When does one start reminiscing? After all, to someone now 40, the "good old days" were back in the 1970's. And even the 80's, which seems like yesterday, was 30 years ago! Let's go back a few more years than that.

It was a time of stick built homes filling neighborhoods along tree lined streets with sidewalks, when people actually walked on the sidewalk. Front porches were a common place to keep an eye on things, usually sitting on a squeaky porch swing, and chatting with people as they passed by. That swing also became a wild ride for the kids when the parents were not looking. Your parents seemed to know everyone for blocks around, and while they didn't always tell you, they always seemed to know what you were up to. When girls become Mom's, they seem to inherit that uncanny physical ability of having eyes in the back of their head.
It must have been approaching the end of the era when families lived in close proximity to each other, very true back in the early 1900's. If you're doing Genealogy family history research, the early census of neighborhoods will prove this point. Relatives were usually nearby.

There was the backyard picket fence, a gathering place for gossip on wash day, when laundry was washed in the wringer washer, and hung outside on the clothesline to dry, absorbing warm sunshine and the fragrance of the fresh air. Some real old timers will still attest that hanging
whites outside in the freezing winter air made them whiter. Today we like to identify property lines and hide in our seclusive yards bordered with tall privacy fences.

We had the only concrete driveway in the neighborhood, which made a nice loop with the sidewalk next to the house. A perfect oval for roller skating .......... the skates of course were all metal, with the metal wheels, with a strap that went around your ankle, with the front clamps that went over the toe of your shoe, tightened with the infamous "skate key". And you fell down a lot. Another common sight was the chalk drawing of a HopScotch game on the sidewalk. A small group of girls playing JAX, or a small group of boys shooting Marbles. Games to be played outside. Cooling off in the summer was done with garden hoses, the 'pool' was one of those large metal galvanized tubs. Cold winter mornings meant stoking up the coal furnace with some nice big chunks from the coal bin. The big truck would dump its load of coal down the chute, banging and clattering into the basement coal bin. Ashes were shoveled out daily, dumped in the yard for fertilizer.

The abandoned "Chicken Coop" in the backyard became the "clubhouse" for us Little Rascals. It progressed through the 3 boys based on age. When the oldest outgrew it, the next one in line took over, each one scavenging junk for furnishings.

Neighborhoods were laced with the mom & pop grocery stores, we had about 7 of them all within walking distance. It's where you went to buy FOOD. One of them was usually the favorite for selections of fresh meat at the butcher counter. Sometimes, with luck, a quarter in your pocket would have you stocking up at the candy counter. Pop at the store, or in machines, was the 8 oz BOTTLE. Soon you could quench your thirst with a 12 oz bottle, and eventually the mind boggling super jumbo 16 oz bottle. Larger stores began to emerge in central locations with more selections, threatning and eventually eliminating the corner grocery store.

Within the neighborhood were probably more corner taverns than grocery stores, each having their own ambience and clientele of local customers, who mostly enjoyed a mug of cold beer or a shot of whiskey. Those weird name drinks in fancy glasses with umbrellas didn't exist then.
We happened to live 5 blocks from the city's largest employer, a boxcar manufacturer. When that 3:30 whistle blew, the sidewalks were flooded with people WALKING home, but usually stopping at one of those corner taverns on the way.
Remember those Ice Cream Shops with Soda Fountains and the fizzy flavors? Some of them were operated by local dairies, who also had home delivery of Milk. I remember mornings, hearing the milkman at the porch setting the glass quart bottles into the metal basket that was set out for him.
We were alive, eating and drinking products with no expiration dates.

Shopping meant going downtown, a 9 block section of individual stores on the main street. In addition to the "big" stores like Sears, Penny's and Wards, there were Men's shops, Ladies stores, shoe stores, furniture stores, 5 & 10 stores, bakeries, drug stores, hardware stores, jewelry stores, cigar stores, coffee shops, movie theatres, barber shops, banks, churches, and a few restaurants. One of the department stores still had the system where you made your purchase at the counter, the money was put in a basket, and the basket shot up a wire to the cashier on the 2nd floor office. Your change came back down in the basket with a receipt. Stores seemed to have an amazing transformation into the Christmas season the day AFTER Thanksgiving (Not Labor Day!).
There was also a little red circus wagon on a corner selling popcorn, carmelcorn, and fresh hot roasted peaunts.

Newspapers were an afternoon edition, and it was important for boys to try an acquire one of the paper routes in their neighborhood, a nice way to earn some money and learn how to handle money. Each route had 60-80 customers, and delivery was by bicycle 6 days a week. You pedaled to the office daily to pick up your newspapers, fold them in the carrier room, load the heavy bag onto your handlebars, then hit the route to toss them onto the customers porch. You walked the route weekly in any kind of weather to collect from the customer to pay your bill, and carefully count the profits.A subscription was 35 cents a week. As with any "business venture", providing good service meant some welcome tips, especially at Christmas time.

Getting older (12) meant jumping on the bike to spend the day playing down at the lakefront park. There were large grassy areas to run and playgrounds with metal slides ........ an old trick was to take some wax paper and rub on the slide to help slicken it up for more speed. Lots of hilly dunes
to explore, which seemed like a wilderness. Wander the zoo, and feed the wild animals. An amusement park with rides, to laugh like crazy on the wild tilt-a-whirl, or brave enough to get scared out of your wits on the twirling Bullet. The era of Big Band dancing at the Oasis Ballroom had ended, and the building on the Midway was converted into a game arcade. Containing, of course, a large bank of Skee Ball machines. Try to earn and save up enough winning tickets to claim a nice prize. Another treat was to keep enough change in your pocket and stop at the rickety stand on the way home for a hot dog & fresh made root beer. You were gone all day, and nobody called you! When McDonald's opened it's first red & white walk in joint under the arches, we wondered who on earth would bypass a home-made meal for one of those things?

Being "fashionable" was not a choice. Having clean clothes to wear was more important. And most of those were hand me downs from friends, neighbors or relatives. People eagerly shared outgrown items with those who needed them for a growing family. You wore hard shoes to school, "Gym Shoes" were for PE class, stuffed into the famous sweaty Gym Bag.

The first TV was a small Black & white set, bringing amazement into the living room. The wild west seemed real, with the Lone Ranger, Silver, and Tonto .... Roy Rogers and Trigger .... Hopalong Cassidy .... and the Cisco Kid. Be transported out into space with Flash Gordon and his sparkler powered space ship, trying to thwart Dr. Zarkov. Learn new tricks from the Little Rascals and the 3 Stooges. Wish you could be on Bozo's Circus, or be a "Mouseketeer". Superman zipped across the skies, saving the world at the last minute. And he wasn't having an affair with Lois Lane. (She would have noticed the big "S" on his underwear.) Kids left the room when the adults stopped to watch the evening Lawrence Welk Show once a week.

We enjoyed what we had at the time, and survived. Go ahead, stop and enjoy some silly memories of the past. Thanks for taking a walk down memory lane today.