Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler More artifact sightings..

Rich,

I'm not sure how far down this nostalgia path we should go! But I grew up in small-town (4,500) Southern Ontario in a rural area but I was a "townie". We were the big house and had two telephones. Our doctor's phone number was a single digit (6) and my dad's business was 76! We always had refrigerators but I remember milk being delivered by a horse-drawn wagon. We had an insulated milk door cabinet at the back of the house adjoining the pantry, where the milkman put the milk, in bottles of course.

This was late 1940s. We got a summer place on an island a few years later, and up there an ice boat came by to deliver ice for the ice box (no AC power). It was cut from Lake Huron in the winter with big saws and stored in this ice house filled with sawdust, at a resort on a nearby island, all summer. As a kid, I always marvelled that it didn't melt.

Regards,

Oh Wow, Alan.....forgot all about the insulated milk cabinet!! Ours was attached to the "Summer Kitchen" just off the regular kitchen.

We had a similar background! I grew up in town, but in the late 40s we started looking for a place in the boonies. And moved to "The Lake" when(as I like to say)"When outboard motors were finally reliable enough for one to take up water skiing" We were blessed with AC power(most of the time)and the only ice we needed was on the lake in winter for skating; it thawed completely by May But then we went swimming and skiing

Where I grew up in Michigan, we always had 7 digit phone numbers(or at least by the 40s)but my Aunt in Illinois had a two letter prefix followed by a four digit number(Although having seen the operators switchboard on a number of occasions-another Uncle dated the phone operator for a time-I don't believe there were more than about 150 to 250 plugs being used)

The glory about taking a trip down the nostalgia path is that we almost never remember the bad times, and only relive the good.

It's jolly Fun.
Rich.

When I was an infant (Detroit, MI), I can remember my folks making calls by picking up the phone and telling the operator the number they wanted. No dial.

When we moved to Ohio, dialing was possible, but each number had an exchange (ours was Trinity), and you dialed the first two letters plus a "1," then the number. Our number was TR-1-6996. Many years later they just dropped the exchange, and it's letters, and went with the numbers they represented. Our number became 871-6996.

And yes, we got many anonymous kid calls telling us we had an obscene phone number. I LOVED it! It was cool having a "dirty" phone number.

Our insulated milk box was a portable one that sat on the back porch where the milkman would leave the milk.

I remember, in Detroit, that so many things were delivered to the house; the baker delivered bread and bakery items, milk of course, I remember knife sharpeners would push their honing wheel down our street, and a tinsmith would repair pots and pans. And, wonder of wonders, if you got sick, the doctor came to your house. No waiting then. It seems that all progress comes with a price.

I also fondly remember when everybody had a paper burner in their back yard where they burned waste paper. No identity theft back then. And one of my fondest memories was of sunny, crisp October days, when everyone raked their leaves down to the curb and burned them. The air was full of the wonderful smell of burning leaves. (I know! I know! Neither of the above was friendly to the environment, but they made life easier, and considerably more pleasant).

I am also glad that I was able to ride my bike with the wind in my hair. I was a proficient "no hands" rider. I could ride my bike from school to home, 4 and 1/2 blocks, without ever touching the handlebars, AROUND CORNERS!

In reply to:

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We always had refrigerators but I remember milk being delivered by a horse-drawn wagon.

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I might be mistaken but aren't there areas in southern Ontario where you can still get that service? Seemed to me some people pay big money for it.

Hi Jack!!

Ours was temple-2-3870, then we moved to the lake and it became empire-3-oo32

I couldn't tell you what our number was at the old house just one year ago, but my Wifes next door neighbor back in 67 was em-3-5624.

Isn't it funny how memory works?

Or dosen't work


(Wow-your neighborhood sounded like our neighborhood-cool)

Close.. My movie going stated in the early 50's.. But my dad was also a projectionist.. He got his start in Ill, then did his time with WW2 and Korea.. We all moved to So Cal, and settled in O'side.. Read: Camp Pendleton..
The trick was, when the movie we wanted to was playing at the theater he worked at, we got in for FREE ! There was the Star, the Crest, and the (Jar Heads only) Palomar..
And, along with the old fuzzy black and white sets, we were one of the 1st in the neighborhood to have a COLOR ! Sweet..

Man, was I in that big a hurry last night ? haha.. Should have been Alan... Tied in with his latest new letter..

Yeah.. I called it an Ice Box for years.. My grandmother hung her clothes out to dry, and had those long poles to hold up the line to keep the sheets off the ground..
Getting ready for dinner could be quite an experiance.. Like, wacking the head off the chicken ! And yes, if they flopped out of your hands, the body would run off !!! If I'm lying, I'm dying.. Funnest damn thing you ever saw..
Don't forget the coal shoots.. How black can a kid get ? hahaha...
I still have a scar above my left eyebrow, where my gramps nailed me with the coal shovel.. I walked up behind him as he stoked the furnace.. He swung around, BAMM !!
Oh yeah, the car.. I had a brother and a sister.. The cars back then were so big, you could have a three ring circus going on, and still be out of reach of your dad.. We kids would fight to be the one that got to lay up on the rear seat deck.. At night, it was like you own personal observatory ! Oh, I'm sorry.. For those of you that might not be aware, there are stars that come out at night.. Used to be, you could see them from anywhere.. Now, you're doing good to see the moon, what with all the big city lights and all the smog.. It's a shame..

Wow....and the coincidences keep right on coming....my Dad was a projectionist....in Illinois too, at the "Roxy" in Toluca, Ill. is that cool or what!

We were one of the first in our neighborhood to get a B&W TV, but color had to wait til we got a really good longrange rotatable antenna. Even all(I didn't give this a thought til just now)but even all our 16mm movies were in B&W, they were mostly "talkies" but they were all in black and white!

Trivia for all you youngfolks, and this is startling, but in those days Telephone came in over a cable, and Television was sent over the air like a one way cell phone. But, unlike a cell phone, we didn't have to pay for it. unless you count the four minutes of comercials we had to endure per each half hour

I think you'll agree, but I believe movies were almost more fun in the old days. You could make a day or evening of it, what with an "A" feature, a "B" movie, a cartoon, a serial, a newsreel, exciting coming events, nobody to chase you out til closing time, and NO COMERCIALS
Rich.

Holy cow..... You guys must be fartin dust by now.