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Growing up in L.A. during the ’70s and ’80s

This promises to be a never-ending list. Let’s get started. Remember?:

Go Climb a Rock Yosemite Mountaineering School

The Mighty 690 on AM radio
94.7 KMET and Dr. Demento
KIQQ (100.3, pre-Pirate Radio)
93 KHJ 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 Fer
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 (Lake Dolores)
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

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
Krofft 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
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl
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

Licorice Pizza

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)

Pretty sneaky, sis

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”?)

532 comments… add one
  • Allan Ostermann August 3, 2011, 6:43 pm

    Mad Libs. To follow up on narvolicious’s comment, who didn’t shout out bad words? But I..

    learned orgasmic grammar in the large doody.

  • Veronica August 5, 2011, 12:10 am

    ok, this for sure… KLOS and Frazer Smith, and his Too Hip bumperstickers.

    Also, my friend has this site that’s a tribute to Naugles.
    http://ocmexfood.blogspot.com/2009/11/del-tacos-secret-naugles-menu.html

    An interesting read!
    Cheers!

  • Myk now Myk August 8, 2011, 7:51 am

    I had Frazier Smith “Too Hip, I gotta go!” card that I picked up at promo booth that I kept in my Velco wallet.

  • Allan Ostermann August 11, 2011, 10:02 am

    The 70s RTD ads with The Beach Boys’ “I Get Around” as the theme song.

  • Myk now Myk August 12, 2011, 2:13 pm

    You know you have been around awile if you refer to ATMs as a Versateller

  • jaced.com August 17, 2011, 12:13 pm
  • jaced.com September 3, 2011, 2:12 pm

    Are there tunnels under Los Angeles? What dark secrets do they hide? My novel Under Angels is now available on Amazon here!

    Also haunting Facebook. Come on over and Like it:

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Under-Angels-The-Novel/245876122118090

  • leftylimbo September 8, 2011, 1:01 am

    Miller’s Outpost. What ever happened to those two cowboy doods?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxQTBLjyM9s

  • jaced.com October 31, 2011, 12:30 am

    Bob’s Big Boy bumper stickers “I VOTED TO SAVE” and “I VOTED TO RETIRE”

  • Myk now Myk October 31, 2011, 9:05 am

    Jack In the Box

    Keep Jack or blow him up?
    bumper stickers

    They blew him up and then rebooted him.

  • leftylimbo November 2, 2011, 2:49 am
  • jaced.com November 4, 2011, 9:52 am

    When I die,
    Bury me,
    Hang my balls on a cherry tree,
    When they’re ripe,
    Take a bite,
    Don’t blame me if they don’t taste right…

  • Allan Ostermann November 26, 2011, 5:37 pm

    Making fart sounds with your armpits

  • Myk now Myk November 28, 2011, 5:30 pm

    Putting your hands in a praying position with your two thumbnails under your two front teeth, ‘cracking your nose’ when moving your hands left and right.

  • jaced.com November 30, 2011, 3:39 pm

    Finishing your cup of milk at dinner and then your parents filling the cup up with water without rinsing it out first. Lame. Foggy water.

  • jaced.com November 30, 2011, 3:41 pm

    Worst Toys of the ’80s — check it out

  • jaced.com November 30, 2011, 3:42 pm

    ↑ Simon was NOT one of the worst toys of the ’80s, btw.

  • leftylimbo December 1, 2011, 10:03 am

    Making shadow puppets like this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/20696703@N07/6435777531/ during the classroom slide shows or Super 8mm/16mm films, much to the annoyance of the teacher/amusement of your friends.

  • jaced.com December 22, 2011, 3:55 pm
  • Myk now Myk January 3, 2012, 10:04 am

    Thanks Lefty for the Pee-Chee day.
    What would be a great pop art collection if someone would actually make a concerted effort to get Pee Chees from back in the day and display them as the art they are, 40- 50 years old would love it.

  • leftylimbo January 3, 2012, 11:23 am

    Funny that you mention that, Myk – my real intent is indeed to showcase a collection of the most outstanding work in an art gallery. It would definitely take some work, but I would think it would be totally worth it.

  • Myk now Myk January 5, 2012, 2:24 pm

    A link below that will flash you back to the Late 70’s Dodgers
    Mr. Clean
    the Penguin
    Lopes etc…

    http://garveyceyrusselllopes.blogspot.com/2011_07_01_archive.html

  • jaced.com January 11, 2012, 11:22 am
  • Myk now Myk January 13, 2012, 1:46 pm

    links to old schwinn catalogs
    check out the 1971-1980 link the 1971 catalog shot on location throughout Hawai’i…
    Aloha
    http://www.trfindley.com/pg_schwinn_cats.htm

  • Myk now Myk January 13, 2012, 1:51 pm

    http://www.trfindley.com/flschwinn_1971_1980/1971_32.html

    looks like you Jace on the left and Jed on the right

  • Myk now Myk January 17, 2012, 1:54 pm

    Mrs. Filbert’s Margarine decorative reusable bowls from the 70’s
    (I hate margarine, BTW) but in the 70’s we had these bowls we ended up using for cereal, storage in the garage etc.

    They came in Red, Olive Green and other colors.

    http://fultonhistory.com/Newspapers%20Disk3/Watertown%20Times/Watertown%20NY%20Daily%20Times%201971%20Jun%20Grayscale/Watertown%20NY%20Daily%20Times%201971%20Jun%20Grayscale%20-%200538.pdf

    And of course the Imperial Margarine commercials of that era
    dunt-dunt-dunt-dahhh. Butter – Imperial

    Golden Griddle pancake syrup with the pull/push squeeze top valve cap.

  • leftylimbo January 18, 2012, 12:07 am

    The awesome 3 or 4-stage rockets that used to populate L.A. playgrounds. Sadly, along with their galvanized steel cousins (the carousel and geodesic dome thing) they were scrapped for newer, safer and more boring playground equipment.

    Alas, I did discover a rocket still standing…at Rocketship Park in Torrance. Did I mention this already?

    http://www.leftylimbo.com/2012/01/totally-spaced-out-stage-2/

  • Myk now Myk January 26, 2012, 12:14 pm

    Those were cool, when I was a young. When you were up in the top section you were on top of the world. As I grew older the top of the rocket started to be a place where kids smoked and drank beer etc about that time the top of the rockets seemed to smell like old and new urine most of the time.

  • leftylimbo February 2, 2012, 10:19 am

    LoL. Can’t count how many times I’d been in the top section and smelled exactly that. Sometimes I’d even see the sticky spot in that “sure-grip” surface from where the smell emanated. So gross. Why would someone want to do that all the way up there, in such cramped quarters? I can see the juvenile joke in peeing from the nose cone onto people below, but peeing in it? Sheez.

    While I was there, I met another dad about 6-7 years younger than me, that recounted the days in early ’90s, when the rocket was apparently quite the popular drinking and make-out spot for teens after hours. He told me he’d brought a couple girls up there himself. It must’ve been pretty cool though, to see the city lights from up there.

  • SERGIO SANCHEZ February 15, 2012, 12:40 am

    BREAK DANCING, POPPING,THE GAP BAND, INTELLI-VISION, YELLOW LABELED PRODUCTS AT THE SUPERMARKET, TWO-GUYS LUMBER, ALPHA-BETA SUPERMARKETS/ COLTON PIANO COMMERCIALS, PIONEER CHICKEN, SHAKEYS PIZZA, MILLERS OUT POST, THRIFTY ICE CREAM

  • jaced.com February 15, 2012, 9:21 am

    Truly Tasteless Jokes. (What’s grosser than gross?)

  • leftylimbo February 15, 2012, 10:05 am

    LoL. Truly Tasteless Jokes. Total scandal on the elementary school playground. That’s the first time I saw the word “Spics” and had no idea what the heck it was. Still remember the joke—“What do you call it when a Spic jumps into the ocean? An oil slick.” Haw haw.

  • jaced.com February 15, 2012, 10:14 am

    The TTJs that come to my mind first are the one about the Reese’s Pieces falling through Jesus’ hands and the entire section dedicated to Helen Keller. Q: What’s Helen Keller’s favorite color? A: Corduroy.

  • leftylimbo March 28, 2012, 12:58 am

    You know you grew up in L.A. in the ’70s and ’80s if you get sentimental looking at this picture:

    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3281997524178&set=o.122386201113644&type=1&theater

  • leftylimbo March 28, 2012, 12:59 am

    LoL. Q: How do you drive Helen Keller crazy? A: Make her read a stucco wall.

  • jaced.com March 30, 2012, 9:56 pm

    Q: What’s Helen Keller’s favorite color? A: Corduroy.

  • jaced.com March 30, 2012, 9:57 pm
  • Scotty April 3, 2012, 4:21 pm

    Whoa!! Mighty 690!!!? I was starting to think I was the oy person in the world who listened to that station (or remembers it)! An 100.3 too… ahhh those were good days at the beach and not at school! My sister and I still laugh about PhilNJims! PhilNJims!! PhilNJims!!!

  • Kelly April 16, 2012, 10:12 am

    MOSSIMO shorts

    CHAKA, OILER, DREX….

  • jaced.com April 16, 2012, 10:21 am

    “I’m thirsty.”

    “I’m Friday! Come on over Saturday and have a sundae.”

  • Scott Ruby May 19, 2012, 10:44 pm

    In-N-Out URGE!
    Cruising Whittier Blvd.
    Funky And Damn Near New clothing store in La Puente.
    Back To The Future scene filmed at Puente Hills Mall
    SEARS when it used to smell of pop-corn when you walked in.
    LA Gear sneaks with bi-color laces.
    Neon colored anything.

  • Allan Ostermann May 30, 2012, 8:56 pm

    Just found out the broken overpass in The Doobie Brothers “The Captain and Me” album cover was taken after the ’71 earthquake. Not a big fan, but I was in the quake.

  • Jesse June 9, 2012, 6:58 am

    I believe it’s the 5 and 14 interchange. It collapsed after the ’71 Sylmar quake. That area also collapsed after the ’94 Northridge quake.

  • jaced.com June 10, 2012, 11:10 am

    “My home is in Texas. But I live… in Britannia.”

  • Mike June 11, 2012, 7:42 am

    Channel 52… Kimba the white lion
    Perry’s pizza in Hermosa
    Big plastic combs in your back pocket
    The Vans store
    Old town mall
    Pastrami at Ynot Burger
    Top Value market before it became a Mexican market
    Tower Records free calendars at the door
    Watching Herbie at Rolling Hills theater with a real Herbie bug in the lobby
    Cal vdubs
    Stokers
    Roller skating on the strand
    …too many memories!

  • Myk Now Myk June 11, 2012, 8:01 am

    Playing Kerplunk and Aggravation in the 70’s

    Little sister played Perfection in the 80’s…

  • Myk Now Myk June 14, 2012, 4:23 pm

    Free 4 foot long flashlight with coupon at Radio Shack ok ok they were really only 2 feet long … they seemed four feet using 8 or was it 6 D-cells.

    DISCO spay painted on STOP signs around town under STOP.

  • jaced.com June 14, 2012, 5:18 pm

    Bagging contests.

  • Allan Ostermann June 14, 2012, 7:32 pm

    Myk, “You sunk my Battleship” meant something different than the pining of investors of a crappy film.

  • Mike June 15, 2012, 4:26 am

    My dad had season tickets to the Dodgers in the late 70s… We had seats over home plate below the announcers. We had a new 77 VW convertible and some of my best memories were driving from Torrance, up to Dodger Stadium with the top down listening to the pre game on the radio… I still remember vividly when Welch struck out Reggie Jackson in the World Series… There was magic in the air that night.

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