Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[John in Covina]

Note that he said 'like altoids'...... He means Sucrets et al which used to come in metal tins, and now come in plastic.

Maybe he can transfer those into an Altoids tin........................

 

[Shangas]

Note that he said 'like altoids'......


He means Sucrets et al which used to come in metal tins, and now come in plastic.

Uh-huh...I've still seen that as well..throat lozenges that come in metal tins.

 

[Mickey D]

I remember playing on an old retired jet fighter , F86 Saber, that was installed in a park after the Korean war. They also had an old 0-6-0 steam locomotive in the park to play on. They have since retired the locomotive to a static display only, but I wonder what happened to the Saber? [huh]

 

[johnnydnh]

F85 Sabre

God, that just jogged my memory. I seem to remember playing on one of those too! It was in a park in Campbell or Saratoga, CA if I remember correctly...maybe Los Gatos? Were they common across the country?

Thanks for bringing that back to mind.

 

[dhermann1]

On the buses

I got on the bus the other evening and heard a sound I hadn't heard in a long time: the jingle of change going into the box as a passenger got on the bus. I realized that with the plastic Metro cards we have in New York now, hardly anyone uses coins any more. The sound sort of startled me, and took me back a few decades.

 

[Feraud]

^ Was this an an older bus running on the line?
I recall the old change boxes where you dropped your fare into.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Along those same lines, when's the last time anyone saw a nickel-slinger hanging off someone's belt -- those metal lever-operated change dispensers formerly worn by paperboys, trolley conductors, and gas station attendants?

 

[Feraud]

Haven't seen one in years. My dad gave me one as a kid to play with!
I wonder how many people even know how to make change anymore?

 

[John in Covina]

Along those same lines, when's the last time anyone saw a nickel-slinger hanging off someone's belt -- those metal lever-operated change dispensers formerly worn by paperboys, trolley conductors, and gas station attendants?

THe change makers are something I associate most with "The Ice Cream Man" and food vendors at events.

These days many places will do the round off to the nearest dollar for snacks like at a ball game. If the planned inflation kicks in they'll be rounding off to the nearest $5 incriment soon.:eusa_doh:

 

[Ethan Bentley]

That's awesome! A very good use for a vintage phone booth.

I'm with everyone on missing old fashion phone "rings". I've never used any other ringtone than an old fashioned bell ring on my cell phone.

Some of these are quite good other sound almost as electronic as the others. When I used to work at a n electronics store we used to sell an adapter that went between the telephone socket and the plug; it was designed for the hard of hearing and had an actual bell ringer inside it.

 

[grundie]

There are so many things I can think of....

People who answered the phone by stating their phone number.
Public phones that had A and B buttons.
Strowger telephone exchanges.
The national anthem on RTÉ at close down for the night.
Television that closed down for the night.
Single screen cinemas.
Conductors on buses.
Wooden bodied trains.
Trains with gas lamps in the carriages.
Airlines that cared for customer service.
Pre-printed cinema tickets, not modern computer generated ones.
Off the rail clothing stores that had a tailor on hand to advise.
Solari flapper boards in railway stations and airports.
Medium Wave radio.
Bakelite.
Guinness being delivered to pubs on a horse drawn cart.
Going on a ship to get somewhere far away, rather than going on a cruise for enjoyment.

I'm sure I'll think of more.

 

[John in Covina]

Here's a question for across the pond - does anyone there remember when Guiness was famous for their PORTER? Does anyone recall what it tasted like?

 

[grundie]

Here's a question for across the pond - does anyone there remember when Guiness was famous for their PORTER? Does anyone recall what it tasted like?

It's still made, albeit under the name 'Guinness Extra Stout'. As in an 'extra stout porter', or so I'm told. Pretty much every bar and off-licence here sells it in bottles and cans, but it only has a fraction of the market share of draught Guinness. It's seen as something of an old man drink.

It's actually rather nice. A lot richer and heavier than the draught stuff - especially with a nice big bowl of stew and a few slices of soda bread.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A moment of silence for the Maine Sardine --

http://knox.villagesoup.com/news/story/last-u-s-sardine-cannery-to-close/307336

This is more than the loss of a canned fish product these days eaten mostly by sour old granddads -- it's the loss of the last remaining vestige of what was once an entire way of life. Thousands of Maine women worked in sardine canneries, generation after generation, snipping the heads and tails off the fish with special scissors, and being paid piecework -- so the faster they could cut, the more they'd earn.

I never worked in a fish cannery, but I know a lot of women who did. One of my first jobs in radio was reading the daily work announcements for the canneries at 5 AM, advising what plants were open and what shifts were working.

That whole way of life began to die off in the early '90s, and now, it's gone. And the last generation of middle-aged fish cutters are left wondering what they'll do for the rest of their lives.

 

[noonblueapples]

That whole way of life began to die off in the early '90s, and now, it's gone. And the last generation of middle-aged fish cutters are left wondering what they'll do for the rest of their lives.

The only thing that isn't missed is how Rockland used to smell.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The only thing that isn't missed is how Rockland used to smell.

"Camden by the Sea, Rockland by the Smell, Rockport in the Middle where everybody raises..."

 

[ii-5-i]

DuMont TVs with FM bands embedded in the tuner.

 

[sixties.nut]

Stuff Rarely Seen, If at All.

The Cox .049 57 Chevy gas powered model Cars

The Cox .049 P-51 Model Planes

Creepy Crawlers for the guys

Chatty Cathy for the gals

Fizzies

M-80 firecrackers (the real ones)

The 714's (write your Congressman, please bring back the 25 cent 714)

The Soda Jerks (who were cool)

1/24 Slot cars (Parma/Cox/Aurora)

Montgomery Wards

Western Auto

Ward's Minerals and Scientific's

Mini-Bike's

Yamaha 125's / Honda 90's

10 cent Shaved Ice Sno-Cones

S&H Green Stamps

American Oil Gas Station's (with the lift's)

Free Air

Free Travel Maps

Super-Slides

PF Fliers (with or without the decoder rings)

Golden Goose Shoes (with the golden egg toy)

Glasses inside the oatmeal tube (Mr. Quaker you out there?)

Real Girl/Brownie & Boy/Cub Scout learning projects and tools

Halloween canvasing without the Tricky Tray business.

Summer Parks with Ping Pong, Croquette, Horse Shoe tournaments, refreshment shacks, etc

The OLD Flintstone's vitamin's

Long Train Depot's with overhangs to shelter from rain

School fundraisers were you got some cool piece of junk each week in the summer instead of One lump piece of junk that day

Heathkits !

Friday night Rook games were neighbor's gathered and laffed, the little kids too

Going to the woods walking with Dad to cut the annual Christmas tree then hauling it home (in one piece)

The TV Repairman and his magic wooden boxes

Older kids with bigger Estes rockets

And I saved the best for last:

The Weekly Reader.... They're still Around (God Bless Them)

If you read all this (God Bless You Too !)


PS: I read all 32 pages to get here myself.

 

[Shangas]

I just thought of another one. I don't know anyone who still uses one of these, but we used to have one when I was a child...

...Rabbit-ear antenne for your television!

 

[Lincsong]

Did anyone mention the "ability to hot-wire a car"????[huh]