnumbered 'conserves' and 'sugar-free fruit spreads' on supermarket shelves ten to one.

 

[Edward]

I remember when every town had its own little cinema. The employees wore uniforms and you'd be shown to your seats by torchlight.

I remember the local, one-screen cinema... I remember my ninth birthday party, in 1983, having to be put back a week as Superman III did so well the Regal in Larne kept it for an extra week, meaning Return of the Jedi was delayed. I also remember the same place becoming a Bingo Hall for many years, when many cinemas closed down in the early 80s. Bingo, when it still functioned as a cinema, was Wednesday nights - we once had to turn tail and come back the next night as we inadvertently arrived to go to the cinema on Bingo night! In the 90s, it reopened for a few brief years as a four screen cinema, the one big, old auditorium split in four. It didn't last long; Larne people, it seems, preferred to take the train journey (over an hour) to flashier, more modern cinemas in Belfast.

I don't know when it was that cinema ushers disappeared... most anywhere I go in nowadays has at most an usher to check all entering have tickets, but after that you don't see them at all for the duration. I wish they would make a comeback - I'm sure that would go some way towards quelling unruly kids that want to talk / use their phones throughout a film....

 

[LizzieMaine]

I don't know when it was that cinema ushers disappeared... most anywhere I go in nowadays has at most an usher to check all entering have tickets, but after that you don't see them at all for the duration. I wish they would make a comeback - I'm sure that would go some way towards quelling unruly kids that want to talk / use their phones throughout a film....

Around here, regular uniformed ushers were gone by the late fifties, a casualty of television.

At the single-screen theatre where I work, we have ushers for special events, although they aren't uniformed -- they do wear badges, though. For regular movies if an usher is needed for any special duty, it's up to me: I help elderly folks down the aisle, point people to the bathrooms, quell the unruly, confiscate contraband, and chuck out the occasional drunk. Usually all I have to do is scowl over the top of my glasses, and hit them with a flashlight beam and they settle right down.

 

[davidraphael]

I remember the local, one-screen cinema... I remember my ninth birthday party, in 1983, having to be put back a week as Superman III did so well the Regal in Larne kept it for an extra week, meaning Return of the Jedi was delayed.

Snap! Over in Manchester, I had a similar problem with my 1 screen (which had been recently taken over by the long gone Cannon chain). I was a Star Wars nut back then (ok, so maybe I am still, a bit), so I wasn't happy about having to wait.

 

[CherryWry]

I remember going to the drive-in movie theater down the street from my house and thinking it was sad that other towns didn't have drive-in movies any more. Now I live in one of those sad towns with no drive-in.

 

[Undertow]

I remember going to the drive-in movie theater down the street from my house and thinking it was sad that other towns didn't have drive-in movies any more. Now I live in one of those sad towns with no drive-in.

Amen, sister!:cry:

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I remember going to the drive-in movie theater down the street from my house and thinking it was sad that other towns didn't have drive-in movies any more. Now I live in one of those sad towns with no drive-in.

There used to be four drive-ins in my immediate area. Walmarts now sit on the site of two of them.

 

[swinggal]

- going to drive-in theatre almost weekly

- when teachers actually had authority in the classroom

- I could buy my lunch at school for 30c when I was 10

- dad used to take us to the 'paper-shop' every Friday night to buy a comic and sweets

- when mum would drop us off at the swimming pool on holidays and come back and get us later...yeah, we looked after ourselves and so did every single other kid in town

- when fast food was a treat and never eaten on a regular basis like today

- school holidays seemed to go on forever

- when you'd be disciplined with a smack every now again and turned out fine!

- when people weren't so precious about kids getting hurt playing, being dirty and all the other NORMAL stuff that makes you into a well adjusted adult

- wax paper straws

- when all soft drink came in bottles or steel cans

- collecting and taking soft drink bottles to the corner shop and getting money for them! Recycling well before it's time.

- playing boardgames on the weekends with the kids next door or mum and dad on a Saturday night (if we weren't going to the drive-in)

 

[Miss Peach]

I remember getting up early in the morning while my dad got ready for work so I could watch Danger Mouse and The Bozo Show. Later on, those cartoons turned into Thundercats, Transformers, He-Man, GIJoe, David the Gnome, etc.

I wouldn't miss Bozo. THE GRAND PRIZE GAME!

 

[Rats Riley]

I remember as a kid when we could open the windows and just latch the screen door during the summer...and not have to worry about some crack head breaking into our house.

I remember we had a police call box at the end of our block and a beat cop who looked ten feet tall.

I remember going to church everyday in school and saying the pledge of allegiance every morning.

I remember breaking my first window with a baseball. Then not only paying for the window, but also helping replace it. I also remember Mr. McGavver shaking my hand and thanking me for doing the right thing.

I also seem to remember we had a gas station where they would pump the gas and wash your windows as you sat in the car.

 

[Undertow]

I wouldn't miss Bozo. THE GRAND PRIZE GAME!

I used to day dream about winning that all the time. I still regret that I wasn't on the show...:eusa_doh:

 

[Foofoogal]

I remember when I didn't run around like a mad woman trying to preserve all the vintage items everyone on this thread remembers. :eusa_doh: lol

Coming from Texas to Arkansas this weekend saw a drive in with a putt putt golf in front. Not sure where though as I was sort of sleeping. Very cool. Somewhere in Oklahoma. I think.

 

[Mid-fogey]

Interesting...

There used to be four drive-ins in my immediate area. Walmarts now sit on the site of two of them.

...the same thing happend here. The street leading to it is still called "theater road."

 

[LizzieMaine]

I used to day dream about winning that all the time. I still regret that I wasn't on the show...:eusa_doh:

The boy who lived next door to me made it onto our local Bozo show as part of a trip with his Cub Scout troop. He was quite shaken by the sight of Bozo cussing out a stagehand while smoking a cigarette.

My own illusions were shattered the day I figured out Bozo was played by the same guy who played Santa Claus on the TV station's annual Christmas show.

 

[lolly_loisides]

- wax paper straws

I remember those too. They always ended up going soggy if you didn't finish your drink quickly enough.

 

[Mr. K.L.Bowers]

I remember my Mother listening to Johnny Dollar on the radio.

I remember the smell of the mohair upholstery in my Dad’s 48 Chevy
(it came back to me with a lot of memories when I bought my 36)

A 5 and 10 cent store in our small town

A Mom and Pop store on every corner in our town

The first TV we had, Black & White metal Motorola

 

[Big Man]

I remember Sunday afternoon visits with my great aunts and listening to all those old family stories.

I remember going on family picnics along the Blue Ridge Parkway in my Dad's 1955 Olds 98.

I remember the sound of my grandmother's voice ...

 

[scottyrocks]

I remember all my Dad's cars in detail. I remember peering over into the trunk of my Dad's 1957 Olds Rocket 88 in downtown Brooklyn. I couldnt have been more than 3 or 4. My mom was standing on the sidewalk and my Dad was putting packages in the trunk. When he was done, he slammed the trunk closed, my fingers still hanging on. The scramble for the keys was endless.

Luckily, my hands were so small, and the gap so large that there was no damage.

I remember the 1961 Pontiac Bonneville convertible. White body with an ice blue vinyl interior. Summer days in that car were the best. I wouldnt let him put the top down until I was already inside. The whole process was magic, from unlatching the locks at the top of the windshield to the sky high arc of the top in its journey, to the final folding of the top behind me. Putting the top up signaled the end of the day. Latches closed, docking maneuvers complete!

 

[AtomicEraTom]

We still have a drive-in in town. I'm only 20, so my memories don't go that far back. I remember my mom and dad's mile long 1977 Ford LTD wagon, our family car. I miss that thing and with we still had it. I remember being 3 years old and my dad letting me sit on his lap and steer that old wagon around the farm. We made the transitions all people from that era did. We went from the wagon, to a godawful 1989 Plymouth Voyager (I hate minivans) and then to SUV's in the past decade.

I remember not having a computer, 3 channels, no video games, and going outside to play. I remember having a rotary phone.

 

[Talbot]

Sitting on the bonnet of the car watching 'Its a Mad Mad World' at the drive in. Warm summer evenings and rock hard choc-tops, sigh.

I have a local drive in that is still operating but they had to go metroplex. They still have gold flecked laminate tables and multicolor festoon lights at the snack bar, so I guess its OK