Memory Lane

Top 100 Songs of 1960: Part 1​

May 28, 2026
Posting this first video in the series today, but afterwards look for new episodes every Wednesday. The plan is to continue these all the way through the '60s and well into the '70s. But they are complicated and tedious little buggers to put together, so I can only promise the five videos for 1960 (which are completed and tentatively approved by YT) and we'll see what happens after that. Stay tuned!

10:01

Timeline 1953 - DNA, Playboy, and the Chevy Corvette

Jun 15, 2026
The United States in 1953 felt like it was racing toward the future while still holding tight to familiar comforts. Television was now central to family life, science was unlocking mysteries once thought impossible, and Cold War tensions hovered over nearly everything. With a population approaching 159 million people, Americans witnessed a year filled with breakthroughs, tragedy, and historic firsts.

9:10

Never thought we'd be looking at Playboy and thinking, our wholesome past.

But it's true. I look at movies or video shorts from 55, 60 years ago...even the 1990s...with attractive young women, clean streets, cars that worked properly...prosperity all around. Then I look at the chaos - in the streets, in the schools, on the roads, in stores and checkout lines...everything from massive vagrancy and camping on the sidewalks, to just the fat, unhealthy LOOK that so many people have.

And the tattoos smeared all over young women. Gruss Gott!! das Scheissekopfs!

Timeline 1957 - Leave It To Beaver, The Little Rock Nine, and the Space Race begins​

Jul 13, 2026
The United States had grown to nearly 171 million people by 1957. The economy was booming, but beneath the prosperity, the Cold War was intensifying as the Space Race officially began. 1957 was an important year, with so many memorable events that shaped history, pop culture, and the American business.

11:06

Prime Times: Tuesday 1966 network TV fall lineups (with intros and sponsor tags)​

9:48

Did convenience ruin society?​

Jun 11, 2026 ✪ Members first on May 23, 2026 #boredom #nostalgia #convenience
There was a time when anticipation was part of everyday life. Kids waited months for Christmas after circling toys in the Sears catalog. Mail orders took weeks. Favorite movies didn’t instantly appear whenever you wanted them. But the waiting often made things feel more exciting once they finally arrived. Today, a delayed package or a slow-loading webpage feels like a personal insult. Convenience sped up nearly everything, but it also made patience feel obsolete.

10:07

Sparing the rod, played a part, too.

There were always bratty kids, who pitched tantrums when denied immediate gratification. Families had a way of dealing with that problem - it was called "Dad." NO, you can't have it. If you keep on, your father's gonna warm your backside.

We were not indulged, to the extent kids are today. First, we were left to our own devices - it was possible because police didn't deal with predators by declaring a Lockdown at schools - they went and arrested the predator, and if he resisted, he was beaten or shot.

So we learned independence. A summer day for me might be getting up at about sunrise - I loved mornings, when young - heading out, planning what we'd be doing with a few friends. Maybe drop in for breakfast. Maybe he'd had it. I was good either way.

On through the day, maybe home for lunch; MAYBE...if we had a couple of dimes...we could have hamburgers at that new place, McDonalds!

The afternoon would wear on. One of us might have been able to purloin some cigarettes; so once in the Metroparks, in the brush, we could have an hour-long smoke-break. Diving off the river fords (the park boulevard had paved fords that flooded when Rocky River was high...bridges came 30 years later, and we lost something)...then hanging out long enough that our clothes would mostly dry in the hot sun.

BUT. We broke a bike, we were on foot - a real social handicap. MANY times I'd been part of a patching party - obtaining a Crescent Wrench and a patching kit, to help fix one of our bikes' flat tires.

Nobody was gonna entertain us. And nobody was gonna allow us to sit indoors, unless it was gawd-awful hot.

That was partly utility, too. It being the 1960s...more than a few mothers enjoyed their afternoon cocktails; and the kids being underfoot kinda cramped their style.

We lived outside in South Florida back then and always had tans like JFK at the 1960 debates. Downside was dad did not want to pay for air conditioning or anything purchased new other than groceries and mom was always looking to get us free meals from anywhere. Plus my parents never threw anything away.

My dad hit the roof when I bought a record player because I had to feed it albums whereas the radio was free. Needless to say the Great Depression of the 1930s was still alive in the 60s and 70s in my home.

All I remember from my boyhood summer days was weeding that damned garden and mowing the huge front yard.

Bottom Feeder said:

All I remember from my boyhood summer days was weeding that damned garden and mowing the huge front yard.

Click to expand...

I made it fun. Not the weeding - orders of which I tended to ignore - but the lawn mowing.

Twenty years before those years, my old man tried his hand in being a suburban freeholder. He bought raw land, he built on it - a pretty-crude flat-roofed cinder-block house (still stands, but with a pitched roof added) and a large yard he intended to make into a garden. For that, he bought a Gravely tractor.

The house was sold; he had two moves in his future, but the Gravely followed. Parked in the back of the garage, with a heavy-armored snowblower attachment more-or-less permanently bolted on.

The 30-inch brush-hog rotary (four blades, no belts) sat rusting under pine trees he'd planted ten years earlier.

I wearied of pushing a cheap Sears lawnmower over our substantial yard; but - I'm a machinery addict - I always found the Gravely fascinating. This was the early 1970s; and yes, we had Glow Bull Warming then, two. The Northeast had about four winters largely free of snow...that ended in January 1977, but that's another story.

So I'd use the Gravely once a year or so - amazingly it would start up. Starting those old Model Ls was not easy; but it wasn't that much harder than any other time (you wrapped a leather strap around an external flywheel, and braced yourself like you were pulling down a building, you yanked and maybe it would fire one pop, enough to carry it...)

It hit me that I could use the Gravely to mow 3/4 of the lawn (where collecting clippings didn't matter) faster, easier and more pleasurably. The walk-behind tractor of course was self-propelled, and pretty fast when run wide-open. Cut the time mowing down by more than half, and probably helped keep the tractor operational right up into the 2000s.

But...yeah. Even with chores, summer was what you made of it.

Timeline 1958 - NASA, Pizza Hut, and the Greatest Game​

Jul 20, 2026
In 1958, America was racing into the future as 174 million people watched The Space Race intensify. From America's first satellite to the creation of NASA, things were changing rapidly. For everyday Americans, this year gave us new options when it came to travel and new ways to pay for it. These are the events of 1958.

8:35

Bottom Feeder said:

All I remember from my boyhood summer days was weeding that damned garden and mowing the huge front yard.

Click to expand...

Just a question, now that you are older, is that yard still huge?

Fatrat said:

is that yard still huge?

Click to expand...

when I left home @ 18, my dad bought a riding lawn mower

Fatrat said:

Just a question, now that you are older, is that yard still huge?

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Astute observation.

About 20 years ago...me, already in my 50s...I had occasion to visit the little log cabin my parents would rent for three weeks every summer. This was built by the owner, who was trying to turn his land, on a tiny peninsula on a beautiful Adirondack lake, into a tourist court. He built the eight cabins by hand after WWII, and my parents discovered the place accidentally. From about 1950 to 1967 it was our summer-vacation place.

I remembered the cabin as woodsy-quaint, with knotty-pine cabinetry, particle-board walls (no sheetrock) and windows that flipped out with metal folding props - so different from sliding windows in most homes. The kitchen-central area had a wood stove, which was of course the hearth. Two bedrooms. Seemed fully adequate.

Revisiting it, I found a matchbox with doors. Holy moly, we stayed in that little hovel? Motel rooms are bigger. And the great big glacial rock that sat in front, off to the side, that the boardwalk to our dock ran next to...gee, it wasn't so big, really. Impressive, if you've never seen an area carved out by glacial actions (many such large rocks left lying about on the Adirondack forest floor) but not huge. Unless you're seven years old and climbing up on it.

Everything Missing from Airports Today!

Jul 30, 2026
There was a time when air travel felt like an event rather than an errand. Flying was steeped in ritual, glamour, and small pleasures that have since faded away. Here's a look back at the features, customs, and quirks of airports and airlines that have vanished from modern travel.

10:07

Timeline 1960 - Sit-Ins, Psycho, and JFK Wins

Aug 3, 2026
In 1960, America's population had grown to 181 million, and a new decade began with dramatic change. The Civil Rights Movement gained unstoppable momentum, while television and pop culture continued to reshape everyday life. This was also a presidential election year and Americans were looking to elect the youngest President in history. This is the year 1960.

9:03

Timeline 1961 - Man in Space, Bay of Pigs, and the Home Run Record

Aug 17, 2026
In 1961, America stood at the beginning of a remarkable decade. New technologies, historic achievements, political tensions, and unforgettable moments shaped everyday life. 184 million Americans witnessed these milestones and they were certain to leave a lasting impact for decades to come. This is the year 1961.

9:50

Prime Times: Saturday 1968 network TV fall lineups (with intros and scenes)​

Aug 22, 2026

8:16

Big Adam-12 fan...

The America We Knew: October 1970​

Aug 23, 2026
Re-posted.
12:17

Oh, God. The intro was bad. I could not go on.

Fatrat said:

Big Adam-12 fan...

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Yeah, it was entertaining for 12-year-old me.

But Dragnet beget (among other things) Cops. Which I thought was pretty gritty, but it, also, was stage-managed and glorified. To a lesser degree.

Now we have Eww Tube raw video, which shows this scum in its native element, and also how handicapped are the police with post-Floyd demands. And often, recounts of how judges spring dangerous morons on the street on signature "X X" bond, and often drop or fail to pursue (tabling) charges.

Those vids are instructional, but I can't help but lose my temper watching them. I remember Joseph Wambaugh's "The Choirboys" - and wonder why don't one of those cops just open an empty black head with a Maglight...?

Back then you had no cell phones and cops had night stick therapy, or PR24 rehabilitation...kept us little assholes in check.

Fatrat said:

Back then you had no cell phones and cops had night stick therapy, or PR24 rehabilitation...kept us little assholes in check.

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Houston cops, back when I was down there, were famous for "throwdowns."

When the cops collected a stray firearm, and didn't need it for evidence...whatever the reason...they'd stash it.

They come up on a dindu nuffin, or Jesus Rodrigeuez, or just some Damyankee (one word) like...me...and they turn out to be a little too quick on their chrome revolvers with the mother-of-pearl handles...then they reach into the Lucky Bag and throw down the weapon. I guess they'd try to smear the inconveniently-dead-body's fingerprints on it.

I don't support that, even now as a bitter old geezer; but I think we've gone WAY too far in the other direction.

I got 20 out of 20.

I go back to penny candy, I suppose I got 21 out of 20...do Party lines count for anything?

I got all 20.

That's not hard if you're over 60.

Well, I can claim 20 if a nickel gumball and Blue Chip stamps count. I remember getting some Green Stamps, but never cashed them in for the "valuable prize."

Someone_else said:

Well, I can claim 20 if a nickel gumball and Blue Chip stamps count. I remember getting some Green Stamps, but never cashed them in for the "valuable prize."

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Trading stamps were regional. We had S&H Green Stamps, but Eagle Stamps and Plaid Stamps were also being handed out.

Even as young as I was, I sensed the waste in all that. All that gummy paper, and the time to manage it...and what their redemption catalogs offered, really, was what we'd now associate with Walmart.

The Gas Stations We Grew Up With... That Are Gone

Sep 12, 2026
If you grew up in America as a baby boomer, you probably remember when a trip to the gas station was nothing like it is today. Pulling into a service station meant hearing the familiar ding ding of the bell and having an attendant meet you at the pump. He'd ask how much gas you wanted, and then check your oil, and clean your windshield. All while you waited. The many familiar gas station brands that we visited as a child over and over, have now disappeared from the American landscape. Now seeing one of those old gas signs brings you right back to childhood.

9:21

Old Vehicle and Abandoned Memories

Sep 12, 2026 ARIZONA CITY
Some random photos from across Alaska and Arizona. Old gas stations, antique trucks and some miscellaneous stuff. Thanks for watching, and Keep'em Rolling!

2:41

searcher said:

The Gas Stations We Grew Up With... That Are Gone

Sep 12, 2026
If you grew up in America as a baby boomer, you probably remember when a trip to the gas station was nothing like it is today. Pulling into a service station meant hearing the familiar ding ding of the bell and having an attendant meet you at the pump. He'd ask how much gas you wanted, and then check your oil, and clean your windshield. All while you waited. The many familiar gas station brands that we visited as a child over and over, have now disappeared from the American landscape. Now seeing one of those old gas signs brings you right back to childhood.

9:21

Click to expand...

^^^^
Interesting, when you think about it. The 1945-2000 era was a collusion of a number of factors - postwar prosperity; affordable, and by then reliable, cars; a desire to see and explore other parts of the nation. PERSONALLY - not herded like cattle into no-longer-comfortable railway services.

Prior to television's havoc, wreaked on a generation...the culture was vastly different in different parts of the nation. And most of the nation remained a "high-trust" society. True, Chicago and New Orleans were probably not safe places - but those who went there as tourists, no doubt were well heeled, paying attention to historical and architectural draws. Those looking for vistas and different styles of cooking, tended to head into rural parts, and mostly out West.

And because of this, and because businesses had not begun centralizing (re-centralizing, in the case of refining companies) there were all these different names of petroleum marketers and different emphases on services. Self-service was a novelty about 1970. In Europe, they were experimenting with automated gas pumps that you fed currency into. Those never made it here, but only because credit-cards and Cardlock systems beat them to the market.

How many brands of gas, I cannot count. As a little kid, traveling, I used to play a game...guess what brand is what. Esso, in New York (had family roots there) had HUMBLE (block lettering) in Oho and Indiana. Because, as noted, Esso is S O. Standard Oil. Ohio had a different company with rights to Standard - Sohio, Standard Ohio. Mobil, once Standard of New York, went through Socony, and then, their brand of gas, MobilGas, became their brand. They somehow ceded the right to S O to Esso, which corporately was Humble Oil. Standard of New Jersey had bought Humble Oil of Humble, Texas, and adopted their corporate charter.

Then, American Oil in Ohio was Standard Oil in Indiana and Amoco elsewhere. To say nothing of the Gulf, the Texas Company/TEXACO and Standard of California/Chevron brands. Who has the Standard rights out HERE?

This, as much fun as finding out where food was good and cheap, and a quality mom-and-pop motel could be had for $12.99. They were out there, even up to the 1990s.

It's all gone, now. We have ExxonMobil and BPAmoco and all the convenience stores selling Mystery Gasoline, mostly cut with ethanol to please libburls...but it's all the same. The same gas brands I saw in Wisconsin, living there, are right here. The mannerisms different - Montana USED to be more friendly; that's changing, fast - but it's Holiday, which just became a Circle K brand, and Cenex. Town Pump, a local quick-stop, carries ExxonMobil. That's it. A few Shell quick-stops, fighting the Borg.

And as life becomes homogenized, our cars and our culture, the experience of living in our towns and cities, becomes schittier.

Enshittification, as Cory Doctorow calls it. Public outrages and acting-out; homelessness, violence and threats of violence, general contempt and hostility.