Growing Up in America in the '70s - European Reacts
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- Опубліковано 8 вер 2024
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My name is André, and as a European (Portuguese), I always strive to bring a unique perspective to the topics I tackle. All my reaction videos are crafted with a playful and entertaining twist!At least I try... 🌍
✔️ Growing Up in America in the '70s - European Reacts - Reaction For the First Time
I was born in 67. 🤷♀️
I had or remember all of those things. Yes koolaid is still around.
me too
'68 Here.
Same thing!
Me too and nothing beats burning your ass going down that middle sliding board.😂 Can’t count how many times we flew off the park equipment or fell out of trees, but after a while, we were like monkeys. I live in Southwest Virginia and we have a lot of climbing around here and the movie hacksaw Ridge was about a man born 40 minutes from where I live and a lot of people around here are a part mountain goat and it’s because they go hiking and climbing a lot.
Well we're getting old aren't we I was born in 66
I grew up in the 70s and 80s and it was great😊
No seat belts, no internet, growing up half wild without much parental supervision during the summer. It was a different world.
My first car back in the mid 70s was a 1956 Chevy 210 sedan. I installed the front seat belts myself, as prior owners hadn't bothered with them. (Seat belts were only an option on the 1957 model I got the parts from, scavenged from a local junk yard.)
"Kids, go play in the woods. Just be home for dinner." That was Mom to the five of us.
It was a better world in many ways.
@@JohnOlsen-dt9ek I don't use them now
A pen pal was usually someone who lived in another country that you hadn't met before. It was a way to learn about other cultures and make a new friend that you wouldn't have interacted with under normal circumstances.
I live in Texas but had a Greek pen pal in the 60's.
In high school we were given a class project to write to American soldiers overseas and became penpals. I think nowadays it wouldn’t happen as it was inviting men to communicate with teen girls (and them having their home address) but I know I wrote to my soldier for about a year and a half (until his time of service was over)
I used to have pen pals from 5 or 6 cou ties. It was fun. Sometimes we exchanged small gifts from our home country. I recall one pen pal from Ethiopia who wanted to ship me a baboon. I was shocked, but also, I was aware that this was illegal. 😮
I was fortunate to be able to speak three languages , so I had pen pals from France and Italy. I also had a pen pal from Singapore. I learned so much. Our school had a program where our teachers would give us a name, address and a brief description of the person we would be corresponding to that year.
Also other states.
My best friend lives in NY and she and I first met on the internet in 1999 and we have sent each other letters ever since (I live on the west coast). I write my friends in Seattle, San Francisco, relatives in Iowa, etc. I love buying cards and stationary and I write my aunt every week. All of us live in the USA.
I grew up in the 70’s and the 80’s. It was wild. In the summer parents wouldn’t see for most of the day. You would leave the house in the morning and come home at dark. If you were thirsty you had the hose.
All the kids on my street played street hockey, with a tennis ball instead of a puck, because that's what we had. After a few years, most of us had made 2 trips to the hospital for stitches when we caught a hockey stick to the face while trying to block a slapshot. Good times, though. 😀
I drank more water from that hose than I did from the inside tap.😂
Grab your bike in the morning and come back for dinner
As long as you were home before the street lights came on.
Same was true in the 50’s and 60’s. I was born in 1947. All this was relatively common.
Born in 1951, and we played outside all day long. Our mom would holler out the back door when it was time for dinner, we'd hurry up and eat, and go back outside until dark. We had BB guns, we played sports, and we rode our bikes all over our fairly small town. We'd walk about a mile out to a swampy area and catch frogs and shoot at birds. I don't recall ever being bored. We did stupid stuff, we did potentially dangerous stuff, but we survived and turned out OK. I'm glad we grew up without all the technology.
My mom had a bell that she would use when it got dark.
User agree growing up without all that tech made us better people for sure
It was pretty magical. We learned to solve our problems, get along (mostly) and protect one another.
I wouldn't want to be a kid today. Everything is scheduled, you have to be careful on the internet.
Can you imagine playdates back then? I still have a hard time believing that's really a thing.
American kids were adventurous and learned self-reliance. We were actually prepared for adulthood when we got there. 😊
@@sherryford667 today's kids are softer than medicated cotton
I was a parent then, and my children were taught to write thank you notes for gifts.
@@BB-nr3sm Absolutely
I am 54, born in 1970. This video is completely accurate. I also had the exact same snoopy lunch box as in the picture. Best time to be alive in America was 1970’s-2000. 🇺🇸
We couldn't wait to move out of our parent's house and be on our own...very unlike today.
I learned to drive in the 70s. Our family car was a Ford Country Squire Station Wagon. It was about 18 to 20 feet long and wide enough you could lie down on yhe back seat, if your siblings climbed into the back. You could load all your luggage in the back and still have room for a kid to lie down. There was a rear facing seat so you saw lots of kids staring directly at you when you were driving behind one. They were mammoth and having learned to drive in one makes driving modern cars so easy. To this day, I have no problem parallel parking my Honda CRV.
As a teenager, my father asked my mother if she wanted him to buy her an electric dishwasher. She told him she had no need for one. She already had three, my two sisters and myself. The neighborhood kids would play tag, hide and seek, Red Rover and Mother May I? until the street lights came on then we had 10 minutes to get home. I am so glad I grew up in the late 60s- early 70s. I wouldn't trade my childhood for anything.
I took driver's ed the summer of 1972. Our road cars were Chevrolet Kingswood Estate station wagons. Our instructors were the high school coaches.
heh
Ours was the Buick, '73, appropriately Named the 'Land Battleship!'
So many 'Drive In' movies enjoyed out the back of that behemoth!
God I remember those huge station wagons. A friend's family had the Ford Country Squire with the fake wood paneling on the sides. Locally in San Diego we called that class of vehicle "Tuna Boats", as they reminded us of the slow wide fleet boats anchored down in the bay and had a similar turning radius.
I nearly lost my life to one of the station wagons. My buddy and I were driving down a narrow 2-lane tree lined country highway (speed limit 50 mph) in his very small Fiat following one of those Tuna Boats. We were approaching a T intersection. Suddenly the woman driver ahead of us braked heavily and turned right, completely blocking our lane.
We had about 3 secs to act before becoming bug spatter on the side of that heavy car. Everything seemed to go into slow motion. If we braked we died. Swerve right? We kill a kid with a bicycle standing on the right shoulder. Hitting the trees would kill us. So my buddy dropped a gear and the Fiat swerved left into the oncoming lane, clearing the ass end of the station wagon by mere inches... only to put us directly into the path of an oncoming pickup truck. At that moment i thought "Oh, I'm dead." But somehow he managed to steer the Fiat back into our lane just before the truck roared by. For the next mile or two there was absolute silence in the Fiat, then my friend said "Do you know how close...?" "Yes," I replied.
@@JohnOlsen-dt9ek I'm guessing you kept that harrowing story from the parents until much, much later. 😂🤣🫢
@@sherryford667 It became on of my buddy's favorite tales, our little brush with death. He was very skilled and used to drive the hell out of that tiny car, but he often drove far to fast for the road conditions. I once yelled at him "I know you don't care if you live or die, but *I* DO! SLOW DOWN!"
Can't recall ever telling the folks about most of my near-death experiences--didn't see the point of worrying them. Almost all were the result of bad luck, not bad choices or bad company.
It's a problem now for the kids today. Skinning our knees and bruises were, and should now be, a norm. If we did something dumb and got hurt, we learned a lesson and went on to learn something less dumb. We were a stronger people.
Evel Knievel happened. Look him up he was a Stuntman! Coolest guy ever! He was the Hero for kids in the 70’s
In second grade, my philosopher friend pointedout how Obi Kenobi was similar-sounding to Evil Knievel and I still miss her 😅
@@JenSell1626You had a philosopher friend in 2nd grade?
Did you go to a 70's alternative school like I did?😂
Hence the jumping of Everything!:)
I had the EK lunch box. I wish I still had it.
My bro had an EK bicycle & action doll on a bike you wound up & it took off.
Yes, I grew up in the late 60s and 70’s. We wrote letters, thank you letter when you received a gift. We actually sat down for family dinners. and talk to each-other. There were lots of social problems and changes but people seemed kinder to each other.
Agree!
I wouldn't change my childhood for anything, we were never at home and we had so much fun! Every day we'd get home from school, change our clothes, grab our bike and we were off until the streetlights came on. No cell phone so no checking up on us constantly and no computers so we were all very physical. I don't remember not one overweight child in my elementary school and I think drinking from the hose and eating unrefrigerated lunches packed at home boosted our immune systems. We didn't have any of the ailments that occur nowadays. My childhood was fantastic!!!
I don't remember any fat kids either. How sad what they have done to kids today.
Born in 1971. The things in this video are on track pretty much. While I was watching I did recall memories of my Dad pulling the car up on the front yard on a hot sunny summer afternoon. Mom getting out a couple buckets of soapy water and some big sponges, and us kids getting the hose to embark on washing the car. The car did get washed but mostly it just ended up being a water/suds battle. He mentioned the hose running warm but ours ran pretty cold - okay very cold - so evading someone spraying you with it many times became a big part of the that battle. We had a blast.
I am so grateful to have grown up when I did. Life was more reasonable back then. We noticed the little things but let them go without drama. And were more down to earth for the most part on dealing with the bigger things. Nowadays every little thing is analyzed ad nauseam. Many people are not reasonable enough to recognize that these little things are not the end of the world in the long run and not worth the spectacle they make of them. As for the bigger things it seems many people don't understand how social interaction works outside of social media. Probably because they hadn't had much social interaction outside social media I suppose. A lot of them don't even know how to hold a rational reasonable conversation without it failing miserably. Social media has definitely had an impact on the most recent generations and not in a good way for the most part.
You are not a boomer.
All this was true Everyday living g!
We had respect fir others and NO STEALING!!!
Yes interacting on internet is not real life
Born in 59. The video is spot on.
Yea, cars were bigger in the past. The oil embargo killed the giants off
That's a topic he should watch a video about. My parents made my sister and I sit in the car waiting to get gas in the '70's so we could experience it and understand it better, I was about 6. But I still remember it.
Til SUVs arrived anyway.
@@user-qz4xq7kk8m You could fit more people in an old car than you can in an SUV.
I remember all of it. Was just talking to my sister about how we feel sorry for kids raised in the 90's. I have so many stories
Growing up in the 90s was not bad if you had the right parents. My kids played outside all day long, went sledding at the neighbors house, were rarely on a computer or video games. They rode their bikes around the neighborhood and loved riding their bikes to the piles of leaves in the fall. Many Parents have gotten lazy and put kids in front of a TV screen to keep them quiet.
Growing up in the 90s was not bad if you had the right parents. My kids played outside all day long, went sledding at the neighbors house, were rarely on a computer or video games. They rode their bikes around the neighborhood and loved riding their bikes to the piles of leaves in the fall. Many Parents have gotten lazy and put kids in front of a TV screen to keep them quiet.
Farrell’s huge tower of ice cream. Mmmmmm
70's kid here and I remember every one of those things. Thanks for the memory lane.
I remember people saying "I disagree with what you say, but will defend, to the death, your right to say it."
I've also noticed about half of us have quit saying it.
Born in 1966. Yep. Rotory phones... the one in the kitchen had a spiral wire that would stretch 20 feet. Muscle cars, 5 hole mag wheels. Left the house in the morning, came home before dark at 8 years old. Even rode 15 miles on my bike along side of the road to see my cousin. Jumped 6 neighbor kids on my bike. Lawn jarts. All of that.
Same here , but I don't think the cord to to the hand set was made to really stretch to 20 ' but some how many people "made" it happen , get away from family members (siblings) wanting to eaze drop 😂 this vid so spot on, for sure
I jumped 9 metal garbage cans on my bike once. Unfortunately there were 10 laid out but we've all seen something like that before lol.
My parents still have a rotary phone and it still works.
Yup, this was my upbringing. I was born in 1966, so the 1970s were my childhood.
Pen pals were kids your own age from far away -- either from the other side of the country or even sometimes from foreign lands -- whom you'd never actually met but knew only by writing letters to each other. There were organizations that would match you up with a "pen pal." Sometimes you were invited to list your interests, so they'd try to match you up with a kid who liked the same things you did, but other services just matched you up by age and gender. It was considered a kind of cultural exchange, educational and wholesome, so many parents signed their children up for pen pals.
I had a couple of pen pals as a child, but I never really hit it off with any of them. I had friends, though, who had better luck and actually eventually traveled to meet their pen pals in person.
American cars were very big in the '70s until the 1979 energy crisis, after which we moved to smaller cars for a few decades, before those monster SUVs and things like that came in at the turn of the century.
My parents never allowed us to eat any of those notoriously unhealthy '70s foods. I was always massively jealous of the kids who were actually permitted to eat stuff like that. One thing this video didn't cover was how health food, fad diets, eating disorders, and weird orthorexic obsessions were *also* phenomena that first became big in the US in the '70s -- it was the decade that coined the term "junk food," after all -- and alas, my parents fell into that contingent, rather than the "let your kids eat Captain Crunch for breakfast" school of '70s parenting.
I graduated High School in 1978, so yes, I "grew up" in the in the mid to late 60's and the 1970's.
A "pen pal" was somebody that you had met, or otherwise come in contact with,
and you wrote to them periodically, exchanging information about your shared interests,
or just discussing what was going on in your respective lives.
Using the phone was very expensive, especially when calling "Long distance" which usually meant
outside of something like a 20 mile radius.
Long distance rates were cheaper in the evening, so you would what until the rates went down before calling.
True Dat! I was a glorious day when Ma Bell was broken up. No more renting your phone, cheaper rates.
Summertime? We couldn't go outside until 9am. Dinner is at 5:30, Dad insisted you eat with Him. Dinner gets cleaned up... You better be home when the street lights come on. Free Range childhood 😉👍
About the 'hose'. In our house, you did NOT leave it "strung all over the yard." It was rolled up by the faucet. There was no "hard earned money" to replace sun rotted hoses. When you were finished using something, it was put away. It represented pride in the family home and name.
I was born in 1956. Graduated high school in 74. All the things you saw were true and many preceded the 70s. Miss those days. Thanks for sharing my friend. Love to you!
My grandparents had a Cadillac in the 70's that was massive. My grandfather referred to it as a battleship.
hahaha, we called our station wagon the yellow whale.
Land Yacht was the term where I grew up. There was also another term I remember hearing especially for big Cadillacs and Lincolns but its not appropriate to say today.
HEH, my aunt had a big Buick or something similar. She could barley see over the steering wheel. I always thought is was like riding in a boat, rocking from one side to the other.
@@filanfyretracker Shaggin' Wagon? lol.
We had "The Barge" (71 Chrysler Town and Country). It could seat 8 including the rear facing third seat.
Hi Andre, Was born in 1961. My growing up as a kid in the 60s was so fun played with friends all day and Saturday morning cartoons. Then as a teen in the 70s and for most of us was sports and listening to the music of that time. It was awesome and loved it so much. Thanks for the reaction!
AM radio.
@@tomdowling638 For me, that meant crop reports, pig belly futures, Paul Harvey and country music, lol.
I was born in 1960 The 70's was the best time of my life. 👍
I released a helium balloon with the school info (school project) in 3rd grade asking to write a lette back to me, if they found it. Someone replied to me from 3 states away!
Girl of 1971 and that makes me generation X which is known as the generation of being neglected and drinking hose water! But there is a sand that is absolutely true that we are the generation that does not care and the F around and find out and we we’re unbreakable
Drive-in theaters were still popular. We had chemistry sets and electric sets and could even build our own radio.
Thank god there were no cell phones. A great improvement to the home phone was the answering machine for screening calls.
Chemistry sets with radium.
Burned finger tips with the word burning kit.
Rock fights.
Dirt bikes.
Drive-in theaters are nearly extinct, but we still have one going strong in our area. They run swap meets and other events during daytime hours to supplement their box office income.
Yep, born in 1964. Had a Pen Pal. Played outside all day.
I had a pen pal in France from 1978-1986! I was in 4th grade when it started and had to take her letters to a teacher who understood French. I always wonder what happened to her when we stopped writing when we were both 18 years old and moving on to USA college.
I'm a 1970 baby. Loved your video. Brought back many memories. I got lawn darts for my birthday one year and my sister tossed one and it went into the top of my bare foot. We pulled it out and rubbed mud on it to stop the bleeding. We never told mom. I still have the scar. Our parents never knew where we were. Mom didn't worry about us. We somehow managed to find our way home. I used to climb trees to the top and when my weight was to much for the thin top the tree would bend over and I would ride it to the ground. One time my sister and I both were on the same tree and she jumped when we came close to the ground and it slung me like a catapult. I remember that hurting but we never told mom and dad. Dad taught me to drive when I was about 8. That way I could drive the hay truck as they loaded it. It was a fun time. We raised ourselves and grew tough and nobody could hurt our feelings. We just socked you in the nose (even though I was a skinny girl) and got over it.
I grew up in the 70s. It was such an amazing time, and there was such a thing as community. I remember times when all the adults in the neighborhood would get together in the evening, in someone's open garage just to catch. Meanwhile, all us kids would get together and play "Hide and Go Seek" outside in the dark.
I was born in 1966 and growing up in the '70s was absolutely phenomenal!!! Our parents didn't feel the need to bubble wrap us kiddos, we respected authority, trusted our neighbors, played outdoors, played games as a family, drank from garden hoses, played with lawn darts, shot BB guns, jumped on trampolines with no padding on the metal parts, skateboarded down steep hills on a skateboard with metal wheels, and popped wheelies on bikes going downhill with no helmet or padded ANYTHING.
We also ate together at mealtimes, sitting around the table and talking about what we did that day. We obeyed our parents and teachers. We went on family summer vacations and enjoyed separate activities, then came together to share the exciting things we did. And if we performed poorly in a school subject, mom took workbooks for the one who stunk at math during the school year. Yeah ... that was usually me. But I was still able to enjoy play time with my brothers, sister, and new friends.
I wouldn't trade growing up in the '70s for anything.
At 10:29, the kid on his bike jumping over a bunch of other kids lying down. Notice the adult man sitting on the steps, just watching it all happen. LOL
BTW, I was born in 1954. Times were VERY different in the 50s and 60s.
@@RayWhiting I was born in 1955. I remember all these things, except lawn darts. No one in my neighborhood had them. Our parents knew better. 😅😅
Yup, I was born in 1954 and yes, we did ride our bikes over ramps, but I can't think other kids would be stupid enough to lie down in front of us. But on the other hand, there were always some stupid kids around, so maybe yeah it's true. In winter we would ride our bikes on the ice of a frozen over swamp.
@@coxmosia1we had bb guns and cap guns. My brothers had pocket knives to play with. We rode horses and bikes, swam in the creek with no adults around. My brothers started after school jobs in the 10th grade. They saved every cent to by a junker car to get around!!! Those cars they had back then are now considered muscle cars!!!
This was a great video. I was born in 1957 and did all these things. I even baked cakes in my Easy Bake Oven for my neighbor friends. I managed to live through it.
I love watching your reactions! I was born in 1954, so I grew up in the 60s and 70s. I remember almost everything that the video mentions: lawn darts, candy cigarettes, silly putty, big cars, Kool-Aid, TV dinners, playing outdoors all day long, and candy necklaces. I even had a pen-pal in Japan. I never met her, but we traded letters back and forth. I think the cultural differences between 1970s America and the present are far greater than the cultural differences between present-day Portugal and present-day America! Thanks for your videos!
Kids were smart enough not to get hurt,...mostly. My Daddy used to say if we fall, try not to hit our head!!! Lol
Lots of happenings in the 70's. Bell Bottom Pants, those banana seat bikes were a hot item. Grandchildren were playing with Viewmasters last night. They love them. Soul Music was great too. Notice those wide white belts they are wearing also. Skating rinks were really popular. City swimming pools too. No one had their own pool. Most Dad's were home by 5 and you had Dinner together. It was a great time. Concerts also became a thing in the 70's. I had several 'muscle cars'. We didn't call them that though. "Dude, nice ride"
I had a wide white belt and all my collared shirts had HUGE pointy collars!!
Roller rinks were very big back then. It gave kids and teenagers a place to hang out and socialize, meet new friends. Many teenage couples started out with asking someone to join you for a "Couples Skate". They played a lot of good pop music; Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" was a particular favorite in my local rink.
@@JohnOlsen-dt9ek I can't believe I forgot it. It was one my every weekend passtimes. Bring your own 45 for the old guy behind the glass to play.
Born in 1968. No cell phones. I remember not having a microwave. Mom made us toast with cheese slices or hot dog with cheese in the oven for a snack. Loved playing outside in the water sprinkler with friends. Played on "dangerous" metal slides & other playground equipment; got lots of scrapes from it. I had a pen pal from Oklahoma. I'm in Tennessee. I think this Pen Pal advertisement would be in a kids' magazine and they would assign you somebody. My parents BOTH loved Elvis Presley. My mom graduated from high school in 1957. Elvis first record was 1956. So they were huge fans. Mom had speakers wired all over my house so they could share their Elvis music all across the house. I even remember when 8-track tapes were new. Goodness! We had a wood burning kit, an Easybake oven & clackers. But my favorite memories were playing outside with friends..... so many memories. Kids today are missing out on that here. I remember the first video game.... Pong. My parents got us one and we thought it was so cool to play "tennis" on Pong. We did a lot of dangerous things. I made a place at the top of a very tall pine tree to "hang out." I'd hoist a bucket with water up to wipe the tree sap off. Then one morning, went outside to find my tree had fallen down. Crazy! I had a mood ring and a pet rock (still have its box). I loved being the generation that remembers life before high tech but got to experience it's beginning. What a time to live.
I was born in 1965 (1st year of Generation X). This video is absolutely correct! It was so nostalgic watching it! The '70s and '80s were the best!
I did all of these things and more. We took risks and learned from it. Played tag in the trees. Went on the metal hot slide. My schools in the fifties , sixties did not have AC. Kids today are soft and if you take away their cell phone, they go crazy. Parents are to lazy to be parents. Love your videos'
Born 1952, so I'm one of your older viewers. I enjoy your curiosity and sense of humor.
Hey! You ain't old enough to be my little brother! I was reading the newspaper in 1952!
Yep, I grew up in the 60's and 70's and we did such treacherous things like:
- Riding on the lowered tailgate of a pickup truck
- Walked down highways without sidewalks
- Rode in cars before there were even such things as seatbelts
- Ventured out into dark woods for a nighttime adventure
- Shot BB guns and fireworks at each other
- Stood up in the back of pickup trucks at highway speeds
- Hitch-hiked from town to town
- Jumped our bicycles over cement rain culverts, ditches, and large patches of cactus
However, the ultimate "Coup de Grace" was ..... We actually drank water from the GARDEN HOSE!
All of the above! I remember having roman candle firefights. One of the rounds came out the back in into my palm. That was fun? lol. We also made tennis ball cannons out of tin cans and electrical tape. I used lighter fluid, and fund out at night time, you could soak the tennis ball in lighter fluid, shoot it up in the air. You wouldn't see it until it's apex. then it would burst into flames as it came back down.
I was born in 1970. It was a different world for sure. There was no internet as it is known today. Pay phones could be found, here and there, if you had to call home when you were away. Changing the TV channel meant you got up and walked over to the TV and turned the dial. There was no remote control. As a kid, my brother and I rode our bicycles everywhere. There was no adult supervision, just the buddy system. We could be miles away from home by ourselves. We took lots of day trips to the beach in the late 70's, and Fleetwood Mac absolutely RULED the airwaves (deservedly so). Cars in the 70's probably didn't get more than 11 miles per gallon (I think that's like 6 kilometers/liter). HORRIBLE fuel efficiency. But all in all, it was a really good time to be a kid.
Those viewmasters were these pictures in a round cardboard holder. You put it in the viewmaster and you saw a 3D image.
We had the standard handheld one, plus we had the projector. The projector could play a couple of Mickey Mouse reels we had that talked.
I'm 65, so I remember most of this stuff. I turned 20 in 1979, so I was a teenager in the 70s.
Pen Pals were people you knew only by writing them. You didn't "know" them in person. Most schools had a Pen Pal program, usually with the names and addresses of kids from other countries. My Pen Pal was a kid named Mauro from Puebla in Mexico. He was trying to learn English and I was trying to learn Spanish. He made a lot more progress than me. We stayed in touch for about a year.
I have memories of all those toys. Viewmasters showed slides of natural wonders or cartoons, that were slightly out of alignment. When you put them in the viewer, you saw a three-dimensional image. My sisters had an Easy-Bake Oven, but after using it two or three times, they lost interest. I had a Lionel train set, and when I got a little older I got a chemistry set. Talking about the smells of the 1970s, THAT made some awful smells!
One of the things I've noticed about Recollection Road videos is that they mainly focus on the suburbs. Since I grew up in inner-city Manhattan, we played on the street. We played stoop ball or stick ball, and when we got older the game of choice was street hockey, played on roller skates. We'd block off the street with trash cans to keep unwanted cars out. We didn't play on bikes. They were stolen too easily. In NYC most people didn't have cars. It was too hard to find a place to park (not to mention obnoxious kids like me who blocked off streets with trash cans), and the traffic was terrible! It was much quicker to take the subway!
Air conditioners were very expensive, so most people didn't have them. I didn't have an air conditioner until the 1990s, when I was in my 30s.
I was born in upstate NY in 1963. We were out all day, came home for dinner, then back out until the street light came on or our mother yelled our names. We rode our bikes, built forts, played "kick the can" or kickball, hide n seek where you could hide anywhere on the entire block. Sometimes the girls would play with their baby dolls, or Barbie dolls, or play house or school. We also had a beach a half mile down the road, on the Hudson River, and my mother would pack a lunch for me and my younger sister and send us to the beach to swim telling us to sit by the lifeguard on the way out. Lol. On the way to the beach, there was a swamp on either side of the road and we'd play there with our friends a lot. We didn't go into the water, but we certainly could have fallen in. We saw a river otter there once and thought it was a seal. Never a dull moment.
Born 1970 and the 80s is the best decade for music. This was the life, lol. Sadly it's too dangerous depending where you live these days to have kids playing outside.
A Pen pal was generally a stranger that you would write to. I had a pen pal in Europe for a few years when I was a teen.
Yes, "family" cars today are smaller than back then. A station wagon was really the SUV of it's time because it was a BOAT and cars then were made of steel not fiberglass so you would barely get a dent if you were in an accident, lol.
Street lights came on that was your cue to be ON YOUR WAY and your parents knew exactly how long it should take you to get home at that point.
YES, the kid jumping his bike over the others is VERY REAL.
Yes, a/c was a thing in the 70s. Not everyone had central air though because that was a feature of newer built homes. Window a/c units were the thing if you could afford it.
Cheez Whiz is still a thing.
Still have our Viewmaster,which is a bunch of camera film pictures on a reel that would slide inside and you would hold it up to a light source and click through it like a projector.
Toys I played with: "Clacker" balls, EZ-Bake Ovens, the "shrinky-dink", a wood burning set, lawn darts, pretty much the whole list - and a few others that had similar possibilities for injury.
We would play chicken with lawn darts
What about “dodge ball” and “red rover”? That video missed some really risky pastimes!
I grew up in the 70s and I remember all of that stuff! Good days my friend!!
I'm 56 and yes, you are a genuine man, not nasty, and you are appreciative. We enjoy your commentary and we are waiting for that day when you say, "I'm coming to America for vacation!"
Agree!
Pen Pal is someone far away usually someone you've never met in persona and you write letters back and forth. Lots of youth clubs and schools would set them up. By the 80's it was the big thing to get pen palls on other continents.
Born 78. Everything in the video is accurate. Cars were about 25% bigger. The B52's song Love Shack has the line "got me a car as big as a whale it's about to set sail!" that was a thing. Look up the old 70's chrystlers.
Pen pal is someone you wrote letters to back and forth. 😂
I had an easy bake oven. Kids learned fast not to burn themselves. It heated with a light bulb.
All these pic of the 70s and 60s look exactly like my life. We had so much freedom growing up. Mom shoved us outside after breakfast, we came in for lunch, then back out until the 6o'clock whistle blew and we came in for dinner. The toys were wonderful! And TV was fun! We got dirty, rode bikes without helmets, and all the neighborhood Moms yelled at everyone when you screwed up. We knew every family in the neighborhood. It was a grand time to be a kid.
This covers more of the late 1960’s or early 1970’s. That was also the decade of several gas shortages. Hitchhiking was still popular for most of the 1970’s.
yep, my parents would always pick up the military hitch -hikers.
Yes, I had a teenage uncle who hitchhiked from Central Florida to the Chicagoland area. A lot of truckers picked him up just for someone to talk to.
I am a bonafide teenager of the 1970s.I turned 13 in 1970 and experienced it all,lol.The best music,concerts,bell bottoms,dances you name it.Cars were huge,lol.
I turned 13 in 1970 also. By 1973 I was taking the train into Manhattan and exploring. Manhattan in the '70s was magical for a teenager.
@@malcolmschenot6352 I had a girl that knew and dated in Garden City,Long Island in 1975 that I had met in College.I remember hauling a keg of beer to the roof of her 7 story apartment building and having a roof top party. So much fun.
@@franksullivan1873 Long Island was also fun in the '70s. As long as you didn't run into the police. Nassau County police were tough but Suffolk County police were hard.
@@malcolmschenot6352 That was everywhere.Don’t mess with the Police,lol. I grew up in Virginia but dated this girl from up there.I made many trips up there to see her.She was a nice Catholic girl and I was just not the one for settling down in those days.I still wonder how she got on in this crazy world.
I had a Barbie lunch box. All the adults smoked, on airplanes, in the hospital or at the grocery store. Lots of memories.
I was 16 in 1970. I had already gone to Woodstock in 1969 and watched the first moon landing. I was a young adult throughout the 1970s. I worked in a disco and had my own apartment in the city of Philadelphia. My first car was a Datsun
It was small, 5 speed and great on gas milage. I spent a lot of time in Manhattan. It was only a 90 minute train ride from Philly. I had a great time.
I was in grade 9 (13-14 year olds) in 1970.
These toys were all around when I was younger.
Family couldn't afford toys.
The ways we played, no adults around, weren't safer. Just that no adults found out, because we kept quiet. Took care of our own minor injuries.
I do remember my friends getting into huge trouble when their Dad somehow found out we'd all worked together to dig an actual UNDERGROUND "cave."
My Mother never knew a thing.
I had some bad injuries from racing on an ancient bicycle, remember weeks of knee pain, etc. Scars into early adulthood.
Just bandaid. Would keep me up at night, because of pain.
Knee was stiff for weeks.
No emergency room, no doctor visit.
Different times then.
Those toys were all there but no one I knew had them. A few games like Monopoly in the house, a bicycle, Hot Wheels toy cars; Tonka toy trucks; that was it. Girls had dolls, but not many.
I dug foxholes all over in the back yard! lol. We had a shed, and I would collect spray cans. We burnt our own trash in a 55 gal. drum. I would climb up on the roof of the shed and throw in the spray cans and wait for them to explode. My dad broke his leg in softball sliding into 1st base, and he was on crutches. I was playing with my G.I. Joes, making bengal tiger
trap by digging foot deep holes, criss- crossing them with sticks, and putting cut grass on top. Until dads crutch went in one! ROFLMAO! He was hopping around the back yard
on his one good leg, cursing, and swinging his crutch at me. OMG! Of course I easily out ran him.
Mr. Bubble was a bubble bath soap - marketed to get kids into the bathtub.
"Mr. Bubble - it makes getting clean almost as much fun as getting dirty!"
My own sense of humor had me wearing a "Mr. Bubble" Tee Shirt into my thirties - when I finally wore it out.
Thank you for the nostalgia, I was a teenager growing up in the 70's.
I was born in 1955 and I remember and did all of these things. I became a teenager in 1968, so the 70s were great years for me. I got my first computer when I was 29 years old. I had just returned from Operation Desert Storm in 1990 and learned that there was now an Internet. I got my first cell phone when I was 45. By that time I had lived in New Mexico, Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Washington State, New Hampshire and Oklahoma, and was currently living in California. A pen pal was someone you had never met, who lived in a different country or state, that you would write letters to and they would write back. The Internet has taken its place today. Eight track tapes were before cassette tapes, which were before CDs. I listened to Johnny cash back in the 1960s and could sing most of his songs. I had several of his albums. Yes, cars were bigger back then. We always had a station wagon, which you see in the video. We could fit the whole family and friends in that one car. I have home videos of my family and my aunt's family all piling out of one like clowns out of a clown car. There were no seat belt laws back then. We played with lawn darts, my sister had an Easy Bake oven and I had a chemistry set with all types of chemicals. We rode bikes all over town and jumped over everything we could, including people. Both of my parents smoked and my mom even smoked when she was pregnant with me and my sister. I had candy cigarettes when I young, but I never developed the habit of smoking and have no health issues from my mother smoking when I was born. A View Master had disks with slides of pictures that you would "view". I loved to collect different disks of famous places. I didn't know anyone who had peanut allergies or ADD, but I did know a couple who had polio. I grew up in a wonderful time and wouldn't trade my childhood for anything. I had a GREAT childhood! I learned to be adventurous and inventive. Since then I have lived in 10 different states, visited all 50 states and seven foreign countries. I've served in the military, played music with famous musicians, done comedy on stage with many famous comedians, performed magic on stage, and have had several books published (I'm currently writing two more that are about to be published). Live life is the lesson I took from my childhood and I couldn't be more thankful for it.
Thank you for your service.
Johnny Cash had a long career, dating back to the 1950's but yes,
he was still popular in the 1970's.
If you had a tape player in your car, it might me and 8-track,
or a Casset player.
I was born in 1963 and growing up in the 60s and 70s were the best times in my life. If I could go back, I would and not could back. ❤
I was born in 1968, so I can completely relate to this video. My father used to play lawn darts with his friends in the front yard at parties. All the kids had to stay in the backyard with the moms. My sisters and I would wander the neighborhood as kids, and no, our mom didn't know exactly where we were. We never had an Easy Bake Oven, but they were powered by an old-fashioned incandescent light bulb. It wasn't as dangerous as a real oven, but was hot enough to burn. Yes, cars were bigger. My husband's family had a '77 Lincoln Town Car. Its overall length was 223.5 inches, or 5,670 mm. In America cars like that have sometimes been referred to as "land yachts.""
I was looking for another GenXer from 1968 to reply to. I also can relate to many things in this video. My neighborhood didn’t have many other kids in it, so it was mostly me and my brother playing in the front yard and street. I remember setting up a bicycle ramp on the corner of our yard and starting my run at it from the other end of the street, never being worried about the traffic or the driveways. We had a little store to ride our bikes to that sold candy and “icees”.
However for me, my favorite thing to do during my childhood was to just learn how to record 8-track tapes from the radio and LPs. Then during my teenage years I was making my own mixtapes and fantasy albums on cassettes. I was about 8 when Dad showed me how it was done. And I also spent a lot of time playing with the “Simon Says” electric game. Washing the car was also fun because it usually turned into “how wet can you get” especially if the day was hot. Second hand smoke was nothing even thought about for my family, but I made the decision for myself that I would never put anything so gross in my mouth. Cleaning the ashtrays led me to this idea.
I look at the world today and feel sorry for the kids (that are adults now) that didn’t get to grow up before the internet took over our society. I was a little shy at school, but at least I knew how to make personal conversation with friends in person.
The little kids now I am honestly afraid for the world they will grow up in.
Hello to all the other GenXers out there, whatever year model you are!
I graduated from high school in 1977, in California had a great childhood, no seatbelts, had horses, easybake oven when I was a kid. Yes we wrote letters by hand. Beach trips, skipping school. Football games!!! We had a station wagon with pop up seats too! We stayed outside until the street lights came on. That was when we came home. Yep the lunchbox! Usually a sandwich, chips, and a pudding cup. Never used the thermos, it spelled bad. We got all that candy too. Oh wow! Lots of great memories…thank you!
In 1977 I was 9.
At a family reunion in Ohio, my drunk cousin threw a lawn dart really far being an idiot. My 75 year old aunt walked in its path. It punctured her calf and stayed in her leg until she got it removed at the hospital. She walked with a serious limp until she died in the early 1980's.
Hi handsome ❤️ Us Generation X (who you're talking about) was and still am badasses ❤ we grew up on garden hose drinking water, our parents necer knew where we were. There use to be a tv announcement at 10 p.m. "Do you know where your children are?". We are the forgotten generation, by our choice. Our toys could kill or seriously hurt you, but that didn't stop us from playing with it. 7
On summer nights we’d drive out to a country road and park in a circle. We’d sit on our cars and talk and listen to music. Some drank beer. 🍺 it was a gentle beautiful time.
70. One smell I remember from back in the day is Hawaiian Tropic sun tan oil.
I was also born in 1967. So yes, I had the record player, and we sent letters all over the place. I even had a pen-pal in Togo and we would write to each other several times a year.
Yes, I grew up in the 70s and this is definitely accurate. The viewmaster was the VR of the day, where you put in a picture of something where each side is just a tiny bit different so it gave you a 3D view of what you were looking at. It was a way to explore the world from your living room.
I was born in 64 so I grew up in the 70's and graduated in 82, LOL I had a pen pal from Trinidad. My parents were huge Elvis fans and my aunt lived just across the river from Memphis so Graceland was a yearly trip. Cars are much smaller now than they were. I remember just before the 10pm news hearing do you know where your kids are. We lived in the country so we rode our bikes around the mile section. I tried to jump a packing box and fell in-LOL. We only had fans but we definitely drank from the hose. Cheese Whiz still exist. The View Master was awesome you put a round disc with pictures and you clicked a switch to change pictures. As was pointed out even though it is discouraged now everyone smoked back then. I did myself until 6 years ago. This is my second video I have spotted and enjoyed both as the last had to do with my state of Oklahoma. I will keep watching!
I enjoyed all of those things in the 70's. We did have AC back then but as a child in the 70's we did't care about cool air inside, we wanted outside all day, Rain, snow or shine, lol. I can't remember how many time my sister and I was sat in front of the stove because our feet were frozen from playing in the snow all day, mom used to to be pissed, lol. Also don;t get me started on being a teenager in the 80's.
I’m 73 in a few days I’ll be 74! My kids grew up in the 70’s and most of that is true 😂. My daughter had an Easy Bake oven and I hated it. They did play outside and only came home to eat, usually bringing their friends with them. I’d rather all the kids be at my house than my children be at their friends house. It wasn’t unusual for me to use an entire loaf of bread making sandwiches and dole out an entire package of cookies. Those were the days and I loved it.
Here’s a fun fact for you. My youngest son had a speech problem. An example is if he wanted to say music he’d say use-mic or magazine would be maz-a-gine. He spoke very clearly but flipped his words around. On his first day of kindergarten, he had German class and after a week of learning to speak German he never flipped his words around again. 😂😂😂❤
7 - I was born in 1956 so I was a teenager in the 70s. I remember everything here. some of the toys were actually from the 60s when i was a kid and I had many of them..... My son was born in 1989 so he was a child of the 90s, but I raised him the way I was raised, and he turned out alright!
I remember all of these things. Those candy bracelets were great. I loved Pez candy too. Soft ice cream was a treat for the weekends because we only had one car (which was HUGE) and my father used it for work during the week. So on Sunday afternoons in the summer we'd drive to a nearby lake and get fried clams on a bun, French fries, and then stop at a Tasty-Freeze for soft ice cream. Only thing wrong with it was that my Father had adopted American Baseball (The Mets) with a vengeance, and he always had the game on the radio. There was only that one phone with a LONG spiral cord. When I wanted to talk to my boyfriends I'd stretch it to its full length to take the phone into the bathroom and close the door. My brother and his best friend, our cousin, would click the connection closed. :) The only thing that I didn't like was the heat in the summers, because there was no air-conditioning, and that was in upstate New York.
Missed out on the 70s but happily grew up in 80s-90s. We used to go out and enjoy biking to creeks and exploring everything.
They left out party lines. A telephone service where you shared the line with your neighbors, and had to wait your turn to make a call. No privacy, anyone on your line could listen in on your calls, by picking up the phone in their house. Every home had its own distinctive ring to know if there was an incoming call for their house.
Cars (not Trucks, not SUVs - Cars.) were indeed bigger,
they were longer, they tended to be wider, and they were heavier - with much larger engines.
in 1976, I drove my mother's car when taking my first driver's test.
It was a 1972 Pontiac Bonneville 2-door Coupe, with a 455 cubic inch engine (~7.5 Liter)
It had a wheelbase of 126 inches (10.5 feet)(3.2 Meters) with an overall length of 226.2 inches (18.85 feet)(5.745 Meters)
and width of 79.5 inches (6.625 Feet)(2.02 Meters).
The car weighed 4,388 pounds (1,994.5 Kilos)
It had a 22 gallon (~83 Liter) Fuel tank -
which was handy, because you were lucky to get 16 miles per gallon (2.64 Km / Liter) in highway driving.
This was considered a "Full Sized" car in the 1970s -
but there were many larger cars - many families owned station wagons - like the one being washed at 5:31 -
these pictures look like a "fundraising" car wash - possibly for a scout troop.
My friend, you are adorable! I grew up in the 60s and 70s and yes, everything in this video is true. Our parents had no idea where we were during the day (unless we were in school), we drank out of garden hoses (there was AC back then but in the summer, we were out playing or hanging out with friends all day so if we were thirsty, we drank of out the hose, we had dangerous toys (I had clackers and an Easy Bake Oven), we played in the street (Someone would yell "Car!" whenever one appeared, cars were ginormous, we drank Kool-aid (I hated Tang), had metal lunch boxes. And we were skinny because we were outside all the time. My mother would absolutely throw us out of the house and tell us not to come back before dinner. We walked or biked everywhere. I walked 2.5 miles to my first job. It was a fantastic time to grow up!
Yes,,, i am one of those "older people"... Lets show show Andre' some love by hitting the like and subscribe button.. He's almost at 90 K... that means he's getting closer to his quest to visit the good ole USA !!!
Awww thanks for this lovely trip down memory lane. I do miss the simplicity of pre-internet life. I had a great xhildhood in the 70s and 80s..
Having an air conditioner didn't matter to us because we were outside all day. Anybodies hoses were ok to drink water out of. You didn't necessarily need permission from the house owner. That's how we stayed hydrated when we were out all day. Everything in this video is accurate and true.
I was in elementary school, middle school and early high school during the 70s.
We had 1 black rotary phone rented from the phone company. We had a party line
with our neighbors. Our phone was attached to the wall. It could not be unplugged and moved around.
I wrote plenty of letters because long distance calls were expensive.
I had a pen pal when I was in 5th grade. I forget now where they were from.
The cars were much bigger in general. They were very heavy, all metal and a lot of space inside.
We played outside most of tge day with friends. I grew up in a rural are and we played in the pasture, on our bikes, in the creek, in the dirt before the garden was planted. I climbed to the top of very tall trees.
We played outside in the dark... like hide and seek or chasing games.
I grew up near Houston. Our new house only had 1 window air-conditioning unit. Our house had no carpeting so the tile floor was cool and we layed on the floor to watch our portable black and white TV.
My metal lunchbox was Charlie Brown (Peanuts)!!
Hello My Friend....I See Myself In A Lot Of Those Video's....I Was Brought Up In The 60's and 70's
This was my childhood, exactly. I played with all the toys and did all of the other things listed here. The bicycle jump was not fake. It was common and my friends and I did it. Building ramps for bikes was just a thing. My friend had a long, steep driveway and we'd build ramps at the bottom of it all the time. Getting injured was almost a daily occurrence.
Johnny Cash toured with Elvis in the 1950's
They were half of the million dollar quartet.
I got to see Waylon, Willie, Johnny and Kris at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in the late '80. The Highwaymen.
I could not stop laughing bc all of this video is true & things my siblings & friends had a great time doing. Good memories. PS…the dad in background probably helped with the ramp.
70s were the best
I mainly grew up in the 60s. My Mom was considered very overprotective because my(f) twin brother and I weren't allowed off of the block. Parents laughed at her and our friends pitied us. Not enough to stay on the block with us for a whole day, but for maybe an hour. Our time to shine was after dinner under the street lights. Everyone had to stay on the block then.
I started school in the early sixies and much of that was the same for the 60's. We had a large Rambler station wagon for hauling around us six kids, but got an even bigger BuickEstateWagon around 1970, with a big 454 V8 that gave us alot of room for all 8 of us. If I remember right it was almost three tons of steel.
I just turned 57 in July and love watching all of your videos. Keep up the great job.
Growing up I didn't have a lot, but my friends had that stuff and we all shared the stuff we had. The 70s and 80s were some of the best times of my life.
Omg your hilarious face when he talked about the candy bracelets and necklaces! Priceless!! and this truly did happen. 😂
A pen pal was someone you exchanged letters with, sometimes from quite far away and waited a long time to get word back.
Grew up in the 70s and early 80s, it was a great time and so much freedom compared to today. Yep most of this was part of my childhood. I used to write for fun, stories and things..and I remember being so proud when I got a typewriter for Chistmas one year, it was completely manual meaning you had to slam the keys to get it to print but I was so happy.
Yes cars were bigger back then... much bigger. I learned to bake in an easy bake oven, had shrinky dinks that you made and then baked them to shrink them down. The main reason people were thinner is due to a whole lot less processed foods, being outside didn't hurt but weight loss happens in the kitchen.
The view master was for looking at 3d pictures or pictures in general of all kinds of things... still have one around here somewhere...lol. Never had a problem once the tv shut down, I was most likely busy reading a book and didn't even notice. Blessings Andre
I was born in 1966 and I loved growing up in the70's. I probably road my bike at least 15-20 miles a day! !! Great memories
Love and prayers from western NC❤❤🙏🙏
I was born in 1951, graduated high school in 1969 and college in 1972 --- the best years to grow up. The video was a true reflection of my childhood and brought back the best memories. Thank you.
I grew up in the 70s, born 61. Parents had no idea where we were, during the summer. Came home when the whistle blew at 6 to eat and gone again. Came home when it got dark.
Dad drove many muscles, 58 2 door black impala when I was born. Those days were the best.
I'm 55 yrs old. Took my drivers test in one of those 70s muscle cars w/ a V8 engine. I remember the Highway Patrolman in the vehicle with me, and I tapped the gas and the front end reared up abit. He said...whoa take it easy kiddo. Passed first time. Had mini bikes, go carts, mini motorcycles like a Honda 80cc. Suzuki 50, or build your own go cart from an old lawnmower engine. My lil brother had his own bass boat at age 9. But the bicycle was the thing all kids had. It's true...all over town until dusk. Down at the creek, swimming and no adults. Building fires, no adults. You could ride in the back of the truck, pull the tailgate down and just sit on it, or the sides of the truck. God, you'd go to jail today for that. No seat belts...ah yes. Hated them when they first came out lol. Now it's standard operational procedure! The 70's/80s were AWESOME!
I grew up in the 60's, it was very similar to the 70's, when I was a young adult. I remember all these things except the Schoolhouse Rocks, I graduated high school in 1972. Where I am in the northeast, residential air conditioning was starting to become popular and affordable, within a decade or so it became quite commonplace. Cars were definitely bigger back then, but I don't remember the whole family washing the car, that was a bit of an exaggeration. I'm thankful that I grew up then, today's children are missing out of so much.
Everything was spot on. Cars were huge and very heavy made with steel and chrome bumpers. If you hit anything your car would get a little dent but today you have thousands of dollars worth of damage. I’m 75 and I can’t believe I smoked while pregnant with all three of my kids and all of them were healthy. As long as I was home by 5 for dinner my parents never looked for me as I was with all the other kids on the block. Lots of good memories. If you complained about hurt feelings the motto was “ stick and stones may break my bones but names will never harm me”.