What a great thread!

Nancylouise, I loved those pudding snacks, were they called Jello 1-2-3?

This is such an awesome thread! Paulines Jello 1-2-3 was the regular jello variety, I think the pudding was called something else. Not sure of the name but I remember the commercials..shake, shake, shake!
I also remember Fizzies, I used to go over to my boyfriends house..(lol I was 5 yrs. old)after dinner and his mom would make them for us!
Growing up outside of philly there was so many food related items! Bakery butter cookies come to mind, as does warm poppeyseed rolls,fresh out of the oven on a Sunday morning, the smell walking into a real bakery!
Hires Rootbeer, not sure if it's around anymore.
Tastycakes, when they were really good!
I also remember helping my Nana with S&H greenstamps while watching "her show!" It was in the 60's before I went to school and the show was none other than General Hospital. Also the first cooking show on TV..Florence Hanford. She did an entire meal in 30 minutes! SO their Rachael Ray! Back to the Greenstamps, I remember going to the S&H Store and my mom getting a mixer and electric can opener! We also had a drug store that when you got a perscription filled they always gave you 3 or 4 pieces of hard candy!
We also had so many things delivered. My parents move out of the city to the suburbs, because of the lack of public transportation and stores, everything was delivered. Milk, bread, meat, eggs, produce, fresh killed turkeys, chickens and even our dry cleaning!
I remember when gas was .29 and all the gas stations had give aways like glasses etc with fillups.
Thank you for this walk down memory lane. Life seemed so much easier then! Gina

Life seemed so much easier then!

No mortgage!?!

Michelle

Eileen..I remember the Mortons Donuts!!! Waiting patiently in front of the oven for them to bake..they had sugar on the outside and the jelly would be so hot on the inside that I always burnt my mouth because after waiting/smelling for 45 min I was rather hungery. I tried looking for them recently in the stores in hopes to find something similar for my kids but nope nada zippo. I really have a hard time justifying paying $7 for dozen donuts.

This thread reminded of me tuna fish sandwiches that use to be served at Lord and Taylors (when they had restaurants to service the shoppers). Still can taste them if I tried.

Sitting on my parents front porch having root beer floats on a hot evening...walking to the mini-golf/ice cream shake for orange freeze which is like a creamscile ice cream whirled up in a shake. Yummm

Had to laugh about school food because for me it was the pizza that came in the bag in the 70's. I guess they are similar to the Elio pizzas today but without the bag it just isn't the same.

Last thing I miss is the pecan rolls that use to be served before the meal at a local restaurant in Hartford...oh those were the days.

Thanks for starting this thread.

When my folks finally bought their first house, with help from my grandparents ($16,500)!!! that was quite the deal I tell ya!

And I do remember that screen that you put over the black and white t.v. to turn it into a color set LOL. Blue on top, reddish in the middle? and green on the bottom. Perfect situation for most any western LOL, but pretty ridiculous for shows like Alfred Hitchcock and I Love Lucy!

Gosh, where did all the years go?

When we got our first color t.v. in 1969 I was a little upset. We were supposed to go to the drive-in movie theater but since my Dad came home with the new t.v. we stayed home. I think Lassie was the first show we saw in color.

I remember some of my friends thinking my family was a little strange. We would sit in front of the t.v. as a family and just laugh our butts off! Out loud! Happy Days was a fave along with Mork and Mindy and Mary Tyler Moore and the Dick Van Dyke show. All classics. I loved Leave it to Beaver and still do. That one will take you back to a simpler time.

Way off the food topic now, but I sat here this morning and re-read the thread again.

Great stuff. Thanks for sharing everyone.

Duane

this post just gets better and better ....

Best Ever grilled cheese sandwich from the lunch counter at Woolworth's.

1955 ... Mary Martin played Peter Pan. We crowded around our black & white TV. She said "if you really believe, you can fly", I believed .. but never was able to defy gravity :)

Broke both wrists, numerous small bones in both feet ... LOL !

Oh "I believe, I believe" - gosh I loved Mary Martin and Peter Pan! I saw her in The Sound of Music on Broadway when I was 12 and was just so thrilled to see her in person :)

Kayscats do you remember breaking a balloon at Woolworth's lunch counter to get a free sundae?

What a fun thread - makes me regret not looking at it sooner!

The first thing I thought of when I saw the OP: "Aurelio's Pizza - the way Joe Aurelio made it in 1965." Aurelio's was then a non-chain in Homewood, IL. They've since sold a few franchises and the pizza quality went down.

Dixie Dairy's milk, delivered to the front door and put in this little silver insulated box. Still, if Mom didn't get it out of the box right away in the morning on a really icy day, it would be frozen at the top. The milk came in glass bottles with a handle, and only a little cardboard tab to cover the opening. The empty was left for the milkman to pick up....recycling before that word became popular.

Free maps at the gas station when you were traveling. My mom ALWAYS got one for me, so that I could follow our route in the back of the station wagon.

Riding in the back of the station wagon WITHOUT a seat belt. My brother riding in the 2nd seat without a seat belt, sometimes standing on his head!

Gas wars - at 19c per gallon, then we were outraged when it went up to 29c per gallon. (Tucson in 1970.)

Two lane roads that allowed you to see rural America. Now the freeways go around most of those small towns. Yes, it makes for convenience and quicker travel, but some of those towns have shriveled up and died....such a shame.

Being able to send your kids out trick-or-treating and not worrying about what they'll come home with, in their bag. Sending your kids out to play unsupervised, period. I remember going outside to play when I got home from school and coming in when the street lights came on. I also remember when a kid fell off the swingset or monkey bars at school and got hurt, it was just a time when the parent had to be called - no fear of a lawsuit for the school.

I remember one of the original McDonald's - before the days of Big Macs, when you just bought a hamburger or cheeseburger, fries, and a shake or soft drink. It had those golden arches which were part of the design of the building (holding the roof up, I'm told) and the striped walls, and no sitting space inside. You walked up - even in the winter. That was in Park Forest, IL.

I also remember when Burger King came to that area, and Dog N Suds (since someone brought that chain up).

My school district did not have a hot lunch program until you got to "junior high". You brought your lunch to school in one of those metal lunchboxes, and everyone compared their new ones at the beginning of the school year. "Oh! You have one with the Monkees on it! Well, I have Jeannie! Oh, and yours is plaid?"

Someone brought up TV shows - Leave It to Beaver, Jeannie, Monkees, Bewitched (sometimes), Lucy - were my favorites growing up. I STILL love "I Dream of Jeannie." Wish I had a Jeannie lunch box now! (Yes, you can get them on eBay, but the ones from the 60s are expensive.)

DonnaR/CA

What a great thread!

We lived in a rural area so there weren't any streetlights. But we could camp in the yard under the stars, with nothing but a sleeping bag.

Store-bought stuff was a treat for us.

Grape, Orange or Peach Crush in glass bottles from the machine at dad's business (today, someone would have a cow because a piece of glass 'might' chip off when they come tumbling down...)

Blue Ne-Hi Creme Soda...yum.

I WAS a carhop at A & W. I was "old" to work there since I had just graduated from high school. Another girl and I worked the 10-4 Day Shift....Monday through Friday.

We used to have a drive in where the servers were all on roller skates. They had the best chocolate malts and brought out to the car. Good thing I didn't work there....I don't skate!

Pop Rocks??!?!? Pixie Stix??!?!? Big Gulps at 7-11.

And grade school lunches...in the cafeteria...yes!!

Normally I brought my lunch in metal lunchbox (it was so exciting to get to pick one out before school started in the fall).

On a rare occasion, I was allowed to have "hot lunch". We really had cooks in the kitchen! The cook was also my bus driver. My friend and I would dawdle until all the other kids left the cafeteria and she would let us eat all the leftover Chocolate Pudding and Big Fat Overcooked Mac & Cheese (I loved that stuff....anybody remember...know how to replicate it???).

When I was about 6, my dad sold Snap-On Tools and went out of town for three days each month. We would eat things like fried hot dogs and fried potatoes or frozen fish sticks because dad wouldn't eat "that crap". My brother and I thought it was such a treat! Little did we know, mom was taking a couple of days off from cooking. LOL

Deanna

OMG ... I love this thread.

I always loved Yoo-Hoo in the glass bottle. I used to love Verners ginger ale. I loved tastykakes...but I recently had one and they must have changed the recipe..it was terrible. Also, I loved Orange Julius. Going to the mall with my friend we could get a slice of pizza and a drink for $1.00 (pizza was .75 and the soda was .25..OY) Growing up in Miami and then ft lauderdale...whenever we had company in from out of town we always used to take them to The Imperial House Chinese buffet in Pompano Beach and Corky's for the best tenderloin sandwiches with grilled onions on little rolls...OMG..they were to die for! My mouth is watering right now and it has been about 25 years since I had them.

Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

I just saved this thread so I can go back and reread it. Sure gives me a warm and fuzzy feeling. Yesterday, after church, there was a molasses-y spice-y cake that - had it there been raisins in it - would have tasted close to the Spanish bar cake.

Kresge's - love it! I always had to stop at the back of the store to look at the fish.

Vernor's - still my favorite ginger ale. I liked Yoo Hoo, too - until I got sick after drinking one (or maybe it was more than one). Was probably coming down a stomach thing, but that was pretty much the end of my Yoo Hoo association.

Isaly's - what about Isaly's?? Anybody remember their chipped chopped ham???

That's it paulines, jello 1-2-3! I had shake a puddin' and the jello mixed up. Whatever the name I miss them both! lol From our local candy seller/distributer my popcorn and buttercreme company went out of business years ago. So I'm out of luck there too. NancyLouise

michael

Check the link below

http://fingerineverypie.typepad.com/my_weblog/2005/05/the_kiev_makes_.html

The Kiev: Makes Me Wanna Challah

How times have changed foodwise. I too remember when mom would have to be gone and we got to eat premade food, either something from Stoffers or maybe a TV dinner, or frozen fries and fish sticks. I thought that was SUCH a treat, lol! I even remember when we got our first Kentucky Fried Chicken and I thought THAT was a treat.

I lived in a rural area, no fast food joints for years, so when we went to visit Grandma sometimes mom would take us to the McDonalds in Muskegon for a "treat." It was one of those old ones with the huge arches and red and white cement, just a counter. The only reason I thought all those things were treats is I never got to do them, I shudder to have to eat fast food nowdays. I did like Dog n' Suds shrimp baskets. We were very good friends with a family in the food supply business and they said our local Dog n' Suds changed the oil frequently and used good ingredients, which made it so good. Of course with the degradation of the environment, shrimp quality has decreased along with many other types of seafood.

But my favorite place to go out to eat with my folks was a place called the "Goody Goody" in Whitehall MI. They had a kids menu with cutesy names for all the entrees, which really rung my bell. I always got a grilled cheese because they made it with processed cheese, something my mom did not buy. The Goody Goody was a local fixture for years, but I think it has gone by the wayside in one way or the other, either changed names or styles dramatically, or maybe even closed down for good. I haven't been back that way for a while, since I usually go into Whitehall the back way from GR. Plus, going out to a joint for a processed grilled cheese sandwich is no longer my idea of something special! I do however pig out on perch at the local bar on their Friday nite perch specials. I am so bummed that my dad is selling our place in Whitehall and I won't get to hang out there. I grew up hanging out there as a kid because that's where Grandma lived. My long lost food loves are lake perch, whitefish, and smoked chubs.

Now it's just the other way around, something homade is the treat!

Earl,

Yep,that's the place. The article was written in 2005 and the writer was also lamenting what used to be. Kiev's glory days were over 25 years ago.

Ya just can't go back... I'm a nostagia junkie. I drive through old neighborhoods, google places I've lived before... when google earth first appeared, I spent countless hours flying across the country looking at aerial views of old stomping grounds. A shrink would probably have a field day connecting my broken childhood with this attempt to recreate my history. Who knows? We are who we are, I am whom I am and where i've been.

This thread sure had some staying power; there must be a little of this in all of us.

michaelp

I don't know, maybe I'm older than a lot of you young un's.
When I was a kid there were Dinasaur's running around in Fairmount Park, in Philly.

Did anyone mention the Sugar Cone for Ice Cream , it cost
two cents more.
They weren't like the Carp they sell today.We could get a shopping bag full
of broken cones for 3 cents, at the cone factory.

How about Hershey's, Grade A's. They were a penny a piece.

Did I hear anyone say Italian Homemade Water Ice. Made with real fruit.

Waffles and Ice Cream W. Powdered Sugar. The Truck came around every afternoon .

Roasted Chestnuts and peanuts machines, outside the vegetable stores.

In the very early Sixties, I sold a 12 inch Pizza for 90 cents.
The large rectangular Sicilian Style was $1.25.
When I started driving, Gas; I think, was 10 or 11 cents a gallon.
They cleaned your windshield, checked you oil and radiator.

Closest Root Beer I can find; to the old, is at Walmart's. 60c a large bottle.
Fountain Style, I think it's Sam Club. Makes good, Ice Cream soda's.
How about Tasty Pies , when they were a lot better.

One thing I like better now, are Little Debbie Fig Bars, they are softer and
not dry. If you eat enough , they keep you going!!!

That's enough of memory Lane for tonight.
LOU

Mr. Softee still comes around here AND the knife sharpening man - CLANG CLANG.

Coca Cola in small bottles WITHOUT High Fructose Corn Syrup as the sweetener. It was originally sweetened with plain old sugar. I have even written to them asking them to make a special "gourmet" Coke with sugar as the ONLY sweetener but only got back a smart aleky response.

Howard Johnson's Clam Roll with a slice of their coconut cake on the side (from the 1960's).....

Screaming Yellow Zonkers popcorn in the black box with all of the silly slogans. Totally full of chemicals and sugar but oh so good.

Apple Pie a la mode from the lunch counter at Lansburgh's Department Store in Washington DC circa 1970's -- never again because they are long closed.......... They made the pie right there in the store from scratch!

DL

I searched the Morton Doughnut with no luck...we still have Mr Softee in our neighborhood every summer...I also remember the 2 rides that came around in the summer one was a mini ferris wheel. I also remember "Country Store on Wheels" it was a big box truck that you walked up into and shopped for milk bread etc... My mom also had the Fuller Brush Man and we had of course the Milk Man. I see a milk man in this neighborhood making deliverys so I know hes still around.

Seems many moms took time off from kitchen duties when dads were away. My sisters and I got to have TV dinners....wooo hoooo!.....when dad was away on business. My sisters always got the fried chicken dinner and I usually got the Mexican dinner. We thought this was a special treat - ha!

Oooooh...I forgot two:

Good humor ice cream (had to be coconut).
Dancinglemons: Thanks for reminding me of the clam rolls at Howard Johnsons!

Anyone remember Vita-Grape? It was a grape drink, better then Welsh's, and it came in the cutest small bottles. My Mom bought it by the case when I was a kid.

And of course Vernor's is a staple in any Michigander diet. My Mom used to warm it up and give it to us when we were sick. Works great, just like chicken soup!

I loved the clams at Howard Johnson's. One time when I was about 7 years old I could not make up my mind between clams and a hamburger so my Dad ordered both for me. I can still remember those full plates sitting in front of me. I could not finish the hamburger!

Michelle

I thought of some more, Horn & Hardart's Automat had the best hot apple pie with vanilla sauce. Again, that may have just been a philly thing! Howard Johnson's in Cape May NJ had the biggest ice cream cones and the best mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Oh Woodie, I always popped a balloon at Woolworths to see if we got a free sundae. The lady behind the counter would always look to see if she could find a balloon with "free" or "10 cents" inside for me to pop.

The lunch counter at Woolworths was extra special because it was one of the rare occasions that my mother & I would get something to eat that hadn't been cooked by her...or by a relative. A morning spent getting yarn or embroidery floss then lunch sitting at the counter. I always ordered the patty melt. I was a stick when I was younger, I guess that all of those patty melts caught up with me now.

Michael- up until a few years ago the Kiev was still there. It scares me to think that I had started going there over 20 years ago. The Kiev was our first stop at 4AM after the clubs closed. We could wind down over plates of pierogies (always potato & cheddar, fried, with carmelized onions & sour cream...maybe it wasn't the Patty melts that caught up with me after all?) or a cup of matzo ball soup. The cup was maybe 1.25 and it came with a slice of their divine challah and sweet butter. Oh it was heaven.

But reading the original post reminded me of two places that are now gone. Black Rock on 6th Av in NYC- it was a tex mex restaurant (very big in the late 80's) and they made the most perfect "nachos". Basically each freshly made chip was topped with mashed advocado and a piece of marinated churasco. Bliss in every bite.

Bayamo on Broadway, NYC. I remember my first trip into the village, with my friend Gigi. Gigi is of Cuban extraction & we took great delight in introducing each other to our "native" foods. She used to joke that as soon as she'd see me she'd think of food. So we were delighted to stumble across the newly opened Bayamo that served Chino Latino (a fusion of Cuban and Chinese). The place became one of our favorites. In the early days the food was exquisite. Everything from the 4$ lo mein served in bowls big enough to bathe in to the fried oysters. The interior was crazy- a giant hand weilding chopsticks & clutching an unsupecting papier mache man, the dragon that bursth through the walls. We usually ate in the balcony, overlooking the giant chili pepper boat with the photo of Castro in the back window. Long after the food declined we kept on going back until now Bayamo & it's funky decor is just another part of lost NYC.

Nina

I don't remember any food as a kid that I miss except one candy item. When I was in 7th grade, I had my first Sweet Tart. To this day, they are the only candy I ever get cravings for (but I do not buy them, well, I haven't in at least a couple years.) I always loved sour stuff, and these were so wonderfully sour I could hardly stand it. The grape and orange were so good. The original were grape, orange, lime and lemon and cherry. I only liked the grape and orange. Now they have some fruit punch flavor that is gaggy. And invariabley if I ought a pack, they would have a couple orange or grape, and gobs of that nasty fruit punch. So, I quit buying and eating them. Don't need them anyway.
I guess the only other thing I craved is cans of tamales. My mom used to buy them as a special treat for my little brother and I when the big kids were in school. I am sure they were probably nasty, but I remember loving them so much.
Nothing else. I have no other craving memories of food as a youngun. Maybe that's why I stayed so skinny until I learned to cook. I just didn't want anything. Since I learned to cook, though, Ay ay ay! Now I have to watch very closely.

Duane,

Too funny, your comments about going "all the way" out to Upper Straits Lake in the summer. I grew up about a mile from Upper Straits. The old A&W I was talking about was on Union Lake Road about a mile north of where Middle Straits and Lower Straits lakes come together. It's an Arby's now.

dennis

What a fun thread --

Another Southern California Van de Kamps bakery fan here. My father took one of their cinnamon rolls in his lunch box each day, mom was hooked on Bran Muffins. Does anyone remember their Frosted Anise cookies? I think there were 9 to a box, some were frosted in white, others in a pretty light pink. Over the years I've tried to duplicate them, but haven't had much success.

Did your family save Blue Chip Stamps?

My mother worked part-time at the brand new May Company department store in the South Bay Center in the early to mid 1960's. May Co. had a wonderful restaurant located in the basement of the store. Real cherry cokes, vanilla cokes or chocolate cokes with an order of french fries to share - Bliss! For the first several years of operation, May Co. also had a pet department - with live animals, a candy counter where you could purchase Bridge Mix, Divinity Fudge, etc. by the pound and a Girl Scout/Brownie uniform and supplies dept.

My friends and I never wore shoes in the summer; even out in public, even while hanging out at the above mentioned shopping center. I have no idea what we were thinking back then (probably didn't think) and how we got away with it!

My Dad would sometimes treat my brother and me to a hamburger at Clancy's. Do you remember how good the french fries McDonald's were back then? - made from unpeeled fresh potatoes. MMMM!

There was a chain of eateries in the Southland called Ontra Cafeteria. To an always hungry 9 year old, Ontra Cafe was Heaven on earth! Roast beef au jus, baked halibut steaks with the best tarter sauce ever, being able to choose from a variety of side dishes such as small bowls of crispy sweet cole slaw (similar to the Colonel's), fried eggplant, creamy baked mac and cheese and warm blueberry muffins.

Lovely memories!

obxgina,

I wasn't going to post again but when you mentioned Horn & Hardart's I just HAD to post again. My uncle lived in NYC after he got out of the Navy in WW2. We went up to visit him several times a year. One time we went into H&H and I was amazed at the food inside the little glass doors that you paid your money and the door opened. I had chicken pot pie!! To me it was truly amazing to see those folks in the back cooking all that food and then putting it in those slots for the customers to buy!! Several years later when cold sandwiches and YUCK food was in vending machines I had a H&H flashback!! I have never again had a chicken pot pie that good. Ohhh the crust!!!!!

Just so you can know how long ago that was -- after the H&H my uncle took us to Radio City Music Hall to see the Rockettes and then we went to see Marlon Brando in Sayonara!!

DL

The things that deliver a memory..
Anyone else remember Child's? I think it was a restraunt/tea room sort of place, and a chain. I know there was one in Newark and in Montclair....and they served the BEST chicken croquettes with veloute...and the lower part of the outside of the restraunts was sort of crushed blue glass. Very art deco?
Linda C

I only remember the name of 'Childs' but wasn't ever there, but I used to to the H&H Automat all the time - taking the bus over from Jersey to the city on Easter vacation in Junior High with my g/f to go to the Paramount to see Bobby Rydell, The Animals, The Baby Dolls (I think) and some others. Baked beans and cup of tea at the automat for lunch. We carefully bought new matching outfits to wear and I'm sure we were just as cool as we thought we were! We used to go on the NBC backstage tour, Ripley's Believe It Or Not and do Radio City and Rockefeller Center - all the tourist things. Always had a pretzel or a hot dog from a cart. For you New Yorkers or former New Yorkers you will enjoy Arthur Schwartz's New York City Food book - its a good, fun read and even has recipes.

One of the things that I miss the most is a Philippe French Dip Sandwich (or two), double dipped with lots of their hot mustard, a side of coleslaw, a dill pickle and sometimes a pickled egg. Yum!! (it's in L.A.)

Now that I live in Oregon it's just a 15 hour drive.

Lynn

Does any one remember penny candy at Ben Franklins?

Philippe French Dip Sandwich

Philippe's is still there and going strong. Even though I'm a native Angeleno, I just tried one of their french dips last year. The lamb french dip was delicious.

I do have nostalgia for a type of biscotti made by a friend of my grandfather. They weren't cantucci. Although shaped and baked the same way, they had a more grainy texture. Several decades later, I found the same biscotti/cookies at a local Greek bakery... which promptly moved away.

As an adult, I never thought to ask my parents where in Italy the lady was from, and I'm not sure that they would have known. I'm still intrigued by the similarities of the cookies.

Helms Olympic Bakery is a memory from childhood, with their vans driving down our street. Occasionally, there was a purchase of a few doughnuts, and I was so impressed with the pull-out drawers containing the varieties. Now we hear jazz at a club in the old bakery.

For me personally, I think my Lost Loves are from my grandmother's cooking not from a rest. or store bought. She made the most excellent chicken and dumplings, City Fried Chicken, Vegetable Soup with beef, pork and chicken, Buscuits that were to die for and on and on. No recipes written down - just made.

Great thread .....

My first thought was A&W...funny how many of us have fond memories of A&W as a drive in...not to be confused with drive thru! My favourite food there was a Teenburger with a frosty mug of Orange. Great after a sock hop....dating myself!

Another very special food memory for me is lunch at the Arcadian Court at the top of Simpson's department store in Toronto. My Nana would take me there once or twice a year. Very fancy, we had to wear gloves and hats! A man in a tuxedo would play a baby grand piano as we ate! We always had Chicken a la King. Wasn't a man in the room just all the old blue haired ladies with their granddaughters!

Nana is gone and so is Simpson's and the original Arcadian Court.

However my most special Lost Love story is when I was 20 and living in Montreal. So in love, so young. Our favourite place for dinner was a small restaurant on Bishop St, maybe it was Mountain Street, called the Annex.

It was a special place for the university crowd, not at all a bar, a proper restaurant...very small, very intimate! We always had the wiener schnitzel with lemon slices, mashed potatoes and peas, one glass of wine each. That's all we could afford. A magical time.

I was at Kroger the other day and in the Mexican section they had Coke in the little glass bottles made with sugar, NOT high fructose corn syrup. I've also heard that you can find it in larger cities around Passover time (I think) made with sugar.

Tracey

Remember when Vernor's was aged for 12 years... Then they went down to 8 years.... I think it's aged for 20 minutes now but it still makes the best Boston Coolers...

Kresge's large cafeteria, in downtown Detroit, had the balloon thing too... Best I ever got was a 29 cent sundae... Speaking of downtown Detroit, you just have to mention Hudson's... Their Christmas displays were the greatest in the world, one whole floor at Christmas time... During their heyday we couldn't afford to buy anything there but we sure loved to window shop... Oh... They also sold MINK by the yard... LOL

Anyone remember Burger Queen... They were around for a short while when MacDonald's was just starting... Had my first and last cheeseburger there, all I tasted was the waxed paper...

Michael P, thank you so much for posting this... It's nice to remember the good things in life...

Rita
P. S. I'm saving the link and when the replies have stopped I'll be saving the whole post...

Sorry to resurrect this thread (looking for a pie recipe), but it sure got me thinking. As a New Yorker I remembered -
Foamy Egg Creams, White Castle Hamburgers, Nathans Hot Dogs and fries from their place in Coney Island, Woolworths black & white shakes...

We could hardly wait for the first snow when Mom would make snow ice cream! Yum!

I always bought Royal Crown Cola with my money.......the bottle was larger!

Oh, yes..I was a "car hop" at the A&W when I was in high school! What fun...

On the Lower East Side in New York - The Grand Street Dairy Restaurant made the most wonderful comfort food - Potato Soup that came with the best rolls I have ever eaten. The soup was thick and creamy with chunks of potatoes and carrots, flavored with dill. They served soft sweet butter with the rolls which were sweet, moist and crusty. I think the rolls were baked in Brooklyn and I suspect they were from a bakery on Ave. J called Ostrovitsky. The bakery is still there and their challah is legendary.

Today the Lower East Side is a hip and trendy destination with bars and lounges on every block punctuated with expensive high-end designer clothiers. When I was first in New York, 35 years ago, it was the place to go for bargains on good clothing, shoes, linens and fabrics as well as all things Jewish. The bagel and bialy (Kosser's?)place is still on Grand street but there's little else remaining from those days. Boo-hoo!

Gertz lunch counter, Jamaica, NY: soft-serve vanilla ice cream swirled with either strawberry or chocolate sauce.

Charles Chips: potato chips, pretzels and at Easter, chocolate covered bunnies with non pareils in the half can.
We throw our loose change in one of the large cans, which netted us $945.00 last round.

Sue

It was 1977 in Champaign/Urbana IL, and I was working at the Univ. of Illinois. I use to go to a campus restaurant for lunch. That was the first time I had French Onion soup and fell in love with it. It had a big chunk of bread with melted swiss cheese in a big bowl of rich onion soup. I have had it many times at other places but it has never been as good as theirs, not even my own.
Clare

Costco sells Coke from Mexico in glass bottles, made with real sugar, not corn syrup. I'm instantly 10 again, every time I have one.

When I'd come home from college (back east) at Christmas, my father insisted on going to Village Inn Pizza and having a huge pizza with everything. I don't know that I'd love it today, but I did then.

What a fun thread!

I'm going to have to look for those Mexican Cokes -- I worked one college summer as an inspector in a Coke bottling factory -- for 50 minutes I'd watch empties march past a bright light, then a 10 minute break, then 50 minutes watching full ones past a bright light, looking for chipped bottles or (ugh!) "foreign matter." It was those 10 minute breaks we all lived for -- free icy bottles (the chipped ones), as many as we could drink. It wasn't air conditioned, and those lights were hot. As many as we drank, I'm surprised we didn't all wind up diabetic.

And A&W root beer in those REAL GLASS frosty mugs! Today's A&W in the plastic mugs just isn't the same. And the old chili dogs . . . yum!! Tricia, I hope all your customers appreciated it as much as I did!

Black Jack chewing gum -- but a few years ago I found some and realized that what made it special was not its taste, but the fact that my Grandpa always had it and shared with me!

My Grandma's soft sugar cookies -- when I was in college, I asked her to give me the recipe and she said, "Well, just come over and we'll do it together." Her recipe was something like "four or five of these tin cups of flour" and "enough shorting to make it look right" and so on. I realized that without her specific and non-standard measuring cups, I didn't have a prayer! But boy, were they good!

There was an ice cream place in Elkhart, Indiana, the next town over from my hometown, that served real lemon custard that was to die for. Years later, a Warsaw, Indiana, diner served it for a while and I indulged as often as possible.

And other memories: We had the first TV among our friends. One family came over every Sunday night to watch a couple shows, going home right after "What's My Line?" And they always had a glass of water before they left, because they were on "city water" and our well water tasted so good to them!

And I remember collecting Fiesta Ware from Duz soap boxes. It was so exciting when we got a piece we "needed" to complete a color grouping, or a new one we didn't have yet. Wish I still had all those pieces!!

Thanks for this thread!

Arlene

Cookinggrvc - I use to go shopping with my mom on Jamaica Ave when I was little. We always had lunch at the Gertz lunch counter.

Egg creams, Good humor, Dugans, White Castle, the soda man who brought Seltzer in the squirt bottles. All good memories...

Bonnie

Gosh, I'm glad this thread is still around. My DH spied me smiling at the screen. Anyone remember the rice pudding from Horn and Hardhart? It was so creamy and such comfort food. I still remember they had it for takeout in blue and white waxed containers. Not quite a food memory, but I remember the kids would tease the poor Bungalow Bar ice cream man...Bungalow Bar tastes like tar, the more you eat it, the sicker you are! Good Humor was the favored choice. Poor man was just trying to make a living! I, too remember really ice cold coke in the small green glass bottle. Heaven!

I was born in '44, and I never had "fast food" until I dated my husband in the late 60's. My family considered McDonald's food to be trash, though none of us had ever tasted it. While in my late teens I drove to Hartford, CT for my bassoon lesson, and I used to pass a Friendly's and read the sign that said Ice Cream on one line and Sandwiches on the line below. I wondered if they were a sandwich shop or if they sold only ice cream sandwiches. I didn't find out until one was built in Stratford and I finally decided to eat there. Awful Awfuls were incredibly large and think milkshakes at Friendly's. They were awful good and awful big. Eventually, they had to change the name to the Fribble. I think it was due to a another store using the name first. Somehow, when the name changed, Fribbles just weren't as good as Awful Awfuls. Friendly's made the best cheesburgers in the world back then. They were made as a square burger added to a grilled cheese sandwich and were always cut into three pieces.
Does anyone recall a canned meat called Veal Loaf? The can was ths same as a Spam (UGH, no matter how poor I may ever be, I will NEVER again eat Spam) can but the meat tasted gteat. The can was opened with a roll-up key. We had a sandwich grill and made the sandwiches on Wonder Bread. Making sandwiches for four people from that one can made for pretty thin sandwiches.
I wonder if German hard rolls were what we called water rolls. I never found them outside CT and haven't had one in 40 years.
Going back to my parents' distain of fast food, and when we were still very poor, our Sunday night supper was always eggs and potatoes. My father always cooked the potatoes, usually as slices fried in a ton of butter on a two burner long griddle pan. When he was in a good mood he would take the time to make real french fries. A can of Crisco was melted in a deep pot and we peeled REAL potatoes for him to deep fry. Each batch was placed into a clean paper bag and shaken to remove extra grease. Then, they were shaken with salt and we had the best fries I have ever tasted. I recall making real fries once when my kids were little. They shared them with their friends and they sure disappeared fast!
Oh, yeah, how about going to the local drug store and getting a good sized Hershy bar with almonds for a nickel???? Another treat was parking near the local airport to watch the planes land and take off. There was a hot dog stand nearby and sometime we got foot long hot dogs.
No Belgian Waffle has ever tasted as good ones I had first at the World Fair in New York in the 60's.
My family was terribly poor and a special treat was a Sunday ride and a stop at the God Humor truck. I think they cost 15 cents back then.
A quick lunch, considered healthful, was a Horlick's Choclate Malted milk with a raw egg beaten into the whole milk!!! God they were good!

Oh, this thread is a wonderful read! I remember roast beef poboys and hot, fresh, thick fries from the Shake Shack down by the rail road track. Of course, I can still get poboys any time I go home, but the Shake Shack and their special taste is long goneeven the building is gone.

"Parched pecans," which were pecans we kids picked up in the yard, shelled by my grandpa, and then Grandma would put them on a cookie sheet with butter and salt and cook them slowly om the oven until they were hot and crisp and excellent. I just cant duplicate them. And fried "balony" (bologna) sandwiches. We sliced the bologna off the roll, peeled off the red plastic coating and fried it until it puffed up into a little hat. My grandpa loved an egg cooked in the "cup" of his fried bologna, but I wanted mine on bread with mustard. Yes, Im sure I could get it now, but I know to much about whats in it to actually eat it these days. Lost innocence ;)

My grandma cooked every day of her life, but if she had a doctors appointment, wed have lunch at Walgreens luncheonette while we waited for her prescription to be filledgrilled cheese and tomato soup, usually. And on the occasional all-day shopping trip, wed get lunch at the Woolworths lunch counter; there I ate BLTs. I think, to a large extent, it was the novelty more than the actual food that excited us. Its hard to recreate that these days with fast food on every corner and a mind-set that equates heating frozen pizza with "cooking."

More recently (only about 25 years ago) I could get Buttermilk Bar donuts at the bakery near my house in Sacramento. Now that Im back home in the south, I cant find them anywhere, and no recipe has come close to the tangy, almost creamy center of those bars.

mudlady, I grew up poor too, and eating out was a huge treat. Grandma baked all our bread and fool that I was, I thought that squishy white stuff from the store was a treat. Ick.

My uncle owned a gas station and I could get those little cokes there, and just a couple of days ago I saw them at the Wesco gas station here in town, in glass bottles.

I loved root beer fizzies, but seldom got them, my grandma would occasionally buy the BigK Cola at the local Kroger store and split that 12 oz. can three ways between my sister brother and me, LOL.

My Aunt Ronni would take me to Woolsworths to the lunch counter and get me a grilled cheese sandwich and a chocolate malt on my birthday, the movie theater was right next door. I remember her taking me to the movies for my birthday and watching Elvis Presley in "Kissing Cousins". Gee, I wonder who wanted to see THAT, LOL.

The A&W in Big Rapids still has car hops and they still bring the root beer out in frosty glass mugs and hang the tray on the car window. Bud and Makayla love the root beer and the "coney island" chili dogs, but they really like the deep fried cheese curds and the chili cheese fries.

Mondrella's Meat Market was still on Main Street and I could go there and ask for dog bones and get a big sack of soup bones that Grandma used to make soup before the dog actually got the bones. (grin)

We had Top Value stamps instead of S&H green stamps, and the closest redemption center was 40 miles away in Cadillac, so we saved books all year, we got the stamps for buying groceries at Krogers. Once a year, just before Christmas, we'd take those full books and trade them in for Christmas presents.

I worked 60 hours a week all the way through high school at a sub shop called Mr. T's, but occasionally I'd ask for a night off and go to dollar movie night at the drive-in. For another dollar I could buy a bottle of Apple Boonesfarm and my girlfriends and I would share it 5 ways. I remember when they came out with Strawberry Hill and it was so exciting, LOL.

Annie