I was 5 years old in 1964, but the 60's and 70's were the best times. We lived the same way you did. I would gladly give up all the things we have now to go back to those days. This really brought back memories. We were so happy with simple things and life was just fun and carefree
The street light rule applied to us too. I remember when one of the neighbor kids ignored them, his sister would come with an old Look magazine with a full page clown photo. It scared the hell out of him and he would run home screaming. We used to try to get him to stay out longer so we could watch.
You just described my childhood! I think those grew in the 50's and 60's. Were so lucky. Great times, freedom, outdoors, family dinners and more. Wonderful times to be a kid. Kids now miss so much!!
Great post Fred...thank you. I was born in 1964 and grew up in an upstate NY city. I'm surprised at how many things you mentioned still held true when I was 9 years old (1973). I think the most impactful was that kids left the house all day on weekends and during summer vacations with absolutely no adult supervision. We made our own friends, fought our own kid battles, and solved our own kid problems. When we came home for dinner, we sat at the table with our family and either ate what we were served or went hungry. Our mothers didn't cater to our individual food preferences. There was a store on every other corner, because our moms stayed home raising us, and they didn't have a car during the day. We didn't have 3500 square foot homes with five bedrooms and three bathrooms, but I guarantee we were happier than today's kids. I never heard of one kid committing suicide or cutting themselves back then.
Exactly the same experience for me in the summer. We played outside all day...no shirt, no shoes, rode our bikes without helmets, drank from the garden hose, and stayed out till way after dark until Mother called us in with a whistle. It was hot, the mosquitoes were out in force, we had stubbed our toes, but we sure were happy. Thanks for sharing with us!
I grew up in New York City which you'd think be the polar opposite of South Carolina but I guess we really share a home "town" of being a seven year old in the 1960s.
Apparently, I'm younger than you, but I still have the same memories We rode bikes without helmets, and played outside as long as we could. Neighbors were friendly, instead of suspicious. I'f we were doing something we shouldn't have been doing they would tell us so... Those where the "Good 'ol Days" for sure.
seems kids had a lot more sense then...nowadays you have to keep them from eating laundry detergent or some other idiotic challenge. we had dares too but always knew what was healthy and what wasn't. we did not have safety locks and knew that a turned on stove is hot. today everything has to be child-proof. you hurt yourself you knew you did not do it right or weren't supposed to...lesson learned, on with life
I just made the same basic comment. There have always been bad people but in the 70’s it became clear there are a ton of child molesters everywhere. Even then kids would never talk back to an adult.
I was 8 years old in '64. My gosh, so many of the same things I did. Yea, kids ran free. Just be home in time for lunch and supper. Sugary cereal, Tang, grilled cheese, and sweet tea. We had all of it. 3 channels on the TV and it was B&W too. We got 2 newspapers every day; the Courier in the morning and the Press around 4:30. Always ate dinner at the dinner table; a real family thing. No TV in the dining room. Looking back, life then was a lot less dangerous than it is today. Life without the damn internet is actually a really nice thing!
I was 6 going on 7 back in 64. Great memories and a simpler time. Growing up in Somerville NJ we were all over the town. Great place to grow up. And the Four Seasons tune in this video still sounds as good now as it did then! Air conditioning in cars? We opened the window back then!
Yeah...we sort of did. When at home my mother worked at a waitress job at the college caffeteria, my sister, ten years older than me, was going to school, and there wasn't anyone there to take care of me after school, or in summers. I had to take care of myself. During the summer, in Missouri, the only ones to take care of me there was my Aunt, who was raising her own kid, and my great Aunt and Uncle, who were busy growing, harvesting, and canning vegies out of an acre garden out back. My uncle also ran cattle to provide for him and my Great Aunt. No one had time to watch over me....to hover...to stifle. Kids today have no clue.
We lived in what passed for a city in Iowa, then, and, Mom was scared to death to let me out of her sight. She had to know where I was. It wasn’t like my home town. When school let out for the summer in 1964, I moved back with my grandparents.
What a wonderful time to be kid! We rode bikes without helmets, drank Kool Aid by the gallon, if the phone rang you had to answer it to find out who was calling! We didn't have a stereo, we had a record player
Great time to grow up! 1964 was my favorite year, I was 14! The new technology seems to make people uptight. People now worry about where they left their phone, and find it difficult to go anywhere without it!!!
Not me. We have a cell phone which we decided was a replacement for the house phone, but the wife uses it far more than I do. She takes it wherever she goes, whether I'm along or not. Personally, I hate the damned thing. Always rings at the worst time, and more often than not, it's someone I'm not interested in talking to anyway.
I was 9 years old in 1964, in Pennsylvania. We used to ride our bikes (after we had collected as many soda bottles, which were beside the road, to get some penny candy) to the Mom-and-Pop grocery store. Remember the creaking Coca-Cola cooler, which was always there? Remember the wooden screen door with some bread company logo where you pushed to get in? Remember the boxes of saltines? Remember, remember, remember...
Soda, er pop bottles, were worth 2c each so we'd collect and wash out as many as possible and take them to Beaton's Garage and "trade" 'em in for bags of potato chips and Orange Crush or a local brand that had a wonderfully tart type of pop called "Lime Rickie."
Your 196 Pennsylvania sounds a bit like 1968 Montana (Northeast) We used to collect pop bottles and take them to the local grocery store (Co-op and later Jack and Jill) to sell for a nickel each (later 10 cents). We also used to go to a local Farmers Union grain elevator and there was an old Coke machine (the chest style where you put in your dime and then slide the pop to the area where you would then pull the bottle up out of the machine). Then we would tell the elevator guy that we would return the bottles and we would not have to pay the deposit. (We always returned our bottles).
In 1964 I turned 11. Somehow we survived our childhoods. No seat-belts. Drinking from a garden hose. No helmets. Eating raw hamburger as mom was cooking dinner. Jumping off the garage roof. Filling up on penny candy for lunch. Walking on 6 foot tall brick walls through neighbor's yards to take shortcuts. Etc. Etc.
I grew up in 60's and 70's in the Los Angeles area of CA. Mostly on the beach. I remember so well playing in homes in various stages of being built after the workers left. I still remember the smell of pine wood and the putty wed pick out of the window seals lol. Playing in those houses were some of the best memories. And no one ever called the cops on us or yelled at us to get out. Life was so much better then for kids than now. Very sad.
And I would like to add; we knew everybody on our street. The children who were our age and would ride bikes and play games together. We knew the name of every dog in the back yards. We knew the cars; year, make, and model. We knew when to behave and when no adults were watching us. Living in the Dallas/Fort Worth area we had 5 channels on the television until a friend showed us 4 more channels on UHF. In the days before sunblock, I would get sunburned the first week of summer, my skin would peel, then I was fine the rest of summer. Those were the days my friend.
Yep! 4(CBS, now FOX 4), 5(NBC), 8(ABC), 11(Indie till 1996, now CBS), 13(PBS, Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, Electric Company, later Benny Hill and Monty Python). As for UHF I remember Channel 33, which went off the air and returned later, and Channel 39, which was Pat Robertson's CBN for years. I remember they played Brady Bunch reruns in the late 70s, and as a teen I had fantasies about Marsha and Jan I won't go into here. 😄
Hey, thanks for the memories. I was 9 also, and it was carbon copy for me and many American kids. We were blessed by freedoms that are virtually unknown by today's youth. We were some of the luckiest little suckers in all of history.
Yes, I am 62 years old and I now subscribe to a magazine called "Reminisce"....it re- lives the good times of the '50's, '60's and '70's...please look for it online...it is worth it...boy, I would give a million dollars to go back to 1964!!!
Thanks Fred , love your videos This time in our lives was so carefree, what I wouldnt give to go back in time, to great days, great times, and great friends. Now we are in the so called, golden years. What's golden, I'm not sure. But memories are a powerful thing, and this video sure helped. boost those memories , & helped me relive the days of my youth. Love those sweet lazy days of summer., riding to the local pool to swim, got a basket for clothes, and a tag to wear on our wrist, so we could collect our basket when leaving, for the long ride on our bikes back home, after dark, because we just had to swim all afternoon. Bikinis were popular, but boy my Dad, had a FIT , when he saw the one I bought, said , you go and take that right off, young lady, and put on your 1 piece, or you'll stay home. Ok Dad , I did it, with no arguements, didn't understand then, but I sure do now, he was trying to protect his little girl. He finally gave in tho, thanks to my hounding him every min. lol. And then we would sit down for a nice supper, my Mom made,, which was so good, after we would watch a little TV on the old Zenith , yep with only 3 channels. Then off to bed, skin still shriveled up from all day at the pool. Gee, I was pooped, but was thinking about tomarrows plan ,for another lovely summer day. Thank you Fred for a truly amazing walk down memory lane. That's all we've got left, MEMORIES. of a sweeter, a more simpler time in life. Hang on tight to em. That's all we get. Love that music, remember it well, I'd sing it all the time. I'll sing in the sunshine. & Hang on to what we got, that music was the greatest. That old juke box at the drugstore, or at our local cafe had those, or our local Blue Bell, ice cream place. we played those till they were probably worn out. Remember sitting blowing the paper off the straws, at everyone. The boys and their split wads weren't too cool ,especially if you got one in the face, we said kisser. back then lol But wow, what fun we had. I could go on forever. You got me started, Fred. But seriously it's been great, keep em coming. Love your videos.Just basking in the afterglow, of better days..
Thx for reminding me about the good days - even with only three channels to watch on the zenith! We were always busy hanging around outside - usually riding bike up and down rhe street - less cars back then & drivers were polite!
Going to the grocery store and helping mom bring the groceries into the house in brown paper bags, holding the door open for women, we respected our elders by saying no sir, yes sir, no man, yes mam, mad magazines, vehicles without seat belts.
Fred, Fred, Fred, believe it or not, as a little black kid growing up in Detroit (I was 11yrs old in 1964) the similarities are amazing! The Four Seasons was my favorite group back then, The Mighty Thor was my favorite comic, we too had to cut the grass, even our neighbors at my fathers stern request, even with the issues of our time then, there was respect, there was a desire to learn, there was the drive in, there was so much that today's generation will not ever know, the thing you and I have today Fred, are so many great and beautiful memories, to be honest, the late 50's to mid 60's were a great time to be an American kid! ........Love your videos so much....As a certain comic who almost closed out all of his TV specials "Thanks For The Memories"
Darryl, I was very pleased to read this. As I lived in a segregated neighborhood in the deep South in 1964, I could only watch the black children outside their ramshackle homes as we passed by their neighborhoods. I wondered how they lived, why they lived as they did and if inside them they were just like me. I felt really sorry for a little black girl named Irma who was bused to our school. She was so alone. So, in my experience, black children in the 1960s lived lives of deep suffering. It's good to hear that by far that was not always the case! By the way, I have a video on my kirby continuum channel called The Top 30 Thor Comics of 1960s that you should check out.
Wow! Jack "KING" Kirby and Steve Ditko! You know Fred, I tell these young kids today, I remember when we would have gang fights with the white kids, even then then were rules that we would follow, no sticks, no knives, no guns, etc. just you and your boys, the only kids that would break these rules were the Italian boys, anyway, here's the thing, after we would fight, or a one on one black kid and white kid, it didn't matter who won because afterwards we would all go over to the Dairy Queen for malts and sodas and we would laugh and joke, and after that we would all give each other a hand shake and a "Brother Hug," some of these guys are still friends with me today over 50 years later.
49jubilee, they could have received concussions playing football then too. Some did, but the medical profession didn't have the technology to find evidence of CTE back in the '60s.
Darryl Bailey: I'm smiling as I read your post. A Southerner, a "little black kid growing up in Detroit" and an East Coast Canadian have so much in our pasts in common. Shows to me people are more similar than different. All of us loved comics, our yards and going to the drive in. Remember car load night? And how the popcorn tasted better there and how the whole drive in seemed to have the delicious aroma of fried onions and hamburgers? We respected others and desired to know what was beyond the boarders of our neighbourhoods.
Lol every kid was a free agent... unless you were a girl, seems girls had more "rules" lol but somehow we did what we wanted . Love your you tubes have my I phone out to Shazam the songs.✌🏻💜
Life can’t be perfect because your not a kid anymore! My mother used to tell me that being a kid was the best part of life and she was right . I m sixty one
In Summer 1964, I was age 10. FredFlix, what you did here is brilliant! I lived in a NY City suburb, but it was the same there, just as you presented to us, here. Wow! We were certainly blessed, and you inspired me to count those blessings of my childhood. Now I have much greater sympathy for kids today, for what they lack.
This is just perfect! I was only three in 1964, but those summer days as I grew up were the best! No curfew, no limits, just be back when the streetlights came on! I had eight brothers, and five sisters, one of whom would have been brand new the summer of '64. Milk delivered to the back porch before the sun came up, by Rusty, our milkman. Sometimes he surprised us with a bottle of chocolate milk, for free, because he knew we didn't have much. My brother always took our new transistor radios apart, messed with the wires, and never got them put back right again. We were never lonely, nor bored. If I were bored, my mama told me to go get a cookbook, and bake something. Or read a book under the back porch, where it was cool, and smelled like damp earth. "Those were the days, my friend . . . "
FredFlix I cannot tell you the depth of feeling that your videos evoke in my soul. My mama, my daddy, my best sister, all the lives gone that made my childhood what it was. The good, the bad, the ugly, the undefinable, the forever unspoken . . . It is all back in a rush when I watch your videos. Thank you so very much for what you do. I don't always comment, but I always watch, and very often send them to my sisters, and then we talk, and share memories, and are young again! 💐💐💐
Wow, that's so very nice to hear, MegaGinia (Ginia?). Your words encourage me to carry on, for if there's one thing I want to accomplish with these videos, it's to put a knowing smile on people's faces. So thank you.
FredFlix lol. My name is Virginia, but the little ones who do not call me Grammy, call me Ginia. I tried using that, but Google said no, and suggested MegaGinia, so I ran with it!
3 TV channels and always something to watch, hated those mosquitos buzzing my ear, and we had those stupid half screens with a 5 foot gap for bugs to enter, and no computers. Life was perfect!
I'm a bit older than you (4 yrs) and Norwegian, but the mentality and the childhood freedom was just like yours. There were very few cars, some had 1-channel TV. But we roamed the streets, parks and playgrounds without any restrictions. We had to entertain ourselves. If we got bored we could always retird with some comics or magazine with pictures of new technical marvels. I'm really glad I grew up without computers and über-organized activities!
Sounds so wonderful. I graduated high school in 1964, and I still remember the freedom I had when I was young. I think it's sad that kids' lives today are so regimented. Thank you for this!
I remember the hand cranked windows and the plastic seats (sit on that on a hot day and YOW!) no seat belts (1968) the year I remember and in kindergarten back then.
Brings back a lot of great memories except one. We did not have the luxury of a power mower. Just a push lawn mower. If you didn't keep the blades properly oiled, it was hell to cut the grass.
I was 8 yo in 1964. Thank you for these memories. Simple times. Played out side all day until night fall, no worries, always barefoot in the summer. Music was great. Great memories. Life is too short. Old now, but still these clips are peaceful and enduring. Thank you for uploading my childhood memories.
born in 1960...grew up in New England but we did pretty much exactly the same things... while I was reading...I remember the peace I always felt inside ..cuz it's true. ...kids were free agents....and we did many different things in one summer day... whatever we felt like doing... thank you so much for making me remember.....God Bless
I was born in 56.Love growing up then. Drive inn Theatres,my paper route, my older brothers playboys, my bandanna seat sting ray bicycle, sneaking my Uncle Jack's car keys when he came over and passed out drunk on the coach.jumping off the roof of our house with cardboard across my arms.Spying on my older sisters girlfriends! Oh la la.My buckle rubber golashers on put on my feet.Love those years. on put on my feet
In 1964 I lived in Goose Creek SC. My story is the same from the crappy crank start Craftsmen mower to the three tv stations, and my favorite radio station WTMA "Tiger Radio". I am kinda paying the price for the no sunscreen. We followed the mosquito fog truck on our bikes, set fire ants ablaze with the gas can that powered the crappy crank start Craftsmen mower. Played baseball with the neighborhood kids at all hours, sometimes football. Swam in swimming holes hoping there were no gators or water moccasins, walked to my un air conditioned school. Rode in un air conditioned cars. Fetched the Charleston Evening Post laying in the yard rolled up for my father. What a great time, and we all survived.
Holy cow, John, I moved to Goose Creek from James Island in 1968. And I live there now! Did you attend Goose reek High School? If so, when? I also delivered the Charleston Evening Post and worked at the paper for 42 years!!!!
We had a crappy Craftsman lawn too. It was tan in color. To start it you turned the rotating handle on the top over so the knob you held when you wound it up was facing upwards. Then you cranked it clockwise till it wouldn't turn then quickly flipped it over so that the handle knob would hit the starter. It took more time to get the lawn mower started then to mow the small suburban lawn. Thanks for agitating my memories.
John Trick Hey!! I lived in North Charleston back then, but we often drove over to see our Aunts and cousins in Goose Creek! They were Lonnie Powers, Guy Powers, Ricky....there were a lot of them!!
I have an old 33LP of *Goose Creek Symphony* I bought when I was in Kansas on a SAC base. Bought my first stereo for $80 at the base exchange. I actually listened to John Denver back then. On purpose.
what about fireflies at dusk, watch David Brinkley with dad, the click click click sound the push lawnmower made, a spring stretched followed by the clap of a wooden screen door, an ice cold mug of Stewart's root beer and watermelons on ice in a metal tub.....
I was 9 in 1964 as well, living in Queens, New York, where I lived with my mom, dad, and older brother in an apartment building.I lived in the same building until I got married in 1979. Life was sheer bliss in 1964 and for many years before and after. My friends and I played outside in front of our building or the playground, roller skating, jumping rope, playing potsie (otherwise known as hop scotch), calling up to my mom at our window to throw down money when the ice cream man drove his truck to our building...going back to our respective apartments tired, sweaty and hoping the summer would never end...Ahh...beautiful memories
Jeepers I was 11 in Wisconsin at the time. Seems my life was almost the same!! Lots of kids, swimming in the lakes, baseball, flip flops, no shirt, no air conditioner, cap guns, TV dinners, 1960 Chevy (ours was a two tone wagon). Hide and seek was awesome. Almost total freedom with no adult supervision. Cool old products like the transistor radio, two speed bikes, record players with the Beatles songs on 45 singles and reel to reel tape recorders. I had a brownie camera and took lots of pictures.
This was a great tale of your childhood. I was actually born in 1965 so I was a child of the mid 70s and we lived in a small suburb of Chicago IL...but surprisingly many things you mention were very similar especially how as 9, and 10 yr olds we were totally safe and allowed to be unsupervised all day and during the summer not come home until just before dark! It's amazing how since the mid 90s things have drastically changed for kids that were our age back then! You never really see kids out playing all day during the summer anymore!
Crime is probably not any worse, statistically (except that when it does occur now it's more violent) than it was in the 60s and 70s. But our perceptions have changed because crime is more widely reported (one of our local stations has a two-hour newscast, so of course even minor crimes are talked about), so we all lock our doors and make sure our kids outings are supervised. I think we're both glad we grew up in a different time.
In some big cities it's considered child abuse to let kids play outside unsupervised. Far too few demo-rats and Rinos got the spankings they so richly deserved then as now.
Comic books, Eerie, Creepy, Vampirella, Famous Monsters of Filmland, 3 channels on our bw TV, talking on a rotary phone, riding bikes, sleds in the snow, playing sports in a vacant field, fishing and swimming, going to a drive in theater when it's nice or a walk in one when it's bad, going to school and learn the 3 r's, we respected the teachers and the school, mowed the grass and other things for a allowance, soda was made with real sugar, the pledge of allegiance, records at the house or the jukebox at the diner, Halloween was excellent because of the candy any you trusted people.
Yes, being born in 1944, we grew up outdoors much more than today. Just to mention in part of 1964, before I returned to college with the Vietnam War looming ahead, dropping out of EE at college, I had a job around here at Bird's Eye, laboratory and test plant, working on developing freeze dried foods, to rehydrate in a can in boiling water, as an assistant lab technician. We would have staff from General Foods offices come to an office to test taste there, such as lobster Newburg. We would also from samples in a flask taste Awake, an Orange Drink, etc. I also saw Maxim Freeze Dried Coffee too.
THREE channels REALLY was a luxury!!! Here in Canada we also had 3 but one was in French. It was so aggravating to watch a show you couldn't understand like " Chez Helen". LOL We tried though. I miss the idea that as you watched a program all your friends were surely watching too, ...all at the SAME time.... VCR and TVOs would be considered magic back then! I loved Kool-Aid and Batman at 7:30pm until the Mod Squad became my favorite. Ha!
I was a spoiled brat in the NYC area with 7 TV channels. Three network flagships, three independents and one public. We had 200 Mets and Yankees games a season on free TV! Not today!
Lots of memories, I was 14 years old in 1964 living in Connecticut on the coast. I still remember the transistor radio listening to cousin Brucie WABC . There was no lock the cars there was no lock doors every house on the street had at least 3 to 5 kids. We would walk to school every day, change clothes into our play clothes after school and we're gone till dinner time . After dinner we were allowed to stay outside until the street lights came on. I remember being upstairs in bed and hearing the older kids standing by the telephone pole laughing and talking they could stay out later. If you were doing something wrong and a cop pulled up, you would piss your pants no matter how badass you were. Kids today are living in a bubble and have no social skills, it's pathetic
Hello Fred. Though separated by a few years, I was 9 in 1968, and a national boundary as well as a few cultural ones I'm sure, our childhoods were so very similar. Growing up on the East Coast of Canada we'd play baseball in my backyard or on the unpaved street. My sneakers were similar to yours, what kids today would call high tops, but mine were black canvas “Dash" branded Sneakers. No parents ever bothered us in the summer as long as we were home for lunch and for supper and in by dark. It was light until after 9pm in Nova Scotia so our days were long. Our stream was too polluted to swim in but we played “guns” in the forest near home, raced Hot Wheels, or lay in the sun. Bike riding was big. I had a fantastic cruiser bike that was gold with chrome rims, fenders, cargo carrier, and handle bars. Add a chrome horn and chrome bell as well as pinwheels, handle bar streamers and old baseball and hockey cards in the spokes for that great nmotor bike sound. My cruiser even had a faux gas tank on it. It was a very cool ride! If we were lucky one of the gang's mothers would take us in their car to swim in the lake or better yet to the beach as the ocean was only 20 minutes away. And, no SPF sun block either. Just good “healthy” tans. Rainy days meant board games, watching our 2 TV channels or playing with blocks, GI Joes, plastic army men and electric train sets. On those occasions when I was feeling solitary I built plastic models in the coolness of our basement or read comics in the tent I made from an old bed sheet in the back yard. A trip to Perry Hope Pharmacy meant bubble gum and Sgt Rock or Spider Man comics. In our case the family hauler was a black four door, hard top Chevy Impala. No AC, no electric anything just hot red plastic seats inside all already sweltering car. The radio was a push button AM unit. My parents listened to CFDR while the cool kids listed to CJCH. Then one year it all seemed to end. I can't say when exactly but those wonderful times that seemed so important and absorbed all our time faded from our minds as other interests like cars and girls took their place. I still lament losing the boy I was back then as life was simple, friends were true, and summer lasted forever.
I enjoyed reading your memories, RPM. That feeling of walking off the school bus on the last day of school was really sweet, because, as you say, summers were forever!
RPM, only 2 channels? Poor babies! :) We had the usual 3, plus PBS, plus one independent channel that showed The Three Stooges, cartoons, and sometimes a movie. We also had to fool with those old antennas or rabbit ears! Not only that, but most channels signed off at midnight (CT), when The Tonight Show ended. I don't recall when the overnight (24-hour) programming started, if it was on the 3 national channels in the mid-'70s, or only when cable came into being in the early '80s.
I remember one last day of school in particular. I was in grade 3 or 4. School was only 1/2 a day and the walk to school was relaxing for once. Birds singing, green leaves rustling in the warm breeze and no worries about math tests or English essays. We discussed all that we'd do that afternoon when we were let out for summer vacation at noon. We, my two best friends and I, ended up simply laying in the cool grass in my front yard watching clouds roll past and looking for shapes of animals or faces in their ever-changing form. Not a thrilling event but I can honestly say I was never happier or more at peace than I was that June day a half century ago.
Yes, freeguy 77, two channels, CBC and CTV here in Canada. In the '60's cable existed only in the big cities. I remember too the test patterns we watched while waiting for the stations to start broadcasting in the morning and the national anthem at sign-off. I loved the Stooges and fiddled with the rabbit ears. In summer TV was only ever watched on rainy days.
The great Stooges hadn't been shown in our area for nearly a decade so people in my neighborhood kind of forgot about them. But I didn't, so I wore a Moe mask for Halloween. When the people came to the door and saw me, they would say something like, "Oh, look, a little man."
I was 5, living in Texas. I think we called flip flops (and they were all those plastic colored ones) “thongs”. Of course it was hot but we’d just moved into a house with central air conditioning! My dad had a huge white 1963 Oldsmobile 88 (no AC...) My mom would sing that “sing in the sunshine song” a lot. Always outside til as late as possible. Always dinner at the table, served on my mom’s turquoise melmac dishes. Thx for the flashback 💕
Oh my gosh 😂, I remember summer being the best time, no school , running around sweaty dirty,we had to take a bath before the Flintstones came on at 7:00pm . Dinner was usually at 6:00pm and I had to eat it no matter what. I would cry as soon as I came in the house if I smelled liver and onions. No Tang in my house only at Grandma's.
I really enjoy going back.... I was born in 1954 and it's like we shared the same back ground!!! I airways cry!!! Such a wonderful time it was! THANK YOU FRED FLIX
I was born in 73... I remember doing lots this stuff .... Even up into the 1980s .... In 77 we was walking to school aged 5 without parents....... We had ample opportunities back then to develop character and independence ... We was the last generation of free kids ... I delivered newspapers every morning seven mornings a week .. up at 5.45 am ..... On my bmx bike aged 11..... Would kids do this now ......this being in New Zealand 70s. ..... 80s .......
This made my day! I love this new series of yours. Those were great summers. My parents never sent us to camp. My bicycle, coloring books (for rainy days), toy cars and G.I.Joe, comic books, and cowboy toy guns were all we ever needed. Like you said, we were always unsupervised, they were always lots of other kids to play with. As canadian kids, we played street hockey (yes, even in the summer) or football (full tackle without any equipment). We went swiming at the municipal pool or at the lake when we were at the family Laurentian cabin. I played baseball mostly later in my teens.
My parents tried to send me to a day camp but I was so miserable my father took pity on me and let me off the hook. It was easy for him: he worked all day. It was my mother who had to deal with me every day of the summer. But, yeah, great times for us kids back then. Thanks, Rangersly.
Yes! In the NC mountains. My favorite moment was first thing in the morning with the sound of the tent zipper as my father ventured outside cook a delicious breakfast over the campfire.
I have to believe that there was one unifying attribute for every single kid who grew up in America, between 1950 and 1970, and that is Grilled Cheese Sandwiches & Campbell's Tomato Soup.
How can ANYONE dislike this wonderful video?! I was a freshman in college by then, but really, NOTHING had changed since childhood -- playing outside til Mom called us in for dinner, riding our bikes everywhere, building "forts" in empty lots. Building stuff with Tinkertoys, and Erector Sets. Lionel Trains! Climbing trees, skating and sledding in the winter. Safe and secure. Dear God, we truly were the lucky ones!!!
to Liz.......an often minor, forgotten thing to add to a grilled cheese is............."salt". A sprinkle of salt on the top of a grilled cheese changes it from "common" to "zesty". Especially if you have some "seasoned salt". Also.....let us not ignore what can be added "inside" the sandwich "before" grilling.......tomato, bacon, large thin sliced pickle and some people even prefer onion (although I don't). Tomato soup is a fine choice to go with the sandwich but never and I mean never forget potato chips as well. In all a good texture mix...the soft chewy grilled cheese, the fluid soup and the crunchy chips. Eat well my friend. Life is shorter than we think.
@Konga 5000 Sometimes the most simple things are best Konga. Let me suggest another simple cheap snack for "anytime". Consider the forgotten "cinnamon toast". Lost in time from another generation. Plain white bread toasted, "slathered" with real butter evenly sprinkled with real sugar & cinnamon. Complemented with a tall "cold" glass of 100% milk (not the 1 or 2% milk). Alternating bites of cinnamon toast and gulps of real milk is the optimal eating format for maximum enjoyment. Remember.....it's not how long you live....it's about enjoyment of the time you have left.
@@inkey2 LOL...You nailed that comment! I don't even like tomato soup but I may give it a try as an adult! You should be a writer... you have a gift with words. Enjoyable. I pictured it all...even the pickles! God bless you and thanks for the smile. Peace, Lynne 🍃💜🍃
@@lynnecarnivale5085 Thank you. People always told me I could tell a good story........but certainly my " C " average in an unknown New England "Junior College" tweaked my literary proficiency (not) to what it is today. Thank goodness for 2 year colleges.
@@inkey2 inkey2... hi! Thanks for your reply. Grades don't mean a thing when it's about literature. Grading on what you write is someone's opinion. Every story is not for everyone. I still think you ought to write and publish something. Maybe daily devotionals! I'm a Christian and I read them often. At least write stories and keep them in a journal. What a beautiful keepsake for you and your family to enjoy. You have a GOD given talent. Be inspired! God bless you. Peace and encouragement, Lynne 🍃💜🍃
Oh Boy, drive-in movies on Saturday night, sitting.out side in front of the car or on the hood. Some people brought lawn chairs. And little sister would go to the playground in front of the movie screen before the movie started. Don't forget the concession stand!
Even in the 70s, the Drive-In was a wonderful experience on a summer night. Of course, back then, most of the cars were big and comfortable. When the cars started getting smaller the drive-in lost a lot of its appeal.
I remember the drive-in. My parents in the front, my sister and me in the backseat in pj's, swings at the concession stand, watching their movie through the crack between the front seats, after our cartoon was over. The speaker better work, or we had to move the car!
Born in 1964. Times were just more simple back then. Family, neighbors and friends were more important than material things. Mom was home all the time to raise us. People were not in such a hurry like today. Played outside all day riding bikes, playing ball and exploring the “woods “. Spent a lot of time at my grandmas farm mowing, cutting down trees , climbing trees and exploring. God those were the good ole days. Would give anything to go back. I feel sorry for today’s kids who will never know what it was like to be truly “FREE “. Thanks for the great memories!
1964,one of my best years. I was 20,had a car,a Harley and a 1961 BSA 650cc motorcycle. But the draft meant I would join the Navy and turn 21 in boot camp in Dec. That led to very different memories of travel and foreign lands.
Those were the days! Being a boomer there were always tons of kids in the neighborhood to play with! From morning until it got dark my brother and I were outside playing.
I enjoyed watching your video. We're about the same age. I was born in October 1954. I grew up in Muncie, Indiana and I recognize almost everything in your video.
I was born in 1964, but growing up in the late 1960s and 1970s I remember experiences much like these in Dubuque, IA and later, in Cincinnati, OH. I try to give my children as much of the freedom I had as a child, but the reality of life today is much different and there are concerns that as an adult I have to take seriously, and sadly, that means I had to put limits on my children's activities that were never placed upon me. They're (mostly) grown now and think I'm making this stuff up when I speak of it.
I was born in Dubuque in 1964. Then Waterloo, but mostly raised in Cedar Rapids. The '70s were much like the '60s...lived on my Schwinn, swam at the local pool, collected Wacky Packs and comics. We got central air in 1969, which was unheard of for most in Iowa, at the time. BB guns and pheasant hunting in the fall. Good times.
@@kojikicklighter371 Walter, substitute a Huffy for your Schwinn, and you've described much of my life well into high school. Both my parents worked, so I had to learn to deal with things on my own. I cooked for myself pretty much from second grade, and when I was 11 or so and big enough to actually push the old 5hp Toro (the one with no safety features at all), I was still expected to cut the grass... even when nobody was home. I had other chores, too. During the summer, I was out the door usually by 8 or 9, and nobody'd see me again until dark. My folks never worried. I miss the 70s.
Thank for what you do, We seem to be the same age, those were interesting and great times. I grew up in South Philly in a place we called little Italy, talk about interesting. Well thanks and thanks for memories.
As always, thanks Fred for another bittersweet memory. Wouldn't it be wonderful that maybe, hopefully, after all is said and done, we were given the chance to live all the good times over and over,....not just fleeting memories, where we cherry pick the good and try to forget the bad. That would be Heaven,...or an episode of The Twilight Zone. Either way, it is a nice thought .Thanks Fred.
This post is RIPE for replies! "...not just fleeting memories, where we cherry pick the good..." If you want heaven, wouldn't it only be the good? I was thinking back, and I know of a lot of kids who forever stayed kids in my mind. Drowned here,...train accident here... Today's kids will think back on the simpler times: when they only had 103 channels to chose from and a phone stuck to their ear! You know, not like the implanted cyborg phones of today!
Other than I had 9 siblings.. I also lived in the South, a small town with one of the most pristine river's in the country.... you could have been talking about my life.... awesome thanks.
I was 7 in 1964, and living in Tennessee. This brought back lots of memories. Very similar, except we only had one TV - an Admiral. And if we wanted to feel an A/C we had to go to my grandmother's house. No worries. It was only two blocks away, and she always had an icebox full of Cokes. So again, thanks.
Watched a few of your Videos and it brought back a lot of Memories, I was 15 in 1964 but life was pretty much the Same in the Late Fifties early sixties.I lived north of Detroit and the summers were Hot but we had a Large Beach and River to swim In and the Only thing on our Minds were..Cars and Girls not always in that Order....I remember never being supervised as a Child..we rode our bikes from One end of Town to other all day until well.... the Street Lights came On, and just like Bats Flying out at Dark we flew Home..Wonderful Times and Memories...
Bill, I was 15 in 1964 also. The closest rivers were not clean enough to swim in but we did have quite a few "Picnic Lakes" to choose from. For those that are not familiar with the term, they were small, (Many times man made.) lakes or ponds, surrounded by a sandy beach and then groups of picnic tables, usually set in a grove of trees. There was in most cases a building where you could purchase hot dogs, hamburgers, sodas, sandwiches and thick chocolate milkshakes. My favorite had a pavilion where you could dance to the rock hits of the day that blared from three large speakers that were set up to send the music all over park. Four Seasons songs were played almost constantly and the music was perfect for watching pretty girls in two piece swimsuits down at the beach. If you were lucky enough to get acquainted with one , The lake was surrounded on two sides by corn fields. A perfect place to " Make Out". The warmth of the summer day, the odor of suntan oil, perfume, hamburgers, the smells of the grass and trees now seem to be like heaven. Wow, we did have fun!
This makes me sad because I was 12 and in most ways things were as close to ideal as humanly possible. Comparing it to today I’m horrified to be living in these times.
friscofreeze : I was born in 1964. Best years of my life growing up. Through out my life I’ve watched this once great nation become something I don’t even recognize anymore. It saddens me and unfortunately I think it will only get worse.
Oh, you poor people living in the south!!! In 64 I was 16 and living in Huntington Bech Calif. a few miles inland from the ocean. Usually nice and cool so no one had airconditioning. That summer I wasn't working a real summer job, just part-time things to get gas and fool around money. I spent most my days at the beach surfing in the morning and lounging in the sun in the afternoon. Normal things like dating and movies in the evenings. I loved being a teenager living in that area. We always found something to do and were never in any serious trouble. Very good years!!!
Thanks Fred, I was back in 1964 watching this. I could feel the hot southern summer day and night, taste the Mountain Dew and the freedom, God I miss the freedom we had then.
That swamp cooler was wonderful! snap, snap, snapping flip flops, people drove cars and had the windows down and adults and kids listened to the same music in the car. Big sister had 48s of The Beatles. There were 2 ever present pitchers in the fridge. Sweet tea for dad and Kool aid for us. Aluminum Ice trays that made whopper cubes.Your life was identical to mine. I was born in 1968.Southern California and I’m a girl. It strange that we are a generation apart, opposite sides of country, opposite sex. But an almost identical childhood. But by the end of 60’s there was a collapse of decency and by the late 70’s what remained also disappeared. Thanks for this. So nice.
I've been watching a lot of your video, Fred, and it makes me wish I was alive at this time. Times were different, maybe even difficult, but better than today. Thanks for the good vids! BTW now I reeeaallyyy wanna grilled cheese...
Us keds and red ball jets Cincinnati reds on the transistor got an afternoon paper route and saved enough to get a pair of converse and at 62 still wearing them those were the good old days
I wore low top US Keds and tan patrol boots in winter or black galoshes and yellow rain slicker when it stormed and rained. Loved walking through full ditches on the way to and from school.
I was 15 in 1964 and remember, ALL of this well... Specially getting my fishing pole and heading to river... Mom yelling, be back by dark.. Kids were much more free back then... but we knew our limits AND respected them.
I graduated in 1964 from High School in So.California. We drank Tang & Kool-aid. My boyfriend ( husband ) wore his Converse Tennis shoes. He played basketball. We never had a wall phone but it was a rotary.We had Elvis & The Righteous Brothers .Lots of days at Huntington Beach . A great year.
Thanks guy! Born in michigan in 1955 , 90 % of your life was the same fir me, Cant believe Im still alive to type this! Thanks for the trip down memory lane...Cheers Orion314!!!!!!!!
I was 10 in 1964, growing up in Maine. What memories this video brought back! Sure wish things were that simple today..life was better in the good old days!
To keep the memories alive I have restored several 60's classic cars...that Chevy today is a very sought after car. That's when the cars had character and great body lines....
