If you grew up in the Sixties, you’ll remember this… in Daydreaming on the Porch

Being an inveterate YouTube user, their algorithms have gotten pretty good at selecting videos they know I’d like. It’s downright uncanny at times. Particularly so when they produce nostalgia and “Recollection Road” videos. Today, one them took me back to the Good Old Days of the early through mid-Sixties.

Here are some Sixties memories, mostly good, but one not-so-good, that the video below brought to mind:

I remember when Chubby Checker and “The Peppermint Twist” were no longer cool. The reason: The Beatles, who stormed America in 1964. I had brought Chubby Checker records to a 7th grade dance while everyone else brought Beatles records. I slunk into a corner as the kids danced to “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” So embarrassing.

I recall endlessly listening to these hit songs on 45 rpm records that you could buy at the dime store:

Little Old Lady from Pasadena by Jan and Dean

Surf City by the Beach Boys

I’m a Believer — The Monkees

Green Grass — Gary Lewis and the Playboys

Conquistador by Procol Harem

Little Green Bag — The George Baker Selection

My family officially joined Suburbia Americana in 1961.

I had a lawn-mowing business.

We belonged to the local country club, which had lots of tennis courts, but no golf course, which was fine by me. Their snack bar had the best French fries I’ve ever tasted, before or after, crinkle-cut and greasy.

I loved to ride my bike to the shopping center on General Meyers Avenue to get a bag of bite-sized hamburgers with chopped onions and a pickle right off the grill. Each hamburger was 15 cents. This was at a place called Royal Castle, similar to White Castles up north. I grew up in New Orleans.

I went to a junior high that looked exactly like a big high school, not a middle school.

I infinitely preferred a Burger King Whopper with extra mayo to anything at McDonald’s or Burger Chef.

We watched movies downtown in theaters that seated a thousand or more people, munching on buckets of popcorn drenched in buttery grease.

In the early Sixties we still played outside a lot, but by the mid to late-Sixties I was 15 and older, and hung around at the neighbor’s basketball hoop, played touch football in a vacant lot, went bowling, and swam at the country club pool in summer.

In New Orleans we looked forward to Mardi Gras, and went to lots of parades and scooped up junky beads and trinkets from the floats manned by masked riders. Such fun.

Mom fixed a good home-cooked meal every night for supper. My favorites were meat loaf or fried chicken with mashed potatoes.

We went to backyard barbecues. Hamburgers and baked beans never tasted so good!

The price of a Hershey Bar was still 5 cents in the Sixties, increasing to 10 cents in 1969. A bottle of Coke was 10 cents, having remained at 5 cents for 70 years until the Sixties.

We piled in the Olds Delta 88 and Dad drove us all to my grandparents’ and aunt’s house, and from there we would head to the beach for a week in the sun and waves.

As I get old, I like to remember the good times and golden years, before the chaos of the late Sixties led to a changed and much less innocent America.

Me at the end of the decade, 1969

https://flic.kr/p/2n4yZyR

The Sixties

Last updated February 20, 2022