Vintage Things That Have Disappeared In Your Lifetime?

[sheeplady]

My beer is stored in the old earth cellar on the farm (where people kept things cool in the old days). If it is built correctly like mine seems to be, it keeps 6 - 7 celcius the year round. Perfect temperature for storing beer if you ask me

This is what an earth cellar looks like on a big farm, mine is not as big or as new or as good looking as this one, but it's on the list of things to give a facelift.

That is a gorgeous root cellar! Where I volunteered as a kid had one a little bit bigger (large home). I've always wanted a root cellar. You do need to post pics of your farm, it sounds lovely (and I'd love to see your smaller root cellar!)

 

[m0nk]

My beer is stored in the old earth cellar on the farm (where people kept things cool in the old days). If it is built correctly like mine seems to be, it keeps 6 - 7 celcius the year round. Perfect temperature for storing beer if you ask me

This is what an earth cellar looks like on a big farm, mine is not as big or as new or as good looking as this one, but it's on the list of things to give a facelift.

My ex's uncle and I put together a vineyard and had planned to use a very similar storage cellar to this for the bottle aging process. His was not nearly in as good of shape but we were planning on fixing his up as well. Of course, the 17-year cicada came along and killed off all but a few vines and things just weren't quite the same after that...

 

[Bob Beecher]

Many posts mention the dial telephone. But it's certainly not gone! If you like, you can find an old phone and hook it up to your home right now. They still work. Either find one that's got a modular plug on it, or hook up the wires like we did in the old days.

Here's a pic I posted when I got my Fed IV. Behind it is a Western Electric model 302 telephone that works perfectly. The 302 was introduced in 1937 and was in use through the 1960s. The WE 302 is the phone used on the set of "I Love Lucy" and, so, it is known by some as the "Lucy Phone," which helps people find them on eBay if they don't know the actual model number.

I've even created a "dial card" with my home phone number, beginning with "EMpire 3-" ... one of the original phone exchanges for my area. Just remember: there's no REDIAL button on this one!

 

[AtomicEraTom]

On the note of phones, I really wish they still used Alphanumeric Telephone Numbers.

 

[Earl Needham]

Pretty nice, Bob.

Speaking of the phone number -- when I was a youngster, our telephone number was EXpress 4-7040. My friends phone number was EXpress 4-4281. Those are the only two I can remember -- well, other than PEnnsylvania 6-5000...

 

[Bob Beecher]

If you're interested in learning more about old telephone exchanges....or you'd like to begin using a retro-style exchange in YOUR phone number, check out "The Telephone EXchange Project" and add your retro phone number to your business cards or whatever.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Here's an item that at one time was the most-commonly-used kitchen tool in America:

You set it on top of your can of evaporated milk and pressed down hard. Two little spikes on the underside of the device instantly punched two tiny holes in the milk can, allowing the milk to flow out in a neat and sanitary manner. Until the 1980s or so, milk cans didn't have a raised lip around the rim so you couldn't use a church key or any conventional type of can opener. So the milk companies gave away millions of these gadgets over the decades.

And now they're completely obsolete.

 

[MissMittens]

On the note of phones, I really wish they still used Alphanumeric Telephone Numbers.

I always liked that idea

 

[MissMittens]

On the note of phones, I really wish they still used Alphanumeric Telephone Numbers.

I always liked that idea

 

[AtomicEraTom]

Always seems like it'd be easier to remember to me. My dad's growing up was HOpkins 6-5633. The local number, here, used to be RIverside 2.

I always liked that idea

 

[scottyrocks]

I remember my alpha-numeric telephone number when I was a kid. It rolled out sort of liek a song. By the time of the '60s, though, many of the alpha parts were just letters and not part of, or an abreviation for, a word or words. My prefix was RN3- . . . 'Hello, operator, get me Registered Nurse 3 - . . . '

 

[Belladonna_dea]

Haha Most of those people were asking for it!

See 3:06 :eusa_doh:
[video=youtube;3HidG9MBQC8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HidG9MBQC8&feature=channel_video_title[/video]

 

[Bob Beecher]

I still remember my first phone number from around 1963: "OLdfield 1-4595" (651-4595)... and back then, all of L.A. was in the 213 area code.

 

[scottyrocks]

Yep, all five boroughs of NYC were 212. Now there's 212, 718, 347, 646, and thats just Brooklyn and Manhattan, and there are probably more.

 

[dnjan]

I wasn't sorry, however, when party lines (at least in my neighborhood) disappeared.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

We no longer have tire chains here, they popped in my mind when I saw all the snow this morning! lol

 

[dnjan]

We still do!

 

[Cicero]

Same here (Europe)

 

[LizzieMaine]

Banking the house. This was a regular thing when I was growing up -- every fall, somewhere between the end of the World Series and Halloween, every householder would wrap the base of their house in tar paper, held in place at the top by wooden laths tacked to the siding and at the bottom by bricks, rocks, or cinder blocks. The idea was to insulate the cellar against the winter cold and prevent heat loss thru the foundation -- it was a modification of the old idea of piling snow up close against the base of the house for insulation, hence "banking."

We *always* did this when I was growing up -- it was a family project with everyone required to do their bit rolling out the paper or tacking up the laths, and likewise we'd take the banking off the house every April around Opening Day, and store the laths and paper in the garage or under the porch until the fall. And yet -- nobody does it now. I haven't seen a single house around here with their banking up, not even my own. And the hardware stores don't have big rolls of tar paper and bundles of laths on special anymore.

What happened, did someone pass a law? Or did we just collectively forget?

 

[John in Covina]

Banking the house. This was a regular thing when I was growing up -- every fall, somewhere between the end of the World Series and Halloween, every householder would wrap the base of their house in tar paper, held in place at the top by wooden laths tacked to the siding and at the bottom by bricks, rocks, or cinder blocks. The idea was to insulate the cellar against the winter cold and prevent heat loss thru the foundation -- it was a modification of the old idea of piling snow up close against the base of the house for insulation, hence "banking."

We *always* did this when I was growing up -- it was a family project with everyone required to do their bit rolling out the paper or tacking up the laths, and likewise we'd take the banking off the house every April around Opening Day, and store the laths and paper in the garage or under the porch until the fall. And yet -- nobody does it now. I haven't seen a single house around here with their banking up, not even my own. And the hardware stores don't have big rolls of tar paper and bundles of laths on special anymore.

What happened, did someone pass a law? Or did we just collectively forget?

Reminded me of people wrapping their fruit trees for winter. Up in Plattsburgh they would let the faucets run very slowy during the really cold weather to keep the pipes from freezing.