This is for us old duffers.

[hoser]

Thanks for the memory.

Ah no thanks needed. It was just fun to reminisce about those times we all had. What concerns me is what today's teens will have to remember when, and IF they reach our age.

 

[petejc]

Follow up on my last nostalgia post....I was born in 43, and when I was about 10, 1953ish my two older brothers smoked. One Chesterfields and the other Lucky Strikes...well they would give me a quarter to run over to Mames penny candy store across the street for smokes...imagine a 10 yr. old getting cigs, from a cig. machine....Anyway cigs were 21 cents a pack and when you pulled out the pack they would have 4 pennies between the cellophane and the back...I'd get them out and that was my payment for making the run...Bought Black hats, and Sen-Sens....loved them....Yeah, I'm old

 

[james45]

Back in the 1950's there was a two cent deposit on the small soda bottles and a five cent deposit on the quart size. Quart milk bottles were worth seven cents each. We kids would round up as many as we could, putting them in the baskets we had on our bikes. Whatever we had we'd cash in and buy candy, soda, chips, and even comic books. There was a little mom and pop store that we always went to, and the old man always let us hang around in the store while we were enjoying our soda and candy bars.
One day, a friend of mine hatched an idea as to how we could increase our bottle redemption money.......there was a small supermarket that stored all their bottle returns outside in back of the store.....unattended ! All we had to do was ride our bikes around back and if no one was there, we'd quickly ride up to the bottle pile and grab some of the bottles and put them in our bike baskets. Empties were always in those cardboard "6 pack" cartons so it was easy to grab 24 empties which fit perfectly in the basket and off we'd go down the road to the store to cash them in. We'd "hit" the empty bottle "gold mine" every so often to the point that the old man at the store was getting suspicious as to where we got so many empties. We concocted a story that I'm sure he didn't believe but nothing ever happened. I guess he didn't really care how we got all those empties because we were spending the money we got for them at his store. The 1950's......those were the days !

OOOh those 50's were the days at 82 and 12 major surgeries I wish I could go back.

 

[hoser]

we would imitate the cowboys slapping a dollar on the table like it was a bar and ask for a whiskey or beer...

A quarter mile from our house was a place call Leo's tavern that was hooked to a gas station. My parents and aunt and uncle would take me down there while they had a few beers. I got to drink Vernors Ginger Ale when it was the good stuff. One thing I remember was every sill, ledge, shelf had stacks of silver dollars that the patrons would put up there. They were there throughout my childhood and there when I left for the Navy. I heard someone broke in and took every one of those coins ending cool custom.

 

[markinswpa]

Ah no thanks needed. It was just fun to reminisce about those times we all had. What concerns me is what today's teens will have to remember when, and IF they reach our age.

Yeah like who started H.S. as a guy and graduated a girl or who didn't make graduation cause some misguided kid brought a gun to school. I feel sorry for young people today. I have a couple of granddaughters and I worry just what kind of world they will grow up in. We grew up in great times I only hope there is some form of the American dream left for them. Mark

 

[markinswpa]

Follow up on my last nostalgia post....I was born in 43, and when I was about 10, 1953ish my two older brothers smoked. One Chesterfields and the other Lucky Strikes...well they would give me a quarter to run over to Mames penny candy store across the street for smokes...imagine a 10 yr. old getting cigs, from a cig. machine....Anyway cigs were 21 cents a pack and when you pulled out the pack they would have 4 pennies between the cellophane and the back...I'd get them out and that was my payment for making the run...Bought Black hats, and Sen-Sens....loved them....Yeah, I'm old

You old fart . OOH Sen sens. 8 for a penny, I was hooked. And how about peachstones ? Mark

 

[hoser]

I only hope there is some form of the American dream left for them

AMEN to that brother.

 

[KOB]

A quarter mile from our house was a place call Leo's tavern that was hooked to a gas station. My parents and aunt and uncle would take me down there while they had a few beers. I got to drink Vernors Ginger Ale when it was the good stuff. One thing I remember was every sill, ledge, shelf had stacks of silver dollars that the patrons would put up there. They were there throughout my childhood and there when I left for the Navy. I heard someone broke in and took every one of those coins ending cool custom.

Vernors ! I bought a 6 pack about a year ago to relive my youth. Either my taste buds have changed or that stuff is watered down piss. Nothing like it was....

 

[hoser]

Nope your taste buds are just fine. If you notice it's not called ginger ale anymore. It's now ginger soda. The old style stuff when you poured it in a glass you better not breathe in just before taking a sip as it would cause you to choke from the ginger. Not anymore. Another victim of ......UGH... progress.

 

[KOB]

Nope your taste buds are just fine. If you notice it's not called ginger ale anymore. It's now ginger soda. The old style stuff when you poured it in a glass you better not breathe in just before taking a sip as it would cause you to choke from the ginger. Not anymore. Another victim of ......UGH... progress.

That was the point. I remember pouring in a glass. The carbonation and fizz exploding out. I wouldn't choke , but almost caught a sparkling buzz right before I drank half the glass. It was great. The new soda stuff seems flat and flavorless.

 

[Beachhunter]

Similar story.....I'm 79 and back in the 50's 55, 56, my one brother Mike who was 5 yrs. older than me used to caddy at two different country clubs....well he and I were into westerns, cowboy movies etc....When we had 10 or 15 dollars in or pockets saved from money caddying, we would go up to The Camp Curtin bank on 6th and McClay sts. Hbg, Pa. and cash in for silver dollars.
Then we would imitate the cowboys slapping a dollar on the table like it was a bar and ask for a whiskey or beer.....
God do I wish I would have just stashed them away for a rainy day....I actually now only have one of them. What a time.

Great story!

 

[Treasure2some]

In Michigan the 10 cent deposit law was passed in 1976. Before that in the 1960s, bottles could be returned for 2 to 3 cent’s a piece. There were also no deposit bottles.

 

[diggin4clad]

A quarter mile from our house was a place call Leo's tavern that was hooked to a gas station. My parents and aunt and uncle would take me down there while they had a few beers. I got to drink Vernors Ginger Ale when it was the good stuff. One thing I remember was every sill, ledge, shelf had stacks of silver dollars that the patrons would put up there. They were there throughout my childhood and there when I left for the Navy. I heard someone broke in and took every one of those coins ending cool custom.

I guess the silver dollars out in plain sight was too tempting for someone. A shame they were stolen. Those old taverns were all over the place around here in the 1950's. Most were a nice little place where a guy could stop in, have a beer or two and chit chat with the other customers. My father stopped in those places and I'd be able to sit in a booth and have a soda and a small bag of chips. They're all gone now, nothing more than a memory. Bid's Tavern, one of the best ones lasted into the early 70's and was owned by one of the town's firemen who is still alive.

 

[Cfmct]

Nope your taste buds are just fine. If you notice it's not called ginger ale anymore. It's now ginger soda. The old style stuff when you poured it in a glass you better not breathe in just before taking a sip as it would cause you to choke from the ginger. Not anymore. Another victim of ......UGH... progress.

Nothing tastes the same anymore Bill... gram crackers are like dog biscuits today they are dry and unflavorful, Nabisco vanilla wafers are like eating cardboard... when the health police started complaining they stopped using the good stuff... When you cook a hamburger today all this strange stuff bubbles out of it... don't need anything in pan the meat by product burger supplies all the moisture you need... halfway thru cooking process bottom of skillet full of water... we are paying for water... took my lab thru McDonalds other day wanted a diet coke, I bought her a hamburger had to throw it out to seagulls she would not eat it ...

 

[Cfmct]

Follow up on my last nostalgia post....I was born in 43, and when I was about 10, 1953ish my two older brothers smoked. One Chesterfields and the other Lucky Strikes...well they would give me a quarter to run over to Mames penny candy store across the street for smokes...imagine a 10 yr. old getting cigs, from a cig. machine....Anyway cigs were 21 cents a pack and when you pulled out the pack they would have 4 pennies between the cellophane and the back...I'd get them out and that was my payment for making the run...Bought Black hats, and Sen-Sens....loved them....Yeah, I'm old

I loved sen-sen and blackjack gum.. I can still get the gum along with teaberry gum in a local shop... have you seen what they are charging for sen-sen these days for one tiny pack? They are out of their minds..

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[hoser]

Those shops that sell the penny candy items we used to get are like you said, Still Around. but yep you will pay way more than what we did back in the day. It's fun to think back on the things we experienced as young people. And every once in a while, you'll come across something either in a store or see an old add that will give you that warm and fuzzy feeling. Something that the young people today may never experience.

 

[Cherry Picker]

I remember collecting and selling pop bottles. Back in 2007, I found a bottle cache of some 240,000. Imagine getting 10 cents per bottle.

Here is the story.

Bottle Cache

 

[SeabeeRon]

Fun read Brother Bee!

Didn't realize we had so many "old folks" like us!!

 

[vmc1161]

Similar story.....I'm 79 and back in the 50's 55, 56, my one brother Mike who was 5 yrs. older than me used to caddy at two different country clubs....well he and I were into westerns, cowboy movies etc....When we had 10 or 15 dollars in or pockets saved from money caddying, we would go up to The Camp Curtin bank on 6th and McClay sts. Hbg, Pa. and cash in for silver dollars.
Then we would imitate the cowboys slapping a dollar on the table like it was a bar and ask for a whiskey or beer.....
God do I wish I would have just stashed them away for a rainy day....I actually now only have one of them. What a time.

About ten years or so ago I was talking to a cop about metal detecting. He told me that his great grandfather had a small corner store. Any time someone paid with a silver dollar he would keep them. He put them in five gallon buckets at home and told nobody. When he passed and they cleaned out the house and they found three full buckets. There were other jars, box's and odd spots around the house. I'm not sure how much it was worth as they were just getting it sorted out. I tried to figure out how many silver dollars in a five gallon bucket but gave up thinking why not me.

 

[james45]

You guys are just teenagers try being 82 with 12 major surgeries with 10 pounds of steel in my neck,back and complete right shoulder replaced.OOORAH SEMPERFI.