Monthly Archives: October 2011

The Horse Who Rode A Horse – 1959

October 27, 2011

With many thanks to Jack Palmer of the Defiance, Ohio, Crescent-News. © Boomersrememberwhen.com, Boomers Remember When, Inc. Watch video at end of this story. Like many people who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, I was a cartoon freak. My kids may have grown up with Homer and Bart Simpson, but their generation was not nearly as fortunate as mine. We were blessed with Popeye, Bugs Bunny, Sylvester and Tweety, Rocky and Bullwinkle — there were many, many more. Each had a unique personality, the collective genius of...

Candy Store Gothic, Forest Hills, New York – c. 1961

October 26, 2011

David L. grew up in Forest Hills in Queens, New York in the 50s and 60s. An advertising executive and gadabout, he now lives in Seattle, Washington. I wish, for just one hour, I could return to my corner candy store. If it had a name, I never knew it. The kids on Kessel Street would simply say: “Meetya round the corner.” And although it was only a block away, it might as well have been in another state. I never saw my mother there; it was an island...

Growing Up Oahu – c.1965

October 26, 2011

What was it like growing up in Hawaii (Oahu) in the mid-1960s? Tony G. gives some insight. He was born in Tripler Army Medical Center in 1955. Four years later, Hawaii became the 50th state. Tony’s father and grandfather were farm workers. I remember me and my younger brother lived with my grandpa on my mother’s side. We’d go out to play and walk down to the sugar cane fields. We’d play in the streams on the sides of the fields, swing on ropes to jump in. Enjoy the...

History, Live On TV – 1962 to 1969

October 20, 2011

Pam T. has lived in the Los Angeles area her whole life and shares her experience of the central role of television played as the conveyor of collective history. I recall waiting for the end of the world by nuclear war during the Cuban Missile Crisis as we watched on TV. I remember President Kennedy being stern but somehow reassuring. Scared out of our wits. Buying canned food at the market and receiving canned water from some kind of army truck I remember distinctly my father rushing home from...

Baby, We Were Born To Eat. Manhattan – 1972

October 15, 2011

M. de Voltaire lives in Manhattan again now, after having been exiled to Chicago and New Jersey for activities best not discussed here. Born in 1946, he had the good fortune to come into adulthood just as New York’s food scene exploded as if in a Big Bang. Our family forays into fine dining in the 1950s and 60s were infrequent. If we were in Manhattan for a Broadway show or a basketball game, we hit the tourist traps – Mama Leone’s, Patricia Murphy’s Candlelight Lounge, Stouffer’s Top of...

California-itis – 1966

October 14, 2011

Winnie F. was born in 1947, grew up in Maryland and at 19, was going to school in New York City when this tale unfolds. She now lives in Monterey, California. The California mystique of the 1960s is difficult to explain today. Suffice it to say, there were about half as many people in the Golden State and the best way to describe California then is as “laid back” and “free.” I think I was born out of time and out of place. I started dreaming about California when...

Working Class Girl And Her Brother’s Death In Vietnam – 1968

October 11, 2011

Marina G. was born in coal country Pennsylvania, Deer Hunter territory. She worked in a small factory from the time she was 16 until shortly after her brother was killed in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive. He was 19 then. I always felt good about being an American, until my brother Lloyd came home courtesy of Uncle Sam, in a coffin. Then, it was as if everything I believed in – I mean really believed in – changed in what seemed like overnight. I didn’t hate my job. I...

Re-Fizz: New Jersey’s Brookdale Soda

October 7, 2011

From Anthony Buccino, Nutley, New Jersey. He has been called “New Jersey’s ‘Garrison Keillor.’ ” You can read more about his writing at his website http://www.anthonysworld.com/ We would like to thank http://www.baristanet.com/ where this reminiscence first appeared. Baristanet was born in May 2004 and soon after emerged as a leader in both hyperlocal blogging and the online citizen journalism movement. Every significant event in my life growing up in New Jersey was accentuated by Brookdale soda. Others relished the Thanksgiving turkey or the Easter ham, but as for me,...

Steve Jobs – Growing Up In Silicon Valley Circa 1960

October 6, 2011

Steve Jobs was the Co-Founder and CEO of Apple. I grew up in Silicon Valley. My parents moved from San Francisco to Mountain View when I was five. My dad got transferred and that was right in the heart of Silicon Valley so there were engineers all around. Silicon Valley for the most part at that time was still orchards–apricot orchards and prune orchards–and it was really paradise. I remember the air being crystal clear, where you could see from one end of the valley to the other… It...

Sudden Cardiac Arrest At 64 – But No White Light

October 6, 2011

Mark S. is a 64 year-old digital archivist who lives in Boston’s suburbs. In August of 2011, I regained consciousness in a New Hampshire hospital. My wife and 3 kids told me I had been out for 5 days after suffering an SCA – Sudden Cardiac Arrest – and had slumped down, essentially dead. A family member began giving me CPR. Then a volunteer fireman neighbor stepped in for the endless 20 minutes it took an ambulance to arrive. A medivac helicopter had been dispatched but had to turn...

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