Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[green papaya]

Even worse were the shoes, buying them either a half or full size too big so they wouldn't have to buy another pair in six months. Does anyone even use a Brannock device anymore?

I would wear double socks or stuff some newspaper in the toe to make big shoes fit, I wore the same jacket from 4th grade to the 8th grade until it started getting too small for me, other kids use to say your still wearing that same jacket from 4th grade?

 

[HudsonHawk]

The barbershop I go to hasn't changed much since 1961. The veterans are younger and the tattoos are a bit different, but the other things you mention are still there.

My barber shop is still like that. In fact, apparently the young hipsters have discovered this phenomenon and there are "upscale" barber shops or "men's salons" popping up all over the place, where you can not only get that detailed haircut and razor trim, but served a glass of scotch and wait in fine leather club chairs.

 

[tonyb]

As to nostalgia ...

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page...pJobID=1121971088&spReportId=MTEyMTk3MTA4OAS2

 

[Fading Fast]

As to nostalgia ...

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page...pJobID=1121971088&spReportId=MTEyMTk3MTA4OAS2

Good find. Thank you for posting. Interesting definition of nostalgia form the article:

Nostalgia, to me, is not the emotion that follows a longing for something you lost, or for something you never had to begin with, or that never really existed at all. It’s not even, not really, the feeling that arises when you realize that you missed out on a chance to see something, to know someone, to be a part of some adventure or enterprise or milieu that will never come again. Nostalgia, most truly and most meaningfully, is the emotional experience—always momentary, always fragile—of having what you lost or never had, of seeing what you missed seeing, of meeting the people you missed knowing, of sipping coffee in the storied cafés that are now hot-yoga studios. It’s the feeling that overcomes you when some minor vanished beauty of the world is momentarily restored, whether summoned by art or by the accidental enchantment of a painted advertisement for Sen-Sen, say, or Bromo-Seltzer, hidden for decades, then suddenly revealed on a brick wall when a neighboring building is torn down. In that moment, you are connected; you have placed a phone call directly into the past and heard an answering voice.​

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Yeah, that passage struck me, too.

There are scores of 1940s thru '60s motels here in greater Denver that I never laid eyes on before moving here a couple years ago. (I suppose it's possible that I may have seen an example or three during short visits here in 1965 and 1970-something, but I can't claim any real recollection.) But, unique as each surviving example is, they all take me to a place I once was but never was. I love the signage, and the architecture, even when it isn't any great shakes. It's what I might have seen back when the world was new.

 

[LizzieMaine]

 

[ChiTownScion]

View attachment 70605

I'm sitting here chuckling while thinking of my friend's then two year old (she's in her 30's now) who used to run through the house calling out, a la Zippy, "Yow!! I am having FOON !!!"

 

[LizzieMaine]

I'm convinced, from many strips along this vein over the years, that Griffy himself is a member here under some assumed name. Show yourself!

 

[Fading Fast]

View attachment 70605

If for no other reason (like transporting people), elevated city trains had to exist to create the right shadows, lights and sounds for many film noir movies.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"One of us, one of us..."

 

[basbol13]

The Old Fashioned barbershop, when they use to always finish your haircut with hot lather and a straight razor and cut around the neck and ears, then finish it off with some hair tonic and then combed neatly , they would hand you a mirror so you could see the back and ask if it's OK?

a real man's barbershop, where they had hunting magazines, playboys, deer antlers on the wall , along with the veteran's photos from WW1 - WW2 on the wall, sometimes it would be a photo of his ship from his days in the navy.

not many WW2 vet barbers left, I remember all of them were vets, and some had the old tattoos of women in bikinis on their arms , old reminders of their younger days in the service.

Also a thing of the past, if you lived in the "big city " back in the day, the barber shop was a meeting place for the neighborhood where you could gamble at cards, play the numbers, catch up on the local news and even get a haircut.

 

[LizzieMaine]

"Policy" or "the numbers" was one of the biggest underground businesses there was thruout the Era. If you lived in any city with a Hearst tabloid newspaper, you'd find "Policy Pete" in an obscure corner of the sports section, a bizarre, crudely-drawn comic panel that only had one reason to exist: sketched into the background of each drawing was a random three-digit number intended as a betting tip for policy players.

 

[basbol13]

Also, "The Number's Racket" was initially begun in the black community, but when the Mafia saw how lucrative it was, they "muscled in" and took over.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Yes n Tampa, the game was "bolita", a game based on drawing numbered balls. And yes, it was popular around the barber shops in the Cuban/Latin community.

But what I remembered best from the barber shop was the old guys drinking coffee, playing dominos and arguing about baseball. In Spanish, of course.

 

[Fading Fast]

"Policy" or "the numbers" was one of the biggest underground businesses there was thruout the Era. If you lived in any city with a Hearst tabloid newspaper, you'd find "Policy Pete" in an obscure corner of the sports section, a bizarre, crudely-drawn comic panel that only had one reason to exist: sketched into the background of each drawing was a random three-digit number intended as a betting tip for policy players.

Since "the numbers" were a street version of the lottery, they needed a randomly generated agnostic number and many used the last three digits of a race tack attendance number (published in the paper daily in those days, for example 33, 237 attended Belmont yesterday - the last three digits were truly random). It would seem the Heart thing could more easily have been manipulated - but clearly it worked.

I don't have the source material to back this up, but I know I've read that the street / mafia / local bookie payouts were - overall - much higher than the payout the legal state-run lotteries pay today. No shock there - the numbers games had competition - the gov't monopolized the game and, of course, cut and cut and cut the payout over the years. The shame is that, effectively, this hurts the most vuneralbe economic part of our society because, overall, it is the poor who play the lottery the most.

 

[2jakes]

Since "the numbers" were a street version of the lottery, they needed a randomly generated agnostic number and many used the last three digits of a race tack attendance number (published in the paper daily in those days, for example 33, 237 attended Belmont yesterday - the last three digits were truly random). It would seem the Heart thing could more easily have been manipulated - but clearly it worked.

I don't have the source material to back this up, but I know I've read that the street / mafia / local bookie payouts were - overall - much higher than the payout the legal state-run lotteries pay today. No shock there - the numbers games had competition - the gov't monopolized the game and, of course, cut and cut and cut the payout over the years. The shame is that, effectively, this hurts the most vuneralbe economic part of our society because, overall, it is the poor who play the lottery the most.

First time the lottery came to our
city, I was sent to do a report for
the 5 & 10.
The "people" were standing in
line spending beyond their means.

They were happy believing they had the winning number.

Years ago one of my sister's husband won a ten million
lottery.
Brought mostly unhappiness
and divorce. Money is gone.
She remarried and is doing fine.

 

[Fading Fast]

Gambling in the form or lotteries and slot machines - where you have no ability to effect that outcome with skill or, really, strategy - are simply convoluted "machines" that take in a dollar and pay out less than a dollar (usually, but it keeps going down, seventy to ninety cents of each dollar).

Hence, if you play regularly, the odds are insanely high, all but guaranteed (unless you are on of the infinitesimally small number of jackpot winners) to lose. It's fine if you understand that you are playing a losing game and treat it for what it is - entertainment. But if it is treated as a way to potentially make money, you are deceiving yourself. Unfortunately, it is the ones struggling the most in our society that play the gov't lotteries the most.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Policy could have a pretty fair payout depending on whether you played your number straight or "combinated" it -- if you played, say, "634" straight you'd only win if "634" was the number for that day, in that order. But if you "combinated," you'd also win on 364, 463, 643, 346, or 436. And if 634 was the number that hit *and* you'd combinated, you'd get the payout for hitting the exact number *and* all of those combinations.

 

[Fading Fast]

Policy could have a pretty fair payout depending on whether you played your number straight or "combinated" it -- if you played, say, "634" straight you'd only win if "634" was the number for that day, in that order. But if you "combinated," you'd also win on 364, 463, 643, 346, or 436. And if 634 was the number that hit *and* you'd combinated, you'd get the payout for hitting the exact number *and* all of those combinations.

There's a similar option at race tracks today as you can, for example, make an "trifecta" bet where you pick the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place horse and only win if they come in in the exact order you chose or you can "box it" and will win if those three horses come in in any order in the top three finishing positions. Of course, a "boxed" bet costs more to make.

 

[2jakes]

The one and only time I visited the horse tracks was in Calif.
Place was called Santa Anita.
Crowd reminded me of the
ones at boxing matches.

I had no idea about betting but
just for kicks, I put a small amount to "win-show-place".
I won.
Got back quite a return.
I can imagine why folks get addicted.

I knew it was pure dumb luck
on my part.