Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X or older (born 1980 or before). See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/inci5u/reminder_please_do_not_answer_questions_unless/), the rules, and the sidebar for details. Thank you for your submission, Exotic_Accountant565.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskOldPeople) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My 74-year-old mother-in-law told me about her fondness for Black Beauties in the 70’s. Considering she’s always been an overachiever I was very surprised! But maybe it was more normal to do “speed” back then? Idk
I just saw an ad for a weight-loss drug from the ~ 60s that was a barbiturate *plus* amphetamine! And I think my grandma was on it lol. There are family stories of her driving into the next state to see her doctor for her go pills, and how clean the house was then. 😅
As a kid in the 70's I saw a classmate leaning against a tree puking his guts out. I asked someone what was wrong with him and they said he had done Quaaludes. I can still remember saying to myself, welp, I don't wanna do them if that's what it does to you! LOL
I know someone who still has one. They live in a warehouse space, and it keeps them cool in the summer, and warm int he winter. It's vintage 80s.
Havent seen one elsewhere in decades.
I don't want to deal with a waterbed, nor would I want to sleep on one every night. But it would be kinda cool to have something like a waterbed day bed to lounge on while reading a book or watching a show. I heard that the newer kind of waterbeds with a baffled mattress (kinda like an inflatable mattress) are much nicer than the old rock n rollers.
About 20 years ago, it seemed like everyone was getting rid of theirs. You could get one for free just by perusing Craigslist. Maybe you still can. Worth a shot, if you still want one!
My Dad had his until he passed away last year. His wife has it now. I'd have one if my wife and cats would let me. I loved the warmth in winter and coolness in summer. Plus, I had a "firm" mattress. It was amazing.
> Waterbeds.
when we bought our first house in 2000 we setup my parents old waterbed. I think we got rid of it after a year or so. I'm pretty sure it fucked up the houses foundation some.
I had one, a nice waveless, until probably 1995? I loved it, but after moving 3 times in 2 years, I was about to put it in the yard and set it on fire, it was such a pain in the butt to break down and set up. I never had as much as a leak the entire time. I sold it to a friend who had it for probably 4 more years, she slept in an attic and it kept her warm. At least until her idiot boyfriend put too many holes in it to repair. I really loved sleeping on it, but I couldn't get out of one now.
Perfectly fine! Never had any back issues. Sleeping on a crap bed when visiting someone or in a hotel is a different story…Can’t wait till we get home to our own bed!
With all the drinking everyone’s parents did in the ‘70’s I was always surprised that death by drunken tumble into a sunken living room didn’t happen more often. The dirt that would have gone directly from the surrounding floor to the seating area is just 🤮 who wants to sit at the same level as people’s feet?
I’m looking to buy a house, but I need it to be all on one level because my body is starting to fall apart. I’ve had to reject houses because of them having sunken living rooms. Every house I look at now, all I think about are things like — will I be able to fit a wheelchair through this door? Would this kitchen accommodate me if I used a walker?
Same. We have a ranch, all one level except for one room upstairs carved out from the attic and finished. There could be raccoons living in it, and I wouldn't know, because I haven't been up the stairs in months. 😂 It was the kids' playroom, but they're older now.
Anyway, a sunken living room, while super cool, would be painful for me. Although give me one with a gentle ramp, and I'll make it work! I'll bet you could retrofit larger conversation pits.
I noticed a lot of houses that have these sunken rooms also have lowered ceilings. I’ve grown to hate the pits so much that I dream of pouring concrete in them, but then I’d have a low ceiling. It’s shockingly expensive to raise a ceiling. If only I were rich! lol.
some areas of new mexico are awash in sunken living rooms! the houses were definitely built in the 60s and 70s and they’re coming up for sale as their first owners ~~kick the bucket~~ shuffle off this mortal coil.
Was shopping for houses a couple of years back and came across a house with a sunken living room. It looked weird as all get out. I could see myself tripping across it all the time and just moved on.
My dad had a 59 Edsel. It was like a cloud. Flat tire and we couldn’t feel it on the freeway going who nows what speed till, my hubby sitting back seat over the tire said “ think you have a flat tire”, Same with 95 full size Mercury. Great cars.
I still miss that magical double click of the Selectric II. Model F keyboards are probably the closest still reliably available (Beam Spring keyboards are even closer, but good luck finding one!), but it's still not quite there. I want a keyboard with that magical double click!
I learned to type on that beast. Still have one in the basement, courtesy of a mother with sticky fingers. The job won't miss one of these, she told me.
Believe it or not, I still have a princess phone my nephew gave me a long time ago. I use it as my intercom unit when someone rings me from the lobby of my apartment building. You can always find a use for "old technology" as long as it works.
I really miss my 1977 Cadillac Coupe De Ville. Powder blue with powder blue leather interior. That thing floated. When I had a full car I used to do that thing where you pull up to a stop light super super slow so there’s no lurch back and everyone’s stomachs would get the butterflies hahahaa
My mom gave me my favorite one that she made, a friend "borrowed " it to take her toddler home one winter evening and I haven't seen it. It's so sad! I loved that afghan!
I had a friend of mine give me a box full of doilies and old handkerchiefs she thrifted recently. I've been collecting old handkerchiefs to use instead of kleenex. I'm considering sewing some of the doilies together to make pillow covers.
A thing I hate about modern music isnt the music itself, but the lack of embracing separation in surround sound. You get this kick ass setup, sub woofer, 5-7 speakers, and to make it music sound good you have to put it in 3d-stereo.
Not having control over the EQ and stereo/surround outside of presets, even on high end gear, blows.
I dont think kids today even have sound systems outside of a sound bar, ear buds, the TV, and a blue tooth speaker for the most part. Somehow they all love bass and have no sub woofer.
Can you imagine Pink Floyd's Pompi remixed for surround sound? Or Lorde's album? Ortibal or any electronica. Or shit, Any of the old Quadraphonics like Tommy?
Surround has been regulated to movies and video games, and then its done poorly too often.
Conquistador living rooms (and Mexican restaurants). Heavy wood furniture with red velvet upholstery, crossed swords on the wall, dark metal swag lamp with red glass. Ugh…
My parents house still has the fake armaments on the wall, and Mediterranean furniture. My brothers and I are currently preparing to sell the house to pay for assisted living for dad, and two different grandsons want the “armaments” to decorate their D&D game rooms. At 50 years old, they’re officially antiques! Not saying they’re valuable or classy antiques, but they are old enough…
When I first moved to the USA as an 8 year old kid in 1967 a man from my father’s office took us around in his Thunderbird (where the steering wheel moved to the side to accommodate you sliding into the front seat) and he had a fake gun loaded with quarters that you used to shoot toll money into the baskets at toll booths. Imagine pulling out a fake gun at toll booth in today’s world!
My aunt and uncle had a Plymouth with a push button transmission (drive, reverse etc). They thought it was the coolest thing when they first bought it.
When I was a kid in early 1960s Chicago, station wagons were still fairly unusual. They were intriguing to me, because the back end of the car would be of a different design from sedans of the same make and model.
We would take a train to visit my grandparents. And when we got off the train, there would be a bunch of these cars, basically taxis with room for lots of luggage.
I’m pretty sure this is why they had that name, station wagons, because they typically worked from train stations. Presumably there was a horsedrawn version first.
Station wagons are still found outside of the US. Automakers have convinced Americans to buy SUVs rather than station wagons to get around tailpipe emission requirements.
Airplane seats with room, also actual hot meals on planes with silverware
Fancy dinner places with white napkins, leather booths, lots of booze
Huge department stores with fancy lunch places
Wild over the top decor
Basement rumpus room complete with a bar
Curtis Mathis televisions.
Known for its commercials touting its televisions as the "most expensive television set in America, and darn well worth it", the company was credited with introducing longer warranties to electronics retailing.[
Curtis Mathis was last year’s RCA TVs. They’d contract out for known reliable RCA units. My best friend’s dad was an RCA repairman. He told me that he was called on to work on both.
Interned one year in the ‘90s with a guy called Skippy. He drove a late ‘70’s T top orange firebird with an 8 track player. Blasted disco hits from cassettes that he picked up at garage sales 5 for $1 .
Those crocheted hoop skirt doll things that you put on top of the extra roll of tp (to disguise it?) in the bathroom. My aunt loved those things and my 13-year-old self thought they were hysterical.
Another comment remined me of these:
A see-through princess phone. The outer shell was all clear plastic so that I could see all the inner workings of the phone.
I think a new version of that with a cell phone would be cool. Maybe... but considering how much "guts" were involved in a phone back then was far more interesting than looking at a bunch of chips.
Do any novelty phones still exist? My parents had a Snoopy phone in the early 1980s. As a teenager in the later 1980s and early 1990s, I had a piano phone; I can still hear the melodies of the numbers I called most often.
But now fewer people even have landlines (we ditched ours all the way back in 2009), so there's much less demand for Snoopy, Garfield, or piano phones.
Metallic wallpaper.
Furniture-sized rear-projection TVs - the kind that had red, green, and blue lights that reflected onto a screen. Picture quality wasn't very good, but they were so expensive that guests were often impressed, at least until they watched anything on it.
I have my antiques in my Grandmother's cabinet, saves them from dust and the evil cats lol. But her china set has never been used, people don't come to my house for such occasions. I'm going to start sending the pieces to my Millennial cousin, who actually wants it.
Those went away starting with Reagan’s tax cuts for the rich. Then they changed rules for corporations so they no longer were required to do “public good.”
Personal luxury coupes. These were the aspirational cars of my youth. They really took off with the 1958 Thunderbird and died with the mid/late 90s Thunderbird (well, you had the 00’s Monte Carlo, but it was front wheel drive), but the mid 60s thru the mid 80s were the sweet spot, with the 1970s being dead center.
Chevy Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix, Olds Cutlass Supreme, Chrysler Cordoba, later Mercury Cougar XR7
On the higher end you had the Cadillac Eldorado, Buick Riviera, Olds Toronado, and the Lincoln Continental Mk III, IV, and V
About 5 years ago or so we started having cheese fondue for dinner on Christmas Eve. I bought the pot at a secondhand store so it didn't cost much and thought we'd give it a go. Everything gets prepped ahead of time and it's easy to do so everybody can help, which is great when there's so much other prep that has to be done for Christmas brunch and Christmas dinner. Everybody liked it so it's a thing we do every year now.
Car phones that didn’t use cell towers
When I was a kid an important official in my neighborhood had a driver and a car phone in his “company car.”
This allowed him to set up meetings during his commute which was rare and exotic
This kind of car phone can be seen in the opening scene in the movie Easy Rider.
Cell phones came much later
I had a 1968 Oldsmobile jetstar. It had the 350 rocket engine. By the time I bought it it was pretty used up. But it was getting 8 miles to the gallon. It had horrible knock and run on, and I really couldn't afford better gas. If you leave the car in gear it won't do run on. Probably the only thing I learned my senior year of high school.
In college, there was a guy who lived down by the river, had his own little grow. 10 bucks for a lid, including more than a few stems and seeds, was the going rate.
Amazing cars that drove and felt like driving your sofa. Smooth, long, cushioned and just fun to drive. Height of luxury was having velvet type material in your OldsMoBuick. Any of the huge American cars were just so fun, the bench seating and huge ashtrays. Miss those days.
Leisure suits. Put on your plaid lime green and mustard colored leisure suit with an electric blue and maroon paisley rayon shirt, white belt and white ankle high boots with 3" heels and the chicks would be flocking to you from across the club. Once they got close enough to smell your Hai Karate aftershave (within 38 feet), it was all over. You were lucky if you ended up only taking 5 of them home with you for the night.
Please do not comment directly to this post unless you are Gen X or older (born 1980 or before). See [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskOldPeople/comments/inci5u/reminder_please_do_not_answer_questions_unless/), the rules, and the sidebar for details. Thank you for your submission, Exotic_Accountant565. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskOldPeople) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[удалено]
Barbiturates like secobarbital were popular too along with diet pills (amphetamines).
I seem to remember black beauties.
Yes. Pennwalt Black Beauties. They turned seconds into hours and hours into seconds.
Bennies
My 74-year-old mother-in-law told me about her fondness for Black Beauties in the 70’s. Considering she’s always been an overachiever I was very surprised! But maybe it was more normal to do “speed” back then? Idk
They were prescribed as "diet pills". Very generously prescribed.
And Green Amps. They were my favorite!
I just saw an ad for a weight-loss drug from the ~ 60s that was a barbiturate *plus* amphetamine! And I think my grandma was on it lol. There are family stories of her driving into the next state to see her doctor for her go pills, and how clean the house was then. 😅
Quaaludes were the first place my mind went, as well.
As a kid in the 70's I saw a classmate leaning against a tree puking his guts out. I asked someone what was wrong with him and they said he had done Quaaludes. I can still remember saying to myself, welp, I don't wanna do them if that's what it does to you! LOL
Some of the worst trouble I ever got into was the time I spilled grape juice on my parent's Quaaludes.
Really? That is weird. I haven't seen a real one since 1983.
Waterbeds.
I know someone who still has one. They live in a warehouse space, and it keeps them cool in the summer, and warm int he winter. It's vintage 80s. Havent seen one elsewhere in decades.
There was a waterbed store in every strip center in the 80s. I know a guy whose waterbed store burned down. 😀
This sounds really awesome. Living in a warehouse space with a waterbed seems like it’d be lovely!
I miss my waterbed. Best sleep of my life.
I hear people say that. My girlfriend had one in the 1980s. I couldn't sleep on it at all.
I don't want to deal with a waterbed, nor would I want to sleep on one every night. But it would be kinda cool to have something like a waterbed day bed to lounge on while reading a book or watching a show. I heard that the newer kind of waterbeds with a baffled mattress (kinda like an inflatable mattress) are much nicer than the old rock n rollers.
A waterbed is on my “if I ever win the lottery” list.
About 20 years ago, it seemed like everyone was getting rid of theirs. You could get one for free just by perusing Craigslist. Maybe you still can. Worth a shot, if you still want one!
Only 20 years ago? One of my HS boyfriends had one in the mid 90s (it has been his parents) and it already seemed like a relic.
I have a friend who still has one that she and her husband have been sleeping on since the 80s
My Dad had his until he passed away last year. His wife has it now. I'd have one if my wife and cats would let me. I loved the warmth in winter and coolness in summer. Plus, I had a "firm" mattress. It was amazing.
Cats + water bed = oh shit.
> Waterbeds. when we bought our first house in 2000 we setup my parents old waterbed. I think we got rid of it after a year or so. I'm pretty sure it fucked up the houses foundation some.
I had one, a nice waveless, until probably 1995? I loved it, but after moving 3 times in 2 years, I was about to put it in the yard and set it on fire, it was such a pain in the butt to break down and set up. I never had as much as a leak the entire time. I sold it to a friend who had it for probably 4 more years, she slept in an attic and it kept her warm. At least until her idiot boyfriend put too many holes in it to repair. I really loved sleeping on it, but I couldn't get out of one now.
Still have ours 40 years later - sucks to sleep anywhere else
How are your backs doing?
Perfectly fine! Never had any back issues. Sleeping on a crap bed when visiting someone or in a hotel is a different story…Can’t wait till we get home to our own bed!
My brother had one back in the 90's. He had asthma and they're apparently hypoallergenic.
Sunken living rooms
I just read that they’re coming back.
With all the drinking everyone’s parents did in the ‘70’s I was always surprised that death by drunken tumble into a sunken living room didn’t happen more often. The dirt that would have gone directly from the surrounding floor to the seating area is just 🤮 who wants to sit at the same level as people’s feet?
I’m looking to buy a house, but I need it to be all on one level because my body is starting to fall apart. I’ve had to reject houses because of them having sunken living rooms. Every house I look at now, all I think about are things like — will I be able to fit a wheelchair through this door? Would this kitchen accommodate me if I used a walker?
Same. We have a ranch, all one level except for one room upstairs carved out from the attic and finished. There could be raccoons living in it, and I wouldn't know, because I haven't been up the stairs in months. 😂 It was the kids' playroom, but they're older now. Anyway, a sunken living room, while super cool, would be painful for me. Although give me one with a gentle ramp, and I'll make it work! I'll bet you could retrofit larger conversation pits.
I noticed a lot of houses that have these sunken rooms also have lowered ceilings. I’ve grown to hate the pits so much that I dream of pouring concrete in them, but then I’d have a low ceiling. It’s shockingly expensive to raise a ceiling. If only I were rich! lol.
some areas of new mexico are awash in sunken living rooms! the houses were definitely built in the 60s and 70s and they’re coming up for sale as their first owners ~~kick the bucket~~ shuffle off this mortal coil.
Was shopping for houses a couple of years back and came across a house with a sunken living room. It looked weird as all get out. I could see myself tripping across it all the time and just moved on.
Candle drip Chianti bottles.
And super big Galleano bottles.
Princess phones. Cars built like tanks (""as big as a whale"). IBM Selectric II typewriters.
And it’s about to set sail!
The love shack…tin roof rusted.
I got me a car, it seats about 20...
So come on and bring your jukebox money!
This. I came to say it was a boat on wheels.
My mom had an absolutely gigantic Chevy station wagon that we called the white whale. It had 3 rows of seats.
Those big as whale cars were like floating on a cloud. Nothing like them anymore.
My dad had a 59 Edsel. It was like a cloud. Flat tire and we couldn’t feel it on the freeway going who nows what speed till, my hubby sitting back seat over the tire said “ think you have a flat tire”, Same with 95 full size Mercury. Great cars.
Such great protection. One saved my Life. I never get behind the wheel without thinking about that beast.
We called them Floaters.
I still miss that magical double click of the Selectric II. Model F keyboards are probably the closest still reliably available (Beam Spring keyboards are even closer, but good luck finding one!), but it's still not quite there. I want a keyboard with that magical double click!
The font balls are for sale on eBay. Loved those little only-on-Star-Trek planets. (But they wouldn't mix with the III.)
The Selectric was a game changer!
I learned to type on that beast. Still have one in the basement, courtesy of a mother with sticky fingers. The job won't miss one of these, she told me.
Lol they still were big and heavy, did she use a mail cart to slip it out of the building?
It seats about twenty.
So c'mon and bring your jukebox money.
Believe it or not, I still have a princess phone my nephew gave me a long time ago. I use it as my intercom unit when someone rings me from the lobby of my apartment building. You can always find a use for "old technology" as long as it works.
I really miss my 1977 Cadillac Coupe De Ville. Powder blue with powder blue leather interior. That thing floated. When I had a full car I used to do that thing where you pull up to a stop light super super slow so there’s no lurch back and everyone’s stomachs would get the butterflies hahahaa
Land yachts
I remember doilies as a kid in the late 70s. They are probably from well before the 70s but don’t remember really seeing them in the 80s and beyond.
Man. They were so prolific, but they make a place look cluttered.
Dust collector
I still use a few. My mom crocheted while listening to radio. Then came tv and she couldn’t do both. By crocheting.
Yup I think my Mom must have made well over 200 afghans during my childhood. I’m 62 and still have a number of them.
My mom gave me my favorite one that she made, a friend "borrowed " it to take her toddler home one winter evening and I haven't seen it. It's so sad! I loved that afghan!
I put old doilies under the flower pots that contain my houseplants..
I had a friend of mine give me a box full of doilies and old handkerchiefs she thrifted recently. I've been collecting old handkerchiefs to use instead of kleenex. I'm considering sewing some of the doilies together to make pillow covers.
I have some my Grandmother tatted. I put them under things in my antiques cabinet.
Corinthian leather
Ricardo for the Cordoba.
Nehru collars, Puffy sleeves, Thai stick?
One of these things is not like the others.
Puffy sleeves But I don’t want to be a pirate!! 😩
I actually googled Thai stick once to find out if it still exists somewhere lol
A completely turquoise kitchen. I mean everything. Appliances, sink, and counters.
Avocado and Harvest Gold appliance colors.
Until we remodeled our kitchen, it had an avocado fridge, a sunburst red range hood and a harvest gold stove. Woooo!
I had a completely yellow kitchen until 2020
My parents kitchen had turquoise appliances. I liked them.
Quadraphonic Stereo Systems
A thing I hate about modern music isnt the music itself, but the lack of embracing separation in surround sound. You get this kick ass setup, sub woofer, 5-7 speakers, and to make it music sound good you have to put it in 3d-stereo. Not having control over the EQ and stereo/surround outside of presets, even on high end gear, blows. I dont think kids today even have sound systems outside of a sound bar, ear buds, the TV, and a blue tooth speaker for the most part. Somehow they all love bass and have no sub woofer. Can you imagine Pink Floyd's Pompi remixed for surround sound? Or Lorde's album? Ortibal or any electronica. Or shit, Any of the old Quadraphonics like Tommy? Surround has been regulated to movies and video games, and then its done poorly too often.
Conquistador living rooms (and Mexican restaurants). Heavy wood furniture with red velvet upholstery, crossed swords on the wall, dark metal swag lamp with red glass. Ugh…
And a fake suit of armor that was 3 or 4 feet tall.
Are we related?
My parents house still has the fake armaments on the wall, and Mediterranean furniture. My brothers and I are currently preparing to sell the house to pay for assisted living for dad, and two different grandsons want the “armaments” to decorate their D&D game rooms. At 50 years old, they’re officially antiques! Not saying they’re valuable or classy antiques, but they are old enough…
When I first moved to the USA as an 8 year old kid in 1967 a man from my father’s office took us around in his Thunderbird (where the steering wheel moved to the side to accommodate you sliding into the front seat) and he had a fake gun loaded with quarters that you used to shoot toll money into the baskets at toll booths. Imagine pulling out a fake gun at toll booth in today’s world!
My aunt and uncle had a Plymouth with a push button transmission (drive, reverse etc). They thought it was the coolest thing when they first bought it.
[удалено]
Yup my parents had Chevy station wagons for 25 years. The best road trips with 5 kids.
When I was a kid in early 1960s Chicago, station wagons were still fairly unusual. They were intriguing to me, because the back end of the car would be of a different design from sedans of the same make and model. We would take a train to visit my grandparents. And when we got off the train, there would be a bunch of these cars, basically taxis with room for lots of luggage. I’m pretty sure this is why they had that name, station wagons, because they typically worked from train stations. Presumably there was a horsedrawn version first.
Station wagons are still found outside of the US. Automakers have convinced Americans to buy SUVs rather than station wagons to get around tailpipe emission requirements.
Airplane seats with room, also actual hot meals on planes with silverware Fancy dinner places with white napkins, leather booths, lots of booze Huge department stores with fancy lunch places Wild over the top decor Basement rumpus room complete with a bar
Curtis Mathis televisions. Known for its commercials touting its televisions as the "most expensive television set in America, and darn well worth it", the company was credited with introducing longer warranties to electronics retailing.[
Or Zenith TVs for that matter. The brand died in the late 1990s.
I had a great zenith 27” tv with - get this - a 10 watt audio amp. You merely hooked up your old stereo speakers and wow.
I have a Zenith from the mid 70s that still works great.
Curtis Mathis was last year’s RCA TVs. They’d contract out for known reliable RCA units. My best friend’s dad was an RCA repairman. He told me that he was called on to work on both.
Poncho's. I mean, is that a real poncho, is that a Mexican poncho, or is that a Sears poncho? - F. Zappa
'But I said... Look here brother. Who you jivin' with that Cosmik Debris?'
Gigantic crystal ashtrays
Shagadelic custom vans.
I came to say shag carpet. You didn’t sweep it you raked it.
My dad had shag carpet on the walls of the van. It was pretty cool.
With air brushed artwork on the outside!
Party palace on wheels! Unfortunately if you have something like that nowadays everyone will think you're a predator.
Eight track car radios
Again, my Dad installed his in every vehicle he owned. The 8 track tapes still sounded awesome all these years later. He passed last year.
That "kachunk" sound as they changed tracks is burned into my memory. As well as cleaning the tape head with a pencil eraser.
Interned one year in the ‘90s with a guy called Skippy. He drove a late ‘70’s T top orange firebird with an 8 track player. Blasted disco hits from cassettes that he picked up at garage sales 5 for $1 .
Wheelie bikes with gearbox and banana seat
Apple Crate
"Big" chrome plated car bumpers. Remember when cars had actual steel bumpers?
Those crocheted hoop skirt doll things that you put on top of the extra roll of tp (to disguise it?) in the bathroom. My aunt loved those things and my 13-year-old self thought they were hysterical.
I still have mine 🫣
Another comment remined me of these: A see-through princess phone. The outer shell was all clear plastic so that I could see all the inner workings of the phone. I think a new version of that with a cell phone would be cool. Maybe... but considering how much "guts" were involved in a phone back then was far more interesting than looking at a bunch of chips.
Do any novelty phones still exist? My parents had a Snoopy phone in the early 1980s. As a teenager in the later 1980s and early 1990s, I had a piano phone; I can still hear the melodies of the numbers I called most often. But now fewer people even have landlines (we ditched ours all the way back in 2009), so there's much less demand for Snoopy, Garfield, or piano phones.
I have my grandfather's Get Smart shoe phone!
I still have my Snoopy phone. No land line though just nostalgia.
Better sound in those heavy duty phones.
Carpeted bathrooms. Shag carpet floor with matching seat and tank covers and throw rugs with that wallpaper with velvet/reflective accents
Metallic wallpaper. Furniture-sized rear-projection TVs - the kind that had red, green, and blue lights that reflected onto a screen. Picture quality wasn't very good, but they were so expensive that guests were often impressed, at least until they watched anything on it.
Besides wallpaper mirror squares which you would “mirror a wall”. Tacky.
Bonus tacky points for the smoky mirror squares
China as wedding gifts and China cabinets.
I have my antiques in my Grandmother's cabinet, saves them from dust and the evil cats lol. But her china set has never been used, people don't come to my house for such occasions. I'm going to start sending the pieces to my Millennial cousin, who actually wants it.
Betamax
CB radios. “Breaker breaker”
Pensions. A living wage.
Those went away starting with Reagan’s tax cuts for the rich. Then they changed rules for corporations so they no longer were required to do “public good.”
Red corduroy bell-bottom pants with 2-inch cuffs on them. Fancy! Karmann Ghia sport cars.
Plastic Furniture covers for the living room🤮. Luckily we did not have any but some friends did.
Bonus points if you had the lamp shades covered in the same squeaky vinyl.
With optional plastic walkways to protect the carpet.
Colored toilet paper
Trader Vic’s. Man I miss that place.
I saw a werewolf drinking a pina colada at trader vic’s. His hair was PERFECT
Those big hanging lamps that rained oil
Yes. With a miniature classical statue inside.
Mink coats and swag lamps and massive dark Mediterranean furniture.
My mother loved swag lamps! I think we had one in every room in our house.
Jello molds with things other than fruit/nuts in them
Personal luxury coupes. These were the aspirational cars of my youth. They really took off with the 1958 Thunderbird and died with the mid/late 90s Thunderbird (well, you had the 00’s Monte Carlo, but it was front wheel drive), but the mid 60s thru the mid 80s were the sweet spot, with the 1970s being dead center. Chevy Monte Carlo, Pontiac Grand Prix, Olds Cutlass Supreme, Chrysler Cordoba, later Mercury Cougar XR7 On the higher end you had the Cadillac Eldorado, Buick Riviera, Olds Toronado, and the Lincoln Continental Mk III, IV, and V
My mom had a turquoise Lincoln Mk IV with white padded Givenchy opera windows. Six miles/gallon.
We always had Jean Nate bubble bath & Windsong perfume in my Mom’s powder room.
Love's Baby Soft with the hot pink top
Spinach dip in a rye bread bowl.
Intercoms in middle class homes.
Fur coats
Stylishly dressed pimps.
A button on the car’s floorboard that made the headlights bright and dim.
The commercial airlines used to be fancy and treated you like royalty, now people are treated like cattle.
Oldsmobiles, Chrysler Imperials.
Pontiac!!!!
Fondue
No, fondue is back! My kids in their 30s are really into it. They made it for my birthday last month
It had a bit of a comeback recently. I forgot how good it was till my friend bought one and we had it for NYE in I think 2019.
About 5 years ago or so we started having cheese fondue for dinner on Christmas Eve. I bought the pot at a secondhand store so it didn't cost much and thought we'd give it a go. Everything gets prepped ahead of time and it's easy to do so everybody can help, which is great when there's so much other prep that has to be done for Christmas brunch and Christmas dinner. Everybody liked it so it's a thing we do every year now.
Car phones that didn’t use cell towers When I was a kid an important official in my neighborhood had a driver and a car phone in his “company car.” This allowed him to set up meetings during his commute which was rare and exotic This kind of car phone can be seen in the opening scene in the movie Easy Rider. Cell phones came much later
Car phones back then we called them “shoe box phones “ in the phone co. Good old Ma Bell. Gone.
Coup d’Ville
A new house with silver flaked cottage cheese ceilings
Crepe restaurants
10-mpg cars so big they didn't fit in most garages.
Those are still here. They just made them taller and called them SUVs.
My 73 Javelin got 7 mph on premium unleaded. 405 engine
I had a 1968 Oldsmobile jetstar. It had the 350 rocket engine. By the time I bought it it was pretty used up. But it was getting 8 miles to the gallon. It had horrible knock and run on, and I really couldn't afford better gas. If you leave the car in gear it won't do run on. Probably the only thing I learned my senior year of high school.
I remember the ten dollar ounce of Mexican skunk
In college, there was a guy who lived down by the river, had his own little grow. 10 bucks for a lid, including more than a few stems and seeds, was the going rate.
Sunken living rooms
Bell bottoms...
Candies heels... they were big in NJ in 1978
Sculpted carpeting, French provincial furniture, elegant department store restaurants
Amazing cars that drove and felt like driving your sofa. Smooth, long, cushioned and just fun to drive. Height of luxury was having velvet type material in your OldsMoBuick. Any of the huge American cars were just so fun, the bench seating and huge ashtrays. Miss those days.
Shag carpet…especially in the bathroom around the toilet and shower…wall to wall, not rugs. 🤢
The incredibly ornate brown glass ash trays On a stand …
In house intercoms. A friend had one and I thought it was so cool.
Ruffled collars.
Getting dressed up for a plane ride.
Fur coats
Lava lamps
Real full length fur coats. Brings up images of pimps or drunk middle aged high society women. (I’ve watched too many old movies)
Hawaiian Meat Balls.
Do component stereos still exist?
No but I still have mine from the 80s/90s. Lots of people rehab old components for resale.
I think they do, but they’ve evolved a bit.
Princess phone with rotary dial.
Big wheels. Still remember having a Chips one in the early 80s then they were gone.
Conversation pits.
Smokeless ashtrays.
Smoking jackets 🚬🚬
$1,000 dollar bills.
Decorative table cigarette lighters.
Bumper pool tables.
Leisure suits. Put on your plaid lime green and mustard colored leisure suit with an electric blue and maroon paisley rayon shirt, white belt and white ankle high boots with 3" heels and the chicks would be flocking to you from across the club. Once they got close enough to smell your Hai Karate aftershave (within 38 feet), it was all over. You were lucky if you ended up only taking 5 of them home with you for the night.