Vintage professions you'd like to see come back.....

[David Conwill]

Where's summer?

Australia.

-Dave

 

[Mr Vim]

Ah ha, well put David...

I know this is somewhat a stretch, but I want car companies to come back... I want the car to have the performance of today's standards and have the artistic sense of wonder that there was back in the Golden Era. I am tired of these dull designs.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

The sad thing is that my dad complained of the same things in the 1970s. Now, I'd love to see even those styles come back!

Ah ha, well put David...

I know this is somewhat a stretch, but I want car companies to come back... I want the car to have the performance of today's standards and have the artistic sense of wonder that there was back in the Golden Era. I am tired of these dull designs.

 

[ScionPI2005]

Ah ha, well put David...

I know this is somewhat a stretch, but I want car companies to come back... I want the car to have the performance of today's standards and have the artistic sense of wonder that there was back in the Golden Era. I am tired of these dull designs.

I agree! I'd like to see the art deco designs come back into appliances and products as a whole. I miss the retro look that was apparent in anything from cars to radios, watches, and other appliances.

 

[brspiritus]

How about an old fashioned Tobacconist? Nowadays all I see are "smoke shops" here in Washington. A "smoke shop" here is really just a head shop that happens to sell cigarettes. You can't buy a pack of Lucky Strikes without choking on the incense. Even the better shops with a good cigar selection still carry hookah pipes and cheap knives. I'd really like to see the return of the tobacco stand, staffed by someone who knows what the heck they are talking about.

In Maryland we had Davidus Cigar and Faders both well respected old time tobaccionists complete with the indian out front. I feel your pain though as I have yet to find a decent shop here in Jacksonville.

 

[martinsantos]

I know only two places like JohnnieT talked about. Both are very old, traditional shops... One here in SP, selling cigars and tobacco for pipes since late 20s. It is in the middle of the "bas-fond" downtown area. The other in a country town, since 1880. Almost speciallized in tobacco in cords - around a hundred different types!

 

[AmateisGal]

The ability to write short stories and make a living from it. I have become a collector of vintage magazines and the women's magazines were a terrific market for short stories, and sometimes even full novels. I would love to be able to bring that back.

 

[in/y]

Umbrella repair!!

My grandfather's 1910's umbrella broke a couple of years back. I went to the place in Philadelphia where I have had it repaired (and once recovered) before only to find out that the owners uncle who did all of the repair work decided to retire the previous fall at the age of 93!

I'll hang on to all of the parts until I find someone who can fix it.

In the meantime, I tend to get a bit wetter in the rain these days.

 

[Hap]

Maybe someone else has already mentioned this one but how about the Hat Check girl (or guy). With the exception of the local symphony hall there is never anywhere safe to leave your hat when you're out on the town.

 

[Miss sofia]

Rag and bone man, although for nostalgic reasons i guess, growing up in a city it was nice to see a horse and cart coming down the road once a week when i was a kid and getting to feed the horse a sugar lump.

Cinema usherettes in uniform.

 

[MysteriousRed]

The ability to write short stories and make a living from it. I have become a collector of vintage magazines and the women's magazines were a terrific market for short stories, and sometimes even full novels. I would love to be able to bring that back.

Now, you have me interested in collecting vintage magazines.

 

[Akubra Man]

Art mending tailors. The last one in my city closed a few years ago when the owner retired. He was in his 80's and could have worked past 100 because the work was always there. This type of tailoring involves repairing damage to a fabric with individual threads of the fabric and using them re-create the actual look of the fabric before it was damaged. Common repairs included cigarette burns and other small holes. I used this service a couple of times on suit trousers and a navy blazer.

 

[Philip Adams]

Rag and bone man, although for nostalgic reasons i guess, growing up in a city it was nice to see a horse and cart coming down the road once a week when i was a kid and getting to feed the horse a sugar lump.

Cinema usherettes in uniform.

Oh yes - I have to agree about cinema usherettes in uniforms.

I'd also like to be able to walk into a town and not see exactly the same set of shops as I saw in the town down the road. Here in the UK the same branded shops are EVERYWHERE. There seems to be no space for the independent retailer any more. Chemists, newsagents, mobile phone shops, opticians, coffee shops, small supermarkets etc etc. They are all just chains.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Vintage magazines are a blast. I love mine, especially Saturday Evening Post and Look!

Now, you have me interested in collecting vintage magazines.

 

[Philip Adams]

Coppers on the beat. Can't think of the last time I saw a policeman on foot.

When I was young I was brought up with the idea that a uniformed policeman was someone you should respect and trust.

 

[certainlyred]

It would overjoy me to see the Midwife once again become the "default" prenatal caregiver. For heaven's sake, they aren't even legal in many states now!

 

[John in Covina]

One profession that I had not thought about recently came up at church.

The organist let the pastor know that our church organ was acting strange.
Something about the stops was flipping on more than what the settings were supposed to be I think.
They needed to call in the organ repair guy.

 

[Edward]

Journalist.

Bazinga! One thing I'll always respect the English for is the quality of their broadcast journalism - even when it's dumbed down, the legal obligation of impartiality has done a lot to keep up quality.

I'd like to see actual local Radio DJ's once again. Everything is pre-recorded nowadays. Also, vehicle mechanics who can work on a car without 'plugging it in'.

Edited because my husband said he would never live somewhere called Crystal lake.I guess he fears Jason lol

Crystal Lake.... the Camp aside, it always makes me think of a trashy actress, sounds like the name of one. Maybe she could be one of the victims in Jason's next outing.... lol

Yeah, I never understood that either. Unless of course they have good insurance and the other working partner doesn't get insurance through their job.

I expect it's not solely a monetary thing. A lot of ladies feel they would go spare being at home all day - can't say I blame them, having been unemployed for four months at one point, it's not easy psychologically. It's been a long time since I studied psychology, but one thing that did stick with me from my GCSE in Child Psychology was that children, particularly boys, tend to grow up with a much more positive view of women in families where the mother works.

What I don't like is the X-marts carrying groceries. I don't want to buy a steak and a pack of under pants in the same store!

As a concept, this doesn't bother me - but then I grew up long after the arrival of department store chains like Marks and Spencer and Dunnes (an Irish equivalent to M&S). Then you also have the very high end equivalents, like Harrods. I guess if the normative experience of same is Wally world, though, I can understand it.

I can't remember their job title but the people at the cinema, normally women, who used to sell icecream and popcorn from trays they hung from around their necks. As a child, running down the steps to get ice cream in the little pots with flat wooden spoons, was the favourite part of going to the pictures.

Jings, I wish they'd bring back having usherettes / ushers actually in the auditorium. I don't recall exactly when they phased those out, but the last time I can remember an usherette staying in during the film was when I went to see Police Academy 5.... must have been 1988? Kids in general today seem much less able to sit down and shut the hell up for two hours at a time than was the case even fifteen years ago, but I really think the lack of any kind of authority figure in there telling them so is an issue. Half the time I'm reticent to comment myself as the type of kid who typically yaks on a phone during a film also tends to carry a knife.

Actual professional motion picture projectionists. Not just some kid to goes up into the booth, presses the button and walks away until the buzzer tells him the movie has stopped!

Doug

I can't see that happening - it's a dying art. As soon as they deal with the political aspects of replacing a whole skilled profession with remote button-pushing and the question of who exactly funds it, cinema will go straight to digital - possibly on disc in the interim, but in the long run no doubt some form of remote link-up. Specialist places might rely on traditional projection still, but I can see it disappearing from the mainstream within the decade.

How about an old fashioned Tobacconist? Nowadays all I see are "smoke shops" here in Washington. A "smoke shop" here is really just a head shop that happens to sell cigarettes. You can't buy a pack of Lucky Strikes without choking on the incense. Even the better shops with a good cigar selection still carry hookah pipes and cheap knives. I'd really like to see the return of the tobacco stand, staffed by someone who knows what the heck they are talking about.

Again, I think their time has simply passed. Far fewer people smoke nowadays - at least over here - and the pipe / cigar "hobbyist" smoker (as opposed to cigarette habit) is too niche a market to support bricks and mortar places for the most part. It seems to me that this sort of specialist business will increasingly go online.

I love playing croquet. A summer isn't complete without several games played with friends on our 60 year old croquet set. It's nice playing with a set that has such a long family history and such good memories attached to it.

I have long fancied a set... ever since Heathers. With no garden of my own, though, I'd have to be motivated to take it out and set up in the communal block gardens, which means something more to store in the flat. One day...

I did read somewhere that croquet sets were briefly popular again as a novelty gift in the wake of one of our past Deputy Prime Ministers being "exposed" as a fan of the game. lol

Rag and bone man, although for nostalgic reasons i guess, growing up in a city it was nice to see a horse and cart coming down the road once a week when i was a kid and getting to feed the horse a sugar lump.

Ah, now I'm too young to remember these. I think the only Rag and Bone men's horses I ever saw were called Hercules and Delilah....

 

[TheSwingingBee]

I know there are still a few around but good repair for shoes, small appliances & electronics are becoming harder to find. You used to be able to get such repair services in any small town. Now you often have to ship them by mail to get the job done. We have become such a throwaway society. Much better to build things that last and are repairable.

I find that the best places to find good shoe repair is close to larger dance studios. Dancers are always having to get their shoes resoled and repaired.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

How about your stereotypical Emmet's Fix-It Shop type place. Someone who can fix radio's, TV's, clocks, vacuums, etc. I would love to do that for a living.