@edgarblythe,
Mine was disabled, and I never looked into why, maybe broken ropes from the attic, and/or a broken switch. (I had enough to fix already.) It went from the kitchen to the basement - a rare california basement. Kitchen also had a produce cabinet - I forget what you call them, but it had a door to the outside, and several shelves with spaced boards to let air through, and a door to the kitchen interior.
Fun - I thought both of those were fun.
@Roberta,
Quote: Just remembered something else that was fun that was improved out of existence. Dumb waiters. The super would start the dumb waiter (a platform that moved up and down on pulleys--the platform was for garbage) and start yelling. Then the tenants would put their garbage on the platform and yell back. Then the super would move the platform to the next floor and yell. In addition to yelling back and forth to the super, the tenants would have conversations. I loved all that yelling. Very neighborly.
Now there's a chute down the hall. No yelling. No platform. Sigh.
Oh yeah, the dumbwaiter. Great item to have and made transport to other apartments fun as well (although it was frowned upon).
One place we lived in for a time had all the dumbwaiter sections converted into a receptacle for the trash can. Current place doesn't even have any hint there ever was a dumbwaiter and no trash chute either. Garbage gets taken down to the basement or at the least the groundfloor hallway by the door.
@Sturgis,
Sturgis, Transport to othre apartments. How could I not have thought of that??!! I guess I was too busy spinning all the roof antennas around. What a lost opportunity. Sigh.
@Roberta,
You had to mention the antenna. Ah for the old days when the group got together and fiddled with the antenna and had to remain still so as not to destroy the reception.
The old days when a television fresh from the store could be plugged in and it worked immediate without a bunch of idiotic instructions and required attachments. Heard they have 'Smart' t.v.s now. Want to place a wager on how danged complicated they'll end up being?
I was eating some seedless watermelon last night. I guess the days of seed spitting contests have been improved away. Sigh and phooey.
Did nobody mention margarine? Real margarine came in one pound cellophane packages. It was white, and had a spot of yellow dye so intense it looked brown in the middle. You would gently (because it was cellophane) massage it till the whole mass was a more or less even yellow, just like butter - sort of.
They improved that, too.
@roger,
I couldn't believe it was edible.
@roger,
roger wrote:
Did nobody mention margarine? Real margarine came in one pound cellophane packages. It was white, and had a spot of yellow dye so intense it looked brown in the middle. You would gently (because it was cellophane) massage it till the whole mass was a more or less even yellow, just like butter - sort of.
They improved that, too.
Grandma called it oleo until the day she died....
@DrewDad,
I forgot that. It's been a long time.
Yes, I'm posting on an old thread. No crime there. If something pops into my head that fits an old thread, I'm gonna post on it.
I was on the bus today. People pay their fare with cards. They slip the card in a slot, and a machine says, "Bip." Then you go find a seat.
I was reminded of the olden days when people actually paid cash. Change. I loved it when the driver decided it was time to sort the coins. He turned on some kind of machine that spun the coins around. Coins would ultimately end up sorted. This machine did not say bip. This machine made a clanky clickety clack sound with a metallic ring. I loved that racket.
This has been a fun thread. I am happy to see it revived.
I liked the supermarkets of the forties. Particularly, for some reason, the overhead black fans. The refrigerated stuff had a small section in the back. The wax paper cartons were in use for milk by then. My step father often would take a quart, which came in a square carton, with a lift up lid on a top corner, and drink it as he shopped. He always closed it up neatly and returned the empty carton to its spot in the cooler, instead of paying for it. They bought their cigarettes out of a vending machine. Put in a dollar bill, get a carton back, with the change taped to the box. You could buy five Baby Ruths or Butterfingers for a quarter. Bread - 23 cents a loaf. We bought Wonder Bread, sometimes Holsum. Some stuff we waited to buy off of trucks - 3 big watermelons a dollar, or five smaller ones - We got tomatoes from the farmer's field. Pay at the entrance and pick your own. My mother liked to can beets and also make chow-chow. The beets were the best I ever had. I would give up a lot to find some like hers.
