Remembering when...

Sure- I remember

when ladies sold outfits out of their house. Women would try on clothes in the living room.

For serious shopping, we

went "downtown".

A few months ago I found something at my mom's that brought back such memories- A Charga-plate from

A&S (I see you are from LI, so you must remember A&S) It is a metal oval with a number on it, and I used it as a

teenager to charge stuff. It is now hanging proudly from my key chain.

Do you remember C.O.D.? You could buy something

in a department store, have it sent, and pay for it when it arrived at your house. You could refuse the package, and it cost

nothing!

Yes, indeed,

Phoenix, I remember A&S very well. And Gertz and -- would you believe -- Grant's (the name came up today believe it or

not). Do you remember Grant's. When I first got married, my parents gave us some 'Grant Dollars' right before our very

first Christmas to buy the deocrations for our tree. I still have most of those decorations (glass ones, no less). We also

bought my son's first tricycle there.

I do remember COD, too, though we weren't big on that. My folks got most of

their mail order stuff from Sears Roebuck. When the Wish Book arrived each fall, my siblings and I (there were 7 of us)

would go through it and mark those items of particular interest with our initials and a grading system of our own choice.

Ah, the memories.

I just took a large

pot out of my dishwasher. I realized that I had gotten it from Green Stamps!

What amazes me is

not that you got the pot with green stamps, but that you still have it! Though, actually, I still have some pots that my

mother-in-law gave me (her old pots) when I got married some 34 years ago so I guess I shouldn't be too amazed.

Know

what else I miss?? Woolworth's. It's really hard to find the little junk you used to be able to buy in Woolworth's.

I used to like to go to the drug store downtown, because they had a soda fountain... you could sit on the stool, and spin around...

And they had dry ice !!! It was pretty impressive for a young Kansas hick. once in a while the attendant would bring a little piece of dry ice, in a glass of water, and the three of us, (my young fellow explorers and I ) would enjoy watching the fog spread out over the counter...

Then it was back to the bicycles, and onward to new adventures.... maybe a long ride up to the swimming pool, or perhaps out to the baseball diamonds... whatever suited our mood that day..

Long, long ago.

Jayhawk

I remember and miss the Dime Store!

Anyone remember the old fashioned Butcher Shop?

Do you remember the saw dust they used to put on the floor of the Buther Shop in the Winter, so no one would fall on the floor?

New Haven- Sure do. When they ground up a piece of chop meat right in front of you, you KNEW that it was fresh!

At the Butcher Shop, you could get 2-4 pounds of beef bones for soup
FREE!

Not free any more!

Now that's what we need. Desperately! A butcher shop. I know of a couple of fish markets but a butcher shop is what I long for. Remember the white butcher paper? And the string, before they got the paper tape?

Penny candy store....loved that place...rows and rows of bowls of candy

The butcher..I liked the neighborhood butcher as well

I bought my first records from Grants, it was an often visited place.

Actually Sears and Pennys were out at the Mall..so that was an adventure...nothing like the same mall today though.

I miss the dimestores too. When I see a dollar store now (even when I am on vacation) I alway's stop and go in to have a look around. Do I need anything...not really.

When is was growing up in the 50's in the Detroit Area, going downtown to shop at Hudsons on Woodward Ave. was a big deal. My mother and I got all dressed up to go shopping. My first job at the age of 16 was at Hudson's at Northland-- the first large shopping mall in Michigan.

Now when I go back to Michigan to visit my 90 year old mother, we go shopping at the Oakalnd Mall and of course we go to Hudson's now owned by Marshall Fields.

Remember when there were no 24 hour news stations? We thought Vietnam was a TV war just a few minutes of film and dialogue on a 30 minute and the Sunday poltical talk shows. That was nothing compared to what we have to deal with now. Oh those good ole almost carefree days.

Joanne- I heard something very interesting about this on PBS radio this evening. They gave a rundown on how wars were reported over the years. I can remember "Movietone News", where you saw what was happening in WWII- a week or so after it happened.

I question as to whether seeing the war in real time serves people any useful purpose, or whether it causes problems amongst the populace that we would not have if the reporters were not in the thick of things!

It is a problem I think tonight I was in tears listening to a really young Marine talk about his first kill. He was crying too, This war is casuing me problems I am having a lot of trouble sleeping and eating even when I do not watch.

The worst part for me is it seems to be going down exactly as Vietnam did and it is such a shame.

I remember getting war news at the movies too. And I could ride my bicycle where ever I wanted to with out a helmut and I could roller skate all over town and no one worried. But that was then and this is now.

Joanne- I hear ya. The same things happened in other wars, but the military did what they had to do without there being such close involvement with American civilians. I don't think that it is healthy, especially for kids, to be "treated" to every gory detail.

This war is actually more dangerous for Americans than Vietnam. During those years, there was never a fear of the North Vietnamese coming HERE and destroying us. I am not so sure about this war. Right now my feelings are totally ambivalent.

I think that the war needed to happen, but that the President may be conducting this war for all the wrong reasons. Only time will tell!