Simpler Times

by George Lehtinen

This will take you back!

Remember when we were just plain old kids growing up, and what we usually did for entertainment? I certainly do, and those were magical times where we spent a vast majority of our days playing outside unsupervised until the “streetlight rule” came on. Remember riding our bicycles, roller skates, skateboards, or just walking to our friend’s house? I can remember the banana seats, the made-up ramps, playing street baseball, football, or kickball, while some neighbors were seen briefly observing the kids from the front window. They could be seen periodically because the curtains would move or we would catch them peering out. Sometimes we were pushing our luck by riding to another neighborhood without telling our parents or sneaking away to the nearby woods to play. We would invent games on a whim and have a ball, or find a vacant lot and do pretty much anything we could think of without getting into trouble. The parents rarely watched us, and if they did, it was usually very casually.

I distinctly remember the dads under the hood of their cars or trucks, tinkering with the engine or doing an oil change. They were outside with us, but not really “with” us, if you know what I mean. I had a friend who seemed to get all the cool toys, and one of them was the Big Wheel where he’d go as fast as he could and then yank on the brake to try to do a spinout. Some older kids sped their bikes from atop a steep street while the other kids would watch and cheer them on as they launched onto their ramp to see how many of their brave friends lying there they could jump over—A.K.A. Evel Knievel style. We had no elbow pads, no knee pads, no helmets, no A/C in the car, and no iPhones. If someone wiped out, many either witnessed it or surely heard about it come Monday morning on the bus. You could easily see the abrasions, bruises, and knots on their heads as they boarded the bus. We younger kids thought they were so cool, and we wanted to be like them.

Of course, I must mention Saturday morning cartoons! This was a major event in everyone’s house as we would watch Looney Tunes, Josie and the Pussycats, Scooby-Doo, and Hong Kong Phooey. As we went inside the homes, there were so many games to play, such as Sorry!, Checkers, and Chutes and Ladders, just to name a few. The action figures were a monster hit with everyone, from Barbie for the young ladies to G.I. Joe action figures for the dudes. My sisters played with both, actually, but I knew they wouldn’t destroy my toys, so there was a lot of trust amongst us. The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman were extremely popular as well, along with my ultimate favorite toy of all—the awesome, exciting, and coolest Evel Knievel on his motorcycle that included a wind-up mechanism that released him into the stratosphere!

As we aged a little bit, the mall was the place to be where all the teenagers would hang out, checking out all the stores, but especially the food court. My oldest sister loved her Orange Julius drink, and I was usually jealous of her broader geographical area that a teenager could travel. My memories of one landline phone were typical in the majority of houses, with a rotary dial, but some other neighbors had phones with push buttons, which, as I recall, was the next level in technology. With a thirty-foot cord that wound around the furniture—or my favorite—seeing my sisters in the bathroom with the cord trailing down the hallway under the door. We would eventually get two phones, and what was so hilarious during this time was when either one of my parents would pick up the receiver and suddenly yell from across the house for my sister to get off the phone because they had to make an important call immediately.

Roller discos or skating rinks were huge then as well, but I would never go out there. Instead, I’d enjoy a Coke and a slice of pizza as I watched others wipe out. As the years went by, the toys and games became more electronic, and hearing the weird sounds or the computer speaking on a game just by hitting a button was so amazing. Atari, Intellivision, the Commodore, and Nintendo were practically in everyone’s living room in just a short couple of years. The Rubik’s Cube and the Cabbage Patch Dolls showed me something quite interesting as a youth. They were such a huge hit that I witnessed grown adults literally pushing each other out of the way—and some seemingly fighting to the death during Christmas season—just to get the last doll! I remember this so clearly, and I realized that adults could act like little children or even crazed animals just as easily as we youngsters.

The movie theater was my favorite place to be, not only because of the movie, but the candy, the huge cups of Pepsi or Coke, and the massive tub of buttered popcorn. Close Encounters, Poltergeist, E.T., Jaws, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones were just a few that everyone saw numerous times and never seemed to get tired of. There is so much I have mentioned; however, there is so much I left out about growing up during the ’70s and ’80s, from being a young kid to becoming a teenager.

As I have gotten older, I fondly remember those days and have told my kids about my “era.” When the hit series Stranger Things came out a few years back, I sat with my kids to watch it, and it felt like a time warp had happened. My daughter looked at me one time and asked what was wrong. I smiled and let out a laugh, telling her that this was my time growing up, with all the things I had mentioned above—and so many more that I left out. The young man who had the blue Camaro was the icing on the cake because I had the same car, or one extremely close to it. As he roared away in some scenes, it took me back many years, and all I could do was smile. The clothing style was not the greatest, in my opinion, but the music was the greatest ever! As you look back at your own “era,” I certainly hope you had great memories—or at least that most of them were.