Childhood

'Someone asked the other day, 'What was your favorite fastfood when you were growing up?' 'All the food was slow.' ' I don't remember going to a restaurant as a child except maybe at Christmas when sister, Audrey would take us shopping and to dinner at a cafe.

We ate all meals at home. Mom cooked casseroles, pasta etc in morning and we had it at dinner time. We sat down together at the small kitchen table after pulling out the fold up chairs. If we didn't like what she put on my plate I was allowed to sit there until I did like it. We would hide food under the table on the ledge and throw it again. You always heard about the starving kids in China. Denny got in trouble with Dean Herron at Westmont for complaining about the food with the China comment. Denny said he would provide the food if the Dean paid the postage.
You had to have permission to leave the table.

My mother was very proud of owning her own home. We never wore Levis as they were for farmers. Only the rich set foot on a golf course, traveled out of the country or had a credit card. My mother never had a credit card. My father gave up driving when he got a ticket for a wrong turn and we never had another card.

We played in the neighborhood mainly at Erica, Barbara and Margaret Mauz' house. They had a TV. Conrad was a gardener for the very rich and had green houses full of orchids and ferns. The yard was huge and beautiful. We got in trouble when we played hide and seek in the roses or other gardens. Little League was baseball for boys. No one else played on teams.

I had a used bicycle that weighed probably 50 pounds, and only had one speed, (slow). We didn't have a television in our house until I was in high school. It was, of course, black and white, and the station went off the air at midnight, after playing the national anthem and a poem about God; it came back on the air at about 6 a.m. I remember Howdy Dowdy but mainly we listened to the radio. Mother listened to soap operas like Helen Trent. We listened to the FBI and comedies like Our Miss Brooks.

I was in high school before I tasted my first pizza, it was called 'pizza pie.' When I bit into it, I burned the roof of my mouth and the cheese slid off, swung down, plastered itself against my chin and burned that, too. It's still the best pizza I ever had.

We got a telephone only when I could pay for it with my job at Foster's Freeze. The only phone in the house was in the living room and it was on a party line. Before you could dial, you had to listen and make sure some people you didn't know weren't already using the line.

Milk was delievered to some homes. The Helms Bakery truck came around with expensive items and bread. We got our bread at Safeway. The Union ice truck came around with ice for the ice box but we never got any. We had a cooler cupboard with a metal grate open to the cool air under the house. It was kept pad locked.

We rarely went to the show though neighbors would go to the Tivoli Theater on Santa Monica Blvd. Movie stars kissed with their mouths shut. At least, they did in the movies. There were no movie ratings because all movies were responsibly produced for everyone to enjoy viewing,
without profanity or violence or most anything offensive. Our Baptist Church was against movies, dancing, smoking and alcohol.

A soft drink bottle with bottle top with a stopper with a bunch of holes in it sat on the end of the ironing board to 'sprinkle' clothes with because we didn't have steam irons. Mother would starch shirts and when it was time to iron she would sprinkle them with water to help remove the wrinkles.

Head lights dimmer switches were on the car floor. Ignition switches on the dashboard. Heaters mounted on the inside of the fire wall. You used hand signals for cars without turn signals.

Older Than Dirt Quiz : Count all the ones that you remember not the ones you were told about Ratings at the bottom. 1 Blackjack chewing gum. 2. Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water. 3. Candy cigarettes. (We were not allowed them.) 4. Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles. 5. Coffee shops or diners with tableside juke boxes 6. Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers, cream at the top. 7. Party lines on the telephone. 8. Newsreels, cartoons and short features before the double feature movies. 9. P.F. Flyers. 10. Butch wax. 11. TV test patterns that came on at night after the last show and were there until TV shows started again in the morning. (there were only 3 channels [if you were fortunate])
12. Peashooters. (You will blind someone.) 13. Howdy Doody. 14. 45 RPM records 15. S& H greenstamps. (Audrey gave these to us for our wedding and we got a table and chairs. 16 Hi-fi's. 17. Metal ice trays with lever. 18. Mimeograph paper and dittos. 19. Blue flashbulbs. 20. Packards. 21. Roller skate keys. 22. Cork popguns 23. Drive-ins. 24. Studebakers. 25. Wash tub wringers. Mother boiled the clothes in the washing machine, wringered them to the bluing tub of water, then wringered them to the rinse water. Wring out clothes and hang on the line on Mondays.
If you remembered 0-5 = You're still young.
If you remembered 6-10 = You are getting older.
If you remembered 11-15 = Don 't tell your age.
If you remembered 16-25 = You're older than dirt!
I might be older than dirt but those memories are some of the best parts of my life. Don 't forget to pass this along!! Especially to all your really OLD friends.

Our houses were not secure and you could break in by any window. We slept with the windows open most of the year.