I do remember most of those nostalgic items
and reminisces I have read in many e-mails and website postings.
I thought I would try and contribute some new ones that were commonplace
in my Old Newark neighborhood. Here goes……
Multi-colored plastic streamers that hung out of your bicycle handlebars
Baseball cards clothes-pinned to your bicycle wheel fork to make
a motor boat sound
Pitching baseball cards
Pitching pennies
Street games like hopscotch, boxball, stickball, and hide and
seek
Flavor straws (strawberry was the best!)
Penny candy
Moon hubcaps for your jalopy
Cars with flames painted on the sides of the doors
People fixing their own cars and tuning their engines
Nehi soda pop
Black and white fountain treats
Sitting out on your porch, stairs, stoop, or front walk on summer
nights
Teen-age acapella singing groups
Friday night CYO dances
The rag man
Free gifts when you bought gasoline
Free air at gas stations
S&H Green Stamps
Coffee grinders in grocery stores
Pickle barrels
Pigs feet in big jars
Walking or taking a bus to school
School bus tickets
Soda fountain luncheonettes and malt shops
Jawbreakers
Chinese finger-locks
Paddleballs
Yo-yos
Cap guns and rolls of caps
Magic 8-Ball to answer your questions
Electric company linemen who really climbed poles (no buckettrucks)
Overhead street trolley wires and rails in the middle of the streets
Men formally dressed for church
Men and women formally dressed for baseball games
Huge Christmas store displays in downtown Newark
Churches that did not lock their doors at night
Two mail deliveries a day
Car doors not locked at night
Playing in Branch Brook Park at night
Boat rides in Branch Brook Park
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