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”?)
Cross-Countries OMG
Let’s not forget that one dude on the playground during recess who would gross out all the girls by flipping his eyelids inside-out.
The TV shows were not as sophisticated as they are now but they made a lasting impression on the viewer. “Kiss my grits”, the Malachi crunch, the Big Raguza, “You meat head”, “Book’em Dano”, Rampart and D5W, Hot Lips, Jim Rockford’s answering machine, the Family Film Festival, Kids R People Too, the Electric Company, Johnny Sacko and his Flying Robot, just to name a few. And remember, “keep those cards and letters coming”.
One Adam-12, One Adam-12.
Betamax vs. VHS wars
Jungle gyms, over concrete
Music Plus
3rd stage smog alerts
1 color house party flyers
Madballs
Elvira
Boomboxes
Gorky’s in downtown
KMET
Malathion
Ducktails
And who remembers the old “Stanley Chevrolet” (Norwalk) radio & TV jingle, song by a female vocalist?
“Stanley, Stanley Chevrolet!
Two blocks off the Santa Ana Freeway!
One-one-nine-eight-oh East Firestone,
Stanley Chevrolet!”
Later, Stanley Chevrolet became “Dial Chevrolet” and they retained the jingle for awhile longer with the new name inserted:
“Dial, Dial Chevrolet!
Two blocks off the Santa Ana Freeway”… etc.
A Wacky Pack…
http://www.wackypackages.org/bestof/plastered.html
Let’s not forget the little chair/desk things lined up against the wall at Baskin Robbins. Big enough for maybe a single-scoop sundae and half an elbow.
Someone mentioned Pete Ellis Dodge earlier on…remember when they tried to make the jingle fit a new location in Bellflower? It didn’t quite sound as nice… lol
Anyways:
– Drawing rock band logos on your folder or locker door (VH, Led Zep, AC/DC) …do kids still pay homage to their favorite bands that way? Somehow I seriously doubt it.
If you think you’d like a haaaaaannnnnd
In buying a Chevy today
come on out to discount laaaaannnnnd
Cormier Chevrolet
Dood. All-time classic:
The ABC Wide World of Sports intro/theme (’76-’77 era)
C’mon…could we not get enough of that “agony of defeat” guy? I lived for that show.
Lion Country Safari!
Flicks!
lol …
A double pleasure is waiting for you…
A double pleasure from Doublemint Gum…
A double fresh feeling, making you realize
Doublemint’s the one for you!
Double fresh (smooth sax riff)
Double smooth (smooth sax riff)
Double delicious to chew!
Remember? It was two twin women on bikes, just cruising the urban landscape and running into various people…they had those high-waisted ’80s women-slacks.
There were a few variations of that Doublemint commercial, all with twins. Here’s the one I might remember most; it’s actually a different song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KhsZzduLJ8
LoL yeah I totally remember that. Here’s one using the jingle I described (1985)…I remember this one too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7hwvWIK1eM&NR=1
Totally. BTW, on the first version, is that not David Bradford and his twin brother flipping the Frisbees under the knee?
Don’t forget this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONv1lQxrw80
(There was also a snow skiing one.)
Yet another classic product: Mr. Microphone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYEXBTlWf_4
That’s Incredible!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFXtb9jBaBM
Good old days!
Busch Gardens: Back in the 1970s, the Anhauser Busch Brewery on Roscoe Blvd.
Bobs Big Boy: Ladies in roller skates would take your goodies to your car like in the 50’s.
Pioneer Fried Chicken
Shakey’s Pizza
Best of all HELMS BAKERY MAN (the yellow long van with donuts, candy and soft drinks. MMM I can still smell those donuts when he opened the back doors of Helms van.
The Carnation Milkman
H.R. Puff ‘n’ Stuff
Land of the Lost
Oh Mighty Issis
Land of the Giants
Shazam
Eight is Enough
Every Which Way But Loose
Romper Room
Captain Kangaroo
Gumby
Felix the Cat (the wonder fulwonderful cat)
Mighty Mouse
Yogi Bear
Bright Lite
Play Family Camper, (A camper with a sorts of camping toys)
Chinese Jacks
Fotomat Booths.
Orange 76 ball on car antennas
General Telephone
Tyco HO trains
Slotless race car sets
A few video games that we’ve missed:
Ms. Pac-Man
Front Line
Paper Boy
Ordering those free KLOS 95.5 “TOO HIP” or “KLOS 95.5” stickers direct from the station and plastering them on your Trapper Keeper, locker door, dad’s car…anywhere!
I still remember they had a PO BOX 95 1/2. How the hell??
Op shorts, Fox Hills Mall, and airplane model kits…how else to celebrate my 13th birthday in ’83…read the story!
http://www.leftylimbo.com/2010/03/lucky-13/
Dude, the KLOS stickers:
http://jaced.com/2005/06/02/early-eighties-socal-flashback/
Awesome…those KLOS stickers are a TOTAL icon of early ’80s L.A.!
Lookit what I found!
http://www.leftylimbo.com/2010/03/too-hip/
PARTY ANIMAL LOL
lol Isn’t that classic? =D
Indeed. BTW, I was just skimming through this thread and overlooked Allan’s find:
http://www.wackypackages.org/bestof/crust.html
(Horrible UI. But you’ll find some good stuff in there with a little work.)
My Fedco story (the one on La Cienega):
I’m sure you all remember Fedco had these dinky membership cards in the ’70s which were basically standard issue paper (like the old library cards). My dad was really absent-minded, and often we’d show up to Fedco, deal with the crazy parking (on weekends they got slammed), then end up getting to the door with my dad finding out he forgot his card at home. So instead of driving back (we actually lived about a mile away), my dad would lean close and say, “wait here for an oriental family (yes, oriental…this was pre-PC lol) and then walk with them inside.” When I saw the security guard checking the cards at the entrance I’d get nervous, thinking we’d go to jail or something if we got caught.
The Fedco customers filed in like cattle, and I’d look down the lot to see if there were any *oriental* families coming down. Luck would eventually send ’em over, sometimes complete with a bowl-cut boy just like me (c’mon, what asian kid didn’t have that haircut, eh?), and we stood next to ’em and walked right in. The families never raised a brow to our actions, nor did the security guard, though sometimes we didn’t look anything like the family we were clinging to.
Every day’s a savings day,
At Thrifty Drug and Discount Store,
Your dollar buys you more,
At Thrifty!
Wickes. Surprisingly, Wickes.
Eat a pita!
A what?
Eat a pita!
Pita? He’s a nice guy.
Munch a bunch,
A bunch, a bunch,
A bunch, a bunch,
A bunch,
A bunch of Fritos go with lunch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Quq7bAzQ9cQ
National Lumber. Ole’s. Angel’s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIVEA6XR3uM
Ladies and Gentlemen…the SOLID GOLD dancers!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwzLQ-ekGt8
Did we forget Boys Market?
Shrinky Dinks
I used to work at Stater Bros. I was 18 and I had to wear a name tag that had my name on it, and under it there was the phrase “It’s our meat that made us famous” oy vey.
@esorcire: The “Culver City Meat Co.” (no longer in existence) had the slogan “You Can’t Beat Our Meat.”
http://www.imagepoop.com/image/3521/You-Can-t-Beat-Our-Meat.html
This same image was marketed for awhile as part of those hipster “random vintage graphic” t-shirts from Urban Outfitters. I’m not sure if they eventually got CADed for it (Cease and Desist) for using a real corporate identity…but it was fun while it lasted. Being a Culver City resident, I wish I picked one up.
Freshen-up: the gum that goes squirt!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oWF2bSZjGM
WE DON’T SWIM IN YOUR TOILET, SO PLEASE DON’T PEE IN OUR POOL.
WELCOME TO OUR OOL
NOTICE THERE’S NO P IN IT. PLEASE KEEP IT THAT WAY.
Kissing is Pee-Chee, but sex is an all season sport!
Dood, that quote and the folder are *so* freakin’ iconic…I wanna meet the guy (or gal!) who made that quote up.
Back in my day, that was like, the first thing you wrote on your Pee-Chee folder before doing anything else!
Hold on to your tongue and say, “My dad works at the shipyard and cleans up all the ashes.”
“You got your peanut butter in my chocolate!”
“Oh yeah? Well, you got your chocolate in my peanut butter!”
“The Machine”. It was a phone number with a daily recording. Silly scripted skits and what not. Anybody remember this?
A friend off-board remembers this one:
One, two, three-four-five,
I caught a fish alive,
Se, ven, eight-nine-ten,
I let him go again,
Why did you let him go?
Because he bit my finger so,
Which finger did he bite?
The little one on the right…
“Libby’s, Libby’s, Libby’s,
On the label, label, label.
You will like it, like it, like it,
On your table, table, table.”
The Jack LaLanne Show at 6:30 am (I think on Channel 11).
Oh yeah, the movie Valley Girl.