Crazy things from the past you probably won’t see again.

1. My 8th grade day trip to Milwaukee- we toured the Miller Brewery as part of our day.  

2. In 1950-1953 - Chicago Public Schools - it was required the boys swim nude in high school swimming class in gym.  Lindblom HS.  All boys only in class.  My dad loved to tell this story.  

3. The owner of a concrete company (45 years old?) explained to two fifteen year olds (me) what was required to hot wire the plumbers truck and use it to move the garbage we were cleaning up in the new subdivision we worked at.  (1978).  

4. At this construction site a lot of 20-30 year old guys freely asked if we 15-16 year olds wanted a beer or to smoke a joint   (We did)

Whatcha got?

Spending 30’ in the cockpit of a 747 halfway through a trip. 

Datsun310Guy said:

Whatcha got?

The strap.

Kids have it so easy now. I had to walk 12 feet through shag carpet just to change the channel.

Slippery said:

Spending 30’ in the cockpit of a 747 halfway through a trip. 

Seriously. I spent time in airliner cockpits in flight on a number of occasions. When my father had top Lufthansa frequent flyer status back in the 1990s they had a program where he could sit in the cockpit for the entire flight, including take-off and landing.

Oh, and I also drove an Amtrak train heading for Montreal for a little while once. Speed control, dead-man's pedal, the whole deal. I was maybe 7 or 8.

Datsun310Guy said:

2. In 1950-1953 - Chicago Public Schools - it was required the boys swim nude in high school swimming class in gym.  Lindblom HS.  All boys only in class.  My dad loved to tell this story. 

I'm trying to imagine any possible reason why this might've happened other than the unchecked whims of a pedophilic gym teacher...somebody please give suggestions, I'm coming up blank and imagining that "loved" might be a misspelling of "lived"

Propeller powered cars?

In reply to dculberson :

That would definitely make someone think twice before brake checking you.

In reply to GameboyRMH :

https://www.wbez.org/shows/morning-shift-podcast/lose-the-shorts-curious-city-looks-at-old-cps-requirement-for-boys-to-swim-nude/825a35cd-2eb5-4682-b9a3-30525a00f25c/amp

Loved is right - I think it was my dad’s version of “walking in the snow uphill both ways” story.   

Ex-wife, with any hope.

Pool hygiene in the USA is pretty much a joke.  I'm not saying I want to swim nude but a lot of people wear suits into indoor pools that are huge which can carry all kinds of stuff into a pool.  The requirement to shower before going into a pool should be taken seriously but most pools don't have that or it isn't enforced at all. 

That said, I'm listening to this audio segment that Datsun310Guy has shared, and those experiences sound awful and way beyond what makes sense.

maschinenbau said:

Ex-wife, with any hope.

I'm going to do the +1 on that!!

Oh yeah, here's another one. A buddy of mine who grew up in NYC related that up into the early 60s (IIRC - it's been a while since I heard the story, but the timing seems about right) many NYC schools had marksmanship teams. The ranges were in the basements, and kids carried their .22 rifles back and forth to school.

I started working construction at a very young age. By the time I was 13 they would have me drive a pickup truck downtown to the "luncheonette" mid morning for coffee & egg sandwiches and mid afternoon to the "package store" to pick up a case of beer for afternoon break. The bills for both were tallied on account and owner of the company would pay the tab once a month. Didn't think twice about driving by my house and beeping to mom if she was out in the yard ahaha. Drinking age was 18 at the time.

My dad used to tell a story of driving his father home from some trip when he was about 13 or 14, back in the mid 1940s.  They were in my grandfather's '41 Cadillac and gramps was too tired for driving so he put my dad behind the wheel.

It was getting to be evening when they got pulled over by the cops.  Dad's E36 M3ting bricks.

The cop walks up to the window and says "Hi.  I saw from your tags you live near XYZburg.  It's the end of my partner's shift and we're a long way from there.  You folks mind giving him a lift back to the station?"

So, yeah, my 14-year-old father had to drive an off-duty cop home while my grandfather tried to pretend this was normal.

My dad tells stories of getting pulled over after being at the bar, and the cop would make sure everything was alright, and then follow them home to make sure they got home safe. Insanity.

02Pilot said:

Oh yeah, here's another one. A buddy of mine who grew up in NYC related that up into the early 60s (IIRC - it's been a while since I heard the story, but the timing seems about right) many NYC schools had marksmanship teams. The ranges were in the basements, and kids carried their .22 rifles back and forth to school.

At my dad's high school in the 70s everybody had a full gun rack in the parking lot. Kids would even take their study hall periods to go hunting. He also told the story of getting paddled by the principle every day they served green beans at lunch because he wouldn't eat them. 

My high school still had a rifle team in 02, .22 pellet guns. The practice range was in the basement of one of the elementary schools, with a bigass safe for the guns. 

I started doing construction the summer I turned 14, running equipment on site and shorter material runs in the company truck. Never got pulled over, but did have a police escort once. We were taking a billboard out to the other side of town and did a banzai run down the main drag at 7am one Saturday. No permits, no stopping for anything, I was driving lead in the pickup while the billboard was in the truck behind and a city cop jumped in front of me and cleared the way to the edge of town. 

02Pilot said:

Oh yeah, here's another one. A buddy of mine who grew up in NYC related that up into the early 60s (IIRC - it's been a while since I heard the story, but the timing seems about right) many NYC schools had marksmanship teams. The ranges were in the basements, and kids carried their .22 rifles back and forth to school.

My high school did this until at least 1998 when I graduated.

02Pilot said:

Oh yeah, here's another one. A buddy of mine who grew up in NYC related that up into the early 60s (IIRC - it's been a while since I heard the story, but the timing seems about right) many NYC schools had marksmanship teams. The ranges were in the basements, and kids carried their .22 rifles back and forth to school.

We carried guns to school up into the mid 80s. During hunting season, just about every truck in the parking lot had a gun rack in the back window.

I'm never gonna be able to send my grand kids to get my smokes.  

ShawnG said:

Datsun310Guy said:

Whatcha got?

The strap.

Kids have it so easy now. I had to walk 12 feet through shag carpet just to change the channel.

I had a “remote control” for old TV sets. It had about a 10’ cord to a box with 2-switches - one for on/off, the other turned the channel up by 1. On the other end was a servo motor that was supposed to magnetically attach to the front of the TV over the channel, knob, and the cord then ran to a plug-in, which had an outlet on the back side to plug the TV into. 

Manual Transmission 

Lawn darts. 

David S. Wallens said:

Lawn darts. 

Loved those!

Of course, we also used to have bb gun fights too...

NGTD said:

maschinenbau said:

Ex-wife, with any hope.

I'm going to do the +1 on that!!

+2!!!

There's a lot of things I assumed we would never see again, but signs are pointing to many of them returning in the current political environment.  Hopefully, laying on the back shelf of the car as a kid won't be among them. While fun and comfortable, it was certainly not safe! 

I am also flabbergasted that cocaine and similar items used in "medicines" from long ago.  Teething pain?  

Holy crap!