Young people have no idea …

With gas costing around $4.30/gallon in SoCal, I wouldn't leave my car during filling for fear that the person on the other side of the pump would grab the hose and fill their car on my dime.

 

Honey Combs cereal used to give out mini plates when I was a kid. Got the New Mexico one and thought it was the coolest thing ever. Pretty sure I put it on my bike.

1. I guess we can add giving a damn about what prizes the breakfast cereal and fast food joints were handing out. We still to this day have Disney/Muppets/Christmas glasses that were given out as promotions at Arby's, McDonalds and the like. My mom loved the Miss Piggy crashing through stained glass one and was heartbroken when her dumbshit kid dropped and broke it when he was 8 years old. A couple of years ago, I found one on ebay and got it for her for Christmas.
2. Someone already mentioned mail order and I concur. I remember saving for months to order my Portland Trail Blazers Starter satin and finally hitting the needed amount with Christmas money. Sent in the order in mid-January and for the next six weeks I was Ralphie coming home looking for the Little Orphan Annie decoder ring until it finally arrived.....just in time for it not to be that cold anymore in western PA.
3. Speaking of Starter jackets, is there a single item of clothing that kid sports fans are as transfixed on as we were those things in the 80s and 90s?
4. Thinking my digital Toshiba Walkman with auto reverse and graphic equalizer was the peak of audio technology.
5. Salad bars being in Wendy's, Raxx, and even friggin Burger King.
6. The social and shopping experience that was the shopping mall on a Saturday or Sunday with your parents.
7. Cell phones being mounted in the car and only being used in emergencies. Also, only "rich people" had them.
8. Television revolving around Friday night.

That's enough for now.

 

I paid $120 for this. $120 in 1977 money.

 

Way back in the dark ages I ordered some Sea Monkeys from the back of a comic book. Of course, they didn't arrive. My late mother called the number in New Jersey, to discover that of course they knew nothing 'bout no Sea Monkeys and didn't have her check and don't call again.

I remember the first McDonald's in our area, and riding with the parents for what seemed like an eternity to get there. Pizza Hut, too, and then Burger King, and Taco Bell. Now they're in just about every town with a breathing body.

 

As a high schooler just hanging out at the McDonalds parking lot, running in just often enough to excuse our existence. Or not even that. Eight or ten car loads of teens on a Saturday night just looking for some fun and no worries.

 

Texas Instruments graphing calculator, at least that cost, required for college, still working, given to my grandson several months ago to "play" with.

 

In one of my parents’ many photo albums (themselves qualified to be on this thread) are snapshots of my brother and I chilling with Ronald McDonald at the opening of our town’s first McDonalds.

 

I want to see what happens when you hand a college freshman a slide rule to use in math or chem.

 

Dude I’m almost 40 and I can’t use one

 

I don't have photos but did make the trips to see Creepy Ronald, and I think the Hamburglar.

The mention(s) above of cereals, it's scary the amount of sugar I consumed. Some weird toy in the box, puzzles or games on the back of the box, and probably half a pound of sugar on the processed grain cereal. Loved the Fruity Pebbles and Cocoa Pebbles. My dad liked Cheerios (still does), which to me was sawdust (still is).

 

Or a young journalist a pica pole and wheel.