When it came to grocery shopping we had our choice of Alpha Beta, Lucky, Hughes, The Boys Market ALONG with Ralphs, Stater Bros and Vons. You could get your prescriptions filled AND and an ice cream cone at Thrifty Drug Stores. Need clothes, shoes, housewares, fabric or eye glasses? Choose from White Front, Zodys and TG&Y. And don't forget GEMCO - a membership store that had housewares, clothes, groceries, tools...you name it, GEMCO had it. Hardware stores? LinBrook and Builders Emporium come to mind. Need to grab something quick? Then you probably stopped at the Tic Toc. If you wanted to purchase a large appliance or television, then Sears and Roebuck was the place to go! Shoes? Thom McAn! And to find quality goods and service, you shopped of course at The May Company and maybe had lunch in their Tea Room. Those days also marked the opening of the FIRST Pic N Save (now known as Big Lots.)
Yep those were the days. Pee Chee folders that we 'decorated' and 'doodled' on; giant clown heads at Jack in the Box that we YELLED our fast food order at; metal lunch boxes with a glass thermos. FREE Admission into Knott's Berry Farm - you could ride the Merry Go Round, feed the Sea Lions, see a melodrama at the Bird Cage Theater and be amazed by how much candy there was at the Candy Parlor! There was an admission fee to get into Disneyland BUT it didn't include the rides. Remember the ticket books?
Strips with cheese at the beach, Bell Burgers at Taco Bell, ice cream and milk shakes at Fosters Freeze. I even remember my first McDonald's Hamburger. House of Pies was around then, as was the Hollywood Wax Museum.
Everyone went to school with their neighborhood friends, homework and housework were both completed by dinner time (5pm) and we went outside to play after dinner.
There were dairies and strawberry fields and orange groves. There was smog and leaded gasoline. No central air or heat in most homes and we only had one bathroom for our family of four. No dishwashers or microwaves or home security systems. Helmets were not required to ride a bike, and seat belts and car seats were not required when riding in cars. You were free to smoke just about anywhere and everywhere (including elementary school offices, restaurants, bank lobbies etc.) and even while pregnant! There were no computers, video games, cell phones, Ipods, rechargeable batteries, pads with wings, wonder bras, lap band surgery or Starbucks.
Things have really changed. Some for the better, some not so much. But I am happy to have the memories...
