Things you don't see anymore.

[bobsvinyl]

The supposed friend of mine who owes me money.

 

[harman/kardon]

When I was young, centuries ago, gas stations in Germany (without self service back then of course) had two cables on the ground. So if you crossed one of these cables with your car you heard "PLINNNNG" - I miss that device and it's sound.

 

[Mystic]

Butcher shops with sawdust covered floors and sides of beef hanging about three feet away.

Such shops still exist in Spain, @ least in areas around Barcelona. "Open air" abbatoir operations, too, with blood running out to the city/village gutters. Yum.

 

[Mystic]

Chicago (bike) cops driving 3-wheeled HDs. Or, for that matter, any model of HD.

 

[Hyperion]

Trolley buses, (electric powered buses) with a pickup arm above the bus to a power cable system on pylons - I still remember the smell of hot rubber and electricity, and the humming noise from the motors in the buses - if riding in one, the acceleration was fantastic!

 

[Sandy G]

Local radio stations w/actual LOCAL programming.. The guy who used to come round once, twice a week w/yr "Dry Cleaning". Same as "The Milkman".

 

[parman]

Around Detroit; Twin Pines Dairy and Milky The Clown. Not to be confused with Homey De Clown but I guess hes not around either.

 

[CoogarXR]

-Pay phones (I know this has already been mentioned- in my area, many of the booths are still there with no phone inside!)
-Rear-wheel drive cars
-Mechanical gas pumps (we still had one around here until about 10 years ago; a guy had to come out with a key to start it)
-Stand-alone department stores (not in a mall or shopping complex)
-Multi-floor stores with escalators
-Small schools (they tore them all down and made giant campuses around here)
-Functional full-size satellite dishes
-Arcades

 

[Rome]

The Brookshires down the street won't let you leave without a kid pushing your cart. It's all high schoolers there.

Are you in East Texas, Beatnik? Tyler is the hometown & mine of that chain. I have a couple near me & you are correct. There's always a person ready to bag your groceries!

Mr. Softee neighborhood ice cream van.
Watkins door-to-door salesman out of his car.
Kids climbing trees.
Honor System Road-Side Rose Displays.
Full-Serve Gas Stations.
1-Hour Martinizing Cleaners.
Five & Dime Stores
Kids collecting glass soda bottles for money & cashing in on those cases.
Road-Side Farmers selling their wares. (I see a couple now & then, but not like my childhood).
Milk delivery.
Party-line phones!

This: How about getting a REAL person for a customer service issue right away? Geesh!

Rome

 

[c.coyle]

A lot of this, like it or not, for better or for worse, is driven by economics. We want cheap. We want low taxes. We want convenience.

 

[1970's Fan]

We used to have a television with a "remote" that had a cable to the telly lol at least it didn't get lost down the side of the couch.

The receipt and Bill thing in department stores whereby they put your money in a tube and it was sucked through a pipe to the cash office.

Having purchases wrapped up and tied with string in dept. stores. The last one I remember was in the 1970s.

 

[CoogarXR]

Remember those mini-jukeboxes that were on each table in a diner? You'd pick a song and it would play on the big jukebox?

 

[c.coyle]

. . . USA brands made in the USA

They are there, but you pay a premium: Switchcraft, Amphenol, Red Wing, Johnston & Murphy, and Alden shoes, Gitman Brothers shirts, Wigwam, Zippo, Channellock, Duck brand tape, New Balance, Woolrich.

Not all of these companies make all of their products in the U.S., but they are here and employing Americans.

It's all economics. When we put our consumer hats on, we want cheap. When we put our employee hats on, we demand more than 3rd world wages. Something has got to give. Lots of us who are blessed with a little discretionary income and a few bucks in the bank still opt for cheaper foreign goods.

No kid should get out of college without being forced to take some basic economics courses.

 

[Pio1980]

- pop and beer bottles on the side of the road
- little old guys picking up pop bottles on the side of the road

* Only applies to states with "bottle bills" that require a deposit. Apparently, charging people to throw away their bottles (as in, lose the deposit) is good incentive not to litter. Wish they'd do the same for cigarette packs and fast food wrappings ...

I see folks picking up aluminum cans.

 

[Pio1980]

The brown Jewel Tea home delivery trucks, with the fragrance of fresh ground coffee wafting out.
DIVCO Milk delivery trucks, unique odor of milk, ice, and the possibility of maybe a bit of dry ice to be had from the ice cream boxes.

 

[Denten]

I remember my dad pulling the tubes out of the TV and sending me down to the local store to test them on one of these.

 

[dosmalo]

The "Television Seal of Good Practice"

 

[Denten]

Remember the "ding ding ding ding" when the dinging stops, your tire is full.

 

[Tom Brennan]

Vapor lock and polio.

 

[Beatnik]

Are you in East Texas, Beatnik? Tyler is the hometown & mine of that chain. I have a couple near me & you are correct. There's always a person ready to bag your groceries!

Rome

I don't know if Forney is east enough to be called East Texas ? They're trying real hard to be assimilated by Dallas, which isn't why I moved here. I'm suprised the Brookshires has survived the onslaught of Walmart, Mega Kroger, Aldi, Walgreen and CVS, but they stay packed.

All these bottle stories remind me of pulling my Radio Flyer full of bottles to Srtcklens down the street. Old man Stricklen smokin his cigar behind the counter had a huge selection of candy and popsicles !