Phone booths.

So many things.

Neighborhood bakeries,butchers and old fashioned delis.

Lunch counters in stores have been taken over by fast food joints.

Mom and pop diners are getting scarce where we live.

All night places to eat. We live in a big city that runs 24/7 yet the only sit down places left in the entire county are the chains like Denny's and Carrows. One mom and pop is still open and the only other non chain will be closing it's doors at the end of the month.

Roller Rinks that are geared to the skater who wants to glide to music instead of ear splitting techno and rap.

Independent drugstores.

Real policemen who were more about "serve and protect" than they were about their own skins and egotistical status.

1. Hand Drill

2. Pocket protectors

3. Good quality triangles (for drawing and drafting).

4. Drafting board

5. Slide rule (of quality, made of bamboo or boxwod)

6. Fountain pens (with ink bladders)

7. Writing ink.

8. Drafting ink.

9. Tire tubes.

10. Inner tube patching kits.

11. Good quality tire pumps (most are junk with poor quality hoses and fititngs)

12. Blow torch

13. 8 oz cups of yogurt. There are all 6 oz these days.

14. Vienna sausage (in small cans)

15. Insecticide with DDT (but that was banned for good reason)

16. R12 refrigerant (very effective but banned due to high altitudse ozone layer destruction)

17. Soda fountains in drug stores.

18. Carry out boys in grocery stores.

19. Gas station service person who fills your tank and cleans the windshield.

20. Kerosene

21. Turpentine

22. Railway caboose

Watermelons with big black seeds! They were loaded with flavour, unlike the seedless ones which are all we can buy now.

Women that have time to cook "everything" from scratch or that sew their own clothing. lol

Neighborhood movie theaters. Now you have to trek to the big multiplexes to see a movie. We used to be able to walk to a one-screen theater to see first run movies.

Video rental stores.

Penny candy stores.

Towns. I loved growing up where I could walk or bike to stores, movies, restaurants, parks, etc. There are still some businesses in 'town' where I live now but most of the action is now in a strip mall on the main road leading into town, and otherwise located on that road. The closest thing to a town center as far as socializing is the strip mall. That's where you're most likely to run into people since most people live in developments outside of town.

Well, mentioning multiplexes...
When people didn't used to have cellphones and blackberries going inside the movies!

When there were true department stores--and not just one "Macys" under different names! And when those department stores had millinery sections. I remember as a child thinking that was very cool! (Tho I am not a hat wearer today!)

Speaking of department stores, remember when there were places to sit in department stores (and malls)? The Globe Store in Scranton had a ladies 'lounge'. It was a large room with several comfortable couches and chairs located just outside of the actual bathroom area. You could just take a break and relax for while, socialize a bit.

Trains! I loved trains and grew up "beside the railroad tracks." My father had a general store, a grain elevator, and a stockyards, all of them dependent on the railroad. He was also the ticket agent so we had a family pass to ride free,

When I was in grade school I rode the train home each night, about 5 miles.

I have never ridden on Amtrak but my children have so I had the experience vicariously.

Local stores of about any kind are becoming so rare. Hardware stores, boutiques, delis, pharmacies....you are so right, WC. Walmart, Lowes, Rite Aid.....they are killing our country but I guess cheap is more important more than value.

But things that I see disappearing, cobblers, tv repair shops are two I miss.

Our town has a town center, opposite the train station. We have hardware and statinery stores, but with small inventories. You have to drive five miles to a Home Depot or Staples for many needs.

There's a bike shop and one toy store -- specialty toys, not the volume you have at a Toys-R-Us. There's a shoe store and a men's clothing shop, but I don't know how much longer they can last.

When Macy's bought Marshall Field's, they closed the small Field's branch that had been here since about 1915. (Part of the building is now occupied by J Crew.)

I think the largest percentage of retail space in town is occupied by banks; I find that amazing. There are twenty separate banking facilities listed in the phone book.

Preachers on the court house steps.

THAT WAS long long ago

Remember when high school graduation ceremonies were quite and dignified and respectful (if these are the right descriptive words).

Now there is lots of yelling and whistling by the audience.
Many people rise and leave before the end creating more distraction.

Shoe repair shops. No place to get your shoes re-soled anymore or your leather purse strap sewn back on.

Nicole, if us women would get away from the tv, and off the 'puter and phone, we would have plenty of time to cook from scratch and sew our own clothes. It's all this new fangled stuff that keeps getting in the way. LOL!

Margarine with the coloured bubble that you squeezed to mix it in.

We have a good jewelers store that does repair/fix/replace items on watches and at a reasonable price.

Block Ice
Seamed Stockings
No More Towels in Laundry Soap
Record Players & Records
Black Licorace Babies
Clothes Lines
Spittoons (sp)
Sinclair Gas Stations
Black Jack Gum (yummo)
Clove Gum (I have to order it from Retro Candy)
Aunt Jamima Syrup Figure Bottles
You have to ask for Water at Restaurants

Blue Chip Stamps and Green Stamps

Made In the USA

Car hops

push mowers

kid's lemonade stands

combs made out of flexible rubber instead of brittle plastic

jungle gyms on playgrounds and schoolyards

transistor radios

realistic looking toy guns

pea shooters

metal sparklers

quiet restaurants

customer service

cash (and everyone knew ho to count back change)

banks had those little folders to save dimes in

real cooks in school cafeterias

We have:
a local bakery
a local butcher
several local cafes with good food
a railway caboose ( and it does get used!)
I have seen a shoe repair shop in our travels recently, but i can't tell you where it was.

There is a specialty candy store in Cleveland OH that stocks gaylemarie's gum and maybe the candy.

I thought of something I miss, until I read everyone's replies, then promptly forgot what it was! Maybe that's what I miss, my mind!!!!

Tami

We (St. Paul MN) have a lot of small bakeries, a railway car-turned greasy spoon restaurant, and a couple of great delis. There's a shoe repair store within walking from me as well as a couple of small tailor shops. There's also a candy store. So what do I miss? I was craving a hot dog or brat a couple of days ago. Yes, there are plenty to buy in the supermarket and they show up constantly at summer picnics and the ball park, but there seem to be no fast food places to go get a great dog. When I was growing up in the Chicago area it seems we had a lot of these--remember Dog N' Suds? Are there any drive in hot dog/brat places anymore? All I can think of is SuperAmerica and they're best avoided.

We do still have a drive-in hot dog place complete with carhops.

There are still a couple of good hot dog places in the East Bay.

We also have a shoe repair shop that's been there for years.

We have bakeries but they specialize. None are one stop bakeries where you can buy fresh bread,cakes,pastries and cookies that are all good. I have to go to one for burnt almond cake and a different one for pastry. We do have tons of good Mexican Panaderias though.

Oh, Jasdip is right. I was just bemoaning the fact that all we can buy are the seedless watermelons that simply don't have the flavor of the older varieties.

Things I remember... some good and some bad:

-Five and dimes with lunch counters

- Storm doors with mail slots

- Milk boxes (at the side of the house where the milk man puts the milk)

- Home milk delivery, actually

- The knife sharpener man rolling his cart down the street in the summer time

* The following things are no longer allowed in Ontario:

- Smoking in hospitals

- Smoking in restaurants

- Smoking in the work place

- Smoking in a car with a child in it

- A lucky rabbit's foot. We all used to have one when we were young, we just didn't know better. Thank goodness they're not available any more. I'm not sure if they're banned or just very politically incorrect

Oh, and we used to pick up fish and chip orders wrapped in newspapers. That would not pass health and safety standards any more.

in the summer we had an ice cream man who pushed a cart around & blew a whistle.
milk & bread home delivery. i got to go into the bread truck & pick out my treat.
ground beef was 3 lbs for a dollar
going to the butcher to buy fresh meats & sausages.
food joints where we teens would either ride through & ck out the opposite sex or stop & socialize and play the juke box.
Easter bonnets
transistor radios
writing letters

Shopping at an independent grocery store (IGA) with wooden floors and wood shavings on the floor behind the butcher's counter.

Handing the butcher the grease Mom had saved all week towards the war effort.

Ration stamps for *everything*.

No new cars or tires; gasoline rationed.

Waving goodbye to Mom when she went to work as a volunteer 'grey lady' at the VA hospital.

Seeing my uncle shake and shiver from a bout of malaria after the war was over.

The fluoroscope that showed your feet and toes in the shoes you were trying on at the bootery. (Egads!)

My uncle's Packard convertible and our Nash couple that lasted through the war.

Being trapped in the middle of the back seat of Grandpa's Cadillac while he and my father puffed away on cigars in the front as we drove from Arizona to Colorado one summer.

Chain gangs of shackled black men, guarded by white men with rifles mounted on horseback as we drove from Illinois to Florida.

Quiet summer days and evenings on our back porch -- when what is now O'Hare International Airport was just a small Air Force field.

Sleeping on the back seat of a car until I got 'too long' to fit. (Riding on running boards, too!)

Marita -- You probably remember this radio commercial, "Call Hudson Three Two Seven Hundred".

Free road maps at gas stations.

Billboards.

Elevator operators -- and seeing the walls fly by behind the little grill they closed.

Playing outdoors unsupervised until after dark. "Calling for" a neighbor child to come out and play. ("Yoo-hoo, Mar-i-lyn!") The games we played. Catching fireflies.

Pneumatic tubes in department stores that sent the buyer's CASH to the cashier and returned his or her CHANGE.

Leaf bonfires in the fall. (cough, choke)

Walking or riding my bike half a mile to school, home for lunch, back at one p.m., home after 3:30.

When nobody locked house doors -- and *somebody's* Mom was always home.

Door to door salesmen.

Water bags slung over car radiators.

Telephone party lines. VERY expensive long distance calls. Telegrams.

When everything was 'extra' on a new car including the dial clock that stopped working in a week.

We also have a watch repair shop and a Dog N Suds! I still haven't remembered what it was I was thinking I miss.

We have a small grocery that still has people carry your groceries out.

I can still buy fountain pens

We have two gas stations that still has full service and while in DesMoine IA a couple of years ago, stopped at a station there that had full service.

I can still get tire tubes, but have to drive an hour to get it. Dad has a blow torch
and we can buy kerosene.

Tami

chiuse, I do remember that jingle! I grew up in LaGrange, BTW, and my memories are pretty much from the 1960s. I remember that our phone number began with "Fleetwood."

Here's a college memory from the 1970s that I'd rather forget: sitting in a two hour class on Shakespeare with the professor puffing away on his pipe; beginning to gag in the second hour and leaving each class sick!

BONOMO Turkish Taffy
Dialing 112 for long distance.
Carry-out boys at the grocery stores. (You beat me to that one. But how about when they'd give you a number and you'd drive up to get the groceries loaded in your car.
Not having a phone growing out of your ear.
S&H Green Stamps, Gold Bond Stamps, Holiday Stamps.
Banana Flips.
People knowing their neighbors.
People HELPING their neighbors!
People not afraid to go out in the dark.
"Helping Hand" signs in windows. (Or was that just local?)
CARBON PAPER!!! (I still have some.)
Blues laws (still apply in some places)
Monkey bars, and the whole playground was on blacktop!
Kids going to school to learn to read & write instead of eat & fight.
When Clark ("The Premium People") gas stations sold only premium gas. They've made a return in this area.
Fuller Brush Man knocking on the door.
People "visiting", playing cards or board games.
Mimeo & ditto machines. (Still have a hand crank ditto machine.)
Dictionaries and encyclopedia sets in peoples' homes, usually proudly displayed and seldom used.
Pole lamps.
Fizzies

People thought it was great getting rid of the forest of TV antennas but today there's a field full of satellite dishes in their places!

FWIW, Beemans, Clove and Blackjack are owned by Cadbury Adams and are available online and are sold in stores (special shipper displays) at certain times of the year. Usually falltime (near Halloween IIRC). They can't sell enough of it to justify continual production but the people that want it will buy it once or twice a year so they do a trademark production run and specials once or twice a year.

Around here we have Sinclair gas here and there, and one even has the big green "Dino" the dinosaur out front! (It just hit me that the name of the family on the TV show "Dinosaurs" was Sinclair! Didn't catch the connection before.)
Block ice is easy to get.
Black Licorace Babies are sold as "Anice Dolls" now.
I think you might be confusing Aunt Jamima with Mrs. Butterworth's. Still available.
Water is getting to be a common beverage around here now so water is commonly served.

Whoever came up with the name "seedless watermelon" must be the same one who came up with "semi boneless ham". That big seed pod in the middle of the "seedless" melons takes up the best tasting part of the melon.

Lots of bakeries around, but the best ones are in the small towns.

Now I have that Statler Brothers song in my mind, (Do You Remember These?)

gosh we're lucky to have a shoe repair shop, a jeweler who takes care of dh's watch...

Woolworths. (sp?) One of my earliest memories is sitting on the spinning chair at the lunch counter and ordering a malt and hamburger myself off the kids menu. My husband grew up in a small town and they had a drug store that had a old fashioned soda fountain. I/we have one of the old aqua blue colored malt mixers with all the accessories somewhere. It still worked last time it was used.

Manual typewriters
Cars without seat belts or padded dashboards
No pull-tops on cans
smallpox vaccinations

Drive-In movies...those metal speakers you hooked on the window...and the mosquito coil you put on the dash

The Milk Man

Flat wrap for gifts. I especially miss this at Christmas time. Boys who could keep their pants around their waist. Girls wearing ankle socks.Howdy Doody. Clarabelle.(sp) Gary Moore Arthur Godfrey. Times seemed so much easier then.

I'm with jemdandy. The world is not the same without the caboose at the end of the train. It's just no fun anymore.

Milk bottles delivered INTO THE KITCHEN -- with the CREAM on TOP! (Did YOU get to lick the cream off the cardboard/foil seal?)

Picking up the telephone receiver and telling a PERSON (the operator) what you wanted -- which was a four-digit number for many years in our town. Waiting for a 'trunk call' to go through when calling long distance.

Pressing your ear up against the console radio to hear "The Lone Ranger", "Captain Midnight", "The Green Hornet", "Let's Pretend", "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon", "The Jack Benney Show" or music from a hotel ballroom -- perhaps the Allerton's 'Tip Top Tap'. If you were home sick you could releive the tedium with the radio soaps and comic books.

getting the Salk-Sabine polio vaccine at school

riding the big yellow school bus-
one ancient driver named Mr Vaughan,
no air conditioning,
no seat belts,
the beautiful & sophisiticated "big girls" (high schoolers) in
circle skirts with sweaters or cotton blouses,
bobby socks & saddle shoes or penny loafers,
chiffon scarves tied jauntily around their necks,
hair in sprayed beehives.

Papa (our grandfather) buying stalks of sugar cane from the door-to-door fruit & vegetable peddler.
Papa would cut the canes into short lengths & smash one end with his hammer to make it easier to get the "sugar".

that very same Papa giving us the few chewy chocolate candies in every bag of chewy caramals,
smashing a giant peppermint stick with his hammer at Christmas,
sharing coconut candies from a bag;
they looked like little haystacks, & they had hard icing shells of pink, white, yellow, & chocolate.

candy in big glass jars outside every gas station;
the jars usually said "Tom's" or something.
I remember they always had coconut candy-I forget the name-that was a pink/white/yellow striped slab in a cellophane wrapper, ,
peanut butter logs,
tootsie rolls.
seems like those jars also held peanut-butter crackers or cheese crackers.

staying outside all day, coming in only when one of our parents blew the car horn.

raising the flag & taking it down at school

fire drills

"duck & cover"

the alphabet, capitols & lower case, shown on big cards above the blackboard.
In first & second grades, the letters were printed.
Third grade marked the transition to cursive letters.

My Weekly Reader.

When I was in 2nd grade, our teacher challenged us to figure out how to say a proper name in a Weekly Reader story.

We tried every phonetic "sounding-out" technique we could, & she finally laughed told us this man would be amazed to hear the things we were calling him.
izzenhoover
eesenhiver
essinhoer

The name was Eisenhower.

Dick & Jane & Sally, Mother & Father, Spot & Fluff.

those pkgs of straws filled with kool aide

candy cigarettes

Balloon-tired bicycles

Bicycles with mudguards (doesn't it rain, any more?)

I think that I saw my first multi-speed (three) bicycle when I went to university

Spare tires on cars that were the same size as the regular wheels

I never lived with a flush toilet (or hot water on tap, for that matter) until I went to university

Wood-framed screen (and storm) doors and windows

Electricity. We had it from when I was very young in Ontario, but when Dad moved to Saskatchewan and share-cropped there, the power line was 1.5 miles away and the landowner was unwilling to pay for building the line ...

... but he soon did when he retired and moved out there!

Cars with gas tanks between the dash and the motor compartment, e.g. Model A Ford

Rural kids walking to school (usually less than a mile)

Locker plants where many local families rented a wire-mesh compartment in which to store frozen food

ole joyful

Lumber yards, not Home Depots and Lowes.

ice houses