There’s an old shopping center (or strip mall, if you’re from Jersey), about halfway between my house and where my daughters live, that’s been under renovation for the last few years. I recently stopped by their apartment with some coffee (or cawfee) and mentioned how there’s a drive-thru Starbucks where the Fotomat used to be.
“What’s a Fotomat?”
Oh, right… because the nearest thing to dropping off a roll of film to be developed my kids remember is Price Club… which exists now as Costco… but I still call it Price Club… and it’s right up there with 110 cameras and flash cubes we grew up with in the 70s and the 80s.
What are some of the things from your childhood that no longer exist or are super rare?
I don’t just mean pay-phones. I was thinking of actual phone booths with real doors, ad in a wall of them in a hotel lobby. I don’t miss payphones on the street all. They were always disgusting. Can you imagine using one now? 🤢😷😵
I miss browsing video rental stores very much! The joys and disappointments of borrowing films without necessarily knowing anything more than what was on the box.
Using the school library encyclopedias for research projects. I've tried to explain to my kids how there were limited sets available, and the ensuing Hunger Games-esque race to get to "your" letter first when your class got to the media center.
Ahhhh... the elementary school I attended did not have a library and I always looked forward to the school trips down the block to use the reference center at our local library. I still remember breathing in the scent of all those books and the smell of the coffeemaker behind the librarians desk. I get super nostalgic every time I walk into a Barnes & Noble.
I know it’s rather obvious and cliche to say corded phones, but I have such strong sense memory of wrapping that curly cord around my finger, trying to find ways to sit or stand comfortably for hours, the satisfaction of slamming the handset down in teen emotional angst, etc. Most of the things like this I think about (record players, TVs without remotes, library card catalogs, headphones you plug in with a heavy jack) are all very tangibly physical things. And I think a lot about the ways the tactile has slipped away from us and wonder about all the ways that changes us.
I have a scar on the back of my hand from the time I was trying to stretch the phone cord from the kitchen to the family room and scraped my hand along a sharp corner of wood paneling. =)
Staying home when were expecting a call. Or the anxiety of not knowing if someone called while you were out. Occasionally calling a boy's house to see if he answered and was home, but then hanging up when he did answer.
Not a place, but the idea of "wonder". We didn't grow up with the internet, and while it's fantastic to have things at our fingertips, I still like the idea of finding things out on my own.
JINX! I replied to Beth's comment saying the same thing - fantastic to have things at our fingertips but there's something very cathartic about researching my way through a pile of books.
Jinx, owe you a Coke! Glad someone else feels this way. The internet has dumbed it down way too much. It's satisfying to fit the pieces of a puzzle together, even more so when it's a high level of difficulty.
The Walkman. God how I loved and treasured my assorted walkmen through the years. Something about listening to music on my phone just doesn't compete. Also, and related, cassette tapes, Turtles record store, mix tapes, and boomboxes.
Space Sticks, Party Lines, Call-Waiting, Telephone books at restaurants so I could sit on them and reach the tables (I'm tiny).
There are no more phone booths either!
Yeah, I remember when NYC removed the last phone booth was a big thing... I think it was recently... just did a Google search and it was super recently... 2022: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/23/new-york-city-removes-the-last-payphone-from-service
But I admit... hitting up Google with a question and having answers thrown back at me in nano-seconds... a modern day perk, for sure.
I don’t just mean pay-phones. I was thinking of actual phone booths with real doors, ad in a wall of them in a hotel lobby. I don’t miss payphones on the street all. They were always disgusting. Can you imagine using one now? 🤢😷😵
I worked at a local video rental place. It was such a great job.
I miss browsing video rental stores very much! The joys and disappointments of borrowing films without necessarily knowing anything more than what was on the box.
And leaving my name at the front desk for whenever the movie I desperately wanted to rent comes back into the store...always an adventure.
I wish I could post the photo of all my nametags - none of the companies exist any more (or at least don't have the same name)
Using the school library encyclopedias for research projects. I've tried to explain to my kids how there were limited sets available, and the ensuing Hunger Games-esque race to get to "your" letter first when your class got to the media center.
Ahhhh... the elementary school I attended did not have a library and I always looked forward to the school trips down the block to use the reference center at our local library. I still remember breathing in the scent of all those books and the smell of the coffeemaker behind the librarians desk. I get super nostalgic every time I walk into a Barnes & Noble.
I know it’s rather obvious and cliche to say corded phones, but I have such strong sense memory of wrapping that curly cord around my finger, trying to find ways to sit or stand comfortably for hours, the satisfaction of slamming the handset down in teen emotional angst, etc. Most of the things like this I think about (record players, TVs without remotes, library card catalogs, headphones you plug in with a heavy jack) are all very tangibly physical things. And I think a lot about the ways the tactile has slipped away from us and wonder about all the ways that changes us.
I have a scar on the back of my hand from the time I was trying to stretch the phone cord from the kitchen to the family room and scraped my hand along a sharp corner of wood paneling. =)
Staying home when were expecting a call. Or the anxiety of not knowing if someone called while you were out. Occasionally calling a boy's house to see if he answered and was home, but then hanging up when he did answer.
Not a place, but the idea of "wonder". We didn't grow up with the internet, and while it's fantastic to have things at our fingertips, I still like the idea of finding things out on my own.
JINX! I replied to Beth's comment saying the same thing - fantastic to have things at our fingertips but there's something very cathartic about researching my way through a pile of books.
Jinx, owe you a Coke! Glad someone else feels this way. The internet has dumbed it down way too much. It's satisfying to fit the pieces of a puzzle together, even more so when it's a high level of difficulty.
The Walkman. God how I loved and treasured my assorted walkmen through the years. Something about listening to music on my phone just doesn't compete. Also, and related, cassette tapes, Turtles record store, mix tapes, and boomboxes.
I actually still have a Panasonic one which I use to play old cassettes with a hook up to my speaker. 👀
Amazing!!
I miss browsing so much. It was like my *hobby* at the TLA Video in Philly. They curated by director, themes, actors... just so so good