One day this past summer, my wife and I went to a restaurant to get something to eat after church. There was an ice cream shop across the street so we decided to go there after our meal. While we were enjoying the ambiance of this charming Chester County, Pennsylvania establishment, we noticed that, tucked away in the back of this store was a room that resembled an old time record store that included bins with dozens of vinyl albums, posters and other assorted memorabilia evoking an era from roughly the 1960’s through the 1980’s.This brought back so many memories of hours and hours that I spent in stores like “3rd Street Jazz”, “The Sound of Market Street”, as well as various record stores in shopping malls in and around the greater Philadelphia area in the 1970’s. I asked the “kids” who worked there if they were familiar with any of the artists that were featured in their store. One of them who looked to be about 17, said that he liked some of the jazz records. When I asked him if he had any favorites, I was more than a little surprised when he said that he and his father spent a lot of time listening to Chet Baker. I shared some of my limited Chet Baker knowledge with him and made a suggestion of a song by him that he might enjoy.
While we were having our conversation, another teenager entered the store. This was an “older” patron who casually volunteered that he was 19 sensing my surprise at his musical sensibilities. Unlike virtually all of the other customers in this store on this mid summer afternoon, he didn’t order any ice cream. He was there specifically for the vinyl offerings. As we finished our conversation, and he left with his albums, I couldn’t help but to reminisce about my experiences at their ages over four decades earlier.
The first records that I remember buying were actually two albums. “Fire” by the Ohio Players and “Thats the Way of the World” by Earth, Wind, and Fire. I played them on my stereo record player that my parents probably purchased in the 1960’s. I must have spun those records thousands of times. Soon to follow were singles (45’s & 78’s) and more albums of all genres from the Beatles to Beethoven to Dinah Washington. Listening to these songs in this way was a voyage of discovery as well as an escape into another world for me. This process was greatly heightened for me on the weekends.
During the summer in the 1970’s before cellphones, video games, social media, and the like, most kids were playing outside of the home. A common refrain from parents directed at kids was “go outside, get some fresh air”. I remember my friend Danny had one of the first popular video games that was available to be sold directly to consumers. It was a “barnburner” called “Pong” which came with a console that allowed you to play it on the family television. We were playing it one beautiful Saturday morning when Danny’s father came into the room, frowned at us in disappointment before saying,
“It’s a beautiful day. You guys shouldn’t be in here, you need to be outside”!
Once I was in high school, I became a jock, and my days of spending endless hours aimlessly wondering outside gave way to schoolwork during the day and dominated by team practices during the evenings. After October when we set the clocks back an hour for daylight saving time, my day would be regimented from the period we called from “cant see in the morning” till cant see at night”. With the grey and dreary days we often experienced in autumn in the northeast, along with my teenaged anxiety and pathos, my memories of these days are a mixture of melancholy juxtaposed with longing for a better future.
My one refuge during these times were the weekends. Friday nights were my favorites. My teams usually didn’t have any games or practices scheduled that day, so I knew that from Friday afternoon until Monday morning, my time was my own. Whether I was hanging out with friends or on my own, my meal of choice was one of the “big 3”. A Philly cheesesteak, pizza, or burger and fries. My wife’s family enjoyed board games. In fact, she was so competitive that, early on in our relationship, her behavior during a game of Monopoly was so intense that it almost became a deal breaker between us. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!).
Later on when VHS tapes came on the scene, I remember making my list, going to the video store and hoping that my selections would be in stock. One day I noticed that a new store had opened in my neighborhood. When I went in, I noticed that a cute girl from my school was working behind the counter. She said that her family had just started this business and asked me if I wanted to purchase a “lifetime membership”. Being the big spender that I was, and also finding it hard to turn down any proposition from a pretty lady, I signed up immediately.
I told my friends about the deal that I had shrewdly negotiated at the video store (I felt no need to share the small detail that she offered the deal to me) Soon after this, my friends would come back to me and said that she informed them that I had received the last such deal at their establishment. “When you got it, you got it” I thought to myself self. That’s what’s known in the “hood” as “The Hookup”. Didn’t matter, a few months later the store had closed.
These are some of the memories that come to mind when I think of video games, turn tables, albums or board games. What are some of yours ? How about some of the foods, fashions places or experiences that you remember during this era? For me, it’s all about a vibe. A feeling that doesn’t exist anymore but is often recreated when a retro car that has been restored drives by, or a young person going through a stack of albums in a record store. What are some of your experiences? I’d like to know
