Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[Hemingway Jones]

Automats!
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=33580

Thank you!

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Whenever we went up to Philly to visit my grandparents, we would always make a stop at the Horn & Hardart Automat when I was very small.

Later, they had a cafeteria type place in Philly if I remember correctly.

I remember going with my Grandmom to Howard Johnson's restaurant, which are all gone now too.

 

[olive bleu]

The telegram

Mercury Methialade- I have no idea if I spelled that right. It was an antiseptic that my Mom used to use on particularly bad cuts and such. It stung something awful, but the mercury in it would kill anything. (Probably including me!)

lol Do mean that orangey stuff that you "painted" on?? We used to actually call that stuff paint.I have a horrible memory of playing at a friends house when i was about 9, and her Dad was doing some renovations outside of the house.There was some scaffolding set up and a big piece of wood fell off and hit the bridge of my nose! How it was not broken, i don't know..but i had a very nasty scrape to say the least. I went home crying to my mother who promptly went to the medicine cabinet and pulled out the jar of "paint" and covered my entire nose with it. And she wonders why i was so often picked on

 

[olive bleu]

Things like getting an orange in the toe of your stocking at Christmas and that cluster of grapes wrapped in foil..i miss the wonder of thinking those were exquisite presents.

 

[JohnnyGringo]

Beeman's Gum!

 

[Lady Day]

The neighborhood creek.
We would go there often during the summer and come home with wet shoes and crawdads as pets.

The neighborhood candy store.
Someone always had a 'store' for candy in their house in my neighborhood. We'd go with our change and get a pickle, a soda pop and some other things. It was great

Walking.
If we wanted to go to the mall, we'd walk. None of this parents taking us. It was an adventure to walk the two miles to the mall and look at all the stuff we couldnt afford to buy.

LD

 

[KittyT]

Beeman's Gum!

You can still get it!

 

[MsChantillyLace]

Oldsmobles? My friend drives on and it's not that old... I think they still make them!

They stopped producing Oldsmobiles in 2004.

 

[Kassia]

They stopped producing Oldsmobiles in 2004.

See, i didn't know that!! I haven't looked for a car since i bought my Mitsubishi in June 2003...

 

[MsChantillyLace]

A random thing that is probably seldom used and I know of no place that retails them besides antiques stores: a bed warmer.

It looks like two frying pans hinged together that one would put hot coals in and run up and down the sheets to warm them up.


I remember also having a hot water bottle... and ice bags. These seemed to be replaced be sticky-back apliques and electric heating pads or ACE freezer ice packs and those bend and snap chemicle ones. Thinking about it now, I miss my hot water bottle. I'm sure they still exist (and I know my grandma still has them at her house), but I haven't seen them in any retail stores in *years*.

 

[hepkitten]

I remember this stuff! Burned like crazy when it touched your cut, made it feel like it's doing something. Not like today's Betadine, you barely feel a tingle.

Merthiolate!! Aaagh! *yucky* We had nightmares about this stuff. My dad insisted on putting it on any wound that bled. We saw commercials for Bactine and some of our friends' parents got it and it sounded so wonderful...we BEGGED for it, but to this day my dad insists if an antiseptic doesn't hurt, it's not doing anything. I can still see that little rectangular jar with the orange-stained plastic wand...shudder

 

[Dr Doran]

Merthiolate!! Aaagh! *yucky* We had nightmares about this stuff. My dad insisted on putting it on any wound that bled. We saw commercials for Bactine and some of our friends' parents got it and it sounded so wonderful...we BEGGED for it, but to this day my dad insists if an antiseptic doesn't hurt, it's not doing anything. I can still see that little rectangular jar with the orange-stained plastic wand...shudder

I like the way those feel.

 

[Rachael]

I miss my hot water bottle. I'm sure they still exist (and I know my grandma still has them at her house), but I haven't seen them in any retail stores in *years*.

They sell them at some baby stores shaped like fish. A google search found one at Amazon

 

[Miss Crisplock]

I still get an orange in the toe of my stocking, and fix Christmas stockings for others the same way....

I am glad to hear that snow tires (expecially those with studs) and chains are still used in the snow and mountain regions; I would get stuck without them!

 

[Miss Crisplock]

.
The good thing about plastic bread bags, though, was that they made excellent liners for rubber winter boots.

And bags for library books. I remember dire warnings about library books not protected with bread bags in grade school.

 

[Dr Doran]

Roller skates that are all metal and that you attach to the sole of your shoe. They required a "skate key" to fasten them to your shoe.

 

[Joie DeVive]

Merthiolate!! Aaagh! *yucky* We had nightmares about this stuff. My dad insisted on putting it on any wound that bled. We saw commercials for Bactine and some of our friends' parents got it and it sounded so wonderful...we BEGGED for it, but to this day my dad insists if an antiseptic doesn't hurt, it's not doing anything. I can still see that little rectangular jar with the orange-stained plastic wand...shudder

That's the stuff!! Yep, a little brown bottle of liquid with a wand to apply it. And it was orange!! Bactine didn't hurt nearly so much. I can actually remember the smell of that. My Mom saved Merthiolate for the really bad cuts. Of course the mercury in it could explain an awful lot about me... lol lol

 

[BrewCrew]

As a kid I used to love playing with those metal cap-guns that you would feed the red paper into. I loved the bang! and the smell.

 

[Minerva]

The ability to get on a plane without a long security check. (Oh, for the world of old movies where the character just showed their ticket and waltzed onto the plane!)

Here, here! Way back in the day, my father dragged handguns back to Chicago in his carry-on, and no one said boo about it. Now they confiscate nail clippers and knitting needles. :eusa_doh:

We still get milk in glass bottles, though. If our condo association weren't so *censored*-up, we could even have it delivered. Local dairy. We put a deposit on the bottles and get it back when we return them.


Let's see, what else do I remember. The lunch counter at Woolworths! And Automats. My father loved those when he first came to Chicago, but they were being phased out by the time I came along. I remember my grandmother taking me a few times when I was very small, and then it was gone.

Lead wall paint. Smoking in public places. (Probably not a bad thing to phase out, considering ...)

Ooh, and lawn darts. I hear those aren't being sold because they're a hazard?

 

[Lady Day]

Original Listerine, in the glass bottles packaged in circular corrugated cardboard.

LD