Helms Bakery Truckhelms-bakery-truck

  • You couldn’t shop on Sundays.  Everything was closed (markets, gas stations, stores, pharmacies, etc.) so that you could spend the day with your family or simply have a day to just relax and/or play
  • Trucks would come down the street playing tunes and delivering baked goods or ice cream.  If you grew up in L.A., like I did, you’ll remember the delictable aroma that permeated the air when Helms Bakery was baking.
  • Movies cost a quarter for children, 50 cents for adults, and the butter on the popcorn was real
  • You could walk down the street with no fear that anyone would try to harm you
  • You left your back door unlocked
  • Milk, eggs, cottage cheese, and the mail were delivered directly into a slot in your house
  • Clothes were air-dried on a line outside
  • You walked to and from school, even if it was miles away from your home
  • There were only three channels on TV, but there was always something good to watch
  • You remember when the first rocket into space was launched and watched when a man walked on the moon for the first time
  • All TVs were black & white, and you had to actually walk up to the TV to change the channel
  • You could make an appointment for an exact time with the phone company and they would show up on time.  There was only one phone company and you rented their phone for $5 a month — and that was the full bill
  • Stamps were 5 cents
  • People were polite
  • When you said “Thank you,” people responded, “You’re welcome,” and meant it
  • Gas was 25 cents a gallon and it was pumped by an attendant who also cleaned your windows, and checked your oil and tire pressure
  • There were no tip jars
  • Newscasters reported the news, not their opinions.  I still miss Walter Concrite (I had no idea what his political beliefs were until he retired).
  • News opinions were saved for the opinion page of the newspaper
  • There was no war — NO, WAIT… I’ve been singing “Let Their Be Peace On Earth,” since I was a little girl, and I’ve yet to know a time when the United States wasn’t at war with someone 🙁
  • Schools had a dress code
  • You sang Christmas songs with great joy in celebration of the holidays whether you were Christian or not, while never feeling you were somehow being excluded
  • Doctors knew your whole family and made house calls.
  • You didn’t need medical insurance to get good medical care
  • Medical insurance companies actually insured you — their deductibles meant something (I remember, when I was in my early 20s, going to the hospital and paying nothing for surgery and a two-day stay)
  • You actually believed what politicians were telling you
  • You remember when John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Bobby Kennedy were killed and where you were when you heard
  • You remember the first time you heard The Beatles or The Doors
  • Your phone was black and the cord tethered you into a confined space
  • No one had a computer
  • Everyone left home without a cell phone because — wait, can it be true? — there was no such thing as a cell phone.  You could actually be out of contact with everyone for hours on end
  • When you went to a ball game, you stood for the Pledge of Allegiance, hand over your heart, and sang with everyone else.  You didn’t have to stand silently listening to someone else sing it for you
  • “Made in America” meant it was the best quality in the world
  • No one cared who designed and manufactured your clothes
  • People dressed up to travel on airplanes and even those not in first class were served a meal
  • You remember Sid Caesar, Ed Sullivan, Ozzie & Harriet, and if you were a girl, you probably had a crush on Ricky Nelson
  • Your first bikini was probably a two-piece hip hugger bathing suit
  • You played outside with friends on your block
  • You thought the world was a safe place

I wrote this post because life has been a little rough lately for many of us and I wanted to think of simpler times.

Feel free to add more things you remember and please share

 

 

 

 

If you have read my book, The Space Between: A Memoir of Mother-Daughter Love at the End of Life or are planning to read it I’d greatly appreciative it if you’d write an honest review on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or Barnes & Noble when you’ve finished reading.  Your review doesn’t need to be any longer than a few sentences and it’s easy to do if you go to my listing on those sites. Writers need the help of their readers in getting the word out. Thank you in advance!