"THOSE WERE THE DAYS"

[Marie Mallory]

The street (block)I lived on in Brooklyn was very long, equivalent in length, about 2 - 3 normal size blocks. Butch lived "down" the block. He would hang out with me and my friends on occasion. He never joined us in playing games, going to the movies, but did join us when we were "throwing the bull."

Butch had one extraordinary Talent, he made the best "milk carton / crate scooters,"and none other came close. They were a wooden box nailed to a 2x4 piece of lumber, a pair of old roller skates for wheels, with wooden handles attached to the box. What made Butches scooters so special was his amazing art that he decorated them with. He could draw these beautiful eagles. He'd put them on the scooter, just give him a piece of chalk, and he'd draw one on the street.

I've watched him draw, it would be like you or I writing a sentence. It was so easy and fluent. Even as a kid, I realized this was a god-given talent, that's not something that was taught. Butch had to leave school at an early age to go to work to help his family, so I know it wasn't school taught.

I left Brooklyn when I was about 17 or 18, and only kept in touch with a couple of my friends in time that faded. I often wonder if Butch and the others are alive.

Here is a photo as an example of what these scooter look like.

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We had roller skates with keys, remember those?

 

[Marie Mallory]

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Jiffy Pop popcorn is still available to buy today. It came out in 1958 and was besides a snack a novel way to make popcorn. I'm sure it's still excites kids today the way it did back then to watch the foil bag grow with hot popcorn. I still can smell the popcorn and see the steam coming out of the bag, it was fun and an experience.

I don't know if my daughter ever purchased one to show my grandkids, but I intend to get one to let them have the Jiffy Pop popcorn experience.

Original packaging

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I have a jar of Jiffys popcorn and now and then I pop some, in my rice pot for hubby and me.

 

[Jacob Petersheim]

 

[Marie Mallory]

This is the difference between Wonder Bread when we were kids and Wonder Bread nowadays. And it is not just this particular bread, but almost all of the processed foods that we buy. Many of the ingredients in our foods here in the US are prohibited in Europe and other countries, so the same foods are much healthier than they are when we buy them here in America.

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So true, We make a lot of biscuits now because of the store breads, I will buy rye now and then.
I make what I called 'Mamas Bread, just mix up flour, lard water or buttermilk, pour it on greased pan, bake at 450 cut portion you want, butter and eat.
I made Mamas bread at daughter's house and my son on law came out saying " it's unbelievable how good this is". Sometimes simple is good also.

 

[Marie Mallory]

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Me too.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

So true, We make a lot of biscuits now because of the store breads, I will buy rye now and then.
I make what I called 'Mamas Bread, just mix up flour, lard water or buttermilk, pour it on greased pan, bake at 450 cut portion you want, butter and eat.
I made Mamas bread at daughter's house and my son on law came out saying " it's unbelievable how good this is". Sometimes simple is good also.

Do you add baking powder to this , @Marie Mallory , or is it more like a flat bread after you cook it ? If you buy buttermilk for that, you could use kefir the same way, if you decide to make kefir. It is very similar since they are both cultured milk products, but the kefir has more probiotics than buttermilk has.

 

[Marie Mallory]

Do you add baking powder to this , @Marie Mallory , or is it more like a flat bread after you cook it ? If you buy buttermilk for that, you could use kefir the same way, if you decide to make kefir. It is very similar since they are both cultured milk products, but the kefir has more probiotics than buttermilk has.

No I use regular buttermilk self rising flour, I seldom eat the bread or biscuits because of diabetes. I may eat half of top or bottom of biscuit, Jake eats some bread but lately mostly biscuits. I want to make the bread more often though; it takes less time and work and taste just as good as a biscuit actually I think better.
I do want to make the kefir soon.

 

[Marie Mallory]

I think most bread is has too many chemicals in it so trying to cut out store bread altogether.
And I'll use kefir in place of milk.

 

[Tony Page]

I think you might remember other slang words.
How about "That's Cool"

 

[Tony Page]

Yeah, we had penny candy as well. I don't recall any of it bagged though. You chose your items and they went into a small paper bag. We often "paid" by bringing in one or two pop bottles. Most of these were 2 cents, but the occasional bigger root beer bottle got you 5 cents back.

I did the same thing, cashed in bottles for candy

 

[Tony Page]

I remember my father had I believe it was a1958 Plymouth which had a push button automatic transmission. The buttons were on the left side of the dash.

 

[Tony Page]

I'm bad my music taste is still in the 40s 50s and 60s. Here's a list of the Billboard hits from 1990 I don't know one song on the list, maybe if I heard them I might recognize the melody. I have heard of some of the artists by name, but I'm not familiar with there music.

 

[Marie Mallory]

Remember running boards on the side of the cars? My mother had an old Plymouth with them.
Hubby said he will put some on my van. I almost have to jump down now to get out,

 

[Yvonne Smith]

Remember running boards on the side of the cars? My mother had an old Plymouth with them.
Hubby said he will put some on my van. I almost have to jump down now to get out,

We didn’t have them on cars, but I think that most of the older trucks had running boards, and some of the vans had them, too. This is a picture of me with my dad along side of his old line truck, and you can see the running boards on the side. This would have been about 1946, but the truck is probably quite a bit older than that, so maybe early 40’s ?

 

[Marie Mallory]

We didn’t have them on cars, but I think that most of the older trucks had running boards, and some of the vans had them, too. This is a picture of me with my dad along side of his old line truck, and you can see the running boards on the side. This would have been about 1946, but the truck is probably quite a bit older than that, so maybe early 40’s ?


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great picture, our old pictures burned up in our house in 1956.

 

[Marie Mallory]

We didn’t have them on cars, but I think that most of the older trucks had running boards, and some of the vans had them, too. This is a picture of me with my dad along side of his old line truck, and you can see the running boards on the side. This would have been about 1946, but the truck is probably quite a bit older than that, so maybe early 40’s ?


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Yvonne Mama had a car when I was a kid with running boards, it wasn't a new car, but I do remember the car and running boards.
Maybe it was this one?,

 

[Marie Mallory]

Probably my grandaddy's car,he passed in 1956, probably left it to mama.

 

[Marie Mallory]

People in the streets in the 1950s,