This promises to be a never-ending list. Let’s get started. Remember?:
The Mighty 690 on AM radio
94.7 KMET and Dr. Demento
KIQQ (100.3, pre-Pirate Radio)
93 KFJ and KDAY
The Three Stooges
The Little Rascals
Pippi Longstocking
The Incredible Mr. Limpet
Kung Fu Theater on Channel 9
The pre-Pure Rock 105.5 KNAC (slogan: “The Heart of Rock and Roll”)
Popeye on Channel 5 on Sunday mornings (Tom Slick and Super Chicken)
Twilight Zone Marathon on Thanksgiving and July 4th (also on KTLA Channel 5)
Members Only jackets
Le Tigre, the sellable knock-off to the exceedingly elite Izod “Alligator” shirts
Dolfin Shorts
Leg Warmers
Dittos (hurt me!)
Jordache jeans
Chemin de Fur
Gauchos
Girls with strawberry lip gloss
McDonald’s bracelets to hold your lunch money (fifty cents)
Pete Ellis Dodge commercials (”Long Beach Freeway, Firestone exit, Southgate”)
Carpeteria commercials
Phil n’ Jim’s commercials
National Lumber (Shorty!)
Lake Delores
Cal Worthington and his dog Spot! (And no, you weren’t the only kid who thought it went “pussy cow”)
Jack LaLanne
Smog alerts, which called recess off
Earthquake Drills and “Drop Drills”
Heads Up Seven Up on rainy days at school
The Red Balloon
Steal the Bacon
Vans
O.P. shorts
Puka shell necklaces
Unbreakable combs
Switchblade combs
Bolt
Hang Ten
Stubbies
Baja Lopez ponchos
Flojos
Kroff Superstars, the show by Sid and Marty Krofft
POW!, the telephone call-in video game on the Krofft show
Sigmund and the Sea Monsters
The Bugaloos
Lidsville
HR Pufnstuf
Electrowoman and Dynagirl
The White Shadow
What’s Happening!
S.W.A.T.
CHiPs
Emergency!
Speed Racer on Channel 56 (UHF!)
Wally George on Channel 56
Real People
Bowling for Dollars
The Incredible Hulk
The Love Boat
Fantasy Island
Licorice Pizza
Pup n’ Taco
Sambo’s (renamed to Denny’s for the purpose of political correction)
Disneyland’s Monsanto’s Adventure Thru Inner Space
E tickets, D tickets, C tickets, B tickets, and A tickets
The Marathon Bar
Wax Lips
Candy cigarettes
Fred Rated and the Federated Group
Montgomery Ward (i.e. “Monkey Wards”)
MV3 with Richard Blade
Blue Chip stamp redemption centers
Sears Surplus
Fedco
Gemco
Zody’s
The Treasury
Orbach’s
Kinney’s
Buster Brown
Tom McCann
Farrell’s
Marineland
Skate parks
Top Siders with no socks
Pee-Chee folders
Trapper-Keepers
The denim folder
Pencil fighting
A.Y.S.O.
Shasta soda
Aspen soda (apple flavored)
Fresca
The Nestea plunge
Alba 77
Schwinn Stingrays
Green Machines
G.I. Joes
Army Men
Slime
Speak and Spell
Stop Thief!
Connect Four
Hot Wheels with never enough tongues for the tracks
Eraser Mate
The four colored ball point pen(!!!)
Mattel Football
Rubik’s Cube
Pyraminx
Missing Link
Water Basketball (thumb cramp!)
Sea-Monkeys
V (the series)
Pintos, Gremlins, Datsun B210s, and Volkswagen Squarebacks
Roller Disco
Space Invaders
Asteroids
Asteroids Deluxe (had a shield instead of hyperspace)
Frogger
Seawolf (sucked)
Dragon’s Lair
Centipede
Millipede (with the TNT)
Pengo
Defender
Defender Stargate
Scramble
Galaga
Galaxian
Pac-Man
Super Cobra
Atari 2600
ON TV
SelecTV
Red Devil Fireworks
Cool metal lunchboxes and the lame oddball yellow plastic Snoopy one
Slip n’ Slide
Toss Across (beanbag Tic-Tac-Toe)
Lawn Darts
Stephan! Jack Stephan!
Bandini Mountain
Lolly lolly lolly get your adverbs here (anybody else think it was “f-words here”?)
118 comments ↓
you forgot… Charlies’ Angeles and of course..The Dukes of Hazzard !!!!!
Steve Garvey, Ron Cey, Davey Lopes and Bill Russel The best Dodger infield ever!
Boogie Boards - “Flexi” Skate Boards
The Six Million Dollar man doll with the special “bionic” eye you could look thru
The Evil Kneival doll with Motorcycle and ramp
ELVIRA!!!
where did you dig up all that shit ? cool man
popeye on ktla5 was hosted by tom hatten, now (or recently) a commentator on KNX 1070.
lol @ trapper-keepers
Do you remember “The Invisible Man”. We were about 7 or 8 years old or so, I just remember being so intrigued.
Oh, ya! “Little House on the prairy” and “Bonanza”. Little Joe was the man.
Wallabies, Hush Puppies, Cords, The Surprise Store (for Jeans), Kuala Bear pins, Hang Ten, Talking Football. Talking Baseball. The Joker’s Wild, The Brady Bunch, Wide World of Sports, Mork and Mindy, CDs, KWST (the first hard rock station), KMET upside down billboard campaign, KLOS rainbow stickers at every concert, “Where’s the Beef?” (Wendy’s), the Hamburgular, Pet Rock, The Big Red Machine, The Knack… WOW I could go on longer than you did. Brilliant fun as usual!
Black Knight Skateboards (Clay Wheels), then the Tony Alva boards with Bones Trux and Eurathane wheels
Steve Austin, Oscar Goldman and The Bionic Women
Rock N Riddim Reggae Sunday Nights on KNAC
Frasier Smith in the Mornings on KMET
VAN HALEN I
Iron Maiden at the Long Beach Arena
The Plimsouls
Magic, Kareem, Worthy and Lakers versus Celtics Epic Battles
The Rams at the Big A
@Joe: Don’t forget Yeager in the Dodger infield and the Six Million Dollar Man’s car battery!
@YYZ: Have a look at this KLOS rainbow sticker list.
@andreas: Tom Hatten! Thank you! I was trying to remember this guy’s name. Starting in about 1976, he hosted Popeye and Friends on KTLA Channel 5. From Wikipedia:
He also did a show on weekend afternoons called the “Family Film Festival”, of which the already-mentioned Pippi Longstocking and Mr. Limpet were in heavy rotation.
Frazier Smith
KWest
TenQ
KHJ (Machine Gun Kelly)
Peechee Folders
Taco Tio
Roller Derby!!!!
PUP N TACO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BRING BACK DOLPHIN SHORTS PLEEEEEZE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The White Shadow was DOPE!!!!!
MAD magazine
Wacky Packs
Knight Rider
Olvera Street
Tom Bradley
Did you guys get Welcome Back Kotter? My Favorite Martian, Andy Griffith Show, The Carol Burnett Show, The Lawrence Welk show, Love American Style, Good Times, Sanford and Son, The Courtship of Eddie’s Father, The Lucy Show, Chico and the Man, Siempre en Domingo!, Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins, The Wonderful World of Disney, Love Boat.
High Times Mag, KISS band bubble gum cards, Stokers skateboard wheels! Those HAWAII ‘79 t-shirts, Hang Loose t’s, Pop Rocks in 1975, Miller’s Outpost, Music Plus?, Painter’s pants, Vans slip ons man!, Happy Days, LaVerne and Shirley, The Monkees, The Mod Squad, Room 222, Snidley Whiplash, Wonderama, Petticoat Junction, Green Acres, Gilligan’s Island!
John Cougar’s Jack and Diane - KISS Meets the Phantom at the Park (filmed at Magic Mountain) - Skateboard the movie - the really cool clear tunnels at Friendship Park (that are now at every fast food joint) - OJ Simpson the “Football Player” (I had a pair of “the Juice” football cleats when I played pop warner) - remember when Wheaties first put athelets on the box? - Did anybody mention E.T. yet? - STAR WARS !! and all the maketing gadgets that came with it
– Pachinko
– Red Devil Fireworks’ slogan: “Safe and Sane”
– Ring Pops, Big League Chew, and Sno-Cones
– Kerbangers. Come December 26th they’d be hanging on every other telephone wire in the neighborhoood
– “What time is it?” “Half past the monkey’s ass, quarter to his balls!”
– “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees…LOOK AT THESE!!!”
Catchit! Shirts
Vans Off the Wall
Custom Ordered Vans Off The Wall
Stairway to Heaven
The Revolution at MM the world’s first upside down coaster!
The Collossus
The Pike at Long Beach, the Rotor, the Mouse Ride, the Fun Zone (where they found a real skeleton on display after 50 years!)
Riding Bikes on the Strand from Marina Del Rey to Redondo Beach Pier
Horseshoe Pier
Dr. Fishbeck - weather
Slurpee in the ML Baseball Hat
Cracked Magazine
JAWS
Sears Toughskins - for us poor folks
Shakey’s Pizza Friday Nights
Kwai Chang Caine - when you can walk the rice paper and leave no trace….
Three’s Company
Spork fighting
Shamrock Skate Rink
Outdoor Disco Dancing at Magic Mountain summer ‘76
Mongoose Redline Webco BMX and wannabe Huffy Thunder Road
Big Wheel
Air/Water propelled pump rockets
Zebco original spincast fishing poles
Nicolette Larson gonna take a lotta love,
McDonalds - Over 10 Million Sold
Burger King - Have it YOUR WAY!
Hang Ten Shirts
SOAP
Nerf footballs - Dry or sprayin’ wet
The Partridge Family
The Flying Nun
Jeanie/Bewitched
Borg/McEnroe
Elvis is Dead. remember where you were? Out Front of my Apartment
Puch, Pugeot Mopeds
TwoAllBeefPattiesSpecialSauceLettuceCheesePicklesOnionsOnASeasameSeedBun
Handball
tap tap - No Carry Overs, No waterfalls, No Americans, no Babies, no Fakies, no Pop Ups - tap tap - no more taps
Too Hip wallet cards
Levis Big Bells
Angel’s Flights way gay disco pants
Thom McCann - the Big Shoe Man
School Field Trips to the Cabrillo Beach Museam and Tide Pools - Abalone shells everywhere
Hee Haw with Roy Clark
Slip n Slide
the Hat that went up in the Air in a water stream and Sprayed water everywhere
the original Sony Walkman - only played cassettes
Eight track
Lite Brite
Colored Sugar in glass jars from Hawaii
Barnaby Jones - everywhere he needed a cell phone - by golly there was a phone booth along the side of the road in the Hollywood Hills just waiting for him to use.
Get Smart - Ninety-Nine
the Pretenders
selling Greetings
ads to sell Grit! - has anyone ever actually seen the Grit! magazine?
Kal Kan Dog Food
Ken-al-ration
the last Elvis Concert - neck sweat rags for the fans!
Dance Fever
Superfriends
Schoolhouse Rock
Davey and Goliath
Magic Mountain Spillikin Corners
Country Bear Jamboree
OJ Running for Hertz rent a Car through the Airport
– Tucking your Levis in your right sock so you don’t get bike chain oil on it. Or get a clip!
– Chrome-moly, and having your bike frame “dipped in chrome”
– Glovolium, and putting your baseball glove under Dad’s car tire overnight to break it in.
– In baseball, stirrups with elastic pulled all the way up to the knees, essentially defeating the purpose.
– The calculator watch. Because, hey, you never know.
– Watching the Casio watch turn 11:11:11 on November 11.
– Reflecting a beam of sunlight from a pocket mirror into the eyes of a kid on the other side of the playground. And to a lesser extent, doing the same thing in class with the Casio watch.
– The scuba watch.
– The water proof watch.
– Velcro watch bands.
– Hell, anything that had to do with a watch.
– Wearing your Baja Lopez because it was foggy this morning.
– Making a siren and a “TV Jammer” in Electric Shop.
– Girls with crimped hair.
– Shake n’ Bake
– Truly Tasteless Jokes
– Faces of Death
– Dungeons and Dragons
– Choose Your Own Adventure books
– Hey! Kool-Aid!
– Homemade popsicles in the shape of Donald Duck
– Wrapping a Fruit Roll-up around your finger at recess so it looked like a scab, and freaking all the girls out with it.
– SRA (Silent Reading Assignments)
– Forms from school to order reading books
– Scantrons
– Ditto copies that smelled like Elmer’s glue
– Munch-a-bunch-a-munch-a-buncha Fritos go with lunch.
– Sick day TV line-up in no particular order: Get Smart, Price is Right, $25k Pyramid, Password Plus, Little House on the Prairie, Bonanza, Emergency, Adam 12, The Twilight Zone, with plenty of Barbizon commercials. (”Wanna be a model, or just look like one? Nobody does it better than Barbizon”) Or how about: “Either helping the doctors with patients, or running the front office! Call now!”
– Big Jim
– Red Devil Fireworks bundle packs: The Blockbuster, The Spectacular, The Colossus, The Mighty-Mite.
– The Deep
– Magic
– Cheech and Chong
– Halloween the movie, and Halloween with pillowcases for candy bags
– Queen’s “We Will Rock You / The Champions”
– KISS’ “Love Gun”, and the paper gun from the LP
– Turning Japanese
– Mexican Radio: “I wish I was in Tijuana eating barbecued iguana.”
– My Sharona
– Neighborhood babysitters whose little brother would bring them foil-wrapped dinner that always smelled better than yours.
I forgot to mention Miller’s Outpost and those crazy commercials with the dumb cowboys. Less Filling - Tastes Great - Less Filling - Tastes Great. Trash fights at stadiums. I have to stop thinking about this or I will never get to sleep…
The Reggie Bar!
– The Seven-Up guy pimped out in the white duds. “Crisp and clean, with no caffeine. Never had it, never will. Ha ha ha ha….”
– The whole “Uncola” marketing twist for Seven-Up, including the upside-down schooner glass.
– Gene Shalit as the Nacho Cheese Doritos guy. He’d bite into a chip and the world would almost fall apart.
– Mr. Whipple and “Please don’t squeeze the Charmin.”
– “That’s a spicy meatball.”
– The Clapper
– Powdered milk
– Golden Grahams
– Gator Gum. “It works!”
– Taco boats from the snack bar.
– Astro pops.
– Fire Stix, Watermelon Stix, and Apple Stix.
– The Pepsi Challenge
– Jim Jones
– The Hillside Strangler
– Richard Ramirez
– Ding Dong Ditch
– Paper Tag
– Over the Line
– Smear the Queer
– TV Tag
– Ditch ‘em
– Mother May I
– Duck Duck Goose
– Sun-In and Summer Blonde
– Devo
– Mods, Preps, Surfers, Stoners, Wavers, Metalers, and everybody in between.
– The Outsiders
– Buff guys with Body Glove shorts and tshirts cut off at the rib cage, wearing Ray-Bans and a Croakie.
– Crop tops and tails
– Superman II
– Jaws 3D
– Wargames
– Smoking cloves. “They make your lungs bleed!”
– The story about the lady who tried to dry her wet dog in the microwave and it blew up.
– The story about the kid who washed down Pop Rocks with a Coke and his stomach exploded.
– Real People. Skip Stephenson, Byron Allen, Sarah Purcell.
– Manimal.
– The cutting edge technology of Call Waiting.
the Sentinel - movie
Dodgeball
Smear the Queer
Tag you’re it - no tag backs
Red Rover Red Rover send Sally Right over
School Busing
Cal Worthington and his dog Spot
Rodney Allen Rippy
Never Fear Underdog is here!
Where have all the Flowers gone - long time passing
Gay mustaches for EVERYONE!
Ponch Poncherello
Luke and Laura - GH
Iridology
the Family Station Wagon
Lee Iaccoca and his ‘K’ cars then his Airbagged Minivanz
Aqua Net - for the High Beehives
Mom in Curlers with the hairdryer bag attached
Mom in Curlers running to the store with the Rag on tight keeping everything just so..
Vomit Green carpet with Orange Drapes
Tie-Dye shirts - homemade that is no store bought
Brady Bunch goes to Hawaii - don’t pick up that ancient idol! Taboo
Brady Bunch goes to the amusement park - will those plans get there in time?
Phil Packer ’stache in mouth with popcorn.
the Roadium when it was a drive -in
Torrance drive - in
Del Amo Fashion Center - the world’s largest mall
center beforer it was centre
meter before it was metre
the school system trying to get everyone on board with ‘going metric’
the Bi-Centenniel Year
Fire Hydrants painted like Minutemen
Radical!
Thats sooooo RAD
You’re Lame
you’re a lamer
Thats Bad!
Hey Man!
Duude
Skateboard wheels loosening up and wham!, bearings all over the street.
Annodized Bike Rims
Tandy Computers
M.I.S.S. computer at school
the New Zoo Revue -
barf ouuut!!!!
Gag me with a spoon
Diced Turkey on Thursdays
Cap Guns with the red paper
the Coming Ice Age
when today’s small McDonald’s Coke was a Large
Deep Fried McDonald’s Apple Pies
Country Burger - takin’ it waaaay back on Hawhorne Blvd. and Torrance
the WHOLE street was full of sulphur July 4th @ 8:45 PM
Nissan was Datsun
Honda Grand Touring Bikes
Schwinn Beach Cruisers with pegs and sponge on the handlebars so you can ride around a girl or friend
the standard women’s styled shirts that would be for men from around the globe ie,,, Cozumel, Mazatlan, Aculpulco.
Wallabyes
Kinney Shoes upside Nike knockoff swoosh tenneys….
The black hard rubber thongs with the blue fabric straps
Senor Lopez
Tents with aluminum poles - all canvas even.
Diawa rods and reels
Fishin’ off Redondo Beach Pier during a MAC attack.
Having a Mac attack.
Digging a hole in the backyard for the doggie doo doo and covering it up.
Roller Derby - Metal wheeled skates
Typewriter IBM Selectric
Feathered Hair with water and your Millers Outpost unbreakable comb.
just a regular Frisbee
Radio Shack - free with coupon Flashlights, gray about two feet long gray, red tip.
GT skateboards
Black Knight skateboards
Fibre optic lamps looking like fishing line with lighted tips
Avacado colored appliances
White Front
Standard Paint
Gulf gas stations
Arco gas - Noah’s Ark each fill up you get a new animal
– 10-cent phone booths.
– 976 sex numbers and party lines.
– Taco Bell’s: Bell Beefer, Enchirito with the foil tray, Taco Bellgrande, Taco Light, and the old school logo with the muchacho chilling under the sombrero. And don’t forget the firepit out front. (What’s happened to Taco Bell, anyway? Let’s be rid of the southwestern double decker chicken fajita chalupa nonsense the kids are getting these days.)
– Tube socks with the artwork on the shins.
– Iron-on knee patches.
– The fuel smell at the loading curb of Los Angeles Airport. (Nope, not called LAX yet.)
– The original recording on the L.A. Airport PA, with the man and woman. Him: “The white zone is for the immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. No parking.” Repeated verbatim by Her, which had a slightly friendlier tone and and less staccato “loading and unloading of passengers only” part.
– The infinite superiority boxers held over the utterly lame bunhuggers. (Or, God forbid, Underoos!)
– Chick-O-Stick
Vest jackets
members only
bomber jackets
goose down jackets
Local Motion
Kennington Shirts - monicled logo guy and all
Irish Spring - a might stronger than I care to be.
WISK around the collar beats ring around the collar every time
ALL temp-a-Cheer
People let me tell you about my best friend, he’s a warm hearted person who loves me till the end
Buffy and Jody - Mr. French
Lunch boxes with real thermos
Z channel
Player pianos @ Shakeys and Straw Hat Pizzas
I-ZOD the knock off LeTigre and superknock off the JC Penney Fox
The Benny Hill show
“Ice Cream and Candy… and its all free - Children, children come out come out wherever you are” - the Childcatcher CCBB
Don Kirchner’s Rock Concert
King Biscuit Flour Hour
the Gong Show
wubba wubba wubba
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight! Schlemiel! Schlemazl! Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!”
Hot Lips Houlihan
the Fonz - did I really need to list it? no
I found my thrills - Ritchie gonna get some lip
The Nightstalker - Kolchak
Steve Austin - A man barely alive, we can rebuild him, better, stronger, faster na na na nah na na na na na na na na na……………..
This tape will self destruct in 5 seconds…..
Washington Dee Cee pants all colors for girls, blue and white for the guys.
Left Bank
WaffleStompers with Red laces
the all time classic 70’s catch phrase……pinnochio fart !!!!!!! I know that only Jace and his brothers are laughing at this one. HAHAHA
the original Honda ATC with the ALL RUBBER wheel/tire combo.
the Honda XR 75
tutti frutti gum - the one with the zebra ??
rain blo gumballs from the ice cream man
bomb pops from the ice cream man
big sticks from the ice cream man
jace - remeber the cross and the switchblade book??
warriors… come out and playyyy!!
THE BLUE LAGOON…..what a movie for us young boys….I saw her boobies!
for jace…tttttt…………the plane boss!
@Joe: I do remember the Cross/Switchblade comic. The Mau Maus. And the movie starring Pat Boone and Erik Estrada!
On that note:
– Pat Boone
– Erik Estrada
– Bubble Yum when it was only one flavor.
– Strawberry Bubblicious, the first competitor to Bubble Yum, sending BY on a scramble for new flavors. Like grape.
– Hubba Bubba. Didn’t stick to your face, but tasted like a lightly sweetened inner tube.
– Water Weenies in the summer, and the practical makeshift alternative of the everyday spray bottle.
– Wrist Rockets.
– Tracing your hand and painting it like a Turkey for Thanksgiving.
– That game the gals played where they would take a piece of construction paper and fold it into the shape of a diamond prism thing. On each of the inner panels would be a message. The diamond would be held with both hands and index fingers, counting out in a “she loves me, she loves me not” sort of fashion. When they’d stop, they’d read the panel that you landed on, and it would be the answer to Life’s problems.
– Rice-A-Roni. The San Francisco Treat.
– Noodle Roni. I loved that stuff.
– Friends who had moms who made sandwiches with, gag me, Miracle Whip.
– Plastic zipper pouches in your Trapper-Keeper folder to hold your Eraser Mates, and the difficult decision you were faced with in September about whether to go with the red pinstripe or the blue pinstripe.
– Black Indian Markers.
– The yellow/red pencil boxes with the plastic roll-back door.
– Wearing plastic army helmets on rainy days. And then hand painting them camouflage with model airplane paint in the summer.
– Wrapping your schoolbooks with brown paper grocery bags.
– The introduction of Cookies n’ Cream.
– Checkered Quiksilver swim trunks.
– Mushroom grips.
– Tuf-Necks.
– Teri velour anything.
– Wave shirts.
– USFL and the Los Angeles Blitz.
– Marcus Allen.
– Mary Lou Retton. (We share a birthday.)
– Off-shoot sitcoms like Just Our Luck and Day By Day.
– Making nachos in the microwave.
– Discovering sour cream.
– Peppermint schnapps. Cinnamon schnapps. Wine coolers.
– “Going steady”, “Going with somebody”.
– Making bongs in Ceramics class. Mr. Reeve was always cool with it.
Digging in the bottom of your favorite sugary Cereal to find the secret decoder ring to help the Cap’n fing his treasure
Quisp cereal with the Martian
Cinnamon Flavored Cap’n Crunch w/ Pirate Jean Lafoot
the Crunch Berry Beast
when everything was ” Sugar Frosted Flakes” now its just Frosted or ‘Honey Smacks” instead Sugar Smacks
When KFC was Kentucky Fried Chicken
the Pig Trough banana split @ Farrells
the ZOO filled with plastic animals scattered through the huge bowl of ice cream mixed flavors.
Doh-Boy pools
Playing Football with folded paper into the shape of a triangle, field goals flicked through the others goal posts using index and thumb as the goal.
Tank battle played with a pencil or a pen on a piece of paper - shooting or moving slipping the pen/pencil with a index finger pushing forward.
playing statuemaker throwing each other in the backyard giving a shape.
Miming the windows that you push against trying to get out of the glass door.
sitting in cars with no seatbelts
riding bikes with no helmets
skating with no pads
swimming Marco - po-lo in the back yard
streaking and streakers
going to the beach with no sunblock just your Coppertone and Baby Oil
of course your can of Solarcaine the next day
Peeling with itching the next couple of days
Sweatbands and wristbands
wristbands protect your hand during sockball
the school drinking fountain featuring the four flavors:
Coffee Tea SodaPop Pee
Gum stuck in the drinking fountain as to spray the next unsuspecting drinker
Sparkletts delivered in Glass Bottles
Japanese Gardners
Kids pipes colored red green etc. blow bubbles out of the top like smoke.
Gum Cigars
Cigarette Candy blowing dust three or four times looked like smoke
Burning ants with magnifying glass and catching paper on fire
shooting coffee cans in the air by putting fircrackers in the end in a pan of water and lighting
Playing spin the bottle
holding hands for one song at the roller rink
put your left arm in and shake it all about….do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself about.
we’re ‘going around’
Mood Rings from 7-11
– Mr. Zogg’s Sex Wax. “The best for your stick.”
– Toy guns.
– Painter pants.
– The Jobbers hat with the flaps in back.
– In baseball, when you lose: “TWO, FOUR, SIX, EIGHT, WHO DO WE APPRECIATE? [OTHER TEAM]!”
– In baseball, when you win: “UP THE ALLEY, DOWN THE STREET, WHO’S THE HARDEST TEAM TO BEAT? [OTHER TEAM]!!!”
– Figuring out who’s “It” in Hide n’ Seek or similar games by: “EENY MEENY MINY MOE, CATCH A TIGER BY THE TOE, IF HE HOLLERS LET HIM GO, MY MOTHER SAID THAT YOU’RE THE VERY BEST ONE AND YOU ARE NOT IT.”
– Or the cooler and more interactive: “ENGINE ENGINE NUMBER NINE GOING DOWN CHICAGO LINE, IF THE TRAIN SHOULD JUMP THE TRACK, DO YOU WANT YOUR MONEY BACK” “Yes.” “Y, E, S SPELLS YES AND YOU ARE NOT IT.” (And btw, who wouldn’t want their dough back on that one?”)
Jimmy Carter - just a peanut farmer from plains GA..
Gas Lines with 40 cars in front of yours..
Odd and Even days getting gas..
Bicentenniel everything sales, festivals Red - white @ blue banners and flags all year culminating on July 4th
That cool 1776 - 1976 Bicentennial Quarter you got stashed somewhere
Bullock’s
Robinson’s
the May Co.
the South Bay Galleria - when it was an outdoor shopping area South Bay Plaza
Hibachi BBQs in front of apartments
Christine Lund - Eyewitness News
The FORCE is Jesus
flip on the TV @ 5:35AM and Do Jumping Jacks with Jack LaLanne
the Indian Background when no programming on TV
Vegivitavagavugi Vitavitavegamin
Marshall, Will and Holly on a routine expedition
Slestak good times
Bananas sold with NFL team logo stickers at the Grocery store
Look - Abba Zabba - 25 cents
You actually used an ‘E’ ticket to go the Pirates of the Carribean E ticket ride
– Ethyl gas.
– Grandpa’s soft plastic spare change holder.
– The cutting-edge newness of Velcro.
– The quasi-dartboard with the flannel target and Velcro-covered ping pong balls.
– Wood golf clubs that were actually wood.
– Baseball bat donuts when you’re on deck.
– Vince Ferragamo.
– Steve Sax.
– Howard’s. Better prices, better credit terms, better service!
– Who shot J.R.?
– All the nighttime shows other parents would watch when you slept over your buddy’s house: Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon Crest, Hart to Hart, MASH, Taxi, Ironside, Baretta, Streets of San Francisco
– The way the theme song for The Young and the Restless got really depressing as the summer came to an end
– A brain, an athlete, a princess, a basket case, and a criminal.
– $5.50 movie tickets.
– Alpine Village batting cages.
– Tempest, Berzerk and Evil Otto, table video games in Mexican cantinas.
– Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Thomas “Hit Man” Hearns.
– Ginsu knife commercials. Cutting through a sneaker. How much would you pay? But wait, there’s more! We’ll also throw in…
– Shoe Goo
– 7-Eleven before the Big Gulp.
– Vent combs.
– Fold-out fine comb brush combination.
– Cannonballs, Corkscrews, Belly Flops, and Watermelons.
– Friends bragging about being double-jointed.
– The kid on the playground who would flip his eyelids inside-out.
– TCR: Total Control Racing.
– Legos, Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys, Pick Up Sticks, Erector Sets, Microscope sets.
– Glow-in-the-dark monster teeth.
– Sanka.
– OXY PADS. “The Big Dipper. The Little Dipper. THE NOOORTH STAARR…”
– I believe in Crystal Lite, ‘cuz I believe in me…
– Magnum P.I.
– The Griswolds.
– “I FOUND IT” bumper stickers
– CONNECT FOUR. “Where? I don’t…” “Here. Diagonally.” “Pretty sneaky, sis.”
– AquaFresh commercials. “What’s this, a space age toothpaste?” “Mom’s gonna get me, huh?”
– OPERATION. “It’s my turn to operate.” “Take out his funny bone for one hundred dollars.” BUZZZZ!!! “Butterfinger!” Mom: “Can I play?”
– SIZZLEAN. “Move over, bacon! Now comes something meeeeatier!”
– BURGER KING. “Eeeat a pita!” “A what?” “Eeeata pita?” “Pita? He’s a nice guy.”
– Getting your height measured at BK, and getting a cardboard crown. And wearing it.
– Der Weinerschnitzel before dropping the Der
– Duncan yo-yos: The Imperial and the Butterfly
– Pitfall. “Get the challis!”
– Walkie Talkies
– Socker Boppers
– Hoppity Hops
– Cheryl Tiegs
– Sheryl Ladd
– Linda Ronstadt
– Linda Carter. (Did it get better than that? Ouch.)
– Skyrockets in flight, afternoon delight…
– Joe Jackson’s “Steppin’ Out”
– Bare-butting down the pool slide for extra speed.
– Weber’s Bread Bakery outlets.
– Cat’s Cradle
– ABC’s Movie for a Saturday Evening
– Friendship Bracelets
– Nard Guards
– Dudes who had bricks of firecrackers under there bed. For dealing.
Sunday Nights - The Wonderful World of Disney
ABC’s Wide World of Sports - Spanning the globe to bring you the constant variety of sport! The thrill of victory…and the agony of defeat! ( As the Ski jumper flies off the side of jump) The human drama of athletic competition! This is ABC’s Wide World of Sports!
Bruce Jenner!
Bruce Jenner for 7 years on the Wheaties Box
Mark Spitz
Leon! Spinks - the James ‘Buster’ Douglas of his day.
Toiletpapering trees
Drinking water out of the garden hose
water balloon fights
squirt guns that only held 4 oz. of water
Driving on the freeway seeing the car in front of you with the a toddler standing on the front seat with left arm hugging the driver
bike riding deserted El Camino College on the weekends
Nixon and McGovern Mugs from Shakeys
Crazy glue with the guy hanging from the girder with his helmet glued to it.
the Ploaroid Land Camera
Kodak Instamatic with the flash cube
Mimeograph machine at school the purple ink copies.
The table guitar for singing “On Top of Old Smokey all covered with snow”
Creature From the Black Lagoon
the Blue Lagoon
Gilliagan’s Island lagoon with the mannequins getting blown to bits as a decoy
Witchiepoo
Uncle Arthur from Bewitched “Oh Saaa-a-aammm”
Best Darren - Dick York, Dick Sargeant sucked
Samantha and Jeanie both had raven haired mean ‘cousin twins’
the Blue Jinn getting sucked up into a Hoover vacuum
Mr. Rogers - meow meow kitty meow meow meow in the land of make believe
Knotts Berry Farm train robbery
Wild chickens running free in the parking lot for Knott’s
the incredible Mr. Limpid
the LAND of the GIANTS - huge telephone included
Sorry Charlie only good tasting tuna gets to be star kissed
Mr. Mom - 240, 241 whatever it takes, you’re doing it wrong, you gave a baby CHILI?!!
Alondra Park when you could play on the island in the middle of the lake.
Metal Three Story Rocketship shaped caged structures in Parks you could climb all the way to the top inside.
Bike riding the LA storm drain systems in the summertime, finding anything you can imagine in there.
Foursquare
One Bounce
Tetherball - no catchies, no ropies
Boys go to Mars to get more Candy Bars
Girls go to Jupiter to get more stupider
Girls having cooties
Getting your World’s Finest candy order in - cool!
Counting Volkswagons game as the family does a road trip.
Pitcher’s got an arm like a washing machine
hey batter batter batter
Hippity Hop - Hippity Horse
Tire swing on a tree
treehouse
Whittle Away - carving game for kids
the Osmonds
Bing Crosby Christmas specials
Rankin Bass Christmas specials Little drummer boy, rudolph RNR, Heat Miser Mr. Freeze, abominable snowman - Santa’s helper - I want to be a dentist
the Waltons
yellow rubber rain coats and black rubber rainboots over your shoes
Benji
Lassie
F Troop
Roots - Kizzie Reynolds/Moore Massey Mo’, Chicken George, Kunta Kinte
Bean Bag Chairs
spinning records backwards to hear the hidden nessages
Practicing fish casting in your backyard with a weight on the end
the BeeGees with little brother Andy Gibb
Mrs. Filberts colored bowled margarine
Butter - Its Parkay…..
Stubbing your toe and ripping off the nail running barefooot outside -owwww
Sav-on drugstores - Sav-on drugstores - SAV-ON!
5 cent single ice cream cone at Thrifty Drugstore 10 cents double 15 cents triple
– Gee Your Hair Smells Terrific
– Joe Isuzu
– Hungry Hungry Hippos
– I wanna…pop…I wanna…Shasta…I wanna taste pizazz…
– I’m a Pepper, you’re a Pepper (with the guy from American Werewolf in London)
– Aames Home Loan and the goofy guy in the commercials
– Superballs
– Silly Putty
– Super Elastic Bubble Plastic
– Mr. Bubble
– Water Wiggle
– Tidy Bowl Man
– Jolly Green Giant
– Brawny
– Firefox remote control car
– Wacky Packages
– Yogurt Push-ups
– Frogurt
– NEW BEGINNINGS rehabilitation center. Guy on porch: “My name is Bob. I guess you could say I had everything. I had a good job. A good house. I had a wonderful wife and two great kids. I also had a cocaine habit. First, it cost me my job. Then, it cost me my house. And before I knew it, it cost me my family….”
– Irish Spring
– Before you dress, Caress.
– Susie Chapstick
– Prell
– Head shampoo
– Chewels
– Cinnamon toothpicks
– Balsa wood planes
– Freshen-Up
– Roommate air freshener
– PSA Airlines
– Tang
– Hi C
– Hawaiian Punch
– Yuban
– Taster’s Choice
– Bubble gum smelling erasers
– Blistex
– Big soft Sweet-Tarts, two to a pack.
– Dip Stix
Banana bubble gum shaped like a small banana
EF Hutton - total silence , when EF Hutton talks people listen
Smith Barney - they make money the old fashioned way, they EARN it.
the Schlitz malt liquor Bull crashing through wherever you are, when you pop open a Schlitz
Merril Lynch Bull commercials
PanAm Airlines
Western Airlines the oo-nnly way to fly…(think Thurston Howell III saying it)
Quantas never crashed, Quantas never crashed
Hughes Airwest - nicknamed Hughes Airworst (bright yellow planes)
PSA - You’ll like our smile U
Airplanes used to smell like Ozium when you first got on board
Braniff Airlines
TWA
Eastern Airlines
Lockheed - L-1011
Fire-Brewed Strohs Beer
Olympia “It’s the Oly”
“Coors is contaminated with Piss”
“Have a headache? Take two Tylenol capsules, it will be the last headache you EVER have!”
Lik-A-Stix
Lik -M-Aid
Wacky Wafers
Bottle Caps
Everlasting Gobstoppers
Necco Wafers
Farrell’s Candy Shoppee
Hot Wheels Orange Track connected with “maroon tongues”
recharge your electric Hotwheels with the Gas Pump by pressing on the top for 1 minute
McDonnell Douglas DC-10
Bomb Pops
Bigstick
Strawberry Sparkle Bar
Orange/Pineapple/Raspberry - Push Ups
Trix Rabbit - all round cereal frosted colored balls
Baseball Card Packs that had a fat flat piece of gum you would mostly throw in the trash.
Red Laces - licorice
Combing your hair with Beer as a hair product
MOM’s half gallon of Dippity -Doo clear pink
Fresca when it had sugar
I’d like to buy the world a Coke……
Take the Pepsi Challenge
Pepsi Light with Lemon
Making ashtrays in Kindergarten fire em in the ‘kill’
Orange Crush
RC Cola
Coke
Pepsi - all in 16 oz. glass bottles
glass bottle dispensers in every gas station 8 oz.
Golden Griddle syrup in the squeeze bottle
Bosco sauce
Gallon Glass bottles of Coke - non returnable
6 oz. cans of 7UP
Gallon Glass Jugs of Shasta with the finger hole near the end.
Grocery StorePlain No-Frills No Pictures Packaging Craze as in:
Ralphs Plain Wrap - Royal Blue Band w/ white field
Vons - Slim Price
Safeway Scotch Buy - The jingle, with a Scottish accent, “Scotch Buy. It ain’t fancy…but it sure is good!”
Lucky Supermarket Plain White Field Black Bold letter product name
Alpha Beta - Tell A Friend
Foods Co.
Boy’s Market
Market Basket
Beach’s
Celeste Pizza - Mama Celeste - “Apodanza”
@Myk: Let’s not forget Alpha Beta’s “Alphie” mascot, as well as the spokesman Alan Hamel!
– Thrifty’s before it was Rite Aid.
– Lucky’s. Lady Lee.
– Breakdancing on cardboard to Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit”.
– Happy Birthday, Donald Duck! “Happy Birthday, it’s Donald’s birthday, Happy, Happy, Birthday to you! Hey Donald Happy Birthday…”
– The three talking deer heads on the wall at Country Bear Jamboree.
– Happy birthday to you, you live in a zoo, you smell like a monkey, and you look like one too…
– …and many more, on Channel 4…
– There’s a place in France where the naked ladies dance, there’s a hole in the wall where the boys can see it all, but the men don’t care, they just… chew their underwear???
– Butter, Parkay!
– It’s Imperial Margarine! Dut-dudda-daaa!
– Ludwig Vistalites.
– Cheese n’ Crackers with the red plastic spread stick.
– You’ll know it is time to turn the page when you year the chimes ring, like this… BLINNGG…
– Putting an Ace of Spades in your spokes.
– Bunnyhopping a curb.
– Half bunnyhopping a curb and dragging your back tire on the lip.
– Forts.
– Shimi Shimi Coco Bop.
– Def Leppard’s Pyromania and the Union Jack muscle shirts.
– Watching TV at your buddy’s house and then the screen goes all snowy because his sister is using the hair dryer.
Billy Beer
Donna Summer
Bee Gees
Vinnie Barbarino
Horseshack
Warriors - NY Yankees gang with Baseball bats
Solent Green
Making paper napkin poppers, by wetting paper towels by folding into a square ripping a small hole in the top square and blowing, till it fills up with air then slapping it with your other hand “POP!” then throw it away by sticking it to the bathroom ceiling
Trying to blow up the schools toilets with cherry bombs - hearing rumors that so and so did it.
Putting smoke bombs in cars tailpipes and lighting them.
Smoke bombs in pay phone booths coin return close booth door.
Riding bikes after trash pick up kicking over the cans down.
Bunny hops while kicking the back tire to the side.
Hitching a tow ride on the back of the neighborhood Ice Cream truck’s bumper on your skateboard.
Building a skateboard to do 180s
tic tacs - both the breath mints and skateboard movement
Dynamints
Certs with Retsyn
Ho Hos and Ding Dongs turning the used aluminnum into coins when done.
Eating a three musketers first eating the outside chocolate then pure whipped nougat for last.
Twinkies and Chocodiles
Building a skateboard ramp to do 180s
– Rigging a makeshift cannon with a tall Penn can, tennis balls, and some lighter fluid.
– Staying away from apples on Halloween, because, hey, you heard the razor blade story.
– Big Jim
– MAD Magazine.
– Heckyll and Jeckyll
– Rollo
– The yellow “Baby On Board” signs in car windows, and all its offshoots.
– I (heart) (fill in the blank) pin buttons.
– Snakebites and Indian Burns! (Rubbing somebody’s forearm with both hands in reverse-torque twisting fashion.)
– Melvins, Murphys, and Swirlies.
– Zingers, Suzy-Qs, and Hostess Fruit Pies.
– Claymation Christmas Specials. Frosty, Rudolph, The Little Drummer Boy, et al.
– Lame Brach’s hard candy on Halloween.
– Hard coffee candy.
– Selling candy bars to raise money for your baseball team’s banquet.
– Bobby saving Greg from Sam’s freezer.
– Tetherball.
– Mirrored sunglasses (Polarized!) with the rubber gripping behind-the-ear arms and the leather sides to eliminate sun creep.
– Swimming all day and getting totally smogged. Can’t breathe.
– Playing Toothpicks in the pool.
Never heard it called smogged before…
Huffing and wheezing….until you get back in tha pool!
Smog so thick you can’t see downtown from Del Amo
AMC
Gremlin
Pacer
Throwing and hanging your old used Vans on the telephone pole line
Throw the click- clacks on the telphone lines
Metal slinky
Metal tangled up so bad you throw it away slinky..
Fishing for bluegill with your neon orange/yellow bobber thinking how much more ‘needo’ it was than those red/white bobbers.
scratching your name in cement with friends in 1977.
seeing your name in the cement after forgetting in 2003. way cool
finding out in 2006 that they replaced that block of cement with you getting pic- no so cool
edit
without getting a pic - not so cool
– ZOOM
Pong
– Dual tape decks for high-speed dubbing
– Dolby B d Dolby C Noise Reduction
– Maxell Chro2 tapes
– Super tweeters and subwoofers
– Bazookas in the trunk
– Crossovers
– Alphasonik equalizers in the glove compartment
– Kenwood and Alpine pull-outs
– Jetsound
Having the Big Toe area of your Vans Off the Wall worn through to make a hold in the top of the shoe.
Top 4 personal Favorite Vans shoes?
1) My custom ordered all Yellow/Gold color Vans off the Walls with the Blue Boat Deck Bottoms with the white pinstrip and white padding around the ankle area.
2) My All Tan Suede Van off the Wall
3) My All Brown Van Dorens
4) My first pair the Royal Blue saddle with the Navy toe and ankle ends.
All White slip-ons with the would be the 5th if I would post it but I’m not
Having the Big Toe area of your Vans Off the Wall worn through to make a hole in the top of the shoe to make the whole toenail pop out.
Hole that is…
How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?
One…
Tewhooo….
Threeee……
Three
– Seeing a trucker in a Peterbilt and doing the “chug chug” arm signal to make him blow his horn. Then he does, and you’re always stoked. (Those guys were always so cool, weren’t they? I can’t remember ever being denied.)
– Yosemite Sam “BACK OFF!” mud flaps.
Woody Woodpecker sticker with cigar on car..
Sunday brunch with the grandparents at the Princess Louise.
Seymour’s Fright Night
give me a little time I’ll think up stuff not on that reallt big cool list LOL, like; wait till your father gets home, portable stereos with built in walkmans, members only jackets, fold up sun glasses, the “flat” speaker. anyone remember the rarely seen vw beetle with the camper built on it? “leaded gas”, full service and self service at the same gas station, you could 2 or 3 peices of candy for 1 cent, slip n slide, by the way cal worthington usually gave some gift away as a gimmick. land of the lost, nancy drew and the hardy boys, superboy there’s a few I don’t think I saw thos on there. the “whiz” bike motor on peddle bikes. generator bike headlights, zipper panys, vans and kwiss shoes, mount saint helens volcanic ash-big seller
Panasonic Dynamite TNT 8 - Track player!
Hi tech indeed.
Kroq Poorman and Richard Blade on my sears stereo with 8 track player…Loved Kiis FM. I still remember, “Rick Dees in the morning tells you what time it is and tells you what the weather is..” Smog alerts in the smog bowl San Gabriel Valley…roller skating, rexing, couples skate…beautiful Cali days and spending them all inside in the caverns skating…Shakeys Pizza where you sit at picnic tables and see pitchers of beer go by.
Rose Parade..night before…sleeping in the lounge chair out on the freezing street with every kind of weirdo walking by..working on floats..your hands all glued up…washing them in freezing cold acetone…But so proud when YOUR float goes by.
Naugles burritos and refried beans…The Rocky Horror Picture show at midnite… Riding the city bus to the beach before you could drive…huge boom boxes back to back at the beach.. The Cars, Oingo Boingo, Duran Duran, Psychedelic Furs, Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles…Fun concerts with your friends..Riding down PCH with the top down..Walkman with casette tapes.
I still find myself humming the Pete Ellis Dodge and Go See Cal songs…good advertising.
I miss those days.
Machine Gun Kelley
KRLA Art Laboe - Elvis Hour every night
Gardena Valley YMCA
Circus of the Stars.
TV sets with dials for the channels
Pong (batteries not included………on Christmas Morning)
Pac-Man
KMET……twilldle dee
The Immoral Minority
Paraquat Kelly
Nightly “Old Time” radio shows on KRLA(?)
Cruising Whitter Blvd
The Gong Show
“Speed Racer” on Ch. 53 (UHF)
Man does this site bring back memories………
ON tv
Zachery All RI9-…….
Phones with cords
Having to “upgrade” to push button phones
“The Outer Limits” on Sat/Sun afternoons
Huntington Beach with bonfires on summer nights
Season pass to Magic Mountain
Cinnamon Crispas from Taco Bell.
SLUG BUG!!!
“HUBBA HUBBA HUBBA!!! DING DING DING!!! PITCHER’S GOT AN ARM LIKE A WASHING MACHINE!!!”
“PITCHER’S GOT A RUBBER ARM!!!”
“EEEEEASSY OUT!!!”
“INFIELD IN!!!”
“COMIIIINNNGGG DOOOOOWWWWWNNN!!!”
Did anyone mention the orange 76 balls for your cars?
Ordering a Bobs Big Boy California style…..
Saint Christopher medals….
Surfer necklaces……
KRLA…
KFWB…..
Jungle Land…….
Grossing everybody out at the dinner table by swallowing a long piece of spaghetti and then pulling it out without breaking it.
Thinking the UPS truck was the S.W.A.T. van.
How about the ‘73 Earthquake in the Valley?? KMET, KHJ-AM (listen to the song AM Radio by Everclear for their jingle).
North Valley Soccer League and T-Ball. Hooray Woodland Hills before it was “West Hills” and Hidden Hills before it was some stupid estates I can’t even enter.
Zots, Matchbox cars, Primo Beer T-Shirts (from Hawaii), C&H (from Hawaii), “Fall IN-To The GAP”, “I Get Around” Beach Boys song for RTD transit system, Sears catalog (Christmas), Razzles candies,and
WONDERAMA ON CHANNEL 11!!!!!!!!!!
The hearbreaking loss of the Dodgers to the A’s in the ‘74 World Series.
Banana shaped plastic skateboards with “trucks” and Mag Wheels..original skate punks!
Hippity Hop
One more. Don’t forget DON SUTTON on the Dodgers infield (pitching staff, whom I once met in Calabassas, along with Steve Garvey, great guys), and the utilitary Joe Ferguson in Right and 1st.
And what about Vince Scully???
Places I remember. Some still exist:
C.C. Brown’s Caramel Shop in Hollywood.
Old World restaurant in Westwood
Wheeler’s Gorge
Dodger Stadium!
LA Rams at the Coliseum
The ‘84 Olympics all over
Hamburger Hamlet in Westwood
Seeing “Young Frankenstein” at that theater in Westwood (around Olympic)
Carl’s Jr.
Sambo’s in Canoga Park
Bead stores, everywhere
Dannon Yogurt Shops (with sprinkles)
Carvelle’s (Carvel??)
The Queen Mary and Spuce Goose in Long Beach
Rib appetizers in Chinatown
The original smoothies Farmer’s Market
That little Mexican street Downtown, the Union Station
La Fiesta on Ventura in Woodland Hills
Chili dog stands
Carl’s Jr. (BTW, none in the Midwest or East Coast
Barbeque restaurants in Chatsworth
Riding horses in Chatsworth
The pumpkin patch in Callabasas
The Mickey Mouse on the tunnel in Malibu
Steve Garvey and Don Sutton’s houses (can’t say where)
ZUMA BEACH in Malibu!
Meeting Dick Van Patten and his family at a hot dog restaurant on Ventura in Sherman Oaks, I think
The rug slides, miniature golf course, and trampoleen (sp. ?) (Woodland Hills)
Platt Ranch school in Woodland Hills, and the empty fields behind the school, which became tract houses
Fairhaven Ave. (my home in Woodland Hills)
Hidden Hills (which is now estates in “The West Hills”)
Hermosa Beach candy shop
The Ice Cream man with Wacky Packs (all over)
Love’s Restaurant. “When you’re in Love’s, the whole world’s delicious.
The LA Zoo (jingle: “It’s a crazy zoo”)
Remco
May Company (May Co)
The skating rink in Topanga Plaza
The Magic Pan crepe restaurant in the Promenade
Correction from earlier post: The Mickey Mouse graffiti on the tunnel in Malibu Canyon
Levitz (”You’ll love it at Levitz’s”)
Roller skating rink in, like, Reseda
The Brady Bunch home (no idea where, maybe Sherman Oaks)
Ralph’s & Lucky stores
35 cent ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins
“Joe’s Garage” by Zappa (Canoga Park garage)
The Beach Boys on the AM radio in a car
TVs in the dining room; some with clickers
Skateboard shops with Mag wheels
Schwinn shops with Stingrays with banana seats
Sears, the Sears catalog & the Sears Tire Center
A one story LA airport (”The White Zone is for immediate loading and unloading; see also “Joe’s Garage”)
Robinson’s department stores
Milton-Bradley games like Operation and Life at your local toy store
Matchbox cars everywhere (better than Hot Wheels)
Baseball cards in a high quality shoebox in your closet
The RTD transit buses
“Earthquake” in Sensarround (sp?) at your local theater
The bathroom in a movie theater showing “The Exorcist”
Furniture shops on Ventura Blvd.
The psycho house at Universal studios. Also “Leave it to Beaver house”, and the falling rocks on the downhill turn on the tram
Magic Mountain
Knott’s Berry Farm
Busch Gardens in Van Nuys
“The Bear Pit” barbeque in the Valley
“Sir Georges”
“Crazy’s” for pastrami dip
“The Dip” in Burbank
“Martino’s Bakery”
The little brown pitchers for hot fudge at C.C. Browns
The opening day and huge line for “Jaws”, which made me never look at Zuma the same again (BTW no adults were present when I saw the R movie w/ sisters)
Pioneer Chicken
Victorian Station (the steakhouse in the train caboose!)
Listening to “Ventura Highway” on the radio while riding on Ventura Freeway (now called, boringly enough, the 134).
Sav-On ice cream for 25 cents!!!!
The San Diego Freeway (now known as the 405)
Laury’s (sp?) Steak House (’ya know, the seasoning)
Correction: The 134 is also the 101
Body surfing!!!!!!!!!!
Carobs on that Dannon frozen yogurt
The “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” high school in the Valley (DK where?, Reseda maybe?)
Iron-On T-Shirt stores
Glow-In-The-Dark T-Shirts
Mustang Muscle Cars
Macrame and other knitting-type stores my sisters went to
Pet Rock!!!!! (w/ adoption papers, way before Cabbage Patch adoption papers)
Beaches with lifeguards w/out vehicles
SHRINKY-DINKS in the oven!!!!!!
Paul Lynde in center square
Rebel Without A Cause filmed at the Griffith Park Observatory
The original Corkscrew rollercoaster at the aforementioned, Knott’s Berry Farm
The Goldrush roller coaster at Magic Mountain (I was too afraid to ride when I was 7)
The spinning teacups and “It’s A Small World After all” and the Matterhorn at Disneyland (Disney Land, way before it was a “World”)
Hercules on Channel 13
The New Year’s Day Rose Festival with Bob Crane (of Hogan’s Heroes and the autobiography “Aperature” which I refuse to see)
The Pussycat Theater (too old for me at the time) in, like, um, Reseda or something X to XXX X’s
“Valley Girl”, the song, and the movie (and the girls) featuring Nicholas “I’m actually a Coppolla” Cage
Benji, the movie
I think that original Mexican street was “Olvera” or “Alvera”. Again, it’s by Union Station downtown.
The moving sidewalk at LAX (and in the movie “The Graduate”)
Tinker Toys
Barrel of Monkeys
Repo Man in East LA
Hippity Hops
@Allan:
Fast Times was filmed at Van Nuys High School in the valley, which is part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. For that reason (among others) it hit really close to home for us. I went to San Pedro High, also part of the LAUSD, so the entire set of Fast Times had a flavor that completely nailed the whole vibe. All the way down to the lockers. Incidentally, the John Hughes film Some Kind of Wonderful was filmed at Pedro. Summer of ‘86, with records like Metallica’s Master of Puppets and Run D.M.C.’s Raising Hell blasting out of every Alpine pull-out in town.
Seems you just opened a can of worms…
“Hey Rat, I found your wallet. Ya want it back?”
– The Broadway
– Woolworth’s
– H. Salt Fish & Chips
btw, the Brady Bunch house is on 11222 Dilling Street in North Hollywood (or Studio City, depending on who you ask). South side of the street. No Astroturf though. Trip on the Street View.
Banana combs
Velcro wallets
Skateboard parks
G & S
Bad Boys - w/ Sean Penn & Esai Morales
Valley Girl - w/ Nicholas Cage “Like F*&k you fer sure”
10 - Bo Derek!
Tom Slick
Duncan yo-yos
CB Radios - Uh, Breaker One-Nine, this here’s the Rubber Duck
You got a copy on me Pig-Pen? C’mon
That awful song, “Wildfire”
That Mr. Jaws song where the guy asks questions, and the answers are actual songs.
“Mr. Hand. I figure if I’m here and yer here, doesn’t that make it oooouuuurrrr time?”
Well, guys, reads like we got a Convoy, over.
Evil Knievel (mentioned earlier by someone) jumping the Snake River, which isn’t in LA.
That summer of around ‘79 when the Go-Go’s broke.
That stuntman show with Chuck Conners.
EMERGENCY!!!! (RAMPART, RAMPART).
Forever great…In ‘N Out Burger (see reference in “The Big Lebowski”, featuring “The Dude”).
Big Bear…and Arrowhead.
Solvang, and its amazing Apple Fritters.
“Sorry if I seem a little slow today. I just switched to Sanka.”
“I’m really kinda busy right now, Rat.”
“Is that you’re little brother? He’s a good lookin’ kid.”
“Rule Number One: No matter where you are, it’s the place to be. Isn’t this great?”
“Must be nice having a pool.”
“I know. You want me to get you a job at All-American Burger.”
“I left that book in my locker.”
“I’ll drive, you navigate.”
“YOU’RE GONNA FLUNK ME?”
Dinky and Corgy cars (like the 007 MG with the spiked wheels and ejector seat).
Slot and slotless car racing.
Ohhh, AIR HOCKEY!
CADDYSHACK
“So I got that going for me. Which is nice.”
“Hey Wang, I think this is a private club, so don’t tell ‘em your Jewish.”
“Hey Whitey, where’s your hat?”
“Fifty bucks the Smales kid picks his nose.”
“A flute without holes, is not a flute. And a donut without holes…is a danish.”
“You know who said that, Danny? I’ll give you one good guess.” “Bob Hope.” “Nope. Mitch Cumstein. My roommate in college.”
“Hey Wang, what’s with the pictures? IT’S A PARKING LOT.”
Okay, I was a caddy for six years and actually met Bill Murray in SoHo, NY and imitated him (he’s from near me, in Chicago, my second home). I saw the movie 30 times, and when I told him, he said, “You sick boy. Do you need a ride home?”
“He’s about 250 yds. Looks like, looks like he’s got about a 9-iron.”
“You wore green so you can hide.”
“I put boys younger than you to death. Didn’t want to do it…felt I owed it to them…” Judge Smails
“..smoking grass, bad caddying. Keep it up, and you’ll be replaced by golf carts.” Bill Murray’s brother, Brian-Doyle.
“You gonna eat your fat???” Spalding Smails
“And we’re finishing the loop, and I say, HEY, Lama, how ’bout a little something, ya know, for the effort? And he says, ‘You’ll get nothing, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will obtain TOTAL consciousness.’ So I got that going for me, which is kinda nice.”
“Last time I saw a hat like that, it came with a free bowl of soup.”
“NAAA, NAAAA, NAAAA, NAAA…”
and finally, the Baby Ruth bar…
7 or 8 Cokes…”What are ya, diabetic??”
Just one more from Lacy:
“I like skinny skiing, going to bullfights on acid…”
“Cinderella story wins it at Augusta!”
Hey, was that country club in LA or FL?
I’d have to look that up, but I’d guess the club was in the valley. Low budget; doesn’t make sense to move the production to the other side of the country.
“Mind if I play through, Carl?”
“Hello, Mr. Gopher, it’s me, Mr. Squirrel. Yeah. Hi.”
“Fill up the water glasses, replaaace the botter.”
“Who’s your decorator, Benihana?”
“Let’s step into the patio room.”
“My arm! It’s broken!”
“Looks good on you though.”
“That must be the tea.”
Elton John at Dodger Stadium in ‘74 or ‘75, dressed in a Donald Duck suit.
Phoebe Cates and “Moving to Stereo” at the pool in aforementioned “Fast Times”.
“What exactly is it that you do, Mr. Fletch?”
“I’m a shepherd.”
The Courtship of Eddie’s Father
The Flying Nun
Nanny and the Professor
The Banana Splits show (if you recall, the “la, la, la..” part of the theme song, in which they’re on bumper cars is exactly the same as in the song “Buffalo Soldier,” by Bob Marley–don’t ask me why.
Dune buggies
Dirt bikes
H.R. Puffenstuff
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids
Shazam and Isis!
The New Zoo Revue
The Rockford Files trailer in Paradise Cove in Malibu
Did anyone say Custom Vans yet, with, like Virgins being sacrificed to gods, and shag carpeting.
Cottage cheese (acoustic) ceilings, with sparkle.
“Chrisssssssssssy” Jack Tripper
Chevy ‘Surfer’ Vans - Babe-layer shortbed panel van with a bubble window in the rear quarterpanel up in the high corner. Shag carpeted from ceiling to the floor, waterbed in the back and a bean bag chair.
Cut the ‘C’ off and you had a ‘hevy Van’
Justice League of America aka ‘the Superfriends”
the Indian, indicating TV off the air, followed by the Flag waving and the Star Spangled to start your day then Jumping Jacks with Jack LaLanne in his jumpsuit.
“if you can shoot the red star completely out of the paper with the machine bb gun you win a stuffed snake”
Magic Mountain Spillikin Corners make yourself a Custom Candle
After the “Indian”:
The Morning Farm Report
and, much more “awesomely”, “The Roadrunner” on Saturday, before “Hong Kong Fooey” and Yogi’s weird Ark show (song, “That’s the perfect plaaaace…”)
Pixie Sticks
Zots
ROCK CANDY! (sorry for the excited caps.)
That candy where you dip something in something
Bottle Caps
Razzles
Sugar Daddy, Babies
Bubble Yum
Wax bottles
Spirit Pop popsicles (I think that was the name)
Pop Rocks
Is it me, or does that new wave band have a poor version of Regatta type Sting going on?
Collecting beer cans (like the aforementioned Billy Beer)
A C.B.
Montgomery Ward Tire (or Tyre) Center
Rodney Allen Ripey in the aforementioned BK ad.
Also that creepy redheaded kid with freckles and a lisp.
Greg and Marcia, and Peter and Jan (and their family).
“Pawwwk chops and appplesaauuuce…”
“Don’t mind the wire, Mr. Gopher. Doctor’s orders.”
The movie “Dazed and Confused” shoulda been L.A.
“Scotch-Romanian.”
“Interesting combination.”
“So were my parents.”
“Don’t worry. My old man is a television repairman. He’s got an ultimate set of tools.”
Ollie ollie oxen free
Orange Julius stands (with the devil logo - NOT in malls!)
Red Devil fireworks stands (just across Venice Blvd, in Culver City)
“That’s UNDERWOOD…the little ham that goes a long…long…waaaaaaaayyyyyy…”
Wacky-Packs
7-11 Baseball, Basketball, Football & Hockey player Slurpee cups (god do I wish I still had THOSE!!!)
Doodle-Art (and all the knock-offs)
TV Movie of the Week: “Pray for the Wildcats”, starring William Shatner, Marjoe Gortner & Andy Griffith!!!
Star Trek Conventions
“Piston Engine go: Boing-Boing-Boing-Boing-Boing-Boing-Boing-Boing…
but the Mazda go:
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……….”
“You’re right, Pa…my dogs are breathin’…I can go to skool…I CAN BE SOMMMMMEBODYYYYYY!!!!!!”
The Japanese Deer Park (Buena Park)
MarineLand (Palos Verdes Penninsula)
Busch Gardens (Northridge)
Lion Country Safari (Irvine)
The Spruce Goose (Long Beach)
Roschu prop house on Santa Monica Blvd.
The OLD Jack-In-The-Box (Secret Sauce Agent, et al)
Shakey Pizza (back when they showed silent movies)
Tonga Lei restaurant in Malibu
Kelbo’s on Pico
Wan-Q, also on Pico but further east
Don the Beachcomber in Marina Del Rey
the UCLA “Mardi Gras”
Land of the Lost
Westwind
MatchGame
I know as soon as I hit “submit” I’m going to think of 30 more things…
“How about that girl from the Photomat? You bought forty dollars worth of fucking film, and you didn’t even get her phone number. You don’t even have a camera!”
“You don’t care if she _____, stays, lays or prays…”
I honestly think this would be a heck of a great book, and I’m sure it would sell…
Taco Bell with an actual bell on top of the building
corn dogs
chili fries
Barbazon Academy (name?): Be a model, or just look like one!
Cal Worthington’s “cat”
Mad Libs
Stratego
Connect Four
Mattel electronic football
That horrible electric football game, where the plastic pieces just vibrate (but it looked cool)
HO scale trains
Balsa wood planes
Battery operated DC-10s with stairs that came down.
The Playskool camper and, also, garage
“Muskrat Love”, by Captain and Tennelle
Tonka truck
Bussing to schools
Proposition 14
“The San Pedro Beach Bums”, a very short lived show
The Forest Park Cemetary
See’s lollipops!!!
“Mr. Hand” and Bill Bixby in early morning reruns of My Favorite Martian.
Davey and Goliath (great sendup on The Simpsons).
In-N-Out _URGE_
TOY___ SR5
_ITSUBISH_
Tony Llama boots
Candy cigarettes
“I don’t hear you unless you knock…”
“I don’t hear you unless you knock…”
“You should just be glad I had fast reflexes!”
Your mother’s so low…
Marco….Polo
Fun in the Sun marshmallow candies in Palm Springs
One Adam-12, one Adam-12
Honk if you’re horny
“That’s where I come in. My name’s Sargeant Joe Friday.”
Making a fort by putting a sheet over a table indoors.
Neil Diamond at the Hollywood Bowl
Sleep overs with Jiffy Pop
Day camp when it’s 105 degrees out
Night Gallery with Rod Serling
The Grizzly Adams, Jeremiah Johnson craze
John Denver
Jim Croce, and hearing he died on TV
Sonny and Cher breaking up
UFO craze
Tag, yer it
Chocolate bubble gum
“No Fat Chicks” (sorry, but had to add it)
Aluminum bats
The gas lines during the crisis in around ‘73
Escape From Witch Mountain
The Towering Inferno
The Sting
The Longest Yard (not the lame remake with Adam Sandler); Burt Reynolds and Eddie Albert
Green Acres
Gilligan’s Island
The Electric Company
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
A Star is Born
Three Days of the Condor
DIRTY HARRY
Welcome Back Kotter
“Up your nose with a rubber hose.”
No one mentioned The Fonz, and the origin of the word Nerd.
“AAAAAYYYYY!!!!”
Fritz the Cat
Car Wash
Silly String
Westworld with Yul Brenner as an evil robot
Planet of the Apes
AMF bowling alleys
McMillan and Wife
?, Portrait of a Teenage Alcohol, with Linda Blair
The Afterschool Special
Count Chocula
Frankenberry
KING VITAMIN!
The cool cartoon opening to Soul Train
Lite Brite
Kickball
Handball, with a big red ball against a garage door or playground court
Gnip Gnop
“London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down…”
Hide and (Go) Seek
Erector sets
Those giant Tinker Toys
G.I. Joe with Kung Foo Grip
Girder and Panel construction set
Schick Stop Smoking clinic (with electric shocks)
Patty Hearst on the news
“I’m gonna kick 100 percent of your ass!”
Pixie Sticks (especially the giant plastic ones filled with, like, a foot of pure sugar!).
Pick Up Sticks
– Waldenbooks
– B. Dalton Booksellers
SAMBO’S!!!
(For those who don’t know, Sambo’s was a chain of coffee shops that, for political reasons, was eventually renamed to Denny’s.)
Shotz and Pops Incorporated.
Christmas wasn’t Christmas without ole’ Burl Ives as the showman cruising around the snow covered hills narrating SCICTT. Rankin Bass.
Bob Marley assasinated by the CIA or the FBI or the Secret Service by having poison installed in his sandals.(causing his cancer)
English Ska:
The English Beat
The Specials which led to, say, No Doubt
The LA punk scene: like Henry Rollins before he pumped himself up.
The Ziggy Stardust craze
The rise and fall of Blondie
The song “Cars” by Gary Numan
Also, “Tainted Love”, by Soft Cell (?)
In the heat with a blue jean girl,
Burnin’ love comes once in a lifetime
She found me singin’ by the railroad tracks
Took me home, we danced by the moonlight
Those summer nights are callin’,
STONE IN LOVE…
That’s…. In…. CREDIBLE!!!
Frings. From Jack in the Box. An order of half fries, half onion rings.
Colorforms (”It’s Colorforms fun!”)
Spyrograph
The Holiday Inn in Brentwood (circular, with, I think, a spinning restaurant on top)
Josie and the Pussycats (no, not the movie)
Inch High Private Eye
“Bing-bing-bing..Ricochet Rabbit”
Van Halen
Diving shops (see also Van Halen’s Diver Down for diving sticker logo)
Billy Jack, and the song One Tin Soldier, and the Native American/Indian craze
Toy soldiers
Garter (sp?) snakes
Pollywogs
Kumquats
Dried soybeans
“Hey, kid, Rock and Roll, ROCK ON”
Smoking in the Boys Room
“We don’t need no education…”
“SCHOOL’S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!”—Alice Cooper craze
Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?
Reading is FUNdamental, the Bookmobile
Shin guards for soccer
“Please don’t squeeze the Charmin.”
“Ancient Chinese secret, huh?”
Pogo Sticks
The original “Not Ready for Prime Time” Players, and telling the jokes at school on Monday; with a funny, falling, Gerald Ford; Chevy Chase
Mayor Tom Bradley!
Toy prizes in cereal
Vin Scully ‘pitching’ (sorry) Jimmy Dean sausage
Chastity Bono
The Towering Inferno w/ Bobby Brady, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, OJ, and the song, I Think We Can Make It)
The Jerk with Steve Martin (”This is shit/This is Shine-ola”/”I found my special purpose”/Pizza in a Cup/”He hates these cans”/”Waiter, bring me a FRESH wine”/, “I call your dog, Shithead”/ “All I need is this chair, and this paddle, and my Thermos”)
The Karate Kid
Legos
Three Dog Night (Black and White was my first single ever)
The Jackson Five cartoon
The Flip Wilson Show
The Partridge Family (and their albums) and the David Cassidy craze
Rainbow window stickers
Zeppelin on the radio
Dodger pitchers Tommy John and Andy Messersmith
Relief pitcher Mike Marshall (’Fireman of the Year’ on Topps baseball cards).
Swimming pools with slides
Drumstick ice cream cones
Correction to earlier comment: The Christmas parade w/ Bob Crane
“We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher/ We want a catcher, not a belly scratcher”
Dodger pitcher, the rotund Fernando Valenzuela [”Watching Fernando Valenzuela force himself into a Los Angeles Dodgers uniform is something like seeing Kate Smith struggling to fit into a pair of Brooke Shields’ designer jeans.” - Sportswriter H.G. Reza in the San Francisco Chronicle (1981). Check out this and other roster info. on the Baseball Almanac website; I don’t sponsor it in any way, but it’s fun].
The ‘California Angels’
Intellivision video system, and Coleco Vision w/ keyboard that made it look like a computer
The word “Spaz”
STP stickers
Porsche Targas
Estes model rockets (the fun way to blow yourself up)
Icees
Big League Chew chewing gum
Fruit Stripe gum
Pirates of the Carribean, the ride
Macrame and knitting stuff
Pottery wheels and kilns
Your first look at Playboy (and not reading the interview with Norman Mailer–Candy Loving was my favorite playmate).
Milk carton boats
Lumber stores
Clogs shoes
Tennis shoe roller skates
Glow in the dark Frisbees
Nerf everything
Hot Wheels tracks and those serated pull cords that rip your skin off
The Bad News Bears (the original w/ Walter Matthau, Tatum O’Neil, and that guy who played Kelly, the smoker)
Baseball caps with the plastic mesh
Kneedsfoot oil (sp?) for your Rawlings glove
Pitchbacks
Playing catch
Rubber baseballs
Addidas cleats
Little trophies just for playing on a team
Capture the flag
McDonalds Orange Drink (and little bottles of punch at day camp)
Those frozen fruit flavored sticks
Space Sticks
PEE-CHEE FOLDERS with different athletes (the original Trapper Keeper, as seen on South Park)
5 subject spiral folders
Six Million Dollar Man lunch boxes w/ Thermos)
Striped tube socks
Vegas board game (Dan Tanna)
Chutes and Ladders
50 piece jigsaw puzzles (ages 8 and up)
Hang Ten
Phantasm (shot at Forest Lawn Glendale mausoleum)
kung fu grip
Kwai Chang Caine…& Master Po…& Master Kan
The Rockford Files
Duel (shot on the 118, the 14, & the 138)
Yucca Valley (Hidden Valley)
Alpine Village, in Torrance, when they had the roller coaster…(still there, but no roller coaster…)
sneaking into the Mormon Temple on (big) Santa Monica Blvd.
just where is the ‘Ape City’ set from “Planet of the Apes”??? Somewhere in the Santa Monica Mountains…near where they filmed M*A*S*H
All the drive-in’s turned into swap-meets…
R.E.O. Speedwagon, Styxx, Starland Vocal Band, Chicago, K.C & the Sunshine Band, Fleetwood Mac on a transistor radio…
hearing: “Let’s go…batter up! It’s a beautiful day for a ballgame…for a ballgame…today…” on the radio, “…brought to you by Union 76, and by Farmer John, the eastern most in quality, the western most in flavor…”
Jimmy Wynn’s grand slam
Jerry Doggett’s lame play-by-play after Vin Scully…
The Fabulous Forum and the voice of Chick Hearn…
Iron Eyes Cody
“Only YOU can prevent forest fires…”
“Give a hoot…Don’t pollute!”
“The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at midnight at the Nu-Art
Country Bear Jamboree (”…there was blood on the saddle…”)
oh yeah…
Dr. George Fishbeck (”…and the barometer is reading…!!!”)
Telly Savalas’s ad’s for the Players Club (”Who loves ya, baby?”)
Phantom of the Paradise
Death Race 2000
“Stairway to Heaven”, “Fly Like an Eagle”, “Hotel California”
Pink Floyd at the Griffith Park Lazarium
I remember Phantom of the Paradise, with the incomparable Paul Williams; who I might add was in a really, good, funny, twisted cult 60’s film with Jonathon Winters, The Loved Ones; filmed around Forest Park Cemetery, and, or Griffith Park, I think.
Mood Rings
Turquoise everything!!!
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