I remember when.....

[Bruce Wayne]

I remember when all cans except soda had to be opened with a can opener.

 

[jamespowers]

Steel cans were common up through the 1990's. I don't know of any US manufacturer who still makes steel beverage cans though.

I used to work in a can factory. It's a dirty, nasty, grimy business.

Been there done that.

This state outlawed steel cans long before 1990. I think steel was gone by the end of the 70s here.

 

[jamespowers]

Nobody believes me when I tell them that from kindergarten to part of second grade we had these desks in our classroom.

Man, you are old.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The fun thing about steel cans was getting a "leaker" -- every once in a while one would start to ooze out its contents along the seam and it would leave a sticky syrup residue on all the other cans in that case. For some reason I remember canned 7-Up seemed to be the most prone to leaking, and because the syrup was clear you couldn't tell until you'd actually grabbed the can and gotten it all over yourself. Ah, happy days.

 

[LizzieMaine]

And speaking of soda, I remember big horizontal coolers in gas stations and grocery stores where the bottles were immersed in chilled water. You reached in and fished around until you found the one you wanted. Coke you could always tell by feel, but other brands were a grab-bag experience unless you could peer down into the dark and see the cap. And if you wanted a brand that used a bottle with a paper label, good luck -- the labels would soak off and float around in the water and eventually reduce into a gooey pulpy scum along the bottom of the cooler.

 

[GHT]

Man, you are old.

Oh dear, when I was a boy, I would stay with my grandmother during the long summer recess. Grandmother had a fish and chip shop, everything about it was of another era, probably something The Romans left behind. The fish, delivered daily, was chilled in 'The Ice Box.' a walk in type fridge, only it was chilled with ice blocks, delivered every day. The potato peeler and the chip cutting hopper were hand cranked. The blemishes left in the potatoes after peeling were known as eyes, and had to be cleaned by hand. The food was cooked in beef fat, or lard, and it was wrapped twice, once in clean wrapping paper and secondly, in newspaper.

Grandmother gave me pocket money, I ws hooked on the local Penny Arcade. Our currency back then was pre-decimal, those machines were only allowed to take a penny. if you won, you received your penny back and got another go. I was the past master at this. My winnings would finance the cost of the rides on the local Fun-Fair. I remember conductors on buses, and bus inspectors. We had police officers directing traffic at busy junctions. It was known as point duty. Those police boxes made famous in the Dr. Who series, were everywhere. We had telegrams, always unwelcome because the war was only ten years previous and a telegram during the war, usually meant bad news.

In many parts of the country we had telephones with a dial but no finger holes. You had to be connected by an operator. In an age before supermarkets, we bought items like sugar, scooped from a large sack into a one or two pound bag. There were lots of items that were pre-weighed like that. Butter was another, it was cut off a large slab, shaped with butter paddles, wrapped and sold as such.

Every family seemed to have a Brownie Box camera, I can't remember how many exposures there were on the film, but it was always a case of pot luck when you got them back from being developed. Heads, feet even family members got chopped, you felt lucky if you got more than half a dozen decent photos.

The chimney sweep was a common sight, we children were always told to go outside and see the brush come out of the top. We had bread roundsmen as well as milk, many still used horsedrawn carts. A job I didn't like was to collect anything that the horse dropped, to put on the garden. The enduring memory of growing up in post war London, was the smogs. Thick, choking haze, it was quite common to see a bus conductor, walking in front of the bus in order to guide his driver through.

I remember those school desks too.

 

[jamespowers]

Oh dear, when I was a boy, I would stay with my grandmother during the long summer recess. Grandmother had a fish and chip shop, everything about it was of another era, probably something The Romans left behind. The fish, delivered daily, was chilled in 'The Ice Box.' a walk in type fridge, only it was chilled with ice blocks, delivered every day. The potato peeler and the chip cutting hopper were hand cranked. The blemishes left in the potatoes after peeling were known as eyes, and had to be cleaned by hand. The food was cooked in beef fat, or lard, and it was wrapped twice, once in clean wrapping paper and secondly, in newspaper.

Grandmother gave me pocket money, I ws hooked on the local Penny Arcade. Our currency back then was pre-decimal, those machines were only allowed to take a penny. if you won, you received your penny back and got another go. I was the past master at this. My winnings would finance the cost of the rides on the local Fun-Fair. I remember conductors on buses, and bus inspectors. We had police officers directing traffic at busy junctions. It was known as point duty. Those police boxes made famous in the Dr. Who series, were everywhere. We had telegrams, always unwelcome because the war was only ten years previous and a telegram during the war, usually meant bad news.

In many parts of the country we had telephones with a dial but no finger holes. You had to be connected by an operator. In an age before supermarkets, we bought items like sugar, scooped from a large sack into a one or two pound bag. There were lots of items that were pre-weighed like that. Butter was another, it was cut off a large slab, shaped with butter paddles, wrapped and sold as such.

Every family seemed to have a Brownie Box camera, I can't remember how many exposures there were on the film, but it was always a case of pot luck when you got them back from being developed. Heads, feet even family members got chopped, you felt lucky if you got more than half a dozen decent photos.

The chimney sweep was a common sight, we children were always told to go outside and see the brush come out of the top. We had bread roundsmen as well as milk, many still used horsedrawn carts. A job I didn't like was to collect anything that the horse dropped, to put on the garden. The enduring memory of growing up in post war London, was the smogs. Thick, choking haze, it was quite common to see a bus conductor, walking in front of the bus in order to guide his driver through.

I remember those school desks too.

And The Ripper murder case was on the front page of all the newspapers.

 

[Harp]

I remember peeling the pull tab off my first beer.

And the can was steel.

I remember tying Schlitz beer cans with pebbles to barbed wire fencing and laying claymore mines. [angel]

 

[jamespowers]

The fun thing about steel cans was getting a "leaker" -- every once in a while one would start to ooze out its contents along the seam and it would leave a sticky syrup residue on all the other cans in that case. For some reason I remember canned 7-Up seemed to be the most prone to leaking, and because the syrup was clear you couldn't tell until you'd actually grabbed the can and gotten it all over yourself. Ah, happy days.

Yeah, the leaking cans sucked. :doh: It really screwed up the taste of a beer too. You were always safer drinking beer out of a bottle than a can. Less likely to get skunky beer.

 

[jamespowers]

I remember tying Schlitz beer cans with pebbles to barbed wire fencing and laying claymore mines. [angel]

I would ask "during the Civil War?" but.......

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Speaking of flat-top cans, anyone here familiar with Churchkey Beer?

I can't get it here, if anybody has access to it and would send me some, I'd appreciate it. Of course, you would be reimbursed!

http://www.churchkeycanco.com/home.html

Also, speaking of flat-tops. Anyone else familiar with Schlitz's softop cans? They were supposed to be easier to open.

 

[jamespowers]

Speaking of flat-top cans, anyone here familiar with Churchkey Beer?

I can't get it here, if anybody has access to it and would send me some, I'd appreciate it. Of course, you would be reimbursed!

http://www.churchkeycanco.com/home.html

Also, speaking of flat-tops. Anyone else familiar with Schlitz's softop cans? They were supposed to be easier to open.

Geez, I never heard of it out here. Where is it made?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

The enduring memory of growing up in post war London, was the smogs. Thick, choking haze, it was quite common to see a bus conductor, walking in front of the bus in order to guide his driver through.

[video=youtube;bSlwGIapFJI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSlwGIapFJI[/video]

 

[AtomicEraTom]

From their website: You can currently find Churchkey in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.

I believe it's made in Seattle.

Geez, I never heard of it out here. Where is it made?

 

[jamespowers]

From their website: You can currently find Churchkey in Seattle, Portland and San Francisco.

I believe it's made in Seattle.

I'll look out for it.

 

[Stanley Doble]

Has anyone mentioned the Conelrad system, with semi annual announcements on the radio 'this is a test of the emergency broadcasting system" followed by eerie tones, and the 2 triangles on the radio dial so you knew where to tune in, in case of a Russian missile attack?

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Before my time, but I've had a couple radios, and the radios in a couple of my cars, had Civil Defense Band markings on the dials.
My Grandfather was big in the Civil Defense during the 50's and 60's, where my mom grew up.

Has anyone mentioned the Conelrad system, with semi annual announcements on the radio 'this is a test of the emergency broadcasting system" followed by eerie tones, and the 2 triangles on the radio dial so you knew where to tune in, in case of a Russian missile attack?

I think it'd be pretty neat to try. I've been collecting breweriana for years, and have never gotten to drink a beer from a flat-top can.

I'll look out for it.

 

[Stearmen]

Nobody believes me when I tell them that from kindergarten to part of second grade we had these desks in our classroom.

I remember the desks with the ink well hole.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Nobody believes me when I tell them that from kindergarten to part of second grade we had these desks in our classroom.

We had these desks all through High School (1961-65) in the hometown of James Dean.



HD

 

[HudsonHawk]

Also, speaking of flat-tops. Anyone else familiar with Schlitz's softop cans? They were supposed to be easier to open.

The soft top cans were flat top cans with a steel body, but an aluminum top. They came out in the early 60's. You opened them with a churchkey, just like the steel ones. They weren't around long though, as the pull top was introduced a few years later, and quickly became the standard. All aluminum cans became all the rage around then too.