Take a moment to scan these these tidbits. They will take you back and bring a smile to your face. Close your eyes ... go back … before the Internet and the MAC … before assault guns and crack … before SEGA and Super Nintendo… before color TV … before TV … way back. I'm talking about: | |
| Add your Remember When by selecting the navigation tag above. Given enough interest, we will publish and distribute these memories in hard copy. | |
How we often entertained ourselves as youths | |
Hide and go seek at dusk Tag (You’re IT) Kick the can Blind man’s bluff Flag football Baseball Pony League Drop the handkerchief Flinch … Check Pretend War Ring around the Rosie Jacks Jump the rope Hopscotch Marbles Spin the bottle at mixed parties Post Office with Kaye Bobbing for apples at Halloween Eating contests at summer picnics Pinochle, twist, euchre, or canasta on a rainy day Red light, Green light Shooting a sling shot (but only at a politically correct target … like the street lights near Artie and Don’s that washed out the free Thursday night movie) Kickball and dodge ball Mother May I? Red Rover and Roly Poly Ice skating at the Westclox skating rink Ice Skating at Hegler Park Making out in cars with bench seats ;-) Watching the Peru Merchant's play baseball Skinny-dipping at the Utica quarry. Checking out the Ottawa girls at Blackhawk Beach. Girls had slumber parties. Often they told the boys where the party would be, so that the boys could raid the party ... the best raid was at Wenzel's farm, 1952 (Hmmm, I'd like to hear more about that one) Hiking the Little Vermilion from "The Turn" past "First Rock" on up to "Second Rock" and to Mitchell's Grove. Climbing trees, preferably with fruit Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt Trick or Treat Hanging May Baskets on doorknobs Hiking to Split Rock Making out behind Herke's Hill north of LaSalle | Sittin' on the porch watching a summer thunderstorm Barrel hoops and hula-hoops Soapbox cars Chasing fireflies Skipping rocks on the pond Statue Musical chairs Snowball fights Roller skates that clamped onto the shoes ... tightened with a "skate key" that kept getting lost. Finding the needle to pump up the football or basketball. Building a snowman Snow Angels in the yard Sleigh riding Ice-skating on the canal to Utica Roller-skating at the rink west of Peru Running through the sprinkler in the Dog Days of August Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians Just sitting on the curb talking dreams and stuff The summer evenings when the girls walked Rt. 6 from the Igloo to Orsinger's. The guys cruised, whistling and honking at the girls. Some even got brave enough to stop and chat. Jalopies with:
Sadie Hawkins Day Dance Hank & Gino's Club LaSalle Jumping down the steps Pin-ball machines for 5¢ a play to win free games Jumping up the steps Jumping on the bed Pillow fights Running till you were out of breath Hide-n-seek ... "ollie ollie oxen free" |
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We had our own junk food | |
Hot bread and butter from the kitchen Peru Dairy chocolate milk The sweet red or green liquid we drank from those little wax bottles ...Then chewed the wax Candy cigarettes Milk Duds at the movies Penny candy in a brown paper bag Baseball card bubble gum Popsicles at the Peru Swimming Pool Wax Teeth, Lips and Mustaches ...Chewed them too United Cigar Store Malted Milk with double malt A glass of beer was only 10¢ (Submitted by John Schweickert) (I wouldn't know because I was too young to drink. -- Jim) Ever had a "Push-Up?" The Holloway ... the sucker we bought at the movies that would last all the way through the show. | An ice cream cone on a warm summer night. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, butter pecan, butterscotch, double-Dutch chocolate, or Dairy Queen A cherry coke from the fountain at the Orsinger’s A “pork with the works” at the Igloo Remember the “footer hot dogs?” ... We loved Igloo chili too Drinking a cool one from the A&W root beer stand When was the last time you had a tomato sandwich, or tomato right from the garden? And the goodies at Prince Castle on 3rd Street in LaSalle Eating Kool-Aid powder with real sugar from the package And Eskimo pie Bread and butter sandwich (did you sprinkle sugar on it?) Sen-sen Soft ice cream cones from the Dairy Queen on fourth and Charters. But wait … there’s more: |
We listened to the radio a lot | |
Superman, “Faster than a speeding bullet….” Let’s Pretend on Saturday mornings, “Cream of Wheat is so good to eat that we have it every day….” Terry and the Pirates on weekdays at 5:00 Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy at 5:30 on weekdays, “Wheaties, Breakfast of Champions” Captain Midnight at 6:00, I had the decoder ring The Lone Ranger weekdays at 6:30 "Portia Faces Life (Soap) Ma Perkins (Soap) | The Shadow on Sunday afternoons at 4:00 Two-Ton Baker the Music Maker, Chicago WGN The Grand Old Opry on WLS at 9:00 PM every Saturday night The Fred Allen show The Bob Hope show The Jack Benny show Walter Winchell News (my dad’s program) Gabriel Heater News (dad’s) Edward R Morrow News (dad’s) |
An we watched black and white TV if we had one | |
It took five minutes for the TV to warm up Chicago wresting (looked real?) Sid Caesar show Jack Paar I Love Lucy | Milton Berle Saturday Morning cartoons The Three Stooges, the Bowery Boys, Bugs Bunny, Pop-Eye, and more I ain't finished just yet |
Remember World War II | |
The men went to war and the women went to work in defense jobs and on the farm Everyone worked seven days per week Westclox made fuses for bombs and artillery Seneca became a shipyard for the Navy’s LST ships. LST 519 Service Flags went up in the windows of homes with a blue star for every family member serving in the armed forces. Then Gold stars appeared on too many of those flags The Sullivan brothers Rationing: Sugar, meat, gasoline Retread tires ...synthetic rubber No new cars White (Zinc) pennies Taking scrap iron to get into the matinee movie. Paper license plates for vehicles The WACS, WAVES, WASPS B-17 Flying Fortress Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition Blackouts and blackout curtains Civil Defense 4-F deferment JEEP Free movie on Saturday mornings for 10 pounds of scrap iron Huddled around the radio for FDR’s fireside chats, or breaking war news The Battle for Leyte Gulf Midway D-day Daylight saturation bombing Iwo Jima The "Ruptured Duck" The Overseas cap (Yeah, I know what you called it) Victory Gardens | VE-day VJ-day ... the A-Bomb ... Hiroshima and Nagasaki The dreaded telegrams that started out, “Greetings, The War Department regrets to inform you….” War Bonds. Black Outs Waste newspaper collections Praying for Peace in Church every Sunday Saving cooking fats Passing the milk bottle at the Movies for the Red Cross The "Ike Jacket" Adolph Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo The Thompson submachine gun Then M-1 Garand Rifle The BAR B-24 Liberator P-51 Mustang P-38 Lightning Glenn Miller Less Brown and his band of renown Louis Armstrong Guy Lombardo The White Cliffs of Dover Civil Defense Rock Island and Illinois Central troop trains moving through the night Painted legs because silk was scarce War bonds Buying 10 or 25 cents war stamps every Monday morning at school Rosie the Riveter Latch-key children Gas rationing stamps: A, B or C stamps 35mph national speed limit Red points for meat rationing Blue points for sugar Playing war with wooden guns |
Also remember when | |
Remember when there were two types of sneakers for girls and boys (Keds & PF Flyers) and the only time you wore them at school, was for "gym" Nearly everyone's mom was at home when the kids got there Square dancing in Utica Nobody owned a purebred dog When polio season was a time to avoid crowds and over-exertion. A quarter was a decent allowance and another quarter was a God-send Milk came in quart glass bottles with a 5¢ deposit? Milk went up one cent per quart and everyone talked about it for weeks? When the cream floated on the top of the milk bottle? Milk froze on the doorstep and pushed up the cream out the top? The old Peru bridge The old LaSalle bridge When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny When your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces When all of your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had their hair done everyday Jerry McGraw blowing his trumpet; just about anywhere in town. | Remember those fashionable gym bloomers the girls wore? When you got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped, without asking, for free, every time And, you didn't pay for air And, you got trading stamps to boot! When laundry soap (they hadn’t invented detergent yet) had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry groceries, and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it When they would stop the movie and pass a milk bottle for movie-goers to donate to the Red Cross. When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents … like the White Castle When they threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed, and did! When being sent to the principal's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home When basically, we lived with fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! And some of us are still afraid of them!!! The Gay Mill and the Cotton Mill The Diamond Horseshoe in Oglesby The Stables on north Joliet Street Sunday afternoon jam sessions - usually at the Stables. |
And remember... | |
| Kelly and Cawley's Singapore Tavern Ki-Johns on 8th Steet (Witek's Tavern) Duffy's Tavern Swan soap. How about Rinso White - Rinso Bright Ballestri's Tavern in LaSalle Woodshank's on Peoria Street in Peru Square Dancing in Utica on Saturday night The Drive-in Movie on Rt. 6 East of LaSalle Sitterly's Gravel Pit in Spring Valley at night time Green Front Tavern Shooting rats at the dump at night. | Silver Congo "Supper" Doesn't anyone eat supper anymore The Dairy Queen on Charters Street Oleomargerine (Better living through chemistry) Garzenelli's in Oglesby Shoe stores (remember Goots in the Kaskaskia Hotel) had an X-Ray machine that you could use to tell if the shoes fit. McKinley Grade School in Peru Peru Dairy on Peoria Street The Friday night dances at St. Patrick's School Little Billy's on 9th Street in LaSalle WestClox 74 Coal Mine |
Didn't that feel good just to go back and say, “Yeah, I remember that!” | |
I want to go back to the time when Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo." Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "do over!" "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly" Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot Nobody was prettier than Mom Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the carnival. Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare" Saturday morning entertainment wasn’t 30-minute ads for action figures No shopping trip was complete, unless a new toy was brought home | It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends Being old referred to anyone over 20 The net on a tennis court was the perfect height to play volleyball and rules didn't matter. The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was cooties. It was magic when dad would "remove" his thumb. It was unbelievable that dodge-ball wasn't an Olympic event Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team War was a card game Water balloons were the ultimate weapon Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin Ice cream was considered a basic food group Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors |
There was nothing, nor will there ever be anything, like our good old days! They were good then, and they're good now when we think about them. Share some of these thoughts with a friend who can relate, then share it with someone that missed out on them … like your grand children I DOUBLE-DOG DARE YA! | |