Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[AtomicEraTom]

How about the big-bulbed Christmas lights?

 

[John in Covina]

How about the big-bulbed Christmas lights?

The old style lights that had the same base as nightlights used to be clear glass with the color painted on them. The muted lighting from those bulbs gave the Christmas tree a whole different, softer look at night. I think they show that at the end of a Christmas Story. The lights now are bright and stark in comparison. Not better or worse but definately different.

The nostalgia in me wants the old lights, real lead tinsel and a string of the bubbler lights too...

 

[AtomicEraTom]

The end of 'Christmas Story' is exactly what comes to mind. Christmas trees sure don't look like that anymore.

The old style lights that had the same base as nightlights used to be clear glass with the color painted on them. The muted lighting from those bulbs gave the Christmas tree a whole different, softer look at night. I think they show that at the end of a Christmas Story. The lights now are bright and stark in comparison. Not better or worse but definately different.

The nostalgia in me wants the old lights, real lead tinsel and a string of the bubbler lights too...

 

[sandyg]

One of my first full-time jobs was in a lumber yard ,where we wrote the customers order on a box with a crank on the side. The box was loaded with carbonless two-part invoices and after the order was written you turned the crank, the papers advanced and the top form was the customers receipt and the duplicate was the stores record of the sale. I don't know the official name of the device but now even the mom n' pop stores have scanner point of sale systems.
Rotary phones, black and white TV's, reel to reel tape recorders are other items I've seen disappear.

I just came across this post. I bought my first fedora last Saturday at Henry the Hatter in Detroit and the owner wrote up the sale on one of the boxes you described. I thought I fell back a few decades when I saw that.

 

[Story]

The World's Last Typewriter Factory Is Closed
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/global/2011/04/worlds-last-typewriter-factory-closed/37013/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAtlanticWire+%28The+Atlantic+Wire%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

 

[rue]

^ wow. That's depressing.

 

[scottyrocks]

The final marker of the end of an era.

 

[Effingham]

Man, I'm with those of you who miss *real* (= glass) Christmas tree ornaments. I, too, killed off many when I was a kid, but some of them were so artful. There were actually sculpted, seemingly hand made and hand painted, ornaments I remember from my childhood that I would kill for now.

Oh -- damned shame about the typewriter factory going away. That just sux.

Tony

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I love them, but I know what my cats would do to them!

Man, I'm with those of you who miss *real* (= glass) Christmas tree ornaments. I, too, killed off many when I was a kid, but some of them were so artful. There were actually sculpted, seemingly hand made and hand painted, ornaments I remember from my childhood that I would kill for now.

Oh -- damned shame about the typewriter factory going away. That just sux.

Tony

 

[Effingham]

Yeah, there is that.

Cats really teach you to appreciate wooden ornaments.

 

[John in Covina]

Do the cats climb really high on the tree? I'd say put some of the good ones nearest the top and out of reach. Although I have heard of cats attacking and even knocking over a tree.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Ace Hard Rubber Combs

I just found out that Ace Hard Rubber combs are no longer made! :eeek:

Apparently the company stopped making them a few years back and went with putting Ace on cheap plastic made-in-China combs just like all the other plastic combs out there. I hadn't noticed because I had a number of them, but I realized that I was down to my last one and started looking to stock up. Couldn't find them anywhere. Google search brought me the ugly truth.

Not sure what I'll do for a comb now. I can't stand those plastic things.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Tom, you may be able to find a bulk lot of NOS ones on eBay. Such goodies do pop up now and then if you keep an eye out for them.

I just found out that Ace Hard Rubber combs are no longer made! :eeek:

Apparently the company stopped making them a few years back and went with putting Ace on cheap plastic made-in-China combs just like all the other plastic combs out there. I hadn't noticed because I had a number of them, but I realized that I was down to my last one and started looking to stock up. Couldn't find them anywhere. Google search brought me the ugly truth.

Not sure what I'll do for a comb now. I can't stand those plastic things.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Miss Moonlight]

I find myself missing the sound of a regular house phone ringing. Truthfully, they're not all vintage. But that old ring from older phones is just not something you hear much anymore. I heard one the other day and it was truly heartening for a moment.

We don't have a landline here because we all have cell phones. I'd rather have a land line, but I rarely use any phone... so I'd be wasting money.

Also, when I was a child (1970s), the phone company had a store where you had to buy phones to use, you had to get extra cords from them. I'm not sure when that stopped but it was a loooong time ago.

 

[John in Covina]

I just found out that Ace Hard Rubber combs are no longer made! :eeek:
Apparently the company stopped making them a few years back and went with putting Ace on cheap plastic made-in-China combs just like all the other plastic combs out there. I hadn't noticed because I had a number of them, but I realized that I was down to my last one and started looking to stock up. Couldn't find them anywhere. Google search brought me the ugly truth.
Not sure what I'll do for a comb now. I can't stand those plastic things.
Cheers,Tom

Unfortunate to hear. The hard rubber I guess is too difficult to make these days probably due to some sort of EPA regulation used to drive manufacturing out of the US. Hard rubber is a version of Ebonite which some early fountain pens were made out of and is related to the type used for bowling balls way back when.

I have a model of comb from Ace that I buy that is the 3 3/4 inch extra fine tooth comb. My family is prone to having dandruff during the winter months and this comb is part of the routine for the scalp that offers some relief for a while.

Plastic combs don't have the good attributes of the hard rubber type and as we see so often the new and improved model doesn't live up to its name for the consumer.

 

[sheeplady]

Also, when I was a child (1970s), the phone company had a store where you had to buy phones to use, you had to get extra cords from them. I'm not sure when that stopped but it was a loooong time ago.

The Bell system was a legalized monopoly until 1984. The idea was that if the system was a monopoly, it could provide better service and reach more people than competing formats and companies. A few companies controlled the entire system- everything from telephone wires, phones, and service. (Some local companies existed, but most people were on Ma Bell.) It was decided in the late 1970s there was no need for a legal monopoly by the US government, but it took until 84 to break up the system.

 

[Tango Yankee]

Tom, you may be able to find a bulk lot of NOS ones on eBay. Such goodies do pop up now and then if you keep an eye out for them.

You're right, Tom. I've been fishing in the bay for them for a few days now, and came across a stash of NOS combs. They weren't the all-fine-tooth model I prefer but the half fine tooth, half wide tooth model but as Mom says, beggars can't be choosers!

Unfortunate to hear. The hard rubber I guess is too difficult to make these days probably due to some sort of EPA regulation used to drive manufacturing out of the US.

Plastic combs don't have the good attributes of the hard rubber type and as we see so often the new and improved model doesn't live up to its name for the consumer.

That may be it, but they may have been more labor-intensive to make as well. I did find a source for hard-rubber pocket combs hand-made in Germany for 4.95 Euros each but that was it for pocket combs. There are other brands of hard-rubber combs still being sold in the US but they are geared towards barbers and beauty salons, not pockets.

You're right, though... it's another case where "new and improved" is only an improvement in the eyes of the bean-counters, not the customers!

I'm not alone in being upset about the loss of the Ace comb. Here's an ode to the Genuine Unbreakable Ace Hard Rubber Comb.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I'm always curious of what the world would be like today if Ma Bell hadn't been broken up.

The Bell system was a legalized monopoly until 1984. The idea was that if the system was a monopoly, it could provide better service and reach more people than competing formats and companies. A few companies controlled the entire system- everything from telephone wires, phones, and service. (Some local companies existed, but most people were on Ma Bell.) It was decided in the late 1970s there was no need for a legal monopoly by the US government, but it took until 84 to break up the system.

 

[juup]

I just found out that Ace Hard Rubber combs are no longer made! :eeek:

Apparently the company stopped making them a few years back and went with putting Ace on cheap plastic made-in-China combs just like all the other plastic combs out there. I hadn't noticed because I had a number of them, but I realized that I was down to my last one and started looking to stock up. Couldn't find them anywhere. Google search brought me the ugly truth.



Not sure what I'll do for a comb now. I can't stand those plastic things.

Cheers,
Tom

I feel lucky. In albuquerque there is a place at the corner of Lomas, Carlisle and Monte Vista called the Model Pharmacy. I walked in the other day in my WW2 kit and felt right at home. I managed to buy 10 hard rubber combs for a buck a piece. they even had the Jamaican Rum calogne and straight razors my grandfather used for sale. out side of prescriptions its where i get all my health and beauty aids and I never go in with out spats and getting an egg creamer.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Also, when I was a child (1970s), the phone company had a store where you had to buy phones to use, you had to get extra cords from them. I'm not sure when that stopped but it was a loooong time ago.

I remember those phone stores. Practically every mall had them. Among the phones the one I remember was the Snoopy phone.