Remenissing About Days of Yore

The youth in this country don't realize how good they have it. I know many of you won't believe this, but when I was young and wanted to change the channel on our black and white TV, I'd actually have to get up off the sofa and walk to the TV. Then I'd physically have to turn a knob to get one of the three airing stations CBS/NBC/ABC. And the TV was at least 10 feet away! It was a living hell!

There were some good things in those days though. I actually knew how to use a telephone. It had a round dial on it, you stuck your finger in the holes and turned the dial and the person you wanted would answer. And, instead of paying for your own cell phone and a $100 monthly fee, there were pay phones every second or third block. If you needed to make a call away from home it would only cost a quarter.

And, when's the last time you went to a gas station with $2 in your pocket and told the smartly uniformed attendant to fill er up. Not only would he fill it up, but he'd ask to check your tires, oil, and clean your windshield.

Come to think of it, maybe we had it better than the youth of today?

I'm obviously much younger than you are because rotary phones I've only used once or twice (I do still have one that worked a while ago though).

We did have a color TV that is probably worth quite a bit now but it definitely had more channels than 3. It did have the dial though. It was chrome and definitely could be used in a movie set today. I recall it being rather hard to turn it. I knew enough to get the N64 to work (1997). Remotes have been around for much of what I recall specifically though, VCRs for sure.

I actually know a place that a payphone still exists (as of last year) and it works...I think they plan on keeping it because "nostalgia". Prior to that it was around 2011 since I saw one in Florida and I did use it to call my mom. They were all gone in my birth state years before.

Calling cards were still a thing back then too and rather cheap if you just planned on calling one or two people for longer calls. I was probably the only person that used a landline though lol, it was free so I figured a $10 and a calling card was better than paying for a cellphone. It was also fun that it actually worked.

The lowest I've ever seen gas price go was less than 90 cents. My parents didn't believe me and said it hadn't been that low since the were children but fortunately with the internet I can prove it. I will now spend 5 minutes and locate what year that was...

Humm dee dumm...

Ok, it looks like 2002. It could have been 2000 I guess...I had little concept of gas prices before I was 10 so...It was the last time gas would ever be sub $1 so I'm glad I can recall it at least once in my life. I do recall that it was only in S.C that it was that low.

Back then I just had to remember and the internet was difficult to get on (dial-up) so I just logged things away. The family PC had the good dial-up but us children were stuck with Juno if we wanted to get online and the other PC was in use (it almost always was).



Hmm, I do recall antennas and remember my dad complaining that free TV was going to disappear. I suppose it didn't because it seems like you can still get them but I recall it was something about analog vs digital.

I also remember his "frustration" with DVDs. A VHS doesn't skip it is true and looking back, I guess I understand...VHS may have been worse quality but renting a DVD and then having it skip halfway through the film and be unwatchable <<< VHS which the only downside is having to "be kind" and rewind. Yes VHS quality isn't as great but it has more charm. I still have a few of them and I do wonder when I won't be able to find them at thrift stores. It's amazing how many are still out there quite frankly.

Tube TVs have pretty much disappeared (outside garage sales)...CRTs are still superior for certain things. Certain Sony Trinitrons are worth well over $100 and people buy them.

I still have a random brand which is small but it does have a built in DVD/VHS player and it can actually be moved solo. How else could someone try out Flash Match in 2022 I ask you? Jk, that's not why I have it but I did want to try that game out someday...I found it for $2 but alas I'd have to buy a universal remote.

I'm very much into niche uses for older technology though.

Fun fact, landline telephones have outlived 3g phone technology but are supposed to be discontinued in the next few years. It will be a sad day for me because of all the history but maybe something will change.


I could go on for hours and this post is getting a "mite" too long. This is a fun podcast idea so thanks

Sad addendum. I was curious (and I should be getting to bed) but apparently the landline shutdown is much farther along than I thought. 8.2.22 R.I.P POTS

about TV remotes - this is from a National Geographic circa 1956

Not a dime?

Come to think of it, it was only a dime. And another bonus, in each phone booth there was a telephone directory, complete with White and Yellow pages. Think about it, for only a thin dime!

How did the phone company manage to do it so cheaply in those days?

Wow!!!!!!!!!!! Flash Matic Tuning!!!!!!! What kind of magic will they come up with next??????????

Strange that the page with the number you needed was missing.

But I want to ask before I forget. Since it seems you're older than I being 50 did you or anyone else see this restaurant
in the late 80's called Sambo's?. This particular one was located in Northern California.
If anyone has been there should remember the Indian boy with the turban on his head. They give you something at the restaurant
to kids this picture you can color. If anyone had a Sambo's please share where it was located and the experience you had.

I think at first my family had a rotary phone but never made calls at my age. At my friends house in junior high I used their phone to call my Mom to see if I could spend the night. When I first used the pay phone it was still a dime. I got upset when it more then doubled to 25 cents because I would use quarters for video games and pinball machines.
My favorite TV set growing up was my Grampa's 19in Sony color set. I was light as a feather and standing on his bed to get up to change the channels. Also because I liked TV more back then the garbage they on today.

Not to pull everything out of the closet. Lastly, my Grampa had a regular job at McKesson's warehouse but during the week he played music at skating rinks. He had the old 78's, a lot of albums, and a lot of 45's. He also played dance skating contests and weddings.
He had a lot of records in those days. He had some that no one else has a copy today.
Unfortunately, when he dies they ended up with my uncle who won't even share them.

Those were the days

Back in the day...

no remote

rotary dial phones

Best I remember - a call on a pay phone was ten cents - then fifteen cents - then twenty-five cents - then thirty-five cents.

I guess it was different in various parts of the country? (Or, I am not remembering it correctly. )

BTW - it is 'Reminiscing'...

I thought it went to 15 cents also, but I wasn't certain, because it went from 10 to 20 cents seemingly overnight almost. I barely remember the 15cents.

Ya'all make me feel old......

This is the first phone I ever used. Do you know how to dial it?

"Sarah, put me through to..........."
husker du seeker47 ?

Yup...ya been there. Wasn't it great when you finally got a 4-party line in your home?

I never actually had to use one of those - just seen 'em and know how they work - but, @oldman beat me to it...

We did have a rotary-dial wall-mount phone - as well as the table-top version on a stand in the hallway.

If that's your first phone, did they actually have 'Heavier than Air Flight' in those days? Had the Wright Brothers actually made their first flight when you were young? Just kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The earliest I remember our number was (Jackson)(JA2 1727, that changed to 522-1727 where it remained until my dad passed in 2017. I remember the older kind of phone in my grandma's house, but I can't say if it worked or not, as I wasn't allowed to use the phone at her house. I remember party lines, but I can't recall how many people shared our line. In our old house we only had one phone jack in the kitchen on the wall. Then we moved when I was about 3, and I remember it being such a big house there were three whole phone jacks!! One in the kitchen on the wall, one upstairs in the hallway on the wall, and one in my parents' bedroom where a fancy sleek phone sat on her nightstand. I thought we were rich then!! The phone in the kitchen had such a long cord that it reached allllllllll the way into my bedroom......barely, and it reached outside the back door too.

Then came touch tone phones, which made dialing super easy. And Fiber Optics....ooooh we were fancy then!!

Then there were phone plans with free long distance after 9pm, then after 7pm, along with friends and family plans that allowed you call a certain number of people long distance for free (this all came after I was grown and married).

Then came PC's and dialup internet....hello AOL and Compuserv. You've Got Mail.
And even then, I remember telephones were a luxury, and not a need. I remember when times were lean, we wouldn't have a phone until we caught up on everything else. Even today, my phone bill, and internet is paid after everything else. ...unfortunately we have reached the days where phones are considered needs and not luxuries to many people. Hard times are coming around and people are in for a real shocker, I fear. But I digress. ;-)