Blast from the Past

[BenG]

My great aunt ran a country general store and I remember buying Cokes for a nickel (in a 6 oz. glass bottle that you returned to get your deposit back.) and lots of penny candy.
Who remembers Squirrel Nut Zippers?
Or Atomic Fireballs
Bit O' Honey
Mary Janes
Pixy Stix
Red Hots
Sugar Daddy and Sugar Babies and Sugar Mama.
Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Roll Pops
Wax Candy
Caramel Creams
Cow Tales
Slo Poke
BB Bats

We still had glass cola bottles and recycling of same when I was in high school in the mid 1970s. I think they switched over to plastic bottles in the late 1970s or the 1980s. I remember putting our empty cola bottles back into the six-pack carton in which they were bought and returning them to the store for the nickle per bottle refund. I also remember and old retired man who lived at a nursing home in my town. He was old and forgotten by his family, but he was still healthy and energetic and we would see him walking all over town gathering up empty cola bottles to raise a little spending money. Later I found out that he gave that money to fellow residents at his nursing home. We called him Coke Bottle Joe. Everyone liked him. I hope he wound up in a special place, if such exist, as he certainly deserved to.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by jswinden

We still had glass cola bottles and recycling of same when I was in high school in the mid 1970s. I think they switched over to plastic bottles in the late 1970s or the 1980s. I remember putting our empty cola bottles back into the six-pack carton in which they were bought and returning them to the store for the nickle per bottle refund. I also remember and old retired man who lived at a nursing home in my town. He was old and forgotten by his family, but he was still healthy and energetic and we would see him walking all over town gathering up empty cola bottles to raise a little spending money. Later I found out that he gave that money to fellow residents at his nursing home. We called him Coke Bottle Joe. Everyone liked him. I hope he wound up in a special place, if such exist, as he certainly deserved to.

I think they would have switched to plastic bottles sooner but they had to find a plastic that could hold the pressure of the carbonation. At about the same time (mid 70's) they switched from tin to Aluminum cans for soda pop too. They had pop top openings like beer before that as well unlike the flip top opener that they have now. My dad put a glass bottle of Pepsi in the freezer (to get cold) and forgot it once. Naturally the bottle shattered since ice takes up more space than liquid and we were cleaning bits of frozen Pepsi out of the freezer for a long time after that. Film stock changed in the 70's as well. You can see that from how older 3 color Technicolor films from the 50's (like "The Robe" ) kept their colors over decades but movies like "The Godfather" were turning yellow after just a decade in the can. The two color process may have been cheaper but the film stock wasn't as long lasting in terms of keeping its colors bright. That's why a number of DVD's are 'digitally restored' I think. They had to restore the proper colors to the prints.

Originally Posted by crich70

I think they would have switched to plastic bottles sooner but they had to find a plastic that could hold the pressure of the carbonation. At about the same time (mid 70's) they switched from tin to Aluminum cans for soda pop too. They had pop top openings like beer before that as well unlike the flip top opener that they have now. My dad put a glass bottle of Pepsi in the freezer (to get cold) and forgot it once. Naturally the bottle shattered since ice takes up more space than liquid and we were cleaning bits of frozen Pepsi out of the freezer for a long time after that. Film stock changed in the 70's as well. You can see that from how older 3 color Technicolor films from the 50's (like "The Robe" ) kept their colors over decades but movies like "The Godfather" were turning yellow after just a decade in the can. The two color process may have been cheaper but the film stock wasn't as long lasting in terms of keeping its colors bright. That's why a number of DVD's are 'digitally restored' I think. They had to restore the proper colors to the prints.

Oh yes I remember when tin cans for cola and beer switched from the stronger tin that required a bottle/can opener to open to the lightweight aluminum cans with pull tabs to open them. We all thought it was so cool that we could easily crush the aluminum cans in one hand. Originally the pull tabs for opening them were designed for the entire tab to be pulled off the can. Some people had trouble with them because they would put them back into the can then accidentally swallow it. Also they made for a lot of litter in the form pull tabs lying everywhere. I'm glad they redesigned the tabs so that they stay on the can. Prior to pull tabs and twist off lids, a lot of us carried military style P-38 and P-51 fold-up can/bottle openers on our key-chains.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by jswinden

We still had glass cola bottles and recycling of same when I was in high school in the mid 1970s. I think they switched over to plastic bottles in the late 1970s or the 1980s. I remember putting our empty cola bottles back into the six-pack carton in which they were bought and returning them to the store for the nickle per bottle refund. I also remember and old retired man who lived at a nursing home in my town. He was old and forgotten by his family, but he was still healthy and energetic and we would see him walking all over town gathering up empty cola bottles to raise a little spending money. Later I found out that he gave that money to fellow residents at his nursing home. We called him Coke Bottle Joe. Everyone liked him. I hope he wound up in a special place, if such exist, as he certainly deserved to.

I remember in 1980, the little store across the street from where we lived sold Pepsi and Dr Pepper in returnable bottles. Every week, one or the other was on sale for 20 cents. The other was 40 cents. The deposit was 10 cents. Weekdays we would pay the deposit. On weekends, we would take our bottles back for free drinks.
*Side note: do not ever offer to pay your little brother in Dr Pepper for a week when he works for you. Amazing how many Dr Peppers he went through that week. It would have been cheaper to pay him with money.

Oh and in the late 70's in Luckenbach, the kids were paid a nickel each for every Lone Star bottle they returned. Then a quarter to move the full case of empties to a certain spot.
And of course the kids used that money to buy their snacks.

[wodin]

Originally Posted by jswinden

... Originally the pull tabs for opening them were designed for the entire tab to be pulled off the can. Some people had trouble with them because they would put them back into the can then accidentally swallow it. Also they made for a lot of litter in the form pull tabs lying everywhere...

And a good thing too. If they had invented the "pop-down" tabs first how would Jimmy Buffett been able to write Margaritaville?

Stepped on a pop-top
Blew out my flip flop

Originally Posted by wodin

And a good thing too. If they had invented the "pop-down" tabs first how would Jimmy Buffett been able to write Margaritaville?

Stepped on a pop-top
Blew out my flip flop

I remember seeing piles of them swept up around coke machines. Well that and piles of dead crickets. But at least the cricket biodegraded eventually. The coke machines had a slot to place the pull tops in after you opened the can of cola, but very few people actually used it. Most apparently just dropped them on the ground. The same was true for the pop tops on cola glass bottles. Those were much more wicked to step on. Both were littering the ground in those days.

[cromag]

In the early 60s I used to scour the town for discarded bottles to bring to the store for the deposit.

And, like many hippies in the late 60s-early 70s, I used to make chains out of the fully removable pop-tops from cans.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by cromag

In the early 60s I used to scour the town for discarded bottles to bring to the store for the deposit.

I did the same thing; usually with friends. We'd get together early Saturday morning and one of us would bring a wagon. We'd then search for pop bottles. Our goal was to collect enough to pay for a movie and some treats. When we had enough bottles, we'd cash them in and head for the movie theater. We'd get some popcorn, candy, and a drink and sit in the middle. We hated being in the first rows.

Our preferred genre was sci-fi, but we also loved westerns and horror flicks. What was cool is that the movies were usually double features and included previews for coming attractions, a cartoon, a newsreel, and an episodic serial. After all that, we finally got to watch a couple of cool movies. Sometimes we'd stay and watch it all over again.

Thus went a typical Saturday in my pre-teen/ early teen days. I miss that experience.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by cromag

And, like many hippies in the late 60s-early 70s, I used to make chains out of the fully removable pop-tops from cans.

I used to make gum wrapper chains

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I did the same thing; usually with friends. We'd get together early Saturday morning and one of us would bring a wagon. We'd then search for pop bottles. Our goal was to collect enough to pay for a movie and some treats. When we had enough bottles, we'd cash them in and head for the movie theater. We'd get some popcorn, candy, and a drink and sit in the middle. We hated being in the first rows.

Our preferred genre was sci-fi, but we also loved westerns and horror flicks. What was cool is that the movies were usually double features and included previews for coming attractions, a cartoon, a newsreel, and an episodic serial. After all that, we finally got to watch a couple of cool movies. Sometimes we'd stay and watch it all over again.

Thus went a typical Saturday in my pre-teen/ early teen days. I miss that experience.

I grew up in a small rural town we had an old run down movie theater that only opened on the weekends. They had Saturday matinees which included an A movie and a B movie with shorts in between for 25 cents. A good deal for 1960s kids!

[Cinisajoy]

I can't tell you what movies in the late 70's because I rarely went or if I did my best friend's boyfriend always paid. She wasn't allowed to date so I always went with her.
Years later, my very much younger stepsister tried to use me to meet her boyfriend. I am 13 years older than her. I did the big sister thing and let her know how to pull that one off. The look on her face was priceless.

[wodin]

When I was very young in the late forties, the merchants in the small town we lived in would get together and pay for "free movies" on Saturday nights. They hired a guy who had a 16 mm projector to show "B" movies on a bed sheet attached to the side of a warehouse. Everyone would bring blankets and chairs to the vacant lot next to the warehouse and watch the movie.

My Da would give me a dime or quarter (if he was well off that week), and I'd go to the grocery store and buy a Coke and a candy bar for a nickle apiece. If I had anything left over I could buy a small toy for a dime or so.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by wodin

When I was very young in the late forties, the merchants in the small town we lived in would get together and pay for "free movies" on Saturday nights. They hired a guy who had a 16 mm projector to show "B" movies on a bed sheet attached to the side of a warehouse. Everyone would bring blankets and chairs to the vacant lot next to the warehouse and watch the movie.

My Da would give me a dime or quarter (if he was well off that week), and I'd go to the grocery store and buy a Coke and a candy bar for a nickle apiece. If I had anything left over I could buy a small toy for a dime or so.

My dad (born in 1937) had a similar experience growing up except the bed sheet would be tied between two trees on the town square.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I can't tell you what movies in the late 70's because I rarely went or if I did my best friend's boyfriend always paid. She wasn't allowed to date so I always went with her.
Years later, my very much younger stepsister tried to use me to meet her boyfriend. I am 13 years older than her. I did the big sister thing and let her know how to pull that one off. The look on her face was priceless.

Star Wars, The black Hole, The Wilderness family, and I'm sure there were other well loved films that were new back then. I rarely could go either as my dad was often laid off (then later he got sick) so that we couldn't afford extras like the movies often. It was always fun when we got to go though.