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 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
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
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”?)
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…