My Memory Lane

How about a trip down memory lane? Remember filling up with gas?

Remember filling up with gas and the gas stations would give you a free road map? check your oil? What are some things you remember. Can be as many as you want. and any subject. Gas was just my example.

Public Comments

1. The gas station attendant would wash your windshield and back window, too! Ah, those were the days...
2. Remember casette tapes and LP records?
3. i remember listening to my Michael Jackson records on my Prince record player, only when the weather would not allow for me to play outside from morning to night.
4. Yes, the gas was pumped for you, while the attendant checked the water and oil, and washed the windshield. I also remember my mother collecting a set of drinking glasses from boxes of laundry detergent, and she got her kitchen towels from a bag of flour, they were sewn onto the bottom of the bags. I remember collecting Green Stamps as a teen, and browsing over the catalog for hours. It was like getting something free. How about this, I recieved 50 cents allowance per week, and could purchase a drink, candy bar, and 3 comic books with it. Okay, okay, so much for memory lane, starting to feel a little old here!
5. I miss the late 60's early 70's period! Remember getting milk delivered to your home? Remember the cork liners in bottle caps on Pepsi and Coke bottles? Remember the Taco Bell's with fire-pits? Remember the ORIGINAL A&W's? Arctic Circle's? Remember free plates in laundry detergent? Remember old fashioned washing machines with rollers? Remember trying to kiss "Mary Lou" for the first time? Remember leaving doors and windows open ALL night in the summer? Remember going to the beach in Long Beach or Redondo beach, and there was no glass in the sand? And you could be on the beach all night without worry? :) Remember The "Nu Pike" (The Pike) in Long Beach? (My Wife & I were there as boyfriend & girlfreidn the LAST day it was open in 1979, VERY sad day!) Remember drive in theaters? They are almost all gone! :( Remember that first pair of netal wheel roller skates? Or how about going to the roller rink? :) Remember 2-3 story single building brick schools? A lot of good, no GREAT memories from the 60's & 70's!!!!!
6. they washed windows , checked your oil, water, and air in your tires ,and serviced your cars.
7. I remember going to the "Green Stamp Store". I remember when you could only get 3 channels on the TV (It was a big deal with PBS on UHF made it 4). I remember watching the first moon landing. And regarding gas, I remember: Having to choose between regular and unleaded. Being able to fill up my motor scooter with $0.25 and riding it for the whole week. And for cars in general: A tune up meant checking the timing, and adjusting the carburetor. You could pretty much disassemble and re-assemble a whole engine in one afternoon with a basic set of wrenches and a good screwdriver.
8. Well, then, you probably remember "Gas War Pricing" -- gasoline was 25 cents a gallon! Gasoline smelled good. So did acetone. You remember before there were seat belts in cars. You remember before there were catalytic converters; by 2:00 in the afternoon (Los Angeles) anything more than 100 yards away would be lost in gray-red haze. You remember before there were electronic calculators, your chemistry teacher gave everyone a circular slide rule that had an ad from a pharmaceutical company on the back. You remember your first digital watch -- red LED display, you had to press a button to get the read-out. You remember buying a protractor for your 8th grade math class; the teacher said that only extra-sexy people bought the ones with the "French curve." You remember when 10- and 15-year mortgages were commonplace, and the home was completely paid for before the oldest kid graduated from high school! You remember when a man worked and a woman stayed home, and they could afford to do that. LOL. You remember pension plans. You got a gold-plated watch for working for the same company for 25 consecutive years. You remember getting your wisdom teeth sawed out of your mouth by the dentist. You remember going to "summer Bible school." You remember going to a summer camp for a week. You remember the first time you went on a whale-watching trip. You remember going to a camp on Catalina Island with your freshman class. You remember your first home computer -- it hooked up to your television, you had to program it yourself in BASIC, and you stored your programs on cassette tapes.
9. They had dish sets and you got a piece free with each fill-up. Sometimes they had toys you would get with a fill-up. They had those silver coin dispensers on their belt because they filled your car up and you paid them and never had to leave your car. Checked the fluids and washed all the windows and your headlights. Dirty gum ball machines. Soda machines with glass bottles for a quarter. Ethyl gas. Cigarettes for 45 cents a pack. Lit up glass domes on the pumps. They'd check your tire pressure for you. You got air for free. Most had a garage where you could get your car fixed as well.