I'm so old that I remember....

[JimmyLyding]

Gatorade in glass bottles
Sleeping bags that were as-big-around as a spare tire
Salt tablets instead of Gookinaid/Vitalyte

[cathymocha]

I remember as a child riding from El Centro to Yuma on the "new" two lane road and seeing the "old plank road" not far from the new road, er, ah, sort of a while back. :whistle:

[Al_HikesAZ]

I remember as a child riding from El Centro to Yuma on the "new" two lane road and seeing the "old plank road" not far from the new road, er, ah, sort of a while back. :whistle:

My Grandmother told me stories about driving from Globe to Coronado for the summer across the "old plank road" at night in a Model T. It was one lane only with turnouts every mile. If you met someone coming the other way you got out and talked. One vehicle would back up to the closest turnout. Took 3 days to get to Coronado. Yuma's economy revolved around busted radiators and burnt out alternators. Then my Grandfather would come back to work then go back out and pick them up at the end of the summer. We were Zonies before there were Zonies. My Grandmother told me stories about how as a young girl, her father would take them from Clifton up to Eager - by horseback and packhorse - for the summer back before Statehood. I also know how A/C worked back in the 20's and 30's before A/C ;)

[Jeffshadows]

This is cool stuff!

[azbackpackr]

Yeah, I love that really old stuff, too. My dad was born in La Luz, New Mexico, (right next to Alamogordo) in 1906. When he was 10 they moved to San Diego. He also used to talk about the old plank road, but they were too poor to own a car--they took the train. He says the only paved road in San Diego back in 1916 was Broadway. You could take the street car to other towns such as Pacific Beach or La Jolla--there was a big cattle ranch at Crown Point by what is now Mission Bay. Mission Bay was a big slough (marsh) where he hunted ducks and fished from a rowboat.

My dad was Hispanic but "passed" for white, and told people he was Portuguese to account for the fact he was a little darker. In San Diego it was ok to be Portuguese, but not ok to be Hispanic, if you were upwardly mobile like he was. He went to law school at night while working during the day and rasing a family. He had taken his stepdad's Anglo name. We really didn't know much about any of this, but our grandfather was actually Cuban. My brother did a lot of genealogy and found a lot of stuff on the internet--old census records, etc.

What people do to survive, especially people of color. Interesting stuff.

[Grasshopper]

My Grandmother told me stories about driving from Globe to Coronado for the summer across the "old plank road" at night in a Model T. Yuma's economy revolved around busted radiators and burnt out alternators.

I also know how A/C worked back in the 20's and 30's before A/C ;)

Yes, I think your are referring to "dry ice" for the A/C solution.. As a kid, I use to stay occupied on long trip by taking a silver dollar and carving designs in the dry ice (for those who don't know the chemistry/physics- the silver would interact with the dry ice to make a natural cutting tool). Great memories of a more simple time!

[DarthStiller]

Listening to Black Sabbath on my reel-to-reel.

I heard a rumor Ozzy Osbourne was gonna get back together.

[Al_HikesAZ]

I also know how A/C worked back in the 20's and 30's before A/C ;)

Yes, I think your are referring to "dry ice" for the A/C solution.. As a kid, I use to stay occupied on long trip by taking a silver dollar and carving designs in the dry ice (for those who don't know the chemistry/physics- the silver would interact with the dry ice to make a natural cutting tool). Great memories of a more simple time!

I remember that. But mostly I was referring to how the homes were built. Many in the Encanto area had thick adobe walls and you could hose them down and stay cool(er) at night. Others were built with 2nd story verandas and the women would get up during the night and soak sheets then hang them around the veranda to act as a primitive Evaporative cooler. Post WWII and the Evap Cooler really started to change things around here. And it was before the "heat island" effect. I live just off Orangetree Golf Course and the watering on the course at night with a slight breeze puts me in a microclimate that's a little cooler than most of Phoenix or Scottsdale.
And I think you acclimate to the heat if you're not always going in & out of air conditioned places.

[azbackpackr]

Al, I lived in Tucson for quite a few years. When we moved there, I said to myself, "It's hot here, get used to it, don't whine about it, and get over it!" We never had air, just swamp coolers. I like coolers, except they are awfully breezy and noisy, especially if you live in a trailer. I like the fact you need to keep a window or two cracked instead of having to have your house all closed up. I drove a school bus for 4 years with no air, '95 to '99. I really tried to acclimate, and of course, I did get pretty used to it. I got so I liked the feel of the heat, but still it did give me migraines sometimes. I was very prone to getting them anyway, even in winter, but heat was a real trigger. I got really excruciating ones that put me to bed, really sick. (I still do get them, occasionally.) I would take the kids to Romero Pools, 7 falls or Sabino to hike up there and swim. We would start out at 6 a.m. So everything would be fine until we had to leave at around 3 pm. Then it was very hot on the hike out. We wore cotton clothes so we could get them wet for the hike out. I would be fine when we got home, and then the migraine would set in later in the evening. This was before Imitrex self-injections were available--those things really saved me. Imitrex was like a miracle for me.

[Alston_Neal]

Anyone remember the old Trader Vic's on 5th Ave & Craftsman Court or the old BB Singer's on 3rd Ave & Marshall? I bartended there in the mid to late 70's. I filled in shifts for friends at Lunt Avenue Marble Club & John's SOB Room - a disco.

Ah my hood.
Our family biz, which we still run, was next to Lulu Belles and across from the Kiva theatre.

[tibber]

@Alston Neal

Our family biz, which we still run, was next to Lulu Belles and across from the Kiva theatre.

The only job I ever got permanently fired from was at Lulu Belles - I think in 1983; but I had an awesome outfit.

[Al_HikesAZ]

Ah my hood.
Our family biz, which we still run, was next to Lulu Belles and across from the Kiva theatre.

Ah yes . . . the Kiva Theater - back in the days before you could watch that stuff on video at home. ;)

[kevinweitzel75]

Ha ha! In 1980 I didn't have running water, electricity or a phone! I cooked on an outside fireplace or Coleman stove. My house had no glass windows, only screens. I had a million dollar view of the Pacific, but paid only $90 monthly land payment. That was on the Big Island...

Sounds like heaven!

[azbackpackr]

Ha ha! In 1980 I didn't have running water, electricity or a phone! I cooked on an outside fireplace or Coleman stove. My house had no glass windows, only screens. I had a million dollar view of the Pacific, but paid only $90 monthly land payment. That was on the Big Island...

Sounds like heaven!

You bet it was--until there were diapers to change! After that, we lived in a "coffee shack" with running water and electricity, etc., which was closer to town. But still with a million dollar view of the ocean, and paying $100 a month rent.

Sorta like this: http://www.hikearizona.com/photo.php?ZIP=134800

[Alston_Neal]

@tibber
Yep, great outfits! We were next to Lulu Belles on the east side ...Old Territorial Shop. Now we're west of Scottsdale rd.
@Al_HikesAZ
Ya, I am Curious Yellow.. ..The folks that had the Kiva would give us free popcorn, always a trip getting a bag cuz you could hear the movie soundtrack.
Not a lot of dialog.... ;)

[RedRoxx44]

Gas was 19 cents a gallon, 5 dollars filled up my V8 sports car and lasted all week. No speed limits on roads in Tennessee--you drove whatever was "reasonable and customary" . Kids went to high school driving dad's pickup, left it unlocked all day with a loaded 30.6 in the gun rack, without a problem. I rode my horse to school ( actually did that several times and had a long lead, plenty of grass for her to eat and a nearby creek till I got ready to go home). No TV, then a BW got three channels. I was allowed, after chores and homework, to watch one program a nite, if the rabbit ears were working. I loved the "BIG SHOW'-- attack of the 50 foot woman, and later on any western I could see. When I was 16 years old we had a summer driving trip out west, we drove our car on the dusty and washboarded road to the Cochise stronghold monument, undeveloped except for a placard. Drove thru Tucson when it was over 100 degrees and dusty; I remember thinking who would want to ever live here!! Ha, and see where I am today---

[skatchkins]

Well this has consumed the better part of my day so hopefully like The Ring I can pass this off to you and go on with my work.

You can phone app this or play online: http://us.akinator.com/#

Erie success rate with my remembrances

So far, characters it's guessed correctly:

Sprocket the Dog from Fraggle Rock (how awesome is it that the old man looks the same 20 & 30 years later in Boondock Saints I & II)

dog_sprocket2.jpg (10.86 KiB) Viewed 846 times

Jessica Rabbit
Monterrey Jack
The Rifleman
Brer Rabbit
Sundown from Top Gun
Atryeu from Neverending story
Short Round (IJ's Temple of Doom)
Max from Flight of the Navigator
Shooter McGavin
Wes Mantooth

[Al_HikesAZ]

Gas was 19 cents a gallon, --

And we had "gas wars" where service stations would compete on price, sometimes lowering it while you were filling up. And Blakely's Gas Stations had really cool glassware and ceramics that you got with a fill-up. Those are collectibles now. Anybody else remember Blakely's? And Double S&H Green Stamps.

[Tough_Boots]

And we had "gas wars" where service stations would compete on price, sometimes lowering it while you were filling up.

Gas prices fighting for the market rather than us just taking whatever they make us pay? Oh, the good ol' days!

[PLC92084]

Al_HikesAZ wrote:And we had "gas wars" where service stations would compete on price, sometimes lowering it while you were filling up.



Gas prices fighting for the market rather than us just taking whatever they make us pay? Oh, the good ol' days!

And... back then, they called the places Service Stations ! (and you could get S&H Green Stamps)

[azbackpackr]

Al_HikesAZ wrote:And we had "gas wars" where service stations would compete on price, sometimes lowering it while you were filling up.



Gas prices fighting for the market rather than us just taking whatever they make us pay? Oh, the good ol' days!

And... back then, they called the places Service Stations ! (and you could get S&H Green Stamps)

I distinctly remember driving to the self-service stations, which were all little mom n pop deals, to get the best deals on gas, and that if it said 40 cents, that was the rich guy's station, where they pump the gas for you and clean your windshield and check your oil. I was looking for 29 to 32 cent gas, as I recall, and you had to pump it yourself, which was a new thing back then. This was about 1972 or so, I think.

As for what Skatchkins put up, I had never heard of any of them except for the Rifleman--I think it is because I am too OLD!

I bought a 5 gallon aquarium with S&H Green Stamps when I was about 10 years old.