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 How times change with prices...I remember the good old daysNow,I was born in 1953.But I can remember going to the store in the mid 1960's as a kid and buying a triple dip of ice cream for 30 cents!I can remember Tasty Cakes for 10 cents!And the pies and filling had more in them.I can remember candy bars being only 5 cents!And they were bigger!And that is still in the late 1960's.By 1971,I can remember buying Cigarettes for my mom for only 35 cents a pack and 45-50 cents for that famous Marboro hard pack!Yes,the store owner knew my mom and let me buy the pack for her.Mailing a first class letter was ONLY 6 cents!!!Back then,they had cigarette machines.The cost was about 32 cents for a cheaper no name brand.But here's the thing:The cigarette machine DID NOT give out penny change when you put 35cents into it,well,not in the coin return!!So,how did they give you the appropriate change back?One of two ways.Someone,somewhere put 3 cents change in the clear cellophane wrapping that went around the box of cigarettes!So,when the box fell down,you had your change on the box!The other way was to ask to store owner to open up his cash drawer and refund you.But many machines were not IN the store and outside at late hours after the store closed! By 1971 I got my first car and paid 200 dollars for it(used of course and a beater) and guess how much the gas was for regular? 36 cents a gallon!!I remember this because the price of a gallon of gas was about the same for the price of a pack of cigarettes!!Take note to that! I had begun to buy gold chains and other gold items by 1972.Gold was only about 38 dollars an ounce back then!Made a hefty profit when I sold much of it in the 2000's. Flying kites...15 cents back in 1969.Models of Star Trek from 1966 at the hobby store were only 3 dollars. Once,in 1966 I saw a 25 cent coin in the storm sewer.I wanted that quarter!!!But how? It was a few feet down with bars covering the sewer.I finally figured it out!I went home and got some airplane glue from my Star Trek model.Got a long stick from the woods,put glue in the end,lowered it to the quarter,let it dry for a while,then lifted the quarterout of the storm sewer!! I bought a double dip of ice cream and one Hershey candy bar for the quarter! Now...beat that!I was elated!! Bread was about 25cents a big loaf back in the late 1960's.But again,even in the 1970's and before that gas crisis,prices were fantastic. In the 1980's...I flew to the Bahamas three times.Once to Nassau and twice to Freeport. I left from Newark airport,NJ.Guess how much for a 3 day,2 night travel? 199 dollars!!!!!!!! And that included the hotel on the beach(a nice one,not run down) and free pick up of myself and my girlfriend to the hotel and back to the airport 3 days later!No food was included,but food was cheap there.We ate for under 10 dollars at most restaurants....and for dinner! I was aboard the ORIGINAL "Love Boat"...the one you see on that old TV show. But back then,in the early 1970's it was called..."The Sea Venture"...under a Norwegian flag.Picked it up in NYC going to Bermuda.Only later,was it bought out by the USA and docked on the west coast.How much for the cruise with a stateroom and good view of the sea? Only 450 dollars!!I could have gotten a cheaper room with only a small round glass window for 390.00!And that was a full week trip leaving from NYC! Yes.I am glad I was born in the 1950's!I went through music changes,"duck and cover" hiding under my school desk or in the bomb shelter when we drilled,just in case the Soviet Union had dropped the nuke on us.My neighbor had one of those underground shelters built into his yard! I was part of the hippy age,playing hippy music like In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida or Nights In White Satin with my band,heavy metal music in the 1970's,then Pop music in the 1980's. In 1969,during the first historic moon landing,I was glued to the TV set and taped all the conversations on a reel to reel recorder.Kept it for years,but eventually the tape quality faded all on its own...unfortunately. Yes,the kids of today missed it all! Now a scoop of ice cream is around $3.87 and a candy bar around...$2.80 for chocolate bars. Crazy!My mom bought me my first BIG two foot chocolate bunny(solid,not hollow!) for 3 dollars back in 1966.Took me a month to consume it...with friends! If only I had a time machine! Thanks for sharing my memories! |
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euro_pop_legend 31-May-23, 15:40 |
Deleted by euro_pop_legend on 31-May-23, 15:53.
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As a kid my friends and I went Trick or Treating,like millions of other kids.Candy,was cheap back then and the price of chocolate was also low. But we had a secret to get much more candy! In our bags we had two other Halloween costumes! Then we made our rounds...three times to the same houses wearing a different costume,just in case the owner would recognize us!And how many houses?Well I cannot count them,but it was in 3 different local towns right next to one another!To give you an idea of how much candy we "confiscated",we taped a foot high cardboard border around my Moms kitchen table and widened the table with that center board.We not only filled the entire table but it looked like a mountain of candy rising up ABOVE the cardboard!!!We had to freeze much of it,since it took us about a year to consume it with plenty of friends!And that did not include all the fruit,cookies,apples and more we got!Yes,we were thieves!But young innocent thieves hungry for the sweet stuff!We had to take tape along the next year because the bottom of our bags began to rip out with all the weight of the candy!!Yes,we had to go back home many times exausted,empty the bags and then go out again and again!We thought about a wagon,but that would only slow us down.Sometimes we left a bag or two behind the owners house and behind his bushes,then picked up the bag the next night. |
