Things That Once Were And Will Never Be Again

My parents. RIP, I miss you guys.

Our local drugstore had a full-on soda fountain just like in old movies where they made each coke individually with syrup and soda served in a conical paper cup in a metal stand. They had incredible hot fudge sundaes and you could also get a grilled cheese sandwich. It was magical.

I'm about to turn sixty, so I guess I was the last age of kids who might have enjoyed this. By the time I was ten or eleven or so, it had been yanked out.

Maintaining virginity before marriage and abstaining from sex prohibited by religion.

Family restaurants with themed attractions for the children. In general the whole wonder of retail is lost. I'm not that old, but I remember when the malls were really decked out and Toys-R-Us was almost as exciting as Disneyland. I also notice that kids aren't really out much like playing in the neighborhood. I moved around a lot as a kid and I never lived anywhere where pretty much every kid on the block/street didn't run around until it got dark. We'd go as far as a mile or so out on our bikes or on foot and nobody really worried about anything. I see neighborhood after neighborhood now with cones and caution signs in the street and the kids play in the driveway while the parents stand and watch them the whole time.

[quote]I'm about to turn sixty

Me too, gurl...though everyone tells me I look 37.

[quote]so I guess I was the last age of kids who might have enjoyed this.

yes, we are.

[quote]It was magical

I know. Their loss is devastating.

Mid-late 70s baby, R4? I am, and my memories match yours. Going to the big toy store at the mall as a kid was the most exciting thing ever, even thinking about it now I get a little remembered emotional taste of how wondrous that place was.

Where I live, there’s a bunch of kids playing ball and riding their bikes until all hours, accompanied by the family dog. It’s like something out of Andy Griffith. except one of the families is Indian). It’s so wholesome I feel guilty walking past with my maryjane vape (which is illegal here)

Smoking cigarettes in indoor spaces that are open to the public.

I always made a beeline to the pet departments in those stores growing up. I loved just looking at all the animals!

PETA started foaming at the mouth which is why the pet section in department stores is nearly nonexistent these days.

Yeah, it’s such a shame that morons like Tippi Hedren can’t buy a tiger cash and carry now.

[quote]I always made a beeline to the pet departments in those stores growing up. I loved just looking at all the animals!

^ Dollface thread person.

I took this in Paris in 1996. Don't know if it's still there. They even had pet goats.

Department stores themselves. Every city having their own brands of stores and with the big store branches being downtown. Ladies would get dressed up to go shopping and have lunch in the tea room in the store. Now even malls are dying and Macys is about the only one left outside of luxury brands. The world has changed.

Rarely hearing obscenities in public.

R6 No, I was born in 1992. I feel like I started noticing the death of main street and neighborhoods around the mid 2000s, say 2004 onward. Coming back to this thread I just remembered block parties too. How our neighbors would always introduce themselves to us, block parties a few times a year, pot lucks, always a very social way of living. I remember a few block parties where people would have little spur of the moment garage sales too, like a neighborhood market. I can identify 2004 for sure as the year that all of that ended. That was the year we moved back to San Diego and never again did we meet one of our neighbors or anything like that. Moved thrice since and same story.

Tippi Hendren couldn’t even buy a pair of love birds down by Union Square at this point.

A packed house at the West Side Club late on a Sunday afternoon.

AA in DC, r17?

Nude swimming at YMCA pools.

[quote]By the time I was ten or eleven or so, it had been yanked out.

Pics please.

Sexy rock stars, usually living dissolute lives.

Your virginity.

R18 Huh? Did not compute…WSC was in NYC

Going to the video store on Friday night to pick out a few VHS (or even beta!) tapes for the weekend. Especially the little mom and pop shops, before Blockbuster killed them off. They always had the best selection of horror movies with cool cover art.

My 32 inch waist.

r23, there's one in Georgetown, DC (as well as a lot of other places, Google reveals).

My older sister worked in the pet department of the local Woolworth's. She said the parakeets would arrive crammed in a box like sardines and one fourth of them would be dead.

I think you’re talking about two very different kinds of clubs, R26

Human thinness in a photographic street scene.

Cigarette vending machines…nearly everywhere.

Crushed ice

R8 smoking a cigarette immediately after giving birth

R27 thank you for being this thread’s Debbie Downer. Ugh!

R27 R33 Happy to say that we saved (aka bought) many of those crazy parakeets -- and they spawned!

That weird exotic-pet outlet on East Houston Street that sold live cockroaches, water beetles, rodents, and other repulsive critters as pet food for turtles and other "exotica." I mean.... Who PAID for roaches and rats on East Houston in the '80s?

Waiting at the gate when picking someone up from the airport.

Sneaking into Broadway shows at intermission to watch the second act.

Elite campuses filled mostly with rich confident and graceful Apollos and Aphrodites.

BIG mountain resorts that mostly had chairlifts and dinky gondolas, and wooden restaurants here and there over the mountain.

The original Walt Disney World circa 1974.

Family owned small speciality shops, often filled with things made inside that very country!

Manhattan's Little Italy and Orchard Street. Manhattan's bohemian neighborhoods.

Good colored help !!! They are all from voodoo islands now !!!!

Good clothes made of very high quality natural fibre fabrics at expensive yet generally affordable prices.

Quaaludes ( seriously), my first boyfriend, anonymity, my skinny self, my Dad and brothers, pay phones, ACDC ( the band), Jim Morrison, going to the beach, smoking in restaurants, my 1970's bedroom, my kids when they were babies, disco. Oh well, time to come back to now. Fuck.

People Express Airlines

Belle Epoque pavilions at the beach for showering and changing in big marble and tile rooms filled with naked men.

At big universities, cavernous gyms that were a hybrid of armory and gothic castle, with endless weird and exciting training rooms and pools and water tank rooms, often very steam punk, and huffing steam rooms and huge gang showers.

Halloween parades with delightful, creepy and disturbing costumes dreamed up by kids with no parental policing.

R13 I'm like you in remembering the big department stores -- even in mid-size cities like mine, Buffalo. Downtown there are 5-6 that I can remember. One was sort of general merchandise, another store was for elegant women, another for businessmen. Then you'd have the cheaper stuff but still OK quality -- they were for families whose kids quickly outgrew shoes and clothes. There was a Woolworth's of course, with a lunch counter. The crazy stores were those that catered to business people like office supplies stores (the one I remember had an elevator operator for three floors), and stationers for attorneys. Shoe shine stands and news agents on a lot of corners, with taxis aplenty. Oh, and airline offices in hotel lobbies.

I'm not terribly sentimental, though I can be nostalgic, about these things because the stores disappeared when everyone moved to the suburbs. Just like now when people say, "Oh no, X is closing! Remember going there?" Well, bitch, why did you stop? I abhor what online retail has done to shopping now.

R45 I hear you about the Quaaludes. That said, I was cured thereof after spending a (Quaalude-free) college night with a posse of Luded-out cohorts. They were so gross and slovenly that I (who clearly behaved in kind) swore off Quaaludes forever. Ew. Unfortunately I had no such clean ending with Ecstasy, especially that imported from a Dallas friend, which I slurped up like a total ho until the barrel had been scraped. Still giving the sheepish side-eye to the promised old-age repercussions.

German sparkling spun-sugar panoramic Easter eggs of exquisite rococo delicacy and detail.

R35: I don't remember the place on East Houston, but it sounds similar to "Whiskers" on East 9th Street, a renowned holistic pet shop.

People used to line up and wait for a free consultation with an elderly gent who was the pet healthcare consultant; sorry, I don't recall his name, but he knew his stuff. His veterinary knowledge was legendary.

Maybe I'll pay Whiskers a visit.

Macy's is junk r13. They utterly destroyed Marshall Fields. It looks so down scale now.

Macy's is horrible. Better off at Targé.

Hot meals on flights.

Hot flight attendants on flights

R46 Also, Midwest Express Airlines. All leather seats, only two across, AND warm chocolate chip cookies.

R45 are you a male?

Even nonsmoking households having ashtrays around for visitors. Asking someone to step outside to smoke would have been considered terribly rude.

The yellow and red Kodak box. No matter what obscure corner of the world you were in there was always a shop there with a Kodak sign hanging outside selling the little boxes.

My trust fund sitting at 6 million dollars

I flew on People Express the first time I went to London in 1983 when I was 17. I’d forgotten all about that airline. In retrospect the name seems somewhat weird.

R63 Not quite as weird as the Trump Shuttle!

The party line.

I flew a few times on People's Express. What a trip. There were no assigned seats. People ran across the tarmac, boarded from the *back* of the plane carrying their huge suitcases and grabbed the best seat they could find.

And that brings me to something else. Overhead bins on airplanes were much larger years ago, at least on People's Express you could shove a full sized suitcase in the overhead bin.

But People's Express had an interesting business model. Their original mission was transporting college students to Florida during Spring Break. All flights were $99, which in those days was a good price.

Buying newspapers. Reading newspapers on public transportation. Bringing newspapers to work and reading them at lunch.

The ritual of getting the Sunday paper. Newspaper comics, especially the Sunday funnies.

Trusting the paper to tell the truth and believing what you read.

Getting Time and Life every week and devouring them cover to cover.

"Reasonable" Republicans

Live performances that weren't lipsynced.

International café society in Damascus and Baghdad, not to mention Beirut.

My virginity

[quote] Asking someone to step outside to smoke would have been considered terribly rude.

The elegant solution for this is to not allow smokers into your residence, at all.

White women trying to avoid getting a fat ass.

Europe on $5 a day.

The World Trade Center.

Pennsylvania Station.

The Brooklyn Dodgers.

[quote]The elegant solution for this is to not allow smokers into your residence, at all.

Easier said than done when a full 7/8 of the adult population smoked.

Pac-Man Fever

The little snack area at K-mart. You could get small round deli sandwiches, hot dogs, sodas, pickles, popcorn, coffee, Icees… nothing healthy of course.

Lay-away!!! Kind of like a reverse Klarna. The store set aside the item and you paid in installments until paid in full, then you got the item. Some people forgot and then the store pocketed the money.

Garishly painted spring and motorized animal toys outside of K-mart or Newberrys. They looked like they were one rocking ride away from flying off and dismembering someone.

Older ladies smoking cigarettes with those long holders. I never understood how they did that without putting burn marks in everything.

A gas station attendant who would check your oil and wiper fluid levels and clean your windshield while filling your gas tank.

The IBM Selectric. It was the office equivalent of a Ferrari: beautiful design enclosing a mechanical marvel that felt so good to the touch.

[quote] The little snack area at K-mart. You could get small round deli sandwiches, hot dogs, sodas, pickles, popcorn, coffee, Icees… nothing healthy of course.

In the 1980s, they actually started serving salads. The bacon bits were as hard as gravel.

[quote]The IBM Selectric. It was the office equivalent of a Ferrari: beautiful design enclosing a mechanical marvel that felt so good to the touch.

I was so impressed that you could pop off the font ball and change to another font.

Going skiiing and not a board in sight.

For R26. —this WSC

[quote] Hot flight attendants on flights

R57 There's been an entire thread on DL on hot flight attendants. There's also more than one Instagram page on the topic.

It seems to be a job that a lot of instahos gravitate toward, probably because they get free or cheap travel destinations out of it on their downtime.

P.S. there was no such sauna there—that’s a deep fake. The WSC was the ugly sister to an average spa in gay Europe, but that didn’t stop the fun.

Yes, the West Side Club wasn't even as good as the East Side Club. Or that bathhouse that used to be in the Financial District, the one that always advertised that you could meet your broker there.

Meh. In my slut days the East Side Club was a frigid empty morgue. The West Side Club was rude, filthy, druggy and often very sexy. I like the Bijou. Very low effort, East Village joint.

Um, the Wicked WSC may be dead, but the ESC was much, much worse.

(East sucked: bad location, bad layout and poor selection…the Wall Street Sauna was even worse…too small for a proper mix)

Kresge's in my town had a brand new Swedish Milkshake maker that made the best shakes and malts I've ever tasted.

Those were the days when the shakes were individually made in tall stainless steel tumblers. The shakes were poured into a real glass, and they left the tumbler on the counter because there was always enough left over for a second glass.

In the fall and winter, you could get a giant mug of hot chocolate made in their miracle Swiss hot chocolate machine, topped with a ton of real whipped cream and a couple of Lorna Dunes on the side.

R36, My boyfriend once met me when I got off my plane with a rose in his teeth. I’ll never forget how cute that was, and how special it made me feel!

My sex life 🤣

The Supremes!

"The time of the Elves is over — my people are leaving these shores."

Hot summer vacation days when you were stuck at home between the family vacation, camp, or a week at grandmas. Before everyone had air-conditioning but did have pools. So you went to the local mid-century modern school library which opened one morning a week for 3 hours, and lay down on the cool spotless polished linoleum floor and read books quietly. At 11 you walked home with your friends and some books to read for the week. Jumped into someones pool then ate lunch in shade.

Cherry phosphates.

R22/R72 well I still got mine, hah!

That feeling of walking into a club and anticipating a great night. Hair perfect,your best glad rags on.The screams and air kisses after running across your 20 best friends (that you saw the night before). That delicious 1st sip of that perfect cocktail with the anticipation of many more to come,the music getting your body all primed for a dance or 10 . Oh how I loved a gay bar.Oh how I miss them.

Having to pull the car over and unfold your giant AAA map to figure out where you are going

[quite]Older ladies smoking cigarettes with those long holders. I never understood how they did that without putting burn marks in everything.

What were those purses American fraus used to put their soft packs in?

Phoneless nights on the town.

[quote]sneaking into Broadway shows at intermission to watch the second act.

I second acted Chicago last week, r37.

My innocence

Affordable cities

Life without constant gun violence

Political parties that sometimes worked together for the American people to get things done

Mainstreaming of conspiracy theories

Renting a video at Blockbusters. Earnestly discussing albums and bands like they meant everything (at the time they sort of did). Going to Borders and sitting in the cafe and drinking their oddly good coffee. Going to a drive-in theater and having it be a big event. Oh, the things we did.

Prediction: Some of these things will come back, and when they do, we’ll be overjoyed.

Example: After years of department stores having abandoned their toy departments, Toys R Us came back and is at Macy’s.

Swatting your child across the butt for running out into traffic without some bystander calling child protective services and the cops showing up at your door.

Columbia House 99 cent offers, AOL promo CDs, cell phone face plates you had to have screwed onto your phone, and cursive it’s anti-woke.

*Rejecting Conspiracy Theories instead of allowing them to go mainstream

Sorry!

Pan Am

Lehman Brothers

A&P

The level of precision and athleticism to Britney Spears choreography pre-meltdown. I'd love to see Sam Smith, Beyonce, or any other heifer match that level of dancing.

reason

common sense

perspective

proportion

contemplation

"Pat" on SNL.

New episodes of "What's My Line" hosted by John Daley with Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen, and Bennett Cerf on the panel.

AM Top 40 radio with talented, upbeat DJs and great, diverse music that could span the range of rock, country, soul, and pop in the course of a half-hour. And commercial breaks that were brisk and short to keep listeners from tuning out.

R117 has me crying with nostalgia...or what once was.

R80 There are still some full-service stations in L.A. I know of ones in Marina del Rey, Century City, and Beverly Hills. The one in Beverly Hills is the famous "Googie" architectural one. I think full-service is about $2.00 a gallon more there.

19¢/gallon gas.

Funhouse skirt blowers.

^Pat Sharp’s ‘Fun House’

Going to the mall and not having to worry about getting shot.

R123 still goes to malls? I thought something in here reeked of ck One.

Where should one go instead of a mall? We have a very lovely one not completely ruined by the hoi polloi, it even has a Tiffany's.

A shared sense of decorum.

A sense of how one should, and should not, speak, dress, and behave in public, which was broadly understood and followed by all classes and races of people.

A sense of disgrace and disgust for people who flagrantly violated those shared rules of decorum.

It wasn't that long ago that such a thing existed. I grew up in the 70s and I remember it.

R126 is absolutely correct, that's all long gone.

Full service gas stations. Pull up, get gas, oil levels checked, windows cleaned all while sitting comfortably in the comfort of your car.

Stuckey's. Those venerable freeway stops beloved by all families on the road a la the Griswold summer vacation. I miss my families old station wagon and the road trips.

^^^family's. Oh Dearing myself.

Meritocracy

I remember department stores with a department for books and records.

R126 my wretched, two-faced, manipulative narcissist grandmother is currently on the phone to someone, complaining that council workers no longer refer to women as 'ladies'. She doesn't understand--and crucially, doesn't want to understand--the loaded and sexist and misogynist connotations of words like that, and how the language we use shapes how we see people in a hierarchy. If she feels like she has a flimsy, ersatz sense of superiority, she doesn't care about anyone else or about other women.

So I for one am glad that her way of seeing the world is fading away, given all the hurt and limitations it has heaped upon us. Perhaps people were more glamourous and ostensibly polite back then, but that was a shiny pretty shell hiding a lot of dysfunction.

Sucking dad’s toes every evening

It’s the middle-class/working-class malls, which had stores like Sears, that are struggling. Upscale malls, on the other hand, are doing well. Also, enclosed malls are not doing as well as the open-air malls that are faring much better, which is why all new mall construction has an open concept design.

R127. On DL such things never were.

[quote] my wretched, two-faced, manipulative narcissist grandmother is currently on the phone to someone, complaining that council workers no longer refer to women as 'ladies'.

I like ladies and gentleman. There is something elegant about it. I wouldn't demand it from a service worker, but if I see my friends that are women, I'll say something like, "ladies, how are you"

The beauty of hand-drawn animated movies. CGI has improved a lot but it'll never be as human as traditional animation or evoke the same feeling.

I miss the Cinderellas and Aladdins and Fantasias.

Cinema, as an art form. Actually, art in general. Everything is now a post-ironic circlejerk.

Irony in general is gone.

I miss being able to go places without having people yakking on their cell phones non stop. The lack of manners is so bad now that people openly talk with people on speakerphone at the drive thru, stores, work and just about everywhere they no longer bother with headphones or better yet just hang up and wait until you are in private.

We’ll probably never have porn shot on actual film, with a three-act plot structure, featuring really beautiful men possessing a natural masculinity free of steroids and tattoos—all shown on the big screen in an adult theater.

The ability to find and appreciate commonalities among strangers instead of being hyper focused on our differences.

I wish I'd gone to more video stores. Never knew about gloeyholes growing up.or video booths. Would have been exciting to get jerked or sucked.

Smoking sections on airplanes or public spaces

Record stores/head shops

Little Italy and other ethnic neighborhoods in major metropolises...high rent is killing the specialty shops as is flight/moving away from cities

Matrons in movies

Writing in script

Critical thought

R132, I'm sorry that your awful grandmother has tried to weaponize manners so as to exclude people and look down on them.

Manners, in the purest sense, are a form of respect for the people you interact with.

Manners and decorum are democratic, not hierarchical. They are meant to place equal expectations on everybody, and accord equal respect to everybody.

Looking down your nose at people is the antithesis of good manners. You can tell your grandma DL said so.

Commercial terrestrial radio that was actually unique and good to listen too. Once the FTC loosened the ownership rules where operators like Clear Channel could gobble up hundreds of stations it all went to homogenized crap. I guess so few people listen to FM now the stations, like WPLJ in NY and many others are being bought out by Christian broadcasters to spread their hateful message and insipid Christian rock. Creepy when half the radio dial in a market like DC is religion. It’s like Iran or some would be.

Privacy. As in, not having every address, relative, phone number, and roommate posted on some tracker website along with the ability of every Alex Forrest/loser Karen being able to track you down for $9.95/month. Horrifying.

Boundaries. The oversharing on social media by friends, relatives, and perfect strangers is flat-out gross. It's eroded connections between people instead of making them stronger. Lack of boundaries and over-sharing cause people to care less, not more.

Kindness and civility, and pride in having both.

I love comments like r10 "PETA started foaming at the mouth" so retail stores don't have live pet sections anymore.

Animal cruelty is gross. I don't even have to look it up to know that these pet sections probably resulted in uncountable animals starving, dying from deyhdration, freezing to death, etc. Most deaths probably happened in transport. Zero vet care or oversight. Disease outbreaks. And sending home sick animals to die on customers watch, usually kids.

Leave the pet selling to the professionals. (I am not even a vegetarian).

Proper spelling, grammar, punctuation and syntax.

R125 = Gloria Upson

R128 we had the same childhood. Loved, loved, Stuckey’s.

Anyone remember staying at South of The Border? Another highlight of family road trips!

Were you a Little Pedro from South of the Border?

R152 😂 in today’s social climate, little Pedro would be deemed racist by some.

R92 were you both gay?

America

'featuring really beautiful men possessing a natural masculinity free of steroids and tattoos'

And cut!

I like ladies and gentleman. There is something elegant about it. I wouldn't demand it from a service worker, but if I see my friends that are women, I'll say something like, "ladies, how are you"

That's non inclusive and literal death!!

I'm ancient and matrons in movie theaters is before my time.

'I second acted Chicago last week, '

I wondered if people could still do that.

Comfortable coach seats while the plane was half empty.

R30 Am/was I the only kid here who believed that those illuminated cigarette-machine buttons actually contained tiny cigarette packs beneath the clammy plastic? I was mesmerized!

[Quote] Sneaking into Broadway shows at intermission to watch the second act.

Original shows on Broadway that weren't jukebox musicals, revivals or film-stage adaptations and audiences that were sophisticated, well-dressed and behaved.

When I was a kid at Radio City you would get a movie and stage show with a symphony orchestra, ballet company and the Rockettes for $1.75.

I look at prices now for the Christmas show and think it's utter insanity to pay them.

Yes I know it's not 1970 anymore.

Howard Johnson's restaurants, with their garish orange roofs and beloved clam platters.

You mean the waitresses?

R130 - I don’t remember meritocracy ever existing; rather the privileged hanging onto that idea so as to not have to do any kind of reflection.

R132 - You did such a great job of summing up my thoughts, thank you!

[quote]I second acted Chicago last week

[quote]I wondered if people could still do that

I still do it a few times a year. Dress nice, grab a playbill, and wander in mid intermission. Head straight for the balcony/mezzanine. Sometimes I'll buy a drink, but they are crazy expensive.

I've never once been caught or even questioned.

R101 - I don’t know what those leather/leatherette cigarette cases were called, but you really brought back memories. My grandmother was a cigarette fiend. She smoked soft-pack Parliaments. She had a pack and lighter in those purse-like cases all over her house.

I remember the stereo glowing in the dark and listening to this man.

Howard Johnson's, oh my. I remember liking their hamburgers. I also remember we had a drugstore in the neighborhood that had actual counters where people sat and ate. I think that must have been torn down sometime in the eighties.

[quote][R101] - I don’t know what those leather/leatherette cigarette cases were called, but you really brought back memories. My grandmother was a cigarette fiend. She smoked soft-pack Parliaments. She had a pack and lighter in those purse-like cases all over her house.

They all had these snap lock closures at the top.

Revival house theaters.

Before Blockbuster and streaming, it was the only way to see old movies. The calendars would come out four times a year, and you would use it to plan movie nights. A double bill of "All About Eve" and "Baby Jane"? Set aside April 24. Humphrey Bogart Night on May 15! "Female Trouble" and "Pink Flamingos" on June 1? Take your friend who's never seen a John Waters movie.

They were the main place to see midnight movies — not just "Rocky Horror" but titles like "King of Hearts" and "Harold and Maude" that always would draw a crowd.

It was fun to show up for an obscure movie and know that everyone else in the theater was into it too.

Of course, there still are a few revival houses in big cities, but it's not the same when you have literally millions of movies available on your home TV.

Reading TV guide, checking to see if any good movies or specials were going to be on TV that week, and planning your viewing.

I would say good people and a decent society. Everyday I realize how shitty people are and I don’t think it was like that back in the the 1950s (I could be wrong, I wasn’t born until decades later). Even the 90scwere better. I miss the days when people were shamed for bad behavior, were held accountable, had work ethics etc.. As much as I love the internet, I think society was better off without it.

NYC had the Regency, Bleeker Street, Film Forum, the Carnegie Hall Cinema...It was glorious. FF is now very expensive and all you get is one movie when years ago it was always double features like everywhere else. And only once was a print so bad I asked for my money back. It was Martha Raye in the Boys from Syracuse. Have no idea if the film even still exists at all.

War Bond Tours.

Children's photography studios

No urinal dividers. Those motherfucking things are everywhere now goddammit!.

Colored help who took pride in their work.

Aww that’s so cool OP. I sometimes envy the culture you elder gays live in.

Lived* in

[quote]Everyday I realize how shitty people are

Oh, dear!

[quote]I took this in Paris in 1996. Don't know if it's still there. They even had pet goats.

R12 here - I'm quoting myself because I just discovered I have a photo of the goat. We were talking about pet stores. Why they sold goats in the middle of Paris, I have no idea.

Critical thinking. Androgynous people being actually beautiful. Liberal thinkers actually being liberal thinkers. People with wildly disparate views actually being able to converse intelligently on TV -- with an audience that actually understood the language.

If there's a fine for overusing the term "actually" please send me a payment-site link. I owe it.

Adult Bookstores and Cinemas where you could engage in hot unbridled sodomy with men with no interference from Trannys or Ghetto types. The venues remaining today are inundated with Trannys and Thugs

R183, “Androgynous people being actually beautiful” This is why I LOVE DL. It is so spot on. All these fugly non-binary can’t tell what the fuck they are human beings. OMg, thank you.

Dignified behavior, good manners, courtesy and selflessness.

R185. Amen

Whatever happened to class?

British TV was once the best in the world and one of the great pleasures of living here - now it's competing with the worst.

Looking halfway dressed up and presentable when going to the theatre. You don't have to wear a tie, but jeans and sneakers or flip-flops is not appropriate?!!

Go out for the evening isn't supposed to be like fucking hanging in your living room watching Netflix, dammit. And going to the theatre is different than going to the movies.

Harvest Gold Appliances

Don't forget to put this on the wall, R192.

This department store shit always gets me. My fondest memory is being with my dad Christmas shopping for my mom in 1984. He would die only 2 years later. I was 6!

He said, Christian, get your coat on. And I did. I can remember the car ride to the mall...

For some reason I remember the escalator and his legs in front of me.

He bought my mom a bunch of things, but one was Estee Lauder's White Linen perfume. I can never forget the smell of White Linen to this day...

And this amazing Christmas Candle in a tin- I have never forgotten that smell- It was Mulberry, and it never left my subconscious. It smelled like heaven to me at that age.

Both of my parents died way too young, and I remember them both with such love and gratitude.

I loved K-Mart’s little cafeteria, and the chopped ham sandwiches you could buy by the bag at the deli part up front. I think my dad lived on those during hard times.

Also the fresh roasted nut kiosks in department stores. You could smell them all over the store.

Here's another one!!

Godiva Chocolates!

At Filene's Dept Store, Godiva had the chocolates in an almost gourmet setting- like their own " glass bakery case" and the Filenes rep would be able to put your specific choices into a handmade box- It was insane- and the chocolates in the early 90's were gourmet quality-

Now- they are 1/3 the size , and quality and can be purchased at Target.

Very surprised that Neiman Marcus still sells Godiva at all.

Libraries that didn't double as homeless shelters.

Omg I have so much nostalgia right now. I wish I could have been Adulting in the 90s. Civilization reached its peak then. Technological advancements have been false halos and prophets. I bet DL was even better and wittier then. Ughhh.

NYC with The Limelight, The Tunnel, The Roxy, Splash, Crobar, Barracuda. Universal Grill, Jackie 60, Escuelita, Club USA, Boy Bar . . .endless venues and lots happening every night of the week! Nothing like club scene in the 80s and 90s in the Big Apple.

Yugo, Smartcar, Datsun, Hummer, VW Bugs and buses, Pinto, Gremlin, Pacer.. It’s funny how many fads involved cars. Remember Fieros, and how they’d catch on fire?

Remember when the Ford Pinto would explode when you would least expect it?

Costumer service

They still have the pet department in Meijer stores (similar to Walmart a supermarket chain in the midwest)

[quote]Costumer service

Is that where you went to a store and the employees helped you select a Halloween costume?

My hymen.

Malodourous rusty urinals (pissoirs) all over the centre of Paris.

Speaking of department stores, nobody's yet mentioned the Sears catalog.

If Sears hadn't been so hidebound they had the infrastructure to become Amazon.

Being the only guy in my high school in Illinois circa 1972-75 who was uncut.

One thing I wish would finally disappear - travelling circuses in Europe (France!) with captive animals in cages.

With modern technology such as virtual reality and HD photography, caged zoo animals should disappear as well.

And museums with stuffed specimen animals, mostly from the 19th/early 20th century, should be closed, and the funding to run them used for something else.

Spending a day off from school channel surfing between the 15 or so soap operas that were on the air. There were only a few I was REALLY into, but on a day when I was home with nothing else to do, I’d sample all of them. Now there are only four soaps left and they are all terrible and unwatchable. It’s sad to see such a long running and beloved medium gasping it’s last breath.

Chicago too r200. Chicago in the 80s and 90s was the bomb. We were always out.God, I miss it so much.

r177 Ha! And yup. They are, and it sucks.

Customer service phones lines that employed people IN NORTH AMERICA.

I swear, every company now outsources to the Philippines and I'm so sick of speaking with them because they're chirpy and polite, but given practically no ability to do anything beyond the absolute basics. And then, when you ask to get transferred to a supervisor in the States, they say it isn't possible...or to try calling back and maybe randomly you'll get one...etc etc etc.

It's nuts. American and Canadian companies can't have customer service in America and Canada? It's THAT expensive to pay employees a decent wage? Or are you CEOs afraid of not being able to afford your second or third yatchs?

I dread making any phone calls these days. The music, the wait times, the uninformed "agents" with limited understanding of English (sorry but it's true in many cases).

Maybe back in the day, the people on the other end of the phones were all rude Americans and Canadians, though, I don't know. I feel like that wouldn't have gone over well and it must have been better in the past.

And can we talk about fast food? Yikes, so much of it is absolutely nasty now. Tissue-thin burgers? 1$ sauces as an "extra" rather than included condiment?

I used to enjoy McDonalds as a treat back in the day, but now I am turned off by what I see them churning out. It scarcely qualifies as food.

The Mom and Pop stores or hobby stores or craft stores that could independently for 30+ years are really almost all gone. It's sad. I loved discovering those kinds of shops in my community or while traveling and now it feels like the only places still left are chain stores.

Comic shops/toy shops in particular are becoming super rare. There's maybe one or two in the major cities. It was always fun to walk around and see what kind of posters or art the owner favored - Superman from the 60s? X-Men from the 80s?

Count me in for missing Howard Johnson's. Their fried clams and shrimp were family favorites. I miss those round chocolate suckers they had too.

[quote] council workers no longer refer to women as 'ladies'. She doesn't understand--and crucially, doesn't want to understand--the loaded and sexist and misogynist connotations of words like that,

Oh brother.

Appliances that last up to 20 years.

People smoking in cinemas, hospital waiting rooms, doctors' offices, restaurants, hair salons, open plan offices, school bathrooms (perhaps they still do, but it would set off a smoke alarm), airplanes. Thank god at least all that's over.

A house full of clothes, shoes, appliances, tools, toys, furniture made in the USA.

A few items made in Japan, though some people felt this was synonymous with cheap junk.

tip of the hat to you, R194. Gratitude has all but vanished.

[quote] That weird exotic-pet outlet on East Houston Street that sold live cockroaches, water beetles, rodents, and other repulsive critters as pet food for turtles and other "exotica." I mean.... Who PAID for roaches and rats on East Houston in the '80s?

I think I remember that place. Didn’t they keep some of the big water creatures in styrofoam coolers?

I miss Children of Paradise, the exotic toy store on Bleeker. It’s a bank branch now (of course), but I think the elderly owner might have died.

When General Motors opened its car 🚙 factory in Lordstown , Ohio in 1966 the the starting wage was $6 per hour. In today’s money based on a forty hour work week that would be $100,000 per year- that’s why we were such a wealthy country up until about 1980 and those high paying factory jobs are never coming back.

R199- Are you twelve years old?

In the United States our standard of living peaked in the early 1970’s and by the 1990’s we were well into decline.

[quote]When General Motors opened its car 🚙 factory in Lordstown , Ohio in 1966 the the starting wage was $6 per hour. In today’s money based on a forty hour work week that would be $100,000 per year- that’s why we were such a wealthy country up until about 1980 and those high paying factory jobs are never coming back.

That's what killed Detroit.

I was in high school in the 70s when you were required by some gym teacher's law that you had to take a gang shower after class. Not that I had any problem with it and as far as I know nobody else complained about it. It was an acceptable male bonding thing. I saw a lot of guys in my class naked through the years in middle school and high school. Never did I see a foreskin. Also in the swim club locker room. I didn't know there was such a thing though I knew about circumcision. Ok I didn't put two and two together. I'm seeing more young men without tatts. Maybe circumcision will make a comeback as well.

R224-The average hourly wage for a German auto worker is 47.95 Euros per hour. If they work a forty hour week that would mean an annual wage of $100,000 per year- they are STILL a manufacturing powerhouse

So you don't know what you're talking about.

News stations reporting factually on news events. No opinions, just facts. Not hearing conspiracy theories 24/7 from “normal” people.

R227- Fox News, CNN, MSNBC are all PROPAGANDA.

A sense of solidarity as Americans. A sense that, no matter what our sometimes radical differences, we were somehow all in this together in the end.

A sense that America was one of the greatest countries in the world, instead of a shameful rectal boil on an otherwise beautiful planet.

(Some say that these beliefs were always an illusion and there never was any unity, and the USA has always been the worst country in the world.

That may be so. But telling people they are part of something good generally helps them be happier and more optimistic. Culture and laws should always be aspirational. They should uplift people instead of wallowing in sorrows.

There was a thread here saying that younger people are the most depressed generation. Could it be because we have been telling them that the entire world is doomed and they live in the most unjust and despicable country in the world, founded on ideals of mass murder and genocide, where everyone is hateful and bigoted?

Even if it were true, why not give young people something to aspire to? Why not find some aspect of the world that isn't pure shit and expound on that, and give them a sense of optimism that the past wasn't irredeemably evil and things can get better? Why not tell them that their fellow human beings are struggling too, and that people should try to help each other out instead of finding things to hate about one another?

I know I'm out of step here. I like to be out of step and plan to continue being this way.)

R229 well said, and you're definitely not out of step.

Gloom and doom sells shit!

I finally immigrated to the USA in 1985, and it was a much nicer place. People were kind, and optimistic. In the mean time, Regan was slowly chipping away at any civility and compassion that this country had. I truly mourn those days when things were cheery, and optimistic and people were held accountable for their words/actions. When one could express their thoughts without being bullied into conforming to the flock.

Now that I'm sufficiently depressed, I'm going to eat something sugary.

[quote]I finally immigrated to the USA in 1985, and it was a much nicer place. People were kind, and optimistic. In the mean time, Regan was slowly chipping away at any civility and compassion that this country had.

You know not of what you speak. The 1970s were a hellhole in the US. Vietnam was dragging on, Nixon was scary, the economy was crap and there were energy shortages. Ford took over and was just a blank. Then Carter took over and the shitshow continued. People hate Reagan today, but he was a breath of fresh air from Nixon and Carter.

Nostalgia is rose colored glasses on a pig.

R231 indeed I do know of what I speak. Coming to the USA from another country (from a developing nation) was a treat! From MY VIEWPOINT, things weren't as terrible as you have stated in your post. Incidentally, I was also in the USA in the early '70s, but possibly too young to be aware of the gloom and doom scenarios you posted. Oh well!

[quote]gasping it’s last breath.

Oh, dear!

R199, DL in the 90s was fabulous. Witty, raucously funny, fast as lightning and full of interesting and funny authenticated posters. Sadly, some of them died or drifted to other boards. Not sure why.

R214, I worked for an American health insurance company in the mid-2000s that outsourced to Canada. This was the first time they outsourced, all their other call centers were in the states. It was still a call center job but we were well-trained, had benefits and got vacation. I saw people I started with move up the chain. For a small town it was a good job for someone with only a high school education. Then soon after I left they moved the operation to the Philippines.

In 2020, right before the pandemic, I got a job at another call center, another American health insurance company outsourcing to Canada. Only this time there was hardly any training and no permanent jobs, so no benefits and no vacation. It was still a complex job, but it only paid 2 bucks over minimum wage. With the pandemic, the poor management and the nature of the job I lasted a few months, which was a lot longer than other people who started with me. Yes they were different companies, but it was scary to see how much things had slid downhill in just 12-15 years. Also, think about who has access to your health information, and what they could do with it. That this is outsourced at all should be a massive HIPAA violation.

[quote] People hate Reagan today, but he was a breath of fresh air from Nixon and Carter

That held true for the “greed is good” crowd, much less so for most other people. It fueled cycles of increasingly extreme economic bubbles with the fallout being the great shrinking of the middle class.

Reagan was puffing his “fresh air” while simultaneously pissing all over large swaths of America that were already struggling. He virtually institutionalized the mentality that if you’re poor and destitute it’s entirely of your own making and thusly you deserved it.

He set in motion the mechanisms that led to the near apocalyptic collapse of Wall Street in 2008.

RR was almost singularly responsible in making sure that “ Things That Once Were And Will Never Be Again” in his version of MAGA.

[quote]council workers no longer refer to women as 'ladies'.

What is a "council worker"?

Borrowing from another thread:

A belief that this dress, worn barefoot, is not appropriate attire for someone's gala birthday party.

Having to order your phone from the phone company and waiting for a service man to come and install it. You could pick your model and color, and you rented it rather than owned it, so a Princess phone cost a little more a month than a standard desk phone. If you wanted to be able to walk around your entire kitchen you’d have to order an extra long cord on your wall phone.

I forgot too that touch tone was a monthly upcharge. We had rotary until we moved houses in 1982. I thought friends with touch tone were more modern and richer.

Although AT&T had a monopoly on the entire US telecommunications industry which stifled invention and innovation, their telephones were second to none in durability. Those things would last forever.

Customer service offices for the phone company. Ticket sales offices for the airlines.

R238 Same as municipal employee in the States.

My family's first second car. The first being the abovementioned faux wood paneled "country squire" station wagon. My dad went to the dealer, picked the model, interior and paint colors. They didn't have lots full of ready to drive off cars. Had to wait weeks for manufacture and delivery.

Nude swimming at the YMCA.

[quote]Nude swimming at the YMCA.

And at my high school. But two of my locker-room mates and I chose to turn it into a fashion show in our latest RonJon jams.

R221 I didn't shop there (or wait...did I?), but for some reason that Styrofoam detail rings true.

I had a friend in the 80s, R241, whose family was very much resistant to change. They kept their rotary service through the late 90s because "they weren't going to throw away money every month just to dial with push buttons." But for convenience, they subscribed to speed dial so they'd only have to dial two numbers for their most used contacts. So they paid $3.95 a month for that to avoid paying the $2.00 per month for touch tone.

I was so excited about being allowed to get a phone (a "Princess" phone... MARY!) when I was about 14. I got a teal or turquoise pushbutton number and obtained my own phone number. Of course I had to pay the monthly fees myself. I still remember the sheer excitement about those illuminated, rubbery push-button numbers in the dark. Needless to say, most of my friends didn't have their own phones, and I couldn't call them "late at night" (i.e., after 9). So I wound up just doing stupid stuff like dialing (and hanging up on) my crushes and other pointless numbers. And, after watching my allowance/pathetic summer-job funds get depleted for no reason, I wound up giving it all up. Not sure whether this was great psychology on my parents' part or just an interesting side effect, but well played, mom and dad. Not that I'm any better with money today, but why torment the details?

Children's pornography studios

R226 there is something fishy about your stat.

German salaries outside the educated STEM professions are quite low. Here's a more realistic range for a German factor worker.

The gross salary range for people working in Germany in Car Industry is typically from 2,511 EUR (minimum salary) to 5,242 EUR (highest average, actual maximum salary is higher).

Uh, what, r250?!

R244- Even in the 1970's most people chose their new car from the inventory on the dealer's lot not buy ordering it directly from the factory.

Those disastrous changes to our immigration laws in 1965 destroyed all of that r222.

You could get those extra long cords in Chicago for $1 at Chinese wholesale shops on Clark St. back in the 80s r240. It was the best discovery of the summer.

Cholera.

Datalounge not being overrun with conservatives obsessed with "woke" and trans 24/7.

Yes R205 it's a lost art.

California

Hard copy encyclopedia sets

Reader's Digest Condensed Books.

Some editor would go through bestsellers and make them about 40% shorter. Zip through the new Irving Stone or James Michener in half the time!

When everyone got tired of them, even thrift and charity shops refused to take them.

[quote]That's what killed Detroit.

Detroit also died because they kept making unreliable, inefficient boats. People switched to Japanese brands and never came back.

The food automat. That would have really excited me as a kid to choose my food at an automat. I wonder how good the food was?

[quote]The food automat. That would have really excited me as a kid to choose my food at an automat. I wonder how good the food was?

The food was good because they had people behind the glass making it and putting it into the slots, so hot food didn't sit for very long. It was freshly prepared without additives. It was basic food but good.

Audrey Hepburn at the automat.

Superstars in the entertainment industry

[quote]Prediction: Some of these things will come back, and when they do, we’ll be overjoyed.

Agreed, R108. "You Gotta Believe"!

R263: There is an excellent documentary, "The Automat," airing on HBOMax (and elsewhere) documenting Horn & Hardhart, one of America's original restaurant chains.

The Dutch have their own version of The Automat called FEBO. Very current, not retro. I'm longing to try it out.

The original staging and costumes of Phantom of the Opera.

Once the Broadway show closes in April, they will never be seen again. The awful producer doesn't want to have to pay royalties to the estates of the late director and designer, so he's closing the show now to reopen it later "on the cheap".

It's the last remaining production of Phantom to retain the original elements that won all those Tony Awards.

Breaks my heart. This isn't a show that can survive reinterpretation.

R263 I saw that for the first time last year after watching "That Touch of Mink"! Had no idea what it was but the food was obviously home-made. Simple but fresh.

Do you guys think an automat would be successful in Manhattan? I'm thinking midtown west of Broadway.

I'm looking for a good money making opportunity.

Three channels. Well a few more if you count PBS and UHF.

[quote] Do you guys think an automat would be successful in Manhattan? I'm thinking midtown west of Broadway.

No, they tried the concept in the East Village a few years ago and in Jersey City recently and both venues failed.

Part of the problem in NYC is that during the Bloomberg Administration, he put in restaurant rules regarding food and they would need to be revoked. That's why Chinese food sucks in NYC, because they can no longer use as much soy sauce as they used to because of its sodium content.

I think you could get the tourist trade in (because there are lines out the door every night at Ellen's Stardust Diner) but you wouldn't be able to recreate the food necessary to make it a real automat.

My tight hole

I remember the pet departments at department stores. In the 60s and 70s they used to have those blue plastic pools filled with baby alligators, green turtles, etc

R276 - That was just at the Woolworth lunch counter in Tallahassee.

Remember the gum dispensers on the subway platforms? You could get a little box of two Chiclets for $.05. Chewing gum never tasted so good with long-lasting flavor.

Other platform machines offered candies and cigarettes.

Men's restrooms had machines selling handkerchiefs, while those in ladies' rooms sold little vials of perfume.

Ca. 1995 I would stand in a bar and I would be cruised simultaneously by someone on my left and someone on my right- this occured at The Works on the Upper West Side. I have not been to a bar in NYC since 2011. If I went now I'd be TOTALLY invisible.

Re r279: Cruising is something that once was and will never be again. It's a lost art.

Younger people seem to go out with their friends when they go out at all. If you want to pick up someone, you use a phone app.

Wide store aisles.

Adequate, ambient lighting in stores.

People working in stores who ask, “May I help you?”

Sizes that are numbers instead of S,M, L, XL.

Penny candy, comic books (not “graphic novels”), teen magazines, trading cards with bubble gum.

Christmas carolers, neighborhoods with multicolor C9 Christmas lights that melted the snow around them. Every store had a lighted christmas tree. Stores that had their own Santas rather than Santa sitting in the middle of some mall with 700 kids lined up to see him.

It’s seems like one day an order came down to every town and city “No more lights on Christmas trees in stores or we’ll get sued.” And like that, they were gone. Instead of people carefully decorating Christmas trees, they instead pulled a dusty, manky crooked tree out of a mildewed box, threw half a red garland on it and less than a dozen ornaments. “There. There’s your fucking Christmas tree.”

R280- I think most of the people who were cruising were just expressing their interest in someone they were attracted to and generally did not think about their cruising style.

Do you miss being cruised or cruising other guys?

R281- Woolworths closed all of their stores in 1996.

Murder. Nowadays with DNA evidence, cell phone towers, and a gazillion fucking cameras everywhere you can't get away with it anymore.

Serial rape.

Super Sugar Crisp.

There’s no way any cereal company would dare have “Sugar” as part of their names nowadays.

A large area of high bush blueberries not far from my home which I picked for many years. Someone bought the land and it was cleared for houses to be built.

Campbells tomato soup of yore. Now it just tastes like thick orange-red syrup. I don’t recall it tasting sweet in the past. In fact I thought it was a little spicy when I was a kid. Friday nights - tuna salad on toasted bread with Campbell’s tomato soup.

Just a couple of weeks ago I was actually remembering Woolworth's store with their pet section in the back, the luncheonette on the side, and the toy section, the record section, and the candy section where they also sold hot buttered popcorn. It's a shame that malls and discount box stores put the chain out of business.

R281 wtf are you going on about? Have not witnessed this dearth of Christmas tree lights and have no idea what you're talking about.

Madonna's natural face

"The Fantasticks" playing down in the village on Sullivan Street (1960-2002).

Matt Lauer

R281 Today’s LED Christmas lights are so harsh. I loathe those things.

The C9 lights were so cozy and warm. They always looked so pretty with the colors reflecting in the snow.

Near universal practise of adults hitting children, including in public.

At least I hope it will never be again....

Blockbuster

You could disappear if you wanted to before the internet. Someone could leave a troubled past behind and move somewhere far away and start a new life. That's not really an option anymore with Google, Facebook, finder sites with addresses, phone numbers, etc.

When I was a kid, we never really knew what happened to acquaintances if they moved away. Did they get marred and have kids, become a pornstar, die? I kinda liked the mystery of not knowing the end of the story. Now everyone knows everything with a quick Google search. There's no privacy anymore.

No longer will we have the experience of having to bypass someone when calling someone’s home: “Hello, can I talk to Jan?” “Who is this?” “This is Katie?” “Hold on…Jaaaaaannnn, phone for you!”

[quote]Family restaurants with themed attractions for the children. In general the whole wonder of retail is lost.

I still see these things, you must live in a suburban hellscape

R288 Sorry to hear about Campbells Tomato Soup. Used to love that with melted cheese sandwiches but haven't had it in years. I wonder if the chicken noodle soup tastes the same.

[quote]Adequate, ambient lighting in stores.

sounds like you need an ophthalmologist. I'm 53 and see everything fine in stores

[quote]People working in stores who ask, “May I help you?”

i get this, maybe being 53 I get this question

[quote]Sizes that are numbers instead of S,M, L, XL.

europeans still do this, there are A LOT of them, you need to move there

[quote]Campbells tomato soup of yore. Now it just tastes like thick orange-red syrup.

you can make your own soup

How old are you, R272 ? All of the automats in NYC closed by the early ‘90s. They’re not coming back, alas.

Anyone who’s mentioned anything in this thread is completely wrong.

I’ve seen ALL OF THOSE THINGS

And I see them [italic] every day. [/italic]

And [italic] every night! [/italic]

Where do you people live, in a barn?

I eat all the thing people mentioned, I watch all the things people claim they never see anymore. I eat homemade food so [italic] I don’t need to look for an automat [/italic]

Jesus you people are blind, lazy lsobs who don't know how to live your lives. Eat food!! Go someplace else! Move! Emigrate! Go to the zoo if you want to see animals in cages.

God, I despise lazy know-nothings.

R300 To my old and jaded taste buds, the tomato soup still tastes OK, only slightly different (they now use corn sweetener instead of sugar and tomato paste instead of fresh tomatoes). The chicken noodle soup is fine.

R300 To my old and jaded taste buds, the tomato soup still tastes OK, only slightly different (they now use corn sweetener instead of sugar and tomato paste instead of fresh tomatoes). The chicken noodle soup is fine.

Will Smith

[quote] It's a shame that malls and discount box stores put the chain [Woolworth’s] out of business.

It wasn’t the discount stores (Woolworth WAS a discount store) or malls that did it. In fact, the Woolworth in my town was an anchor store at the mall.

[quote]the Woolworth in my town was an anchor store at the mall.

I don't remember if it was an anchor, but the Woolworth's at Montgomery Mall (Bethesda, MD) sticks in my memory. It remained emblematic of bad pizza all the rest of my life. "Woolworth's crust" is the worst thing you can say about a pizza.

Come to Australia if you want to visit Woolworths, we have thousands of them. (not related to the original stores, but someone pinched the name 100 years ago)

Silent movies always being shown only at higher speed, because technology couldn't yet sync the speed of the silent cameras with later projectors.

Cheap and Abundant Fossil Fuels

Must See TV

Datalounge always does nostalgia so well.

Humor. Nuance. Objectivity.

This thought, thought by anyone under 30:

"Well, that's not really my kind of [humor/entertainment/religion/orientation/belief]. But hey, it takes all kinds. I'll do my thing and let them do theirs."

Ken Wahl's perfect face.

R101- YES. What the hell were those? Stogie wallets!? They always were burgundy or a cheesy beige/snake and always had a kiss lock closure.

I never understood the appeal of soft pack cigs. They just got broken.

So many of the things people are missing/will never be again are directly connected to the fact that we no longer have strong independent companies in the US, but rather mega corporations that long ago surrendered any concern for their customers and now sees us solely as a means to making dividends for their stockholders.

R298- Or worse, your sibling answering the phone and telling your crush "he's in the bed". I was so embarrassed. It was true- it was 1pm and I was avoiding family.

The original GNR lineup

the Spiegel catalog!

R322 Spiegel attempted to provide an Internet service. They used to give out CDs like AOL did. I think around 1999/2000.

"That's what killed Detroit."

What killed Detroit then is the same thing killing Detroit now: going for quick, fast buck while sacrificing quality materials and engineering.

Up until 2008, all of the big three would use that same excuse that union labor costs and related benefits gave foreign automakers an advantage. They no longer have that crutch to rely on so they ran away with their tails between their legs rather than fight for market share by building decent cars.

All three American auto makers have abandoned the sedan market and ceded it to foreign automakers (Kia, Hyundai, Honda, Toyota and Nissan). Rather than change their quick profit oriented ways, they simply walked away from the fight and continue to do business as usual, sacrificing market share for quick profits on trucks and SUVs, a strategy that will come back to bite them in the ass. They continue to build crap that's inferior to "foreign" brands.

Someone once said the real reason the BIg 3 makes crap and continues to make crap is that its engineers, designers, finance people and management are all clustered in Detroit, and even there, all live within the confines of Grosse Point and Grosse Point Woods, thus producing an insular, isolated environment completely oblivious to the outside world and incapable of independent thought and completely disengaged from the real world.

common sense

“…engineers, designers, finance people and management are all clustered in Detroit.”

That statement is factually incorrect. Just one example: most domestic car design is done in California…you know, the state with the most cars and the most people.

[quote] What killed Detroit then is the same thing killing Detroit now

There's nothing wrong with Detroit. It's a lovely city!

Quiet, respectful movie audiences.

R328 - Or movie audiences at all.

Prominent displays of Life Savers EVERYWHERE.

The L’eggs pantyhose display rack at the supermarket.

[quote]No longer will we have the experience of having to bypass someone when calling someone’s home: “Hello, can I talk to Jan?” “Who is this?” “This is Katie?” “Hold on…Jaaaaaannnn, phone for you!”

That's one of the best parts of cell phones - I can call my brother and not have to deal with the kids or my sister in law.

American cars are not crap. They get good reliability ratings and top German cars, nowadays.

A belief on the part of women that fathers are valuable and important to children, and not just necessary sources of sperm to be tolerated till you get what you want.

A belief on the part of men that it's pathetic and shitty to knock up women without noticing or caring what happens to your own offspring.

Flying coach and being comfortable. A smiling crew and good food. At least a 34” seat pitch. Yes it was more expensive but worth it. Why do you think “premium economy” is so popular today? Because it’s what coach used to be.

I don't know if it's the same in the USA - but it's hard to find a decent sized egg here in Eng. I found some at ALDI a few months ago billing themselves as VERY LARGE and it was the size an egg used to be (and a real treat).

sorry, no, it was LIDL not ALDI

R336 - Same here. I just spent close to $8 on 18 extra large eggs. Not only are the eggs smaller now, but the shells are more fragile too.

R336 everything has shrunk in size. It’s ridiculous and should be on the radar of every politician but we know that will never happen.