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Hey, burpalator!

May I call you burp?

Yes, I visit that site and watch the video every now and then for auld lang syne. Wanna get frustrated? Try humming the music...

Anyone remember the announcer: "The FBI--in color!"

veg
 
I miss:

My grandma and the smell of a roast cooking in her kitchen on Sunday mornings.

Sears, and all the pushy sales people who wouldn't let a little boy just "play" with the vacuums.

Montgomery Wards: they always smelled like carmel corn, and of course the beach ball floating on the vacuum exhaust in their vacuum department.

The vacuum department at Wieboldts, a long defunct Chicago area department store. They sold EVERYTHING Hoover

My friend Jack Wissert, who fought cancer bravely for 5 years. I can still close my eyes and hear his laughter at some really raunchy jokes.

TV sets with dials

My 1976 Buick Electra 225 Limited. Best car I ever had!

Telephones with real bells in them

New Years eve at grandma's watching Guy Lombardo on TV. At midnight Grandma would open the back door and poke her head outside to hear all the party-ers outside on main street in her town, one block away.

Being able to go to Ohare Airport and parking so as to watch the planes take off and land. Today the place is sealed up like fort knox!
 
Wow Jeff, that's the car my dad had when I learned how to drive! Small wonder I couldn't parallel park til I was 35...LOL!

I'm really sorry about your friend. I used to enjoy spending New Years Eve with my grandma too; we'd always switch back and forth between Guy Lombardo and New Years Rockin Eve!

How long did Wieboldt's last? When I had friends in Chicago proper, we often drove by an abandoned one in the central city on I forget what street, and he told me they were nice stores. I was perusing a "dead mall" website and there was mention of one having been at this mall, I forget where. So between that and you remembering it, they must have lasted into the mall era.

Tom, I think I remember one place with those sticks indicating the doors were going to close, and some just used their arms. We had some with manually operated doors/gates, and some others that had electrically operated doors. These were more like the elevators we have today, except they still had operators. They must have been the next step after the manual doors and gates but before automatic.
 
Making "houses" out of refrigerator and washer and dryer boxes. In the winter I'd cut an opening and place it against the dryer vent on the patio -- voila! central heating! Sometimes also made tents/houses with old sheets and blankets and lawn chairs, the picnic table and benches and so forth.

Sitting on the big vinyl recliner in the family room of the house where I grew up, reading a book or magazine, with my feet up on the grille of the Thomas A. Edison window unit, getting a good chill.

Setting a stack of Christmas LPs on the Zenith clam-shell record player, in the middle of summer, so I could fall asleep listening to them, and Dad always fussed because he could hear it, even though I had the volume barely cracked open.

Having time to read a book.

Watching Star Trek for the first time (re-runs, didn't get into it until the mid-1970s), and Soap and Space 1999 when they were first aired.

Spending the night at granny's when I was just a youngster.

Going out-of-town to the aunts/uncles houses for various holidays. Except Christmas was always at Grandpa's house, and since the sisters and I were the grandkids in town, we always got to decorate the tree.

Insisting that Mom not wash clothes all week, so I could do a bunch of Bob Loads on Saturday.
 
Oh the memories...

Scott:
That 1976 Buick was the S**T as far as I was concerned. I bought it in 1983 with 40,000 miles, and sold it in 1988 with 125,000 on it. I loved that car more than any other one, and it set the standard for every car since then. I just can't drive a small car! I tried with the Ford Taurus, and back in January I traded the Taurus in for a beautiful 2003 Mercury Grand Marquis.

Wieboldts - They were around til maybe 1987 or so. I shopped at their Randhurst mall store mostly, the Hoovers were in the basement.

What I wouldn't give to be able to poke my head out the back door with Grandma on New Years eve again, or to just have a chance to tell Jack one more dirty, tasteless joke.
Time moves too fast..
 
1976 Buick Electra

Jeff,
Here is the 1976 Electra that lives in our garage and she is a fabulous auto. With gas prices going up, she may end up as either garage art or yard art. (I am in the south you know).

Charlie
 
Very nice Charlie! Maybe you can take it out to drive to the Piggly Wiggly once in a while! ;-)

Ours was a 4 door, a kind of cream color but definitely more "yellow" than yours, though it wasn't yellow either, if any of th at makes sense. I remember it had something called "speed alert", you could set it at a certain point in the speedometer and it would buzz to tell you you were getting over speed. LOL I don't remember a lot of the finer details anymore, but it was a wonderful car, and we'd had several Electras before it as well.
 
growing up...

my mom had a new Electra 225 every 4 years, and my dad had a string of different Buicks, Riveras, Wildcats, Lesabres, and Regals.
I learned how to drive on mom's 1978 Electra Limited.

My '76 was a 4 door, sky blue with a white vinyl top and the Buick Mags. It was the Park Avenue version, which 1976 was the 2nd year for...
Gotta find some pics of it to post!
 
Charlie,, that's my car.. altho mine was a 75 we bought it as a year end in early 76, dark cobalt blue with a white padded quarter top..almost the reverse of yours, white interior. I miss that car so much. I have to have a pic of it around here somewheres,, where is the question. I'm trying to remember what we paid for it back then but it was around $7000 Cdn. and I had to have it because it was an absolute knockout. I think it was even nicer than the similar C.d'Villes. and definitely better than the 98's
 
Some Things that I Miss......

-Gold Bond Stamps
-T.G.& Y.
-Gibson's Discount Center
-Furr's Cafeteria when it was still good
-Underwood's Barbecue Cafeteria
-Spending the night at cousin Gary Don's house
-My grandparents' cotton farm in West Texas
-Romper Room
-Elementary School
-Cartoons of the 1960's and before
-Bewitched
-Shopping downtown before the mall killed it
-Appliances of the 1970's and before
-Petticoat Junction
-When nobody wore seatbelts
-Burger Chef
-The Carol Burnett Show
-Shopping for school clothes and supplies
-Cars of the 1970's and before
-Being excited about the mailman coming
-Homemade ice-cream for birthdays
-Captain Kangaroo
-Riding my bike EVERYWHERE!
-When clothing and hair styles were neat and attractive
-Romper Room
-The Dick Van Dyke Show
-3:00pm snack time, following our naps
-Our 1959 white Frigidaire washing machine
-When people dressed up when going "to town," to the bank, to appear in a TV audience, etc.
-Admiral Foghorn (similar to Bozo, Howdy Doody, etc.)
-Sitcoms every night
-New TV shows in the fall/spring and reruns in the summer
-Summer vacation
-No reality TV
-Getting a trinket or small toy at the dentist or doctor
-Buying 45's at Gibson's
-Listening to the radio and calling in to make requests
-Transistor radios
-Console TVs that looked like furniture
-Getting new pajamas, house shoes and a house coat
-Snow days...no school
-Going out of town for the weekend to stay w/relatives
-My Smokey the Bear stuffed animal
-Potluck lunches at church
-Thinking that going to the park to play was a treat
-Texas
-Avon ladies
-Towels or dishes in laundry detergent boxes
-Full service filling stations where they filled the tank, checked under the hood, checked the fluids, cleaned the windshield, offered you a map for free and told you what dish was available this week
-Cigar boxes for your school supplies
-Finding the toy in the cereal box
-PopTarts
-Archie, Betty, Veronica, Reggie, Jughead, Hotdog, Miss Grundy and Mr. Weatherby
-PreBeatles rock and roll
-Tall Boy (burger joint)
-Variety shows....Red Skelton, Andy Williams, The Smothers Brothers, etc.
-Phyllis Diller
-Joan Rivers when she was just a commedienne
-Birthday cards with money inside
 
washinsheen.....

A lot of good memories there.

You mentioned Furrs Cafeteria.

I was born in LA, but spent my years 4-13 in Denver. I know Furrs was out here, and about 8 years ago, went to the last one opened out here in CA, I think in Ontario. It was not very good.

However, it is in stark contrast to the Furrs that was in Denver in the 60s. That was the most unusual cafeteria I have ever been in.

There was always a huge roast that a guy was carving right there. It was one long counter. Salads first, then sides, then entrees, then desserts, then drinks. It was great. The dining area was fitted almost formally and had a well dressed woman in the center playing the piano. Two ladies on carts came around with extra water, coffee and milk. It was on Colorado Blvd I believe and it was just exceptional.

I have never been to a cafeteria since that could hold a candle to it. Most are awful, and the fool tastes like it all comes out of a can. I see people jam into Hometown Buffet, and I feel like telling them that they have absolutely no idea what a good restaurant is.

I have never understood how people are happy just filling their face with bad food, simply because it is all you can eat for one price.

I miss Furrs. Nothing like going there after a big movie at the Cooper Cinerama.
 
Bishops and the Cooper 70

In downtown Omaha, (and several other locations) there was the Bishop's Buffet (it was really a cafeteria, but why split hairs?)

Bishops had big foo-foo chandeliers, Huge cheesy oil paintings, big swoopy draperies and little electric candles on the table that you turned on when you wanted a refill of your coffee or ice tea. We used to encourage our parents to drink up, so that we could turn the light on.

The cafeteria line was HUGE and had all sorts of stuff on it. We used to go there after church, and my dad would have a "contest" to see who could get the cheapest meal. I was always happy to lose, and would pull out all the stops, even getting the silverware wrapped in the linen napkin (which was five cents extra!)

It had HUGE coffee urns and girls dressed in black maid's uniforms who carried your tray to the table for you. And the bathroom had electic toilet seats with these blue lights on them that were supposed to "sanitize" them. Man, I had thought of that in years!

Next door was the Cooper 70 Theatre, which was ultra-mod and VERY glamourous - it showed things like the Bond films. just up the street was the Omaha Theatre that, by the time I came around, showed the old 60's and 70's black films with actors like Pam Grier. I always loved the posters for those films, with the big afros and wild clothes, and wanted to go see them, but I was too young.

It's all gone now. The new UP building in on the site, and that's nice too. But it ain't no Bishops! ;-)
 
Furr's Cafeteria

kevinpreston3....You knew Furr's before it came down with Ahlzeimer's?? My childhood friends in TX and I sometimes joke when we would get together and go there, even though it wasn't really any good, anymore. We'd act like we were visiting an old woman w/dementia, and we'd say things like, "Well, she won't know who we are....But we really need to go and visit her."

I grew up in Odessa, TX, and the Furr's there is just like it was back in the 1960's. The food is WONDERFUL!!! Not sure why that location is still good while the others aren't.
 
Furr's oldies

When we went to the one back out here in Ontario, you're right, it was a bunch of old people.

The service was terrible, and there was absolutely nothing fun or interesting about it. I remember the food being totally bland.

I could care less if there were old people there, if the food was good (I will be a crotchety old fool someday, the alternative is terrible). But it totally was changed, or perhaps this one always was that way, oriented towards bland tastes and cheap people. Man it was bad.

When I was little, I loved either the roast beef or the fried shrimp dinner. You felt kind of grown up picking out whatever you wanted. Oh and Dan reminded me of something, they DID carry your trays to the tables. What a great place.
 
Speaking of interesting places to eat

Admittedly way down the "food chain"! from Furrs, does anyone remember King's Food Host? Man, I forgot about that one.

You went there, and it was all booths. The menu was lit up on the wall next to a phone. Not kidding. You picked up the phone and ordered what you wanted. The phone had no dial, it just rang up in the back.

Then they brought the food out to you. If they added a conveyor, they could have made it so you never saw anyone at all!

This was the first place I ever saw a "Patty Melt". Always wondered what the heck it was. They had the best hot chocolate around.

That was a fun place to go!
 
Furrs!!!!!!!!!! OH!

The one here in St. Louis had T-bones so tender and juicy...oh, boy do I miss those!

You know something else I miss?

Remember when you would let someone in traffic...and they'd wave an acknowledgement? I hardly see that anymore...

John
 
I always see people waving at me...

funny though how so many drivers today are missing three fingers and a thumb on their one hand....
:-D
 
Furr's elaboration

Didn't mean to give the wrong impression, kevinpreston3...I wasn't saying that I minded the old people who eat at Furr's. I was saying that Furr's has lost its glory and isn't what it once was...as if it were an old lady we would visit who no longer knew what was going on. Hope I didn't offend anyone...I LOVE old people!!

One other thing I remember about Furr's is the meringue pies!! Chocolate meringue and coconut meringue!! Wish I had a slice of each, right now!!!!
 

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