Tag Archives: Nostalgia

My First Car

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corvair 300x1851 My First CarMy first car was a Corvair, purchased in 1967 when I was stationed at Fort Shafter Hawaii during the Viet Nam War. The purchase was a big decision on my part, the first major purchase of my adult life. My parents were very protective and normally intervened with whatever I proposed to do (and to be fair, I was a willing protectee). Getting drafted out of graduate school lifted me out of my dependent lifestyle and left me on my own, 3,000 miles away from my support system. In Hawaii, I had money of my own (not much to be sure but enough to buy a car) and so I decided that I needed a car to provide mobility. I even got a job at the base library to provide more funds. (The picture is not my car and we never saw snow in Honolulu.)

I did not know very much about cars and had no one to advise me so I went to Aloha Chevrolet to see what I could afford. What I could afford turned out to be a blue four door Corvair which freed me from the limits of the base and opened the entire island of Oahu for exploration.

I loved that car right up to the time it was totaled as I returned late one summer night in 1968 from a movie at Hickham AFB. It was a four way stop on Nimitz Highway.

There was no traffic except for Betty T who plowed into me as I attempted to get through the intersection. Neither she, nor I was seriously injured but it was the end of my Corvair. Nearing the end of my tour, I didn’t replace it and had to abandon my plans to buy stereo gear with the proceeds of selling it since the insurance companies considered it only fair to screw a short time soldier. I had to retain a lawyer and return several years later to get any settlement through the legal process.

The Corvair has received a bad rap. I always thought it was a classy looking set of wheels (for a subcompact). It was using oil by the time I got it but that’s not a major problem when you don’t drive much.  My Corvair served me well for the year that I had it and I will always remember it fondly.

Rot in hell, Ralph Nader.

The picture is the only one I could find of a four door corvair although mine never saw any snow.  And for some other reminiscences about Carlson cars past go here.

Originally posted 2009-04-08 17:24:54. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

50′s Nostalgia – Sputnik

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300px Posta Romana 1959 Laika 120 B 50s Nostalgia Sputnik

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October 4, 1957

You may not remember the date but the event is something you can’t forget if you were alive in the 50′s. Sputnik marked the beginning of the Space Age but even more it demonstrated that the future did not belong to the United States alone. The Soviet Union was challenging our leadership and in the realm of public opinion, the USSR was winning. Continue reading →

Originally posted 2011-02-09 07:47:35. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Nostalgia about Nostalgia

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There has been a lot of nostalgia here over the last years.  Specifically the memories from the 50′s and 60′s that shaped my life then and still affect it now.  I’ve decided to review some of those posts from time to time and provide links.  Maybe you missed them and want to check them out.  Maybe you’d like to revisit.

This week, I’m getting nostalgic about old nostalgia posts here at RCB.  One year ago. I remembered the pleasure of slow dancing during the 50′s.  Those were the days, actually holding your girl close.  Quite a change from the new dances that came along during the 60′s where you hardly acknowledged your partner.  Dramatic changes from the 50′s to the 60′s.

If you want to explore the entire range of nostalgia posts, you can easily do it by going to the Trails page and selecting Nostalgia.  There you can follow the Nostalgia Trail and see all the posts to date.

60′s Nostalgia- Charlie the Tuna

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Tunacharlie3 60s Nostalgia Charlie the Tuna

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Sorry Charlie!

Charlie the Tuna cane to life in 1961 as the marginal tuna who wasn’t good enough for Star Kist.   The story doesn’t hold up to analysis because being good enough for Star Kist means ending up in a tin can.  It’s hard to imagine this as a life goal even for a tuna.   Still Charlie got the message out that Star Kist meant good tasting tuna.  Fifty years later Charlie still makes us think about Star Kist tuna.

 

60s Nostalgia Charlie the Tuna

50′s Nostalgia- Crank Telephones

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Back in Time

Back in Time

Until I was 9 we lived in suburban communities with regular telephones. While most telephones in the 40′s were bulkier and had rotary dialing, they can still be recognized as telephones today. When we moved to the country in 1949 we stepped back 50 years in telephone technology. Instead of dialing a number we had to get the attention of an operator who made all the telephone calls. We also had a party-line which meant that eight other households shared the use of our telephone line. If they were talking, then we had to wait until they finished. Basically it was the same as if each of us was an extension in a very large house. It wasn’t a big problem for a 10 year old but it was often a big nuisance for adults. Of course if there was an emergency, you just asked the person talking to let you make a call. Sometimes there might be a disagreement about what determined an emergency. Then too there was always the concern that some nosy neighbor was eavesdropping on your conversation. In those days, in the country, you didn’t have choices. If you didn’t like party lines, it was just too bad. Continue reading →

50′s Nostalgia- Velveeta

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300px Velveeta Cheese1 50s Nostalgia Velveeta

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Grilled Cheese Sandwiches meant Velveeta

Growing up in the 50′s, Velveeta meant cheese. Grilled cheese sandwiches were a treat and my mother wouldn’t make grilled cheese sandwiches without Velveeta. It was also her cheese of choice for macaroni and cheese. I don’t think I ever considered that Velveeta wasn’t really cheese until I was out on my own at which time people started talking down Velveeta. I didn’t buy Velveeta for my family and we made our cheese dishes with REAL cheese. Continue reading →

60′s Nostalgia- Peter, Paul and Mary

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The 60′s were a life pivot for me.

I left my rural home for college in the big city in the fall of ’59 and left graduate school to start a career in California in February ’70. There was a lot of transition during that decade. There was a lot of music providing a background for life changing experiences and events but forget the Stones and the Beatles; turn down the Dead and Iron Butterfly; because the  musical group that held my hand and kept me going during that decade was Peter, Paul and Mary.

Yes- the pseudo folk group.

It is easy to trivialize the Peter, Paul and Mary. They dressed nice- of course all the groups dressed nice at the beginning of the 60′s. They were inspiring- in a not-so-threatening way. They were hummable. They were hard to resist.  I probably first heard them on WFMT- the great Chicago FM station. It was a Saturday tradition for my circle of nerds to take a break from study to listen to a folk music-comedy review called the Midnight Special. There I first heard Bob Newhart, Nichols and May, Pete Seeger and, of course, Peter, Paul and Mary. Continue reading →

50′s Nostalgia- New ways with soup

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The 50′s were about pushing the envelope.  We weren’t into old fashioned things.  Soups weren’t big pots of ingredients simmered for long hours on the back of the stove.  In the 50′s, soups came in little packages like  Lipton  Soup mixes or in cans like Campbell’s  Soup.  No muss, no fuss and we thought they tasted fine, probably because we never tasted real home made. Continue reading →

50′s Nostalgia – Mad Magazine

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300px Madhk12 50s Nostalgia Mad Magazine

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hjkjh

Mad about Mad?

When I first got the idea about Mad Magazine, my immdieate association was the 60′s. The irreverance for all things establishment that is the hallmark of Mad just seems to shout 60′s. My faulty memory is to blame as well.   When I search my memory, my memories about Mad start in the 50′s.   I probably got my hands on a copy or two but it mostly went right over my head or scared me to death. I know that I never purchased an issue although looking back, I should have passed on Les Miserables and subscribed to Mad. It would have given me a much better perspective on life – and the world in general than the ‘color inside the lines’  philosophy I picked.

By the time I became aware of Mad, it had evoloved from the origianl comic book format to a real magazine and Alfred E. Newman was it’s personification. The contents were intoxicating and subversive. I knew that reading Mad was not good for me but I couldn’t not look. Continue reading →