A Trip down Memory Lane

Unarchiving memoir material is so exciting, especially if it’s a long-forgotten fact. It’s rather like being handed the keys to a souped-up muscle car that’s been stored for years in someone’s garage. Sure, it’s suffered some dings and dents, and the upholstery’s a little ragged around the edges. But oh, listen to how that V-8 engine purrs…

Hey, why don’t you hop in? Let’s take it on a joyride down Memory Lane!  I’ll point out some landmarks from my childhood, mileposts 1960 through 1970. Then I’ll slip into the passenger seat and hand you the wheel, so you can describe what you see in the rear-view mirror.* 

Vrrrrrooooom. Are you ready? 

Apple Records and A-Line dresses

Big Chief Pencil Tablets and Bookmobiles

Culottes and cross-stitching aprons in Home Ec.

Duck and Cover and Drink and Wet dolls

 

Mr. Ed and Easy-Bake Ovens

Flexible Modular Scheduling and Field trips to Dana Point tide pools, plus the California Missions

 

Gym Suits and Gilligan’s Island

 

Herman Munster and Hopscotch

 

I Think I Love You (David Cassidy and the Partridge Family, who else?)

Jacks and molded Jello (bonus points if it includes shredded carrots or fruit)
 

Klick-Klacks 

Lost in Space

 

Moon Pies and Magilla Gorilla

 

Nancy Sinatra’s walkin’ boots

 

Octopussy and the Living Daylights, the book 

 
Patent leather shoes with pantyhose and Paint by Numbers

Queen for a Day

 

Ramona the Pest  

SRA kits and skate keys

 

Trading Stamps (S & H Green Stamps, Blue Chip, etc.)

Uninterrupted, Sustained Silent Reading (aka Drop Everything and Read)

 

Vietnam War and Velvet Elvis pictures

Wienermobile and Winchell Mahoney Time

  

X-ray shoe-fittings 

Yahtzee

 

Zorro (TV reruns and Wonderful World of Disney)  

Your turn! What do you remember?

*I tried linking each milepost marker, for those of you who want or need a tour guide’s explanation. Unfortunately, LJ’s not cooperating. I’m sorry!

 photo credit 

68 Comments

  1. Memory Lane

    I remember moonpies, skate keys, and gymsuits – I hated that gymsuit. All in one attached thing…your memoir is going to be wonderful!

    • Re: Memory Lane

      Oh, those gymsuits were the bane of my junior high existence!

      Thanks so much for the vote of confidence, Kerry. It helps, most definitely!

  12. Anonymous

    memories

    Alphabet soup
    BoZo the clown and Bologna sandwiches in the car.
    Captain Kangaroo and chinese jump rope, Creepy Crawlers. Crochet
    Dog named Kelly who always ran away. Dumbo at the Drive in Movies.
    Encyclopia salesmen.
    Flinch (the game) Fairy Tale stories
    Groovy-the word for something great.
    Hop scotch and Hobo Kelly
    I Dream of Jeannie and the Ice Cream Man
    John F Kennedy assasination
    Kool-Aid
    Lamb Chop (and Sherry of course. License Plate ABC game on the road. Lassie.
    Moon Pies (or perhaps the lack of them) and moon walk.
    Nana teaching us to skate. Nylons with garter belts
    Orange Tang and lumpy oatmeal. Orange Nesbetts soda. Out of Sight!
    Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter Paul and Mary. Peyton Place
    Quiet afternoon
    Resin and bead paper weights made at VBS.
    Sunday School. Sock hop dances in Junior High. Signs along the road. Smiley face. Shirely Temple Story Book, Scooter Pie
    Toothpicks dipped in cinnamon oil
    Up Up and Away in my Beautiful Balloon.
    Vacation Bible School and Vietnam
    Wonder bread.
    Xerox copies (I can still remember the smell)
    Y
    Zoo-Children’s with all our aunt’s and Nana.

  13. Even though I wasn’t around in the ’60’s one of your points shot me right back into elementary school.

    U.S.S.R – Uninterrupted, Sustained, Silent Reading

    Nowadays around here they’re calling it SQUIRT – Super Quiet Uninterrupted Reading Time.

    Perhaps calling it U.S.S.R was too political?

    • Yeah, that’s probably right. Plus the USSR was dissolved in the late ’80s.

      I’ll bet your mother and father could tell you some stories about all this… 🙂

    • SQUIRT? LMAO!!!! Wow, that’s just…. ridiculous. LOL… I think some of my teachers simply called it “Shut the hell up and read” time. 😉

  14. Well, I’ve got a whole bunch of 60s memories, but I was a pre-teen and teen, so I don’t know whether you want those:

    US politics:
    – Kennedy-Nixon election 1960 (sooo close)
    – Jackie Kennedy redecorating the White House (she did a tv show)
    – JFK’s assassination (I was at my locker and getting into my gym suit when I heard)
    – Vietnam war
    – war protests
    – civil rights marches
    – Bobby Kennedy’s assassination – 1968
    – Martin Luther King’s assassination – 1968
    – Tricky Dick elected – 1968
    (1968 was a horrible year)

    Music:
    – The Beatles (ask slatts about this…)
    – Dylan
    – The Mommas and The Papas
    – Simon and Garfunkle
    – folk rock
    – Peter, Paul and Mary

    Culture:
    – the mini skirt ( at high school we were only allowed to wear skirts that were no more than one inch above the knee
    – the British influence (because of the Beatles) – affected music, fashion, movies
    – Beatles hair cut
    – the Flip (hair style everyone wore, about 1963)
    – ironing my hair straight
    – Twiggy – false eyelashes and something called Twiggy Lashes – for the bottom set
    – hippies
    – The Twist
    – The Mashed Potato
    – The Frug
    – The Watusi
    – flower power – 1967 – the Summer of Love – Haight-Ashbury
    – “Hair” – 1969 (some high school friends were in the local production)
    – Woodstock – 1969 (my parents wouldn’t let me go)

    TV:
    – I Dream of Jeannie
    – Bewitched
    – I Spy
    – The Avengers (with Diana Rigg) – so cool, so different; I wore a jumpsuit because of Mrs. Peel (obviously, not at school!)

    • I was in elementary, then junior high school during the time(s) those things were popular. So maybe we’re around the same age!

      THANKS SO MUCH for this fabulous list. I’m going to pore over it tonight. Can’t wait!

  16. Such fun!

    I got most everything here but had to look up Klick-Klacks. I knew them as Zonkers.

    My little bro had Zonkers and one day I was playing with them as I passed by the couch where my big bro’s tuba sat. I looked into the gaping hole and thought “Wouldn’t it be fun?” I dropped the Zonkers down the tuba. Oops. We couldn’t get them out. Big bro took tuba to school and band teacher fixed it. Fast forward a couple years: I was in band teacher’s office getting my private trumpet lesson when band teacher opened his desk drawer. Inside were the bright orange Zonkers. “Hey,” I said, reaching for the Zonkers. “Those are mine.” Band teacher slammed the drawer closed and said, “Not anymore.”

  17. Okay, I’m back again. This time to lodge a complaint:

    I now have I THINK I LOVE YOU stuck in my head.

    Thanks ever so much, Melodye. 🙂

  18. Oh wow, haven’t thought of Klick Klacks and SRA reading kits in a long while!

    And yup, I remember just about everything else. Getting old, I guess. But at least I can still remember them… 😉

    Great list, Melodye.

  19. Duck COver and Wet dolls????

    Everything else on your list sparked a fond picture memory in my head, too. A great post, Melodye!!! ( Only appreciated truly by those of us who lived then )

    Moon Pies….ah, they tasted better then, dont you think?

    K: Kiddles ( dolls )

    Katherine

    • Duck under your desk and Cover your head and neck — that’s what we were trained to do, incase there was a threat of nuclear anhiliation. As if that would help, hee hee.

      Drink and Wet dolls “drank” water from a bottle, then peed it out their backside. Charming. 🙂

      I’ve never heard of kiddles, I don’t think. I’ll have to Google ’em to be sure.

      Thanks for coming along for the ride! I’m glad you had fun.

  20. Oh my God–this cracked me up! I definitely remember most of this stuff–although from a slightly different time-lens (70s and 80s). Didn’t have the pleasure of the X-Ray shoe fittings, but I LOVED the Partridge Family! And Eight is Enough. And the Brady Bunch. And…

    Oh, I’m having flashbacks.

  21. AWWWWWWWWWWW yes. I noticed you had Zorro as reruns but I saw them when they were first on TV. Same with Gilligan’s Island. I met Gilligan aka Maynard G Krebs. A very nice but cool guy. Skate keys, Queen for a Day, Velvet Elvis, and who can ever forget S&H Green Trading Stamps. This is a great list you have drawn up from your mind. You have triggered many things in this old, worn out mind.

    • You met Gilligan? You lucky dawg!

      Did you by any chance actually buy anything with S&H Green Stamps? I can only remember licking them and putting them into booklets, but I remember my mom buying a handmixer with Blue Chip Stamps.

      I’m so glad you enjoyed this little trip down Memory Lane. I kinda figured you for the kind of guy who enjoys a joyride now and again. 🙂

  22. Oh, now – that was tooooooo fun! You know, I was thinking about SRA Reading Kits just a couple of weeks ago – arrgh…I HATED those things. I actually remember most of your list.

    The ’60’s was Elementary School and Junior High for me, also. My family didn’t have TV. My parents didn’t ‘believe’ in owning the ‘one-eyed devil,’ funny thing though: they bought one after I (the youngest of five) was married and out-of-the-house… So, my favored pass time was reading…and fantasizing life beyond the last page as the POV character.

    My favorite book was “Caddie Woodlawn” but it ran a close second to the ‘Little House’ Series.

    My favorite quote was by Caddie Woodlawn’s brother: “If at first you don’t fricassee, fry, fry a hen.”

  23. Oh, now – that was tooooooo fun! You know, I was thinking about SRA Reading Kits just a couple of weeks ago – arrgh…I HATED those things. I actually remember most of your list.

    The ’60’s was Elementary School and Junior High for me, also. My family didn’t have TV. My parents didn’t ‘believe’ in owning the ‘one-eyed devil,’ funny thing though: they bought one after I (the youngest of five) was married and out-of-the-house… So, my favored pass time was reading…and fantasizing life beyond the last page as the POV character.

    My favorite book was “Caddie Woodlawn” but it ran a close second to the ‘Little House’ Series.

    My favorite quote was by Caddie Woodlawn’s brother: “If at first you don’t fricassee, fry, fry a hen.”

  24. LOL… this was great!!! David Cassidy? LMAO!!!! Good stuff. LOL… Okay, gimmie them keys and let’s go… my junior high/high school years… 80’s/90’s. (graduated 1991)

    Adam and the Ants
    Breakfast Club
    Constantly moving
    David Hasslehoff (Knight Rider) LMAO…
    Exxon Valdez spill
    Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
    Go-Go’s
    Hill Street – the street we lived on in Fullerton (jr. high)
    Iran-Contra
    Jichan – what we called my grandfather
    Koontz, Dean (strange as it sounds, it was Koontz that made me want to be a writer)
    Lynette – the evil aunt. Good riddance to bad rubbish
    Mariah Carey (she used to have talent)
    Noriega surrenders
    Outsiders
    Pac-Man
    Queen’s Freddy Mercury dies
    Robotech
    Say Anything
    Transformers
    Unification of Germany, tearing down of the Berlin Wall
    Verses, Satanic (okay that’s cheating) Ayatollah Khomeini places a bounty on Salman Rushdie’s head.
    Wilson High School – my alma matter
    Yoltron

    I had nothing for X or Z!

    • You dare to laugh at David Cassidy? I dare say you’ll have some of us beating up on you unless you agree to take it back.

      ha ha ha

      No really, I’m serious.

      I love your latter-days list, too. Thanks for taking us down YOUR Memory Lane.

      • Oh no, I don’t laugh at David Cassidy. I merely laugh… near him! Please don’t beat me!!! 🙂

        Latter day lists? LOL… they feel like forever ago to me sometimes.

      • Oh no, I don’t laugh at David Cassidy. I merely laugh… near him! Please don’t beat me!!! 🙂

        Latter day lists? LOL… they feel like forever ago to me sometimes.

  25. LOL… this was great!!! David Cassidy? LMAO!!!! Good stuff. LOL… Okay, gimmie them keys and let’s go… my junior high/high school years… 80’s/90’s. (graduated 1991)

    Adam and the Ants
    Breakfast Club
    Constantly moving
    David Hasslehoff (Knight Rider) LMAO…
    Exxon Valdez spill
    Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
    Go-Go’s
    Hill Street – the street we lived on in Fullerton (jr. high)
    Iran-Contra
    Jichan – what we called my grandfather
    Koontz, Dean (strange as it sounds, it was Koontz that made me want to be a writer)
    Lynette – the evil aunt. Good riddance to bad rubbish
    Mariah Carey (she used to have talent)
    Noriega surrenders
    Outsiders
    Pac-Man
    Queen’s Freddy Mercury dies
    Robotech
    Say Anything
    Transformers
    Unification of Germany, tearing down of the Berlin Wall
    Verses, Satanic (okay that’s cheating) Ayatollah Khomeini places a bounty on Salman Rushdie’s head.
    Wilson High School – my alma matter
    Yoltron

    I had nothing for X or Z!

  27. What a gret list! I donlt recognize some of the US specific stuff there, but you immediately set my imagination soaring. Spontateously, the following come to mind, from childhood and teens:

    Hula-hoops
    Dennis the Menace
    Bobbsey Twins
    Famous Five
    Cat Stevens
    Teen Magazine (yes! we got it in Guyana!)
    Schoolgirls’ Picture Library
    Granny dresses
    Empire line dresses
    Bell-Bottoms
    Moulton Bicycles
    BOAC, Pan-Am, BWIA
    The Drifters – Under the Boardwalk, When my Little Girl is Smiling, etc.
    My Girl – Otis Redding
    When a Man loves a Woman – Percy Sledge
    Mini Skirts
    Mary Quant make-up
    Twiggy
    Ruby Tuesday
    Beach Party movies
    Jerry Lewis
    Let’s Twist Again
    the Israelites

    I could go on forever!

    • Oooh, this is a lovely list! Thanks for coming by to share your memories. Some, I don’t recognize, but most of them I do. FUN!

      Bobbsey Twins (Flossie and Freddie) forever! 🙂

  28. My best friend and I once played 12 games of Yahtzee and tied. That’s right, added up all 12 games into 1 total and we tied! Had to quadruple check our addition, but sure enough. Some craziness has a way of making memories.

    • Whoa, that’s phenomenal — the sheer volume of Yahtzee games and the fact that you eventually tied!

      Craziness always makes for the best kind of memories. My head’s crammed full of ’em. Heh.

  29. this was fun. I remember much of these. Have often seen you on others LJs and you always have such an optimistic response. enjoy your spring day. I’m off to ponder memories…

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