Remember The Old Days

Sherlock wrote:

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Jimmy O'Hara would have only been about 8 years old at the time but he lived nearby......round up the usual the suspects.
Did Verns have the tanks with the live catfish and lobsters swimming around or was that somewhere else ?

JimmyO not guilty on this one. He wasn't the speed of light. There was only a few that had the Orange Crate. Still Pi$$ed. Confess.... Set your Souls Free and give my little brothers bike bike back. You little Orange Crate, Lil Chic, Apple Crate, Gray Ghost, Cotton Picker , Green Hornet,.. confess!

Sam the Ice Cream man with his white Chevy panel truck with a freezer in the back. Sam was a good old guy who loved kids. If someone didnt have money for ice cream Sam would give them a bar of smashed Ice cream he wouldnt sell. It tasted just as good.

We had a milk man in the 50's. We had a metal container by the front door. It could hold 2 glass gallons of milk+ what ever you ordered. Some times we got cream & butter. My 1st job for allowance was carrying the milk, putting it away and not breaking the glass bottles. If i broke them i did't get paid. There was a white envelope that you wrote your order in and then put the money inside and put that into the container for next delivery. THE money never got stolen. Amazing. I was always happy to hear his truck coming down the street because my allowance would follow. Does anyone remember the Knife Shapening man? He had a cart with a bell on it. Sometimes he brought his monkey. When you heard the bell coming down the street, your Mom would give you the knives wrapped in a towel. He sharpen all the kitchen knives.

Thinking about it more, The top of the milk in the glass bottle was the cream. That part was taken out first. It was thicker and it was cream. Butter came in a brown crock. You had to return that also. Also amazing, i recall having only 2 small metal garbage cans. We used the brown bags from the store. Plastic kitchen bags weren't around then. A family of 5 would only need the 2 small cans. No pop cans, no bottled water, no disposable diapers, no milk cartons. Boy we have alot of garbage now days!

We had an old metal tall can with no bottom. In the autumn we would rake all the leaves to the alley. We would wrap potatoes in tin foil and put them in them bottom on the big can. We would burn all the leaves. When that was done the bake potatoes were done cooking. That was the ' treat' for the night of hard work.Some times we would also stick hot dogs on branches and marshmellows too. We would find a good stick ahead of time. We didn't expect much then. It was really good family fun! When we knew we were going to go fishing, we would start the day before. We would soak the backyard with water and lay plywood on top of it. At night, we would go out with flash lights, take off the plywood and collect all the worms.

Good old days. Remember when your Grandma would darn your socks? She had this wooden egg shaped thing and would put it into the sock and darn the holes. If you had holes in your socks, you didn't throw them out. If you had a Grandma like mine, she also made dresses, coats, drapes, aprons, dolls, and of course quilts and baby blankets. Todays Grandmas, like myself... have a charge card. How many of you still have an old quilt or blanket , passed down for generations that you don't know what to do with but, will never get rid of? Love those old Grandmas!

our Milkman's name was Bill Hayes. His Brother is Hayes distributing the beer guy. Guess who's still in business. Worth dairy association. I remember my Mother writing the check Worth Dairy ASS. After a few time I brought it to Her attention the abbreviation of the word association really didnt look right. She was very embarrassed. Yes I could have told Her sooner but it was funny.

The Me Know Nobody Knows wrote:

I thought it may be fun for some of us old timmers to just write someting we remember about the "Good Old Days" Good or Bad
When the only car seat you had for your children was your arm springing out like a stop sign on a school bus?(Not a good thing as car seats save life just a memory)

When you had guts and would confront people face to face instead of hiding behind your computer. that proably was fun or a good old days event for you was it?

Shamus wrote:

<quoted text> When you had guts and would confront people face to face instead of hiding behind your computer. that proably was fun or a good old days event for you was it?

Does it hurt your brain when you try to think?

The Bubble at the park on 107th & Oak. That round red bubble shaped thing that you rode standing up. It would fit like 15 kids. What a ride! Of course i was one of the dummies that would climb under it for the ride. Why did it always smell like Pee under there? Did that stop me? Of course not. Hot day under the Bubble smelling like Pee was fun. That really was dangerous underneath there. Probably why they got rid of it.

cog wrote:

Sam the Ice Cream man with his white Chevy panel truck with a freezer in the back. Sam was a good old guy who loved kids. If someone didnt have money for ice cream Sam would give them a bar of smashed Ice cream he wouldnt sell. It tasted just as good.

I remember him, what about Bill from bills store, it was called the Ridge super market, we all called it bills. He came to my Dads wake a year and a half ago, we were surprised and happy to see him, I think he was about 90.

I miss the Coral Theater, Community & Zayre.

What about about the go cart track and the Studio theater.The Starlite was a cool place to hang out in HS. And Community discount store all on 95th and Ridgeland. We would be getting rowdy at the Starlite but never got caught by the cops cause we seen them coming down Ridgeland and split up.

Remember Mrs Beckman? She seemed to always be a widow. She was German i think, and a past school teacher. She had the big lot on 109th& Menard was it? It was a little shack of a house. Surrounded by overgrown trees and bushes. She used very little electric, no phone and no furnace. She had alot of cats. She just seemed to of like to live like it was in 1920 and never wanted any help and refused any handouts. When she sold her ( house?) property, i think they put 3 new homes there. When i got to know her better when she moved to a nursing home, she was very nice and quite funny. She turned out to be a very nice lady. I don' think many people knew that. She was a sweet person.

WOW.. Blumka (wally one one) Levitte, I was in"C" too, Kostas, Dowey, good old Henry Ford. The carnival on 107th and Ridgeland, Carmans, Verns,Bills,the starlite,took a spin or two on the bubble. Free movies at the park,Khorey Leauge.
Now this is a reunion. Walking though allies where
grass hoppers jumped like popcorn, bannana spiders big as 1/2 dollars, so it seemed. Holding hands, going steady. Off to North East, Greaser or Socialite. LOL... Me thinks I know some of you. folks...

I also remeber Gordan who use to ride around the neighborhood and collecting bottle caps to get into the movie theater. Playing Jonny tackle at the church on lyman. Running waste deep in ditches after heavy rainfalls. Playing Baseball and wiffle ball with the neighborhood friends without any adults to get in our business. Now everything has to be organized by adults with strict guidelines. Neighbors looked out for one another. Only thing that hasn't changed is the politcs

I loved the good old days. So many of you have responded with such wonderful things I actually sit here shake my head and smile! Thanks to all!

Did anyone like me have a Michael Jackson 45 record but was afraid to let your friends know you had one? Was anyone afraid to get on the bus to Richards in 1970 the 1st year there was busing? Why was it we called the few Mexican families in town, Indian? I seriously didn't know where a Mexican came from. I guess i didn't pay attention in Mrs Grimes geography class. Some of our 1st residents were Mexican and lived by & worked for the Rail Road. So, i would of been the ' new' person in 1950.

Almost ever kid in town rode in the Parade for something at sometime.

The Me Know Body Knows wrote:

I loved the good old days. So many of you have responded with such wonderful things I actually sit here shake my head and smile! Thanks to all!

You seem to remember me.