"THOSE WERE THE DAYS"

[Yvonne Smith]

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 remember that pop bottles were worth 3 cents deposit, and kids used to look along the side of the road in case anyone had thrown out their pop bottle, and they could turn it in and get penny candy.
My mom used sawdust (or maybe it was shavings?) on her garden path, and kids would haul a load of sawdust in the garden cart for her and earn 10 cents per load, so they could have candy bars.
It worked good for my mom and for the kids. A bottle of pop was 10 cents back then, too, so they could haul a couple carts of sawdust and earn enough for both a candy bar (or 2) and a bottle of pop.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

My mom used sawdust (or maybe it was shavings?) on her garden path, and kids would haul a load of sawdust in the garden cart for her and earn 10 cents per load...

No chance of that from my Mom. I had to work in her half acre garden (it was like a mini farm) for free. To make money I used my Dad's John Deere mini tractor lawn mower and for $1 I usually would mow about an acre. Some people with larger lawns would pay me $5 a month to keep their lawns "well manicured"...

 

[Mary Stetler]

Yesterday, I had an urge for a Clark Bar, one of my favorite candies going back to the fifties. I started thinking about all the popular candies back then. Can you believe we actually had candies we called Penny candies.
Here's a photo of some of the candies like Turkish Taffy, candy buttons, cigarette sticks, waxed bottles, see how many you can remember.
View attachment 789

Part of what I like about Cracker Barrel restaurant is that they still sell these.

 

[Tony Page]

I don't know if I have a Cracker Barrel in my area, I'll check it out.
I been inhaling Butterfingers as a substitute, not the same but close.

 

[Tony Page]

¹I don't know if I have a Cracker Barrel in my area, I'll check it out.
I been inhaling Butterfingers as a substitute, not the same but close.

I checked the closest one is over 88 miles.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

My favorites, Hostess Cakes, were 10¢ for two. I liked Suzy-Q's, Twinkies, and specially Chocodiles, which were chocolate covered Twinkies. You had to buy those by in boxes of 10, usually for about 80¢ a box.

 

[Tony Page]

My favorites, Hostess Cakes, were 10¢ for two. I liked Suzy-Q's, Twinkies, and specially Chocodiles, which were chocolate covered Twinkies. You had to buy those by in boxes of 10, usually for about 80¢ a box.

My favorite were Devil Dogs by Drake, I still consume them.

 

[Tony Page]

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.

 

[CAS]

My favorite were Devil Dogs by Drake, I still consume them.

What are Devil Dogs and other Drakes products like now that the company was sold to another company? I liked all of them when I was in NY, but not available anywhere else I've been. All I do know is Twinkies under new ownership are nothing like they used to be.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

Smucker's bought Hostess Brands for $5.6 billion in 2023. Their stuff has been more consistent than it was for over a decade after they resurfaced after the original company's bankruptcy and sale.

 

[Tony Page]

What are Devil Dogs and other Drakes products like now that the company was sold to another company? I liked all of them when I was in NY, but not available anywhere else I've been. All I do know is Twinkies under new ownership are nothing like they used to be.

Comparing today's devil dogs to when I was a kid, today, they taste completely different. They are not the same devil dog I had as a kid. They are much sweeter and their much smaller. They use to be wrapped in a wax paper, and the creme was overstuffed between the chocolate layers were it would squeeze out onto the wax wrapper, today the creme doesn't even reach the edge of the chocolate layers.

I still eat them, maybe for nostalgia. They're not completely terrible, so I buy a box once in awhile my grandkids also enjoy them.

Most products today do not taste like they did when I was younger. There are differences some major some minor. Off the top of my head right now, I can mention that hot dogs are not the same taste, Some cold cuts especially ham. I remember I used to really enjoy nestle's crunch when I was a kid, I can't even eat it today.Completely different chocolate. I find a lot of products when they say "new and improved", a lot of times it means,
their return on investment has improved.

 

[CAS]

Smucker's bought Hostess Brands for $5.6 billion in 2023. Their stuff has been more consistent than it was for over a decade after they resurfaced after the original company's bankruptcy and sale.

Somehow I hadn't heard about that. Whatever company took over Hostess quite a few years ago didn't seem to have the same quality products as they were in the past. Maybe I'll try a couple of products again to see if they've improved.

 

[CAS]

Comparing today's devil dogs to when I was a kid, today, they taste completely different. They are not the same devil dog I had as a kid. They are much sweeter and their much smaller. They use to be wrapped in a wax paper, and the creme was overstuffed between the chocolate layers were it would squeeze out onto the wax wrapper, today the creme doesn't even reach the edge of the chocolate layers.

I still eat them, maybe for nostalgia. They're not completely terrible, so I buy a box once in awhile my grandkids also enjoy them.

Most products today do not taste like they did when I was younger. There are differences some major some minor. Off the top of my head right now, I can mention that hot dogs are not the same taste, Some cold cuts especially ham. I remember I used to really enjoy nestle's crunch when I was a kid, I can't even eat it today.Completely different chocolate. I find a lot of products when they say "new and improved", a lot of times it means,
their return on investment has improved.

I've never seen any Drake products after leaving the East Coast. They occasionally show up on Amazon, though.

I was also a big fan of Franco-American canned spaghetti.. not nearly as good after Campbell's took over.

 

[Tony Page]

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

 

[CAS]

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

View attachment 880

A local grocery store sells those.. but I think the material is some kind of plastic.
They also sell some old candies, like Chuckles.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

Comparing today's devil dogs to when I was a kid, today, they taste completely different.

The same can be said for almost everything you can think of, hence the expression "They don't make things like they used to." When I hear that I tend to think of manufactured goods, but it really does apply to almost everything.

Back in the early days with my band, every bar in America seemed to have a small toaster pizza oven, and I ate a ton of Tombstone pizzas. I'll never forget the ad tagline, "What do you want on your Tombstone? Pepperoni and Sausage!" Walmart over in Bakersfield sells Tombstone pizzas, and they are pieces of cardboard with pizza toppings. We tried one and after all the stories I told my son about those bar pizzas, we took at bite and looked at each other and said "Ewww... Dumpster Frisbees."

Somehow I hadn't heard about that.

I knew they went bankrupt and that some other bakery bought them out, but I never knew who it was. I thought it was Bimbo Bakeries, but I think that was Wonder bread. It's a Wonder half of the kids in America aren't under-nourished eating that crap.

 

[CAS]

The same can be said for almost everything you can think of, hence the expression "They don't make things like they used to." When I hear that I tend to think of manufactured goods, but it really does apply to almost everything.

Back in the early days with my band, every bar in America seemed to have a small toaster pizza oven, and I ate a ton of Tombstone pizzas. I'll never forget the ad tagline, "What do you want on your Tombstone? Pepperoni and Sausage!" Walmart over in Bakersfield sells Tombstone pizzas, and they are pieces of cardboard with pizza toppings. We tried one and after all the stories I told my son about those bar pizzas, he took at bite and just said "Ewww... Dumpster Frisbees."


I knew they went bankrupt and that some other bakery bought them out, but I never knew who it was. I thought it was Bimbo Bakeries, but that was Wonder bread. It's a Wonder half of the kids in America aren't under-nourished eating that crap.

Now that you mentioned it, I did hear Bimbo Bakeries took over Hostess.

 

[Yvonne Smith]

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.

 

[Tony Page]

I've been reading the thread "Baking Homemade Bread", the subject of pizza dough was brought up, and that transitioned into making pizzas with different store bought mixes or dough.

This reminded me that back in 1954, there was an ad by Hunts to make English Muffin Pizza. My mom would make these by the dozens for me and my brother they went down pretty easy. We never compare them to store bought pizza or homemade pizza because there was no comparison. They were unique, like a White Castle hamburger.

We ate these as snacks while we watched TV or had them for lunch. I even ate the ones served in high school, where they use American cheese instead of mozzarella cheese.

My mom made a great pizza pie also when she made her own dough and sauce. I wish I had paid attention and got the recipe.

I remember her and her sister taking a very large table and making pasta dough. They pile the center of the table with flour in the shape of a volcano. they put their eggs and water into the center, knead the flour into dough for a flat pasta, like Mafalda, or for ravioli.

Back in the 50's there was a pizza place we would go to that was in the Rockaway, Howard Beach area called New Park Pizza. I still on occasion hear people talk about this pizza place. It made the best pizza you can ever try. His crust was so unique so delicious that one day my father said to the owner, "How come your crust is so good?" His answered."we don't use water in our dough. We use milk." We never tried it, so I don't know if he was pulling our leg.

 

[Axel Slingerland]

They were unique, like a White Castle hamburger.

One of the few non-music or non-park hotels jobs I had back in 1980 was cooking at a Krystal Restaurant in Auburn, Alabama. It's effectively a southern White Castle inspired clone. They were mostly bun, with a see-through hamburger patty that was a 1/16th of a pound before cooking, with 1/4 of a slice of cheese. In other words, about one bite each.

Since they were so cheap, the boss said I could eat as many as I wanted for lunch. I could pack away 15 or 20 of those sliders. But I don't like loading up on what is essentially "White Bread" buns. So instead, I made myself four triples and grabbed some fries, thus four buns instead of 16. Much better...