SchwinnChopper68

Best memories. Buying those long white candy dot strips at Rumpleheimers, taking them home and eating them while watching The Invaders. Finding a 10 inch blue plastic Gemini capsule that had two working doors for the astronauts at a novelty shop. Buying black light posters in the head shop. Eating the best pepperoni pizza with thick cheese while listening to Mr. Bojangles. So many memories from that place. Not to mention Sage department store and their caramel popcorn as you exit the store. I remember some underground cave like shopping area I think near downtown. That place was dark and moody with the best vendors selling so many great artistic and craft ware items. There was one shop there that sold underground comics. Not sure when they stopped doing this but when I lived across from Johnston Junior High from 65 to 72 every Friday if memory serves me correct the city would blast out the air raid siren for 1 minute at 12 noon. I know for sure they don't do this anymore but when I went to Kolter elementary the 3 or 4 maids would sit by the silver 50 gallon trash cans and have us throw all leftover food and meat in the 3rd trashcan. Those maids would pick through that 3rd trashcan and keep all the good stuff. Believe it or not.    

Well, I learned something new. I'm gonna buy me a portable digital thermometer and scout around for coffee hotter than 135. Once I hit that magic, mother lode 150, 170 or even 180 I'm gonna put on my thick sweat pants, put the coffee between my knees and clumsily remove the lid with my old shaking, creaking hands and score me a cool 2 or 3 mil. Beats working for a living and I get a 5 or 7 day stay in the hospital with them young boooootiful 18 year old candystripers to give me a rubdown before falling off to sleep to dream of my new 47' sailboat with all the toys based in Aruba. I'll post pics of myself onboard raising a toast to HAIF and say thanks to this very thread for making my lifelong dream come true. Hopefully that same lawyer that handled the McDonalds case will be available for mine.

What's up with all these crazy lawyers??

DALLAS (March 10, 2010)—A Dallas city attorney who shot a father and son Monday inside their financial business in a North Dallas office building died early Wednesday afternoon from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse said.

Robert Mustard, 60, shot himself Monday after shooting Richard Smith, 66, and Christopher Smith, 39.

Had he lived, Mustard would have faced aggravated assault charges, but Janse says those charges won't be filed now.

Richard Smith was shot four times in the legs.

His son was shot in the head and neck.

Both were in stable condition Wednesday.

Authorities believe Mustard was upset about financial dealings.

I know of no restaurant or any public establishment anywhere in the world that accepts responsibility for items lost and, in many cases, even damaged, on the premises.

Perhaps he is seeking a precedent. In 1984 fashion all places of business will be 100% responsible for any and all lost items. Feel free to lose your 10K ring and claim maximum damages along with emotional distress due to the fact that the business did not have 30 employees monitoring every nook, cranny and aisle for potential lost items. Another scoundrel snaked that ring, tuff!, you the business are responsible. Yea right!! Give it a few years. I barely recognize the Houston I grew up in...

Reminds me of the McDonalds case where the woman was awarded something like 10 million because she was not warned the coffee was hot then spilled it in her lap while probably applying makeup in the mirror.

His steel trap memory faithfully remembers the shoddy treatment by his waitress (for sure it was not his attitude that affected her) yet somehow that steel trap memory failed him on his expensive polo jacket with the upgraded plaid lining. I feel sorry for whoever works, lives with or has to deal with that a-hole.

About par for the course. Another idiot with a sheepskin that seeks to enrich himself by blaming others for his own blunders and stupidity.

I love the smell of lawsuits in the morning. It's wonderful to live in a land that has 5% of the worlds population yet has 80% of its bottom feeders...er..garbage scows..ahem..cough,cough..lawyers.

Blame and find fault with anyone and anything other than ones self. Harvard Motto.

Or maybe he could sue himself. Claim split personalities. Jack the loser had control of his senses at the time of loss, later while walking to the plane his real personality Bill came back and realized that Jack had tricked him.

Never had breakfast on the train with KiTiRiK but went to 3 or 4 live broadcasts and sat in the bleachers while she sashayed by.

Back then during the Jerry Lewis telethon channel 13 kept the studio doors open. Anyone could breeze in and grab yourself live photo ops that were broadcast all over the city. My friends and I used to be camera hogs to see who could get the most airtime with us looking busy in the background.

I'll tell ya one thing. They have their criminal justice system down to a science. I flew into Kai Tak in 98 on the very last day it was open. (WHOA, 6 flags has nothing on a Kai Tak red checkerboard landing in a 747!) A short KTR to Shenzhen and I was at my hotel. Now what was on the front page of the paper. A huge photo of 2 men and a woman being lead by 20 guards to the firing squad. They were convicted of stealing $5,000 from the government. And yes, there are some words you cannot mention in China. I mentioned some to my taxi driver in an offhand way and the driver bout had a heart attack.

In many ways other people in other countries just have no idea what life is like there 75 miles outside the main cities. Count your blessings that you can afford cheap walmart crap. Most of the world can't.

The places I hung out I might as well been in NYC or Miami. The club scene and all the rest of 24/7 commerce was not quite what I was expecting.

It's a Red plot. Check out Dr. Strangelove to get up to speed.

I don't think I have ever read anyone talk about it on HAIF but I really got my push into motorcycling from a minibike track that was very close to a major mall if not on the outerskirts of the mall property. I can't remember the exact area. I think for about a buck you could rent a minibike and follow a long serpentine path around the park. I think I must have been their best customer. This was around 1967-68ish.

I got pumped as a kid on a bright red Honda 305 in 63 and that ride never left my memory. Since then I have gone through a ton of bikes. The ol 74 RD350 tweaked, ported and piped to the max was one of my all time favorites. They just don't make them like that anymore. 53 horsepower and a hair over 300 pounds. That thing was like a bat out of hell. I used to put 750s to shame. When we came to the curves it was hasta la vista baby!! No matter what they were riding.

Aw..don't be so stingy with the photos

Let's go back in time to when life in Houston was simpler. Ready?

http://cruzintheavenue.com/TakeMeBackToTheSixties.htm

Did that video bring a lump to your throat? Try this one on for size.

"When Life In Houston Was In Black and White"

http://oldfortyfives.com/WhenLifewasInBlack&White.htm

Both of us recall the escalators there for some strange reason.

If you mean inside Meyer Brothers and if memory serves correct there were escalators to the second floor. There was a fairly compact Boy Scouts area upstairs that we visited often.

If you mean outside then I'm not sure. There was the second story for loading and unloading so perhaps yes somewhere. More than likely though the loading area would be using elevators.

"There’s some folks who have begun calling Democrat Town Hall meetings “greenhouses.”

Because there”s so many plants in them."

Love it!

I moved into Willowbend in June 1965. I lived directly across from Johnston Junior High.

I had forgotten about the Benellis at Westbury Yamaha. I was more into mini enduros and rupps.

From 1969

From mid 60s What trip to Westbury Square was complete unless you stopped here on the way home.

Does this mean the home my parents paid $28,000 for in Meyerland back in the early 60's has increased in value?

Lucky stiff growing up in the rich part of Meyerland.

Lemme see here, homes have increased 30 to 60x since then...uhmmm wages have increased xxx since then??

Merida, Mexico and 800K, what possible hovel could I get....

Twas up to moi I'd rather have the huge old trees, squirrels and shade rather than that huge slab of concrete. Must be getting old here too....

Prodigy was mid 80s. I remember seeing the service displayed in the local Sears in 1985. Never gave them a try until 93. Very unique service with great chat boards IMHO. Used them until Netcom ambled along.

Yah, Kings was the best!! You would pick up the phone to order. I think they were red phones like Batman. If you had the right table you could watch the person in the kitchen as they picked up the phone and took your order.

I would die to find a place today that made those cheese sandwiches dipped in crumb batter. I can still taste it after all these years. Their onion rings were not too far behind either.

While you are at it save me a brick from the front of Village Inn Pizza.

The dingoes ate my baby!

What is a test tube baby's worst fear?

A dingo with a straw

9. No cell phones

10. No internet

Hmm...in the 80s I lived in there were cell phones (I had one) and there was a pre 1993 BBS type internet. Remember 2400 modems and compuserve?

In general yes, cellphones had not yet become the addictive commodity they are today where you even hear someone in a public bathroom stall talking to his wife while doing his bidness. I have never been able to figure that one out and more than likely I never will.

When I grew up there was no air conditioning in the schools. On cold winter days there was the furnace all along the windows. That's where you would hang out for 5 or 10 minutes before class started to get warmed up. At least the ones that walked or rode a bike to school did. The ones arriving by mom's car had no need.

In the summer when things heated up, the rear closets in the class were a particular point of interest. Remember no air conditioning. All we had was one HUGE fan in the corner blowing. Well the rear classroom closets was where you would hang your jacket, hat, etc.. and place your lunch. Some in metal lunch buckets, some in paper bags with baggies or waxed paper. So imagine this. A closet tightly closed for 4+ hours, in a very warm classroom suddenly gets opened at 12:30pm to line up for lunch. I swear, on some days I thought I would pass out from some of the smells in some of the lunches. I learned to hate sardines at Kolter.

Remember when some teachers had blue hair?

Run away as fast as you can.

The acid test for all these scams is: If this is so great then why are you not doing it yourself?

Most get paid from selling fish the system, not from working the system themselves.

It's really kinda sad how people with no moral compass can suck so much money so fast from folks.

Back when I was in the vending machine business it never ceased to amaze me when I would get a call from someone that offered to sell me their "vending machines". What their vending machines were consisted of 30 counter top snack and soda machines that cost them $50,000 from one of the shark companies in Florida. Real world value of the cheap machines? About 3-5K IF you wanted cheap junk that breaks easily and any kid could flip over and get all your snacks.

Yah, I think the mosquito sprayer trucks were a pied piper magnet for every kid in the city and his dog. I remember one time a kid on my block was going full out gonzo in the cloud and crashed at top speed into the back of a parked car. Thought he was dead. He jumped up and said "I'm OK!"

DDT, Malathion, who knows what was in that white cloud.

When we used to go to the drive-in they sold a mosquito coil you would light on one end and put it on your dashboard. I think it was called PIC. They had commercials for it on the screen before the movie started.

Where I grew up they had some minibike/motorcycle trails on the north side of Braes Bayou around Chimney Rock heading west for 3 or 4 so miles. Most of the time we would just ride in bottom of the concrete bayou trying to avoid the slime in the center that would cause us to wipeout and go down for an always thrilling 50 foot long gooey sideways slide. I remember riding about 2 or 3 miles west and on the north side there was a huge open field with a GIGANTIC long hill covered with bushes and trees that had a trail starting at one side ending at the other side with a pretty scary (for me at least) 60+ degree rutty, bumpy hill. That place was always packed on the weekends with the older kids on their Maicos, trials, DT 250s and SL 175s.

This post was composed under the magical qualities of Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell.

As I was reading the post about new toy stores in downtown Houston I was struck in particular by one line.

"the time I grew up in where there was an actual culture"

The talk continued on about all the meaningless electronic doodads for kids taking the place of their childhood.

With that in mind let me share with you how I grew up in Houston. Does any of it ring a bell?

DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN...?

All the girls had ugly gym uniforms?

Coaches could say bend over and grab your ankles then you and your buddies

knew what was heading your way?

Your elementary school principal would grab the standup mike while sitting

at the end of teacher's lunch table and scream into it that the entire

lunchroom is now on 10 minutes of silence or else?

A gang shooting was something that happened a long time ago in 1920s Chicago?

It took five minutes for the TV warm up?

Nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got home from school?

Nobody owned a purebred dog?

When a quarter was a decent allowance?

You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?

Your Mom wore nylons that came in two pieces?

All your male teachers wore neckties and female teachers had

their hair done every day and wore high heels?

You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and gas pumped,

without asking, all for free, every time?

And you didn't pay for air? And, you got trading stamps to boot?

And they had clean bathrooms? And they asked about your family?

And you got a free case of 10oz cokes in bottles with a fill-up?

Laundry detergent had free glasses, dishes or towels hidden inside the box?

It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner

at a real restaurant with your parents?

They threatened to keep kids back a grade if they failed. . and they did?

When a 57 Chevy was everyone's dream car...to cruise,

peel out, lay rubber or watch submarine races, and people went steady?

No one ever asked where the car keys were

because they were always in the car,

in the ignition, and the doors were never locked?

Lying on your back in the grass with your friends

and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a .."

And playing baseball with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?

Stuff from the store came without safety caps and hermetic seals

because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?

And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once,

you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace,

and share it with the children of today?

When being sent to the principal's office was nothing

compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?

Basically we were in fear for our lives,

but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.

Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!

But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.

When they had funny hidden images on the Yellow Pages cover?

Take a break... and go back... back to a time

...before the Internet or PC or the MAC

...before semiautomatics and crack

...before PlayStation, SEGA, Super Nintendo, even before Atari

...before cell phones, CD's, DVD's, voicemail and e-mail

...way back... WAY... way... way back...

I'm talkin' bout hide and seek at dusk

Red light, Green light

Red Rover...Red Rover...

Playing kickball and dodge ball until night fell

Ring around the Rosie

London Bridge

Hot potato

Hop Scotch

Jump rope

YOU'RE IT!!

Parents stood on the front porch and yelled (or whistled) for you to come home - no pagers or cell phones

Did your dad have a special whistle for just you? Score 2 points.

Mother May I?

Hula Hoops

Seeing shapes in the clouds

Endless summer days and hot summer nights (no A/C) with the windows open

The sound of crickets

The mother of all waterbugs on your bathroom floor

Running through the sprinkler

Happy meals (at home, not from McDonald's)

Cereal boxes with that GREAT prize in the bottom

Cracker jacks with the same thing

Ice pops with two sticks you could break and share with a friend

...but wait... there's more...

Catchin' lightning bugs in a jar

Catchin' ladybugs with your hand, making a wish then blowing it home

Christmas morning

Your first day of school

Metal Man From U.N.C.L.E. lunch boxes

5 cent milk, 7 cent ice cream and 37 cent complete lunches

Bedtime prayers and goodnight kisses

Climbing trees

Swinging as high as you could to try and reach the sky

Jumping off the school's monster seesaw at the bottom then letting your best

friend discover the true meaning of gravity

Getting an ice cream off the Ice Cream Truck

Leaving May Day "May baskets" on neighbor's porches, ringing the doorbell then running away

Jumpin' down the steps

Jumpin' on the bed

Pillow fights

Sleep-overs

For once hearing "It's 10PM, Do you know where your children are?"

A 13" black and white TV in your room meant you were RICH

Runnin' till you were out of breath

Laughing so hard that your stomach hurt

Being tired from PLAYING

Candy cigarettes

Wax Coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside

Soda pop machines that dispensed glass bottles

Coffee shops with tableside jukeboxes

Drug stores with lunch counters and booths

Black Jack, Clove, and Beemans chewing gum

Home milk delivery in glass bottles with cardboard stoppers.

Each home had a small aluminum box on the porch to keep the milk cold.

Newsreels before the movie

P.F. Flyers

Telephone numbers with a word prefix...(Paisley 3-6209).

Party lines

Dial back codes

Peashooters

Howdy Doody

45 RPM records/78 RPM, too

Yellow plastic inserts to play your 45 on the 33 RPM

Green Stamps

Hi-Fi's

Metal ice cubes trays with levers

Freshly printed mimeograph paper

Beanie and Cecil

Roller-skate keys

Cork pop guns

Drive ins

Studebakers

Washtub wringers

The Fuller Brush Man

Reel-To-Reel tape recorders

Tinkertoys

Erector Sets

The Fort Apache Play Set

Lincoln Logs

15 cent McDonald hamburgers

5 cent packs of baseball cards - with that awful pink slab of bubble gum

Penny candy

35 cent a gallon gasoline

Jiffy Pop popcorn

Home made peach ice cream with hints of rocksalt

Hand held precision aiming of bottle rockets with a glass coke bottle

Black Cat firecrackers with fuses that burned 3 times faster than normal

Oh, I'm not finished yet...

Kool-Aid was the drink of the summer

So was a swig from the hose

Giving your friends a ride on your handlebars

Wearing your new shoes on the first day of school

When nearly everyone's Mom was at home when the kids got there

When a quarter seemed like a fair allowance;

and another quarter a MIRACLE

When ANY parent could discipline ANY kid, or feed him, or ask him to carry groceries... and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.

Didn't that feel good? Just to go back and say, "Yeah, I remember that!"

Well, let's keep going!!

Let's go back to the time when...

Catching fireflies could happily occupy an entire evening

It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends

Scrapes and bruises were kissed by Mom and made better

It was a big deal to finally be tall enough to ride the "big people" rides at the amusement park

Abilities were discovered because of a "double-dog-dare"

Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for giggles

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team

No one worried about "getting hurt" when you played Red Rover. Getting hurt was normal for a kid

Water balloons were the ultimate, ultimate weapon

Older siblings were your worst tormentors, but also your fiercest protector

Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"?

Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming, "Do Over!"?

"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was "cooties"?

Having a weapon in school meant being caught with a slingshot?

A foot of snow was a dream come true?

Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures?

"Oly-oly-oxen-free" made perfect sense?

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED!!!

War was a card game?

Baseball cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?

Taking drugs meant orange-flavored chewable aspirin?

AHHH...the good old days

Rewind 108 years!