Every single day. There came a point in my mid-30s when I observed that for all the technology we'd developed to make life simpler, social culture and politics cancelled it out by making life more complicated. And we're worse off because of it. There's no doubt I lived a very idyllic childhood; my father was a successful developer and it allowed us to do things most families couldn't; but the general tenor of the society we tried to build after WWII was a better living standard within the guardrails of simplicity. Now, society can't handle the techno-culture we've built because it seeks no limitations or ground rules -- some with the best of intentions but nevertheless deleterious to human interaction and our very ability to sustain ourselves.
You do know 1962 was the cuban missile crisis where everyone was expecting a nuclear bomb to be dropped on their heads and also the year that a riot occurred in University of Mississippi cause an African American applied as a student.
@@texasboy5680 Yes. There's a crisis a week; always has been. We're talking about a socio-economic construct that reflected America's commitment to first principles. No time is without crisis; but there was a time when we trusted that dedicated people with character in positions of power would make decisions in defense of our common interests. That no longer exists today and so we go from crisis to crisis without any sense of direction because our elected officials are more interested in campaigning than actually doing something with the responsibility they've been given. The difference between US leadership when I was a kid compared to now is completely dichotomous; we no longer trust government and that began in the 70s after Watergate. We've never recovered; we're circling the drain.
$5.63!!!!!!! That's it with a 5lb veal roast and everything else she got!!!! It would be worth the cost of a time machine just so we could go back and to the grocery store back then.
newstart49 True, but making money like that back then meant mom could stay at home and take care of the home and family. Now if a guy is making 3-4k a month that's not really enough. They call it progress, but I don't know.....I call it sad.
maconsumner They shove that "progress" thing down our throats- but what they mean is progress for them not us. Now we have both husband and wife working and that is still not enough. We are near the breaking point.
newstart49 Yup, I am glad other people see it like I do. We spend too much time away from what is really important to make money to buy crap we really don't need. Our priorities as a society are screwed and what's worse is it isn't going to get better.
Poor little Jack wanted one thing (strawberries) and mom say's nope, and little sister Betty fills up her little shopping cart with things she wanted, and mom is like "good job Betty". I'm sure Jack will have some words for little sister Betty off-camera.
I remember my mother coming home from the supermarket in 1969 with 11 or 12 paper shopping bags filled to the brim and some overflowing with groceries. She was going on and on about having to pay 50 dollars for these groceries. Today, it would cost, probably, 400 or more dollars. 😄
Yes, I remember back in the mid-1990's I bought extra groceries for a camping trip and it cost me $60.00 and I thought "Wow!". Today I spend that much for so much less!
I’m only 36 and this makes me feel a bit of nostalgia that I never experienced haha. My grandfather is a World War II and Korean War veteran, I remember he always talked about those times, saying how cheap, safe, modest and innocent those days were ❤️ he’s 97 today!
@@RIXRADvidz Are you judging me based on my Yhoo name, well for your info I am as white as can be if it matters please stop being a racist and live a better life of less bitterness and resentment.
Only if you want an all white world. And one where women had to be housewives, whether or not they liked it. It's fun to watch these videos, but they were not real life for many, many, many people.
@@RIXRADvidz I laughed out loud at you calling Black folks "coloured" (are you from CanaDUH or England, "mate?"). Come over here to Chicago in the USA on Madison and Pulaski with that mess!
@@RIXRADvidz There's always one Woketard in the comment section. Whining about nonsense they made up or misunderstand. Can you please show us all on the doll where the white man has hurt you so much.
That was a very nice store with a great selection. We didn't get to see stores like that in our community until the 1970s. In the 1950s we had to go to separate stores when we went shopping. Bakery, butcher shop, dry goods, and the dairy store when we stopped getting milk, eggs, and butter delivered. Vegetables were local either fresh or canned at home, while fruit was fresh berries in the summer and apples and pears in the fall, which we put into the root cellar so they would last through the winter. At Christmas we would see oranges and grapefruit for a very short time, then we would have to wait a whole year. Many people today just don't appreciate what life was like a couple generations ago..
An orange and nuts or a tangerine in your Christmas stocking was a treat in New England. A pomegranate was over the top , my grandparents would give us one each year .
I agree. Where I came from, this sort of grocery store wouldn't be available to most of the population until the 1970s or 80s. We lived on a farm and had to grow vegetables which were canned to last us the winter. We also produced our own eggs and milk. Therefore, our father would basically just buy sacks of flour and sugar and also oats for our morning breakfast. A little bit of money had to stretch a long way.
And then corporations found out that they can raise prices across the board to benefit their boards and pass the cost onto the consumer. That's why you have to have a two person income to afford a house, car, healthcare, etc. Way more simple before corporations controlled the country.
When I got married in 1967, I could get 10 big bags of groceries for $20 and I remember my husband fussing about it. His dad told him that he had no idea what groceries cost! I made my husband go shopping with me the next time and it cost TWICE as much. I shopped for 'bargains' and he hadn't. He had to laugh at his own self! He never complained again!
I can imagine a conversation from 56 years ago: Husband (groaning): $20 for groceries! Where does it all go?! Wife (Irritated at the question - that time of the month, lol): It goes into damn good meals, friend!
@@MisterMikeTexas 😂 You're right about good meals! I learned from the best...my dear Mother, her 4 sisters and a dear Uncle who was a chef/butcher. He taught us what cuts of meat to buy and how to season food. My husband didn't have any complaints about his meals! Many times dinner would be a 4 course meal...all whole foods cooked from scratch!😋
Some of it was very good, some of it wasn't...depended from day to day....I would never give up the past and what it was, our past makes us what we are today, but I would never want to relive it....once was enough
And nobody came to the store with a pair of ass tight pants or short shorts, with a telephone in their hands and yakking nonstop and a screaming brat throwing a tantrum because they don't get their way. I was taught to behave in public or get my ass whipped.
@@sheriheffner2098 Oh please. Shorts were much shorter in the '70s, and there were plenty of screaming brats throwing tantrums in the toy aisles. But I'm truly sorry your parents used violence to teach you manners. Really, there were much less extreme methods. It's a true shame they, and others of their generation, didn't bother to learn that.
@@sandyfreyman3501Dogs, aside from Seeing Eye dogs for the blind, have absolutely no place in stores. Especially grocery stores. And if you knew ANYTHING about food safety you would ALREADY know this.
@@duckduckgoismuchbetter I know this is what they say but I disagree. Dogs do enter groceries. They are cleaner then covid patients and can be seen in backpacks and carriers under carts in these times. I have no issue with dogs in grocery stores or outdoor food venues either. Amen.
@@kerplunkety Betty grew up into a real fatty, and couldn't figure out how to operate one of those battery seated carts, and now Betty blames her mother for not having the foresight to see into the future, and teaching her bad eating habits.
I loved going to the grocery store and do grocery shopping with my grandma and getting the S&H green stamps and filling up those books and it was lots of fun
I used to do the same with my grandmother and mom at the A&P. We filled up those Plaid Stamp books and then redeemed them for prizes we picked out of a catalog. It was huge fun indeed!
@@YT4Me57 my big brother got a giant plastic race car w/ regular wheels and snow ski type runner skids that quickly changed over and I got a big boys tricycle😁 yes happy days indeed!
@@YT4Me57 we had an A&P HEAR IN ROANOKE RAPIDS N C. ..... I DON'T MEAN TO CHANGE THE SUBJECT BUT .... THE OWNERS OF AP WHERE MURDERED BACK IN 1972 - 73. BY THE MOB MY MOMA CRYING ALL DAY LONG😪 look up Shay MURDERED in RRNC
Howard Wayne,,, no, I don't get overdrawn, I use the credit card and my husband pays it at the end of the month ☺😊. I do totally get Betty though, I shop the same way. Life is short, you should have what you want if you can. I'm amused at how Betty just puts what she wants in the cart without a thought, that's so ME😊😆
@@dalerussellsullivan9373 I see divorce in your future. That's okay for you though, since I'm sure you will get a good lawyer and take yer poor husband for all he is worth.
Richard Gray,,,,,I see that you are a jealous prick in the present! How dare you?! You don't know me or my husband,,we have been together for 30 years and he has NO problem with the way I spend money or how much I spend. Unlike you,,,HE is a successful business owner, and he is NOT worried about money or stingy like you are!! We are very happily married and will stay that way. I feel sorry for your wife if you even have one, which I doubt.....LOSER.
I remember when the local chapel was turned into a supermarket in my village in the mid sixties. I managed to get a job there, it was absolutely fantastic working in that lovely supermarket. Such happy carefree memories.
I was in a Sam's Club at 7pm tonight. There was a young child, maybe 2 or 3. She was so loud! Screaming just for the fun of it. A couple times she made me jump and we were not right next to each other. The family was encouraging the screaming, or acted like they didn't hear it. Life is so different now.
If that was today, mom would be in pajama pants, a baggy t shirt without a bra and house shoes. Betty would be sitting in the basket, watching an iPhone while eating a bag of cookies she opened and Jack would be running amok
@@Paul-vc8on Because the man she was with refused to use birth control or keep a job, and ran out on her the day Betty was born? Women have been blamed for all problems, starting with Eve.
What I love about this video is that NOONE is wearing their pants around their knees and no slippers! Back then, people had standards. Something missing today. The kids were well behaved and got to spend quality time with their mom. Also, NO CELL PHONES!
@@Thorium_Th LOL. She's right, you who are named after a toxic material. The place was neat, clean, everybody dressed nice, no junkies or weirdos. Boomer standards. Unlike today which has no standards at all.
@@shawnstephens1251 Correct! In a retail store today so called parents or children having children, let them run wild, destroying expensive furniture, opening food and helping themselves while parents are unaware and if you try and stop the little animals from destroying your merchandise the parent reprimands you. End times we are in today
My father was a grocery clerk in the 1960s -2000. I remember this well. He worked for Mayfair Markets in California . A great company to work for. I miss those days. Ground beef was .39 a pound.
I work in a large retail store, now some kids just pick items up off the shelf, and start eating it, without paying, and leave the packages on the shelf
I'm a customer who hates that! l used to have a ex friend in her late 30's who always did that. One time I refused to buy food away from my given list and money (by my disabled mom) so she decided to eat whatever I denied her and left a trail of empty bags and stuff. She was actually buying magazines instead of the food she scarfed down. She had no idea she was well watched and charged $30 along with her magazine stack!
I was 15 in 1962 and assisted my mother often shopping for groceries. So many staff. No price scanning. Everyone dressed well. Wearing dresses, no blue jeans etc. No plastic shopping bags. AND two packed PAPER bags for only $5 62! I know, everything else was a lot less expensive too. Leaving a dog with a window partly rolled down such that someone could make off with the dog or get into the car isn't done much that way now. Different times, but for me, fond memories.
Skip to today: people wear their pajamas to the grocery store. What's worse, is they wear pajamas that look like they haven't been washed in about two months (and I live near a wealthier area of my city) I just finished watching a local news story from Detroit where a woman was told she had too many items for the self checkout. The customer was so enraged that she followed the store employee into the restroom and kicked open the stall door and yanked the employee out and beat her on the ground. What - the heck - is happening? Progression or regression?
It was a GREAT fun time to be alive. I remember these stores................personalized service with a smile and everything so much bigger than today and cost very little...Stuff like Quaker Oats had a gigundo sized container making today's "large" Quaker Oats look tiny. Take me back!
Boomer here (B. 1958) and I would go to the grocery store w/mom every Wednesday evening after dinner. There were 5 of us and dad gave her $45/wk to go shopping. She was always able to buy steak for Saturday night & a carton of cigarettes for herself. I was either in the toy department or watching the meat convoy belt wrapping the meat, weighing it then stamping the label on it. Fast forward to late 70’s and my best friend work nights at a major grocery store changing prices at nights. He said that when they used the ink stamper on cans, they would remove the old price with hairspray
we had a grocery store in 1958, called King Coles, way ahead of it's time, they would put your groceries in bags then in a big bin, put it on a conveyer belt, it would go on the conveyer belt to outside the store, you would drive up, and a boy would take the bags out of the bin, and put it in your car
Cool! The boy baggers would take ours out and put them in the car. Shopping is tiring enough without having to lift the heavy stuff and put in the car.
@sphinxrising58 - Where was this? I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area in the1960's through 2000's And I NEVER heard of ANY store that was open 24/7 until the local 7 Eleven went 24/7 in the late 1970's. Everything closed at 9:00 or 10:00 pm at the latest and NOTHING opened on SUNDAY at ALL until the foreigners started taking over the small "mom and pop" stores in the 1980's. In the large metropolitan cities like New York and Chicago there were places that were open late or 24 hours but even most of them were closed on Sunday and ANYTHING run by Jews was closed from sundown on Friday till sundown on Saturday.
Jim H. I lived near a town with the majority being Jewish and I thought it was kind of nice because when (though closed on their sabbath, sat) their businesses were open when other businesses were closed on sunday.
How disciplined children were back then. Today, going into the supermarket with children is a clearly impossible task. The children don't stop screaming and raving if you don't give them what they want!
Back then kids weren't taken out in public until they had enough manners they wouldn't shame the parents. Teaching kids to behave in public back then was not an "on the job" thing. They learned those manners at home first. If they misbehaved, it was a solid spanking or Dad's belt and being sent to bed without supper. You used the wrong words or mouthed off, you got your mouth washed out with soap. Kids behaved because misbehavior was not only frowned on, it was punished. The result was if DAD told you to knock it off, you better believe you stopped doing whatever you were doing - instantly. I remember back in that era, on Sunday virtually everyone went to church. Smaller kids attended Sunday School instead of regular services as the long sermons would be a bit much for them. But when you aged out of Sunday School at 7 you were expected to attend regular services. And we did. And we sat quietly. I'm not saying it was easy, but we did it and there were no kids running around screaming or causing a disturbance. I remember how my favorite hymn was "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" because that was always the last hymn sung at the end of the service and I knew WE WERE FREE!!!! But until we left the church we all sat quietly and walked out like little ladies and gentlemen.
@@DoubleDogDare54 I work in retail and when kids get out of control I ask the parents to please leash their animals and prevent them from destroying our store. the look on their faces is worth the effort.
I was 9 years old in 62. I had completely forgotten about the cans of orange juice and other juice. I swear it tasted better then than it does now. Thank you for the wonderful walk down memory lane.
I HATED canned orange juice and grapefruit/orange juice..it always had a horrible metallic taste...I was forced to drink that stuff because fresh fruit wasn't always available, and daily vitamin C was a must, as was whole milk 3x/day...
Amazing thanks for uploading it all looks so organized and the people are civilized they are dressed and they have dignity. Unlike today where people are dressed in their sleeping PJ and twerking in the store.
Judging from all the cars present in the film, I'd say this was closer to the mid to late 1950's. At any rate, I would be closer to Betty's age (born in 1954), but I remember how big the displays were at that age, and how cold the freezer was as I dug out the cans of O.J. for my Mom. My father owned and operated an IGA store in Southern New Hampshire until I was 5 years old. I'm glad they showed the final bill of sale for those groceries...$5.63 won't even pay for a coffee and a coffee roll nowadays! My wife shelled out $140.00 for one week's worth of food last week...without meat- for just the 2 of us (retired, no kids)!
I miss going to the small meat-shop with my grandmother in the late 60's, and then to the milk-store, where we bought milk and cheese! Then we went back to her apartment-building and played cards and watched the news. I wasn't allowed to talk while she watched the news! We went to sleep straight after the 9 o'clock news, I slept in her living-room and I loved going for sleep-overs to her!
This is so funny I grew up in the fifties. When we went shopping it was once-a-month into the big city at Henke & Pilott in Houston, Texas to buy salt, flour, yeast, sugar, coffee beans, everything else we grew or slaughtered at the home which basically was a farm. What a great time to be alive.
Born in 1963, I'm thankful to remember most of this! Some here have mentioned how "wholesome" this all was... It's true, until the film flash forwards to 6pm that same day when the vodka martinis were stirred and poured.
I clearly remember the A&P that we shopped at when I was a lad ...... many decades ago. It was so small compared to the giant grocery stores we have today. And back then, who would've thought the grocery store of the future would have an entire aisle dedicated to bottled water! Imagine that, buying water at a grocery store!
The most ridiculous thing ever. And tap water today is verified much safer than ever in world history! Yet, bottled water companies and media have brainwashed the world into believing paying for bottled water is better.
@@katediy4563 So one could have earned the money to buy those groceries in about eight hours of work. $80 (eight hours on our minimum wage here) doesn't get you much groceries these days, even if you're careful with what's on sale etc. I shudder to think what it'd be like for people in areas with a lower minimum wage, let alone American waitstaff... D:
and Heinz, Mrs.Paul's, Betty Crocker (Bisquick), Pillsbury, Post (Grape Nuts), Kellogg (Corn Flakes), Campbell soups, Pall Mall and Camel cigarettes, Nabisco (Graham Crackers) - All are shown, still available today
I loved people dressed up. Mom's were home. Dad worked hard. My friends Mom's were really wonderful to me and included me their families. I was a only child. Music and the radio was so good. I love music! It does bring me back.
im so shocked at how much it was in total! and the kids are well behaved too! if you were to go to the grocery store today you would hear kids screaming and crying!
First off, I was born in 1958, and let me tell you, it was way better in a very important aspect, kids could roam the streets freely without fear of being abducted. Back then, there were no such thing as "helicopter parents" that nowadays have to constantly watch their kids at play.
Um, not sure about the freedom thing. You took your chances with bullies and the neighbor, Mr. Grant, with the beautiful collie would let you help walk him, so I heard. C'mon, Prince likes to walk down the alley. If you tell your parents, he'll kill them. But when found out about another child, you learn this fine gentleman was thought to have been *cured*. Not suggesting I didn't love the freedom myself.
This seemed really calm back then. Whenever I go to the store, people are always rudely pushing in front of me because they can't wait 2 seconds to get something where I'm standing, children are running around screaming, even the employees are not nice and not even clean for working with food. The same guy who takes out the garbage and organizes the carts is also bagging groceries at the check out.
I am a checker and always nice and polite even if the customers are pricks. Its my work mask and I just do the job the best I can. I always clean the belt as much as possible and keep hand sanitizer on hand.
I grew up in that era and what killed me was how they would go out with their hair in rollers. Could never figure that out. Go out in public like that so you can look good at home for your hubby?
always wondered how one chooses canned items over frozen or vice versa - in the film, Mrs Nelson bought 3 cans of string beans and 2 packages of frozen peas - I worked in a grocery store a lot like this one when I was in high school - the stocker stamped the prices of canned items on top of cans and cashiers still tallied everything manually keying in each item amount on the register - we only used paper bags too - no plastic ones and NO scanners!.. made many friends in that job
At least in those days detergents had phosphates and you could actually wash those shit up undies clean as new. Today, one wet fart and they're in the garbage can, buh, bye.
Stores like that and Bed Bath, where its all stacked to the ceiling, towering over you, make me so filled with anxiety i cannot shop in those stores. I use to get panic attacks in Sams Club🥺🙈.
This is actually a 1957 film, not 1962, but the prices are still amazing, and it's surprising how similar the store is in many ways to stores of today.
It is actually cheaper now if you do the wages to grocery ratio and percentage, it's actually about 18% cheaper. Just all the other crap that we don't really need is very expensive.. 😄😄😄😄
I grew up in a rural area. We always shopped at Knob Hill Farms, a small supermarket chain. It wasn't glossy, like the big supermarket chains, but the prices were much lower, and there were many ethnic foods, at a time when the big supermarkets didn't carry them. Produce and fresh meats were never pre-packaged there. Corn was sold in its husk (nature's own wrapper). For meats, you went to the meat counter, asked for what you wanted, and a butcher wrapped it for you, cutting it if necessary. Instead of bags, the store used specially made cardboard boxes, that you paid a refundable deposit on. I loved watching how the cashiers packed so much into each box, by packing it neatly. That's how I learned proper bagging/boxing technique. I also loved watching the cashiers' fingers fly up and down the rows of keys on the old electro-mechanical cash registers. Those machines were a lot more interesting than the electronic ones that replaced them.
You can still have a simpler time like then.....turn off the tv, turn off the cable, turn off the internet, and suddenly youd be surprised how simple life today can be....its alot easier to be nostalgic than actually try to live it....but it is possible, if you want it bad enough
A&P with Mom, about that year, too! I learned how to pack the bags myself and remember being proud when I could carry a ten pound bag. A&P had Plaid Stamps, and the redeeming store wasn't too far. That was fun stuff, now I just grumble at the price, the quality, and the fact that you can't get that anymore!
As to whether the FEEL is more '50s or '60s, I offer this: I was born in 1956, and most of the durable goods surrounding kids growing up 1956-1966 were straight out of the 1950s. There was a 15-20 year lag then between how taste makers told us we were supposed to style our environment, and how we actually did. Style books about the 60s now concentrate on Peter Max graphics and egg-shaped red chairs. But no kids I knew lived in houses decorated like "the '60s". It was ALL '50s holdover.
I was born in '48. I remember before K Mart, stores (except the few large grocery stores) closed at 5 PM and everything was closed on Sunday. It was like the dark ages.
I am a younger boomer and my mom definitely did not dress like that to the supermarket. I would see her dressed up for church or holidays. She always wore pants. The entire family went food shopping on Fridays, including dad. He helped mom a lot.
I guess I'm an older boomer and it was rare to see my mother in jeans or slacks unless we went fishing/boating. It seemed most women wore 'house' dresses at home...simple cotton dresses, but they looked so nice and neat...not as fancy as June Cleaver, except for church or going out. My maternal grandmother was an awesome seamstress, out of necessity mostly. She and my grandfather had 9 children and she made everything they wore. Her generation was the 1800's and they had to do everything from scratch. She was my heroine! ❤
Your mom was progressive for the time . Where my grandma was from , if you wore pants it was a sin. They failed to capture in this video the ashtrays that were at the end of each isle ..
I'm an older boomer. My mother would wear pants around the house, but if she went anywhere in public she was always in a dress, nice shoes, her make-up and hair neatly done, like the gal in this video.
You are so right on with that comment! Even chicken wings cost more. Used to be that the wings were the cheap throw away parts. Not anymore! And if you want anything beef you have to take out a mortgage on your home!
Not me.it took forever to get through the grocery line because everyone wrote checks . Long lines at banks because there were no ATMs and no direct deposit . The produce at the grocery store was not as fresh and abundant as it is today . Televisions were black and white with limited programming and poor pictures . I loved my childhood and enjoyed every minute of it but as an adult I am happy to have today's technology .
Those were the good ol days when people were respectful,kind, thoughtful of others. NO cellphones, no mobile banking, no entitlement, very little stealing , kids behaved.
Gosh how that pisses me off. I remember my brother and I getting caught playing on one of the first elevators in our town when I was about 5 in about 1974. Some man got on the elevator with us and said take me to your mom he then told her what we were doing. Well mom said how ashamed she was. Never again. Now kids cry abuse to everything. That is the problem kids do not feel embarrassment any more for anything and fear no one
@@loki6253 OMG! The same thing happened to my brother and me but it was in 1964. We were caught playing round with our town's first elevator and a man made us show him our Mom. She scolded us in front of everyone. My brother cried but me, not a chance. I thought it was well worth it scolding. It was our first elevator after all.
One afternoon I had been playing with the girl across the street. That evening her mother and her came to the door She was in those metal polio braces! I almost shit my pants! Here I was with her that day and now she has polio! Yikes! My mom calmed me down...it was just a get up. They were collecting for the March of Dimes. 5 year olds are so gullible.
+Paco Chamaco LOL! apparently he spends A lot of time in the canned bean isle, when the store isn't too busy. . .he keeps a large spoon and can opener in his pocket.
