Wow. Like seeing my life. Here are are some I didn’t see...
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Edited: i didn't catch the "classic" in the name of football game I first posted, a dead giveaway that it's not original. Here's the right one.
Mattel-Football (resized).jpg
Quoted from Onevox:Wow. Like seeing my life. Are are some I didn’t see...[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Whizzers were cool. We would also battle them in the bowl thing. For more fun we would put a Battling tops launch pull thingy around the spinning tip after revving it up to cause real damage. How did the Battling Tops commercial go? "Champ, what's your secret? It's in the wrist action".....
As for the Mattel electronic football. The originals did not have a sound switch, it was always on. I was able to remove the tamper resistant triangle-shaped head screws and added a switch to them so they could be played in school as they were getting CONfiscated. Easy way to make extra money. Minimum wage was $2.65 back then and I was charging $3.00. Also did the race car game as well.
Quoted from eagle18:How about the concert posters that were stapled to poles all around town to advertise concerts in the 70’s. The Armadillo had their own art squad for their posters. Most concerts were in the $5 range.
Yeah. I saw Led Zeppelin for less than $10 and Lynard Skynard for $3.
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Whizzers. Forgot all about them. Two shapes. And that skittle pool was unplayable because you could only shoot from the one area. We took off the skittle part and blocked it off and used dowels like cue sticks.
Quoted from Fulltilt:Yeah. I saw Led Zeppelin for less than $10 and Lynard Skynard for $3.
[quoted image]
That would be “Lynyrd Skynyrd”.
Quoted from embryonjohn:I agree. Some things totally sucked in the 70’s[quoted image]
Yeah back in the day when you bought a pizza from Papa Gino's and they offered two free tickets to Schaffer in Dec, yeah we suffered a few years
Quoted from jhanley:You were lucky to have a Schwinn bike. My parents would never pay that much for a bike. We were middle class but I never got name brand sneakers or pants. I remember real Levi's were about 8 bucks when I was 12. I remember buying my first name brand sneakers "Adidas " when I got my first job in 1975 when I was 16. Were your parents well off?
Ny parents were children of the depression so they were very frugal. My old man however knew how to work a deal. He had many periods of unemployment when I was young but somehow came home with a Zenith color TV with a shift command remote control. Big purchases were saved for special occasions. Later he want on to sell parts for the Space Shuttle. Then go on long fishing trips.
Quoted from FrankJ:That would be “Lynyrd Skynyrd”.
Not in 1973.
Rednecked but not that rednecked. (:
Quoted from o-din:Indeed. When I was 12 one of my distant cousins was visiting and he insisted we go see the Association. That was well before it made way for Space Mountain. I was always up for a trip to the land.
They had been promising Space Mountain for years. I even have a Disneyland poster map from the early 70s that shows future sight of spaceport with a picture of it..
When it finally opened in 1977 we were more than prepared when we got there.
The first time I went on Space Mountain it made me a little motion sick. The way I remember it was just a roller coaster in the dark.
Quoted from jhanley:The first time I went on Space Mountain it made me a little motion sick. The way I remember it was just a roller coaster in the dark.
The first time I went on it was one of those no ride ticket parties. We went on it first then the Matterhorn and then went back out to the picnic area by the front gate to pick up where we had left off before we entered the park. If you get my drift. 8-10 security guards converged on us and put us in that room and our night there was over.
So to say the least my first ride on Space Mountain was a little foggy.
Quoted from o-din:The first time I went on it was one of those no ride ticket parties. We went on it first then the Matterhorn and then went back out to the picnic area by the front gate to pick up where we had left off before we entered the park. If you get my drift. 8-10 security guards converged on us and put us in that room and our night there was over.
So to say the least my first ride on Space Mountain was a little foggy.
You've had a fun life. You're pretty lucky.
Odin must be the single most nostalgic person here. He’s authored at least half a dozen threads like this here.
Which makes his opposition to the “old man themes” that dominate pinball so puzzling.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Odin must be the single most nostalgic person here. He’s authored at least half a dozen threads like this here.
Which makes his opposition to the “old man themes” that dominate pinball so puzzling.
Ummm, none of us are spring chickens.
Isn't pinball for the over 50 crowd?
Quoted from rotordave:Michael Schenker.
rd
I bought most of my 8-Tracks and vinyl second hand as we had a record store down the street and people were trading them in like pinball machines.
When this 8-Track showed up I plugged it into one of the car stereos on the wall and clicked trough all 4 tracks and it was an instant buy.
Still one of my all time favorites.
I turned 13 in 1979, so a lot of my formative years in pinball and music were in the 1970s. A lot of my life now is a flashback to my interests then.
But that said, right now is the best time to be alive, in the entire history of this planet.
Not the least because I have seven pinball machines at home, against a grand total of zero during the 70s
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Odin must be the single most nostalgic person here. He’s authored at least half a dozen threads like this here.
Which makes his opposition to the “old man themes” that dominate pinball so puzzling.
Not really. Imagine you were growing up in the 70s and pinball themes were based on the 30s to 40s. I totally agree with him not that it will change anything.
Quoted from clg:Imagine you were growing up in the 70s and pinball themes were based on the 30s to 40s.
Or worse yet, the 17th century.
image-23 (resized).jpgQuoted from o-din:Still one of my all time favorites.
I’m a little younger, so my memories of Michael Schenker are a little different ...
(I still love Rainbow though ...). 
rd
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Odin must be the single most nostalgic person here. He’s authored at least half a dozen threads like this here.
Which makes his opposition to the “old man themes” that dominate pinball so puzzling.
Just adding to the history books while I still can.
Quoted from mooch:I had this Bowmar Brain in '75 or '76. This one was something like 50 or 100 bucks-- I don't remember.
I didn't like it because it made annoying clicking sounds when you pressed the buttons, which could be heard throughout a dead silent school room during an exam.
Plus it didn't do square roots.[quoted image]
Fished out the old Bowmar Brain. This is a very early model; maybe their first.
20190930_084239 (resized).jpg20190930_084226 (resized).jpgAround that time, calculators still did not have a square root key or exponentials.
However, slide rules still did that quickly to about 2 significant digits.
I had a leather carrying case for mine.
If you needed more accuracy to about 4 digits, you had to go the tables in the CRC book.
I don't use that much anymore since now my telephone has a calculator on it with a square root key on the large calculator app.
Let's call that technological advancements.
CRC book (resized).jpgSlide Rules (resized).jpgQuoted from clg:Not really. Imagine you were growing up in the 70s and pinball themes were based on the 30s to 40s. I totally agree with him not that it will change anything.
To expand on this, yep memories are free. But I can easily let material things go, and besides pictures, I have maybe one small box of knick knacks from my past along with some vinyl records I haven't listened to in years.
I've always looked forward to what's next and the latest culture, not buying stuff to relive my past, except one small period in the 90s where I hung some old posters up in my apartment as more of a novelty than anything else. I figure if you gotta live in the past, that means you aren't necessarily happy in the now.
Pinball is a little different, as I have some great games from the past, many I never played back then, so it isn't necessarily from my past. In fact the only game from the 1970s I do own is Stars. Never saw that one on location.
If you are going to be in this hobby, you gotta find what games are fun to play and good to look at for you.
My first skateboard was a steel-wheeled job that I had inherited from my older brother. Once I had shown that I could skate and that my interest wasn’t a passing fad, my dad bought me my first new-to-me skateboard. I couldn’t have been older than nine or ten. It was a bright orange Cal-240! It had a plastic deck and urethane wheels, and was sort of shaped like a modern longboard, but much smaller.
My brother would drive me over to Mount Trashmore (an old landfill that had been converted into a city park), and we would skate down the soap box derby track that ran down the hill. He taught me the trick was to weave from side to side down the track to keep your speed down.
So, one day my dad took me to the park. Wanting to show off for the old man, I immediately dropped in from the very top of the track, the steepest spot. Only I forgot to weave. There I was, barreling straight down down the hill, faster than I had ever gone before. The front wheels were chattering and bouncing off of the asphalt for all they were worth. I kept it together for maybe three quarters of the descent. Then I lost it. FACE PLANT! I ended up with horrible road rash on both forearms and my knees, as well as a scar under my chin that I have to this day.
So embarrassing, but I was back on that hill within a week. Yeah, the 70s were a lot of fun.
Soap_Box_Derby (resized).png
This seemed a lot steeper than it looks in this photo.
Mount_Trashmore (resized).png
If you were watching Saturday morning cartoons in the 70s you probably saw a government anti-littering PSA that featured Mount Trashmore. It was in the same series as the one that showed the native American with the tear running down his cheek.
The crying Indian was the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign. Read on Iron Eyes Cody. Not a real native.
Quoted from RWH:1970 calling O-din, pick up![quoted image]
I saw this youtube video with some kids and a rotary phone.
People always say to "dial" the phone number, but we really don't have to dial anymore.
We just touch pressure sensitive keys on a touch screen and push enter.
I got a kick out of the video...
A page back there was a sneaker and bike discussion. My dad would never buy name brand. I remember kids singing "If your sneakers slip and slide, take them back to Pantry Pride".
In the beginning of the decade they completed the towers (picture below of me, my brother and mom as they were getting close to completion). But by the end of the decade my dad surprised us and gave us the life changing x-mas gift of the Atari 2600. I still have mine (Sear's version) and the box.
towwers (resized).jpgQuoted from zombywoof:My brother would drive me over to Mount Trashmore (an old landfall that had been converted into a city park), and we would skate down the soap box derby track that ran down the hill. He taught me the trick was to weave from side to side down the track to keep your speed down.
We have a couple large hilly streets where they used to close them off and run soapbox derbies. Like you I took a similar skateboard down one of them full speed ahead until I hit a twig or a rock and ate shit.
If anything from the past I long for, it's those kinda places where kids or even adults could be active outside. But most have disappeared or been shut down because somebody might get hurt. Even the places that were harmless seem to have given way to more indoor non activities.
Concrete wave (resized).jpglarge (resized).jpg
Unknown (resized).jpgIMG_1474 (resized).jpg
Quoted from Taxman:The crying Indian was the "Keep America Beautiful" campaign. Read on Iron Eyes Cody. Not a real native.
Pretty sure everybody in the world knows this at this point.
Except Cody himself. Dude is in full denial.
Quoted from Dent00:I saw this youtube video with some kids and a rotary phone.
Actually my grandson and his buddy figured out how to use mine in short order. They were the most curious about the "operator" and why it was printed on the zero. I told them that's because back in the day and operator ran the whole show and were needed him/her to do certain things, calling long distance, making an emergency call, or calling collect if you were in a booth with no money.
Quoted from RWH:Actually my grandson and his buddy figured out how to use mine in short order. They were the most curious about the "operator" and why it was printed on the zero. I told them that's because back in the day and operator ran the whole show and were needed him/her to do certain things, calling long distance, making an emergency call, or calling collect if you were in a booth with no money.
This whole conversation makes me want to try to call BR549.
I doubt that works anymore...
I always tell people I don't know that my phone number is 867-5309 and see if they write that down.
It is like a test...
Quoted from o-din:But most have disappeared or been shut down because somebody might get hurt.
That's the way of it. Within a couple of years the city had installed a series of metal gates to keep skaters off of the track. On a positive note, they did install a nice new concrete bowl very similar to the skate park in your photo.
Quoted from zombywoof:That's the way of it. Within a couple of years the city had installed a series of metal gates to keep skaters off of the track. On a positive note, they did install a nice new concrete bowl very similar to the skate park in your photo.
Yep. All those places pictured were a short drive from here. The skatepark is the old Concrete Wave that used to be next to Disneyland. They also had some of the first waterslides in the area. A lot if it has to do with increased real estate values and running out of buildable land, one of the reasons there are no more drive in theaters.
Escape Country was that motocross park open to the public young and old. It was located in the hills of Trabuco Canyon, and is now high dollar housing.
There are still a couple skate parks though. The old ones are all long gone.
Quoted from Dent00:This whole conversation makes me want to try to call BR549.
I doubt that works anymore...
blockquote>
Just in case anyone forgot what BR549 was...
Quoted from dontfeed:Z-Brick and wood paneling everywhere.
Uh! Z-Brick! I have a wall in both my living room and kitchen with that shit! Worst part is, if you try to remove it, it takes part of the wall board with it!
I had to fight with it just to remove a small section to put a T.V. wall mount up.
My den still has the original ash wood paneling from 1959 and it adds a warm glow to the room so I'm not ever taking it out. Won't be buying any deep shag carpeting any time soon though. Or any carpet for that matter.
I can see a kitchen remodel in the future sometime as termites have gotten the better of the cabinets around the sink. Avocado green is still a great option
Quoted from o-din:My den still has the original ash wood paneling from 1959 and it adds a warm glow to the room so I'm not ever taking it out. Won't be buying any deep shag carpeting any time soon though. Or any carpet for that matter.
I can see a kitchen remodel in the future sometime as termites have gotten the better of the cabinets around the sink. Avocado green is still a great option
There's nothing more fun than finding out the different color your rooms (or even exterior) of your has had been painted.
I stripped a former Ironing board cabinet door in my kitchen a few years back. At one time my kitchen was also avocado green. before that pink 
and what I like to call "Cal-trans Orange" prior to that.
Quoted from o-din:We have a couple large hilly streets where they used to close them off and run soapbox derbies. Like you I took a similar skateboard down one of them full speed ahead until I hit a twig or a rock and ate shit.
If anything from the past I long for, it's those kinda places where kids or even adults could be active outside. But most have disappeared or been shut down because somebody might get hurt. Even the places that were harmless seem to have given way to more indoor non activities.
[quoted image][quoted image]
[quoted image][quoted image]
[quoted image]
Used to go to that drive-in on Beach Blvd. Sometimes there was even a little movie-watching.
Quoted from Ericpinballfan:Ummm, none of us are spring chickens.
Isn't pinball for the over 50 crowd?
"Ouch!" ... and yes.
Quoted from Atari_Daze:LATE 70s, but still the 70s.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Star...Wars...?
Never heard of it. Less obscure 70s references please.
Quoted from Atari_Daze:LATE 70s, but still the 70s.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
Remember back in the '70s when toys were a lot more dangerous?Lawn Darts (resized).jpg
Quoted from Dent00:This whole conversation makes me want to try to call BR549.
I doubt that works anymore...
I always tell people I don't know that my phone number is 867-5309 and see if they write that down.
It is like a test...
That only
Works if your name is jenny.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:That only
Works if your name is jenny.
Or Johnny...
That phone number was so popular that there was actually a lawsuit in St. Louis, I think, where 2 plumbers named Johnny both laid claim to that phone number.
Not sure which one got the number...
Quoted from Dent00:Or Johnny...
That phone number was so popular that there was actually a lawsuit in St. Louis, I think, where 2 plumbers named Johnny both laid claim to that phone number.
Not sure which one got the number...
867-5309 (in case you forgot)
Quoted from Dent00:867-5309
I hate to nit-pick here mkay...
But that's 1981.
The greatness of 1981 deserves its own thread...
-mof
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Paradise, NV
Canberra
