Remember When These Used to Be Here in NYC

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mack said:
Gone FAO Schwartz toy store.

Also Polk's Hobby Store, the toy department at Klein's, Madison Hardware (one of the largest distributors of Lionel trains) and a dozen others I can't think of at the moment (that's what happens when "middle age" meets nostalgia).
 
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raybrag said:
fdce54 said:
My first paying job was in the A&P in 1969. They were good days.

Me too, Frank.  The A&P paid for my college education.  I worked there for 6 years, from 1958 thru 1963, in stores 811, 812 and 816 (Long Beach, Rockville Centre, and the new [in 1960] Long Beach store). 

Also, for Long Islanders . . . the Bee Line Bus Co. (not the one that runs to Westchester now).  I took it from Lynbrook to Jamaica all the time I was in High School and college (to switch to the E train).  Mostly they ran GMC "Old Look" busses, but early in my riding career, they also ran some stick shift 1941 White Motors rigs during the rush hours, and also a few big Macks.  Then in 1959 they began to buy the "new" GMC Fishbowl bus.  All of their busses were red and white (with no ads n them).


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GMC "Old Look"

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1941 White

It was sometimes gut-wrenching to hear (and feel) the gears grinding as the driver of one of these hulks tried to upshift (I'm guessing they didn't know how to double clutch)

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Mid-50s Mack


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GMC "Fishbowl"
Ray, I was in store #83 in the Bronx, Concourse Village West & E. 156 St from 1969-1973.
 
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t123ken said:
mack said:
Neighborhood A&Ps:

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Atlantic_%26_Pacific_Tea_Company

The photo above looks like Fresh Pond Road at Putnam Avenue.........Yes t123ken correct....the Box location is Fresh Pond Road opposite Putnam Ave.
 
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Also gone (for the most part) are most "old school" Army & Navy stores with "real" surplus items.
 

mack

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Gone - Home deliveries - milkmen with milk in glass bottles


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There were breadmen, iceman and bakery deliveries to your home.


 
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I remember when the A&P decided that the Dilberts, Waldbaum & other super markets were drawing too many customers with their S&H Green stamps, so they fought back, with Plaid Stamps:

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Plaid stamps were new and exciting! They had THREE denominations (1, 10, 50) instead of just one! And what a royal pain in the a$$ they were to the cashiers.
 
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mack

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Gone -gas stations with mechanics who could fix something broken on your car.

Gas stations were not food stores with junk food and Subways. They were for gas and car repairs. Someone pumped your gas and checked your oil and washed your windows - and gas was not $3 or more a gallon. Air for tires was free. Bottles of soda were 10 cents in soda machines that had ice and water. No $2 bottled water.

Gas station attendants could speak to you - and give directions if you were lost.

Gas stations had these things called "maps" that people could look at or buy to get where they were going. They did not rely on Garmins and TomToms which always seem to lose GPS signals when you need them and leave you lost.

Gas stations had these things called "phone booths" where you could make a call for 10 cents - and the phones worked.

Gas stations had bathrooms with toilets that worked and cleaned once in a while.

Remember Sinclair and ESSO gas stations? Texaco - "You can trust your car to the man who wears the star"

 
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mack

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Gone - Chock Full of Nuts - the heavenly coffee shops

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Now we have Starbucks with $5 coffees and lattes - and they want a tip for giving you a coffee.
 

mack

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Remember the old glass bottle deposits - we collected Coke and Pepsi and 7 Up bottles for 2 cents and brown beer bottles for 5 cents and turned them in at the local candy store to get some change for baseball cards and 10 cent ice cream cones.
 

mack

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raybrag said:
I remember when the A&P decided that the Dilberts, Waldbaum & other super markets were drawing too many customers with their S&H Green stamps, so they fought back, with Plaid Stamps:

plaid1.jpg



d=0C0A45C69F1F1638EA99&disposition=0&alloworigin=1.jpg


4533700_orig.jpg

Plaid stamps were new and exciting!  They had THREE denominations (1, 10, 50) instead of just one!  And what a royal pain in the a$$ they were to the cashiers.

Other stores had S&H Green stamps, Ray.
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mack

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We got a new pair of shoes at the start of every school year at local Tom McAn or Miles shoestores.


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No Amazon or Zappos.  Firemen did not make much - shoes had to last - whatever size fit we got 1/2 size larger so they would last.  We could grow into them.  One pair was good enough.  We had our Cons sneakers to wear most of the time.
 

mack

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Some FDNY memories -

Gone:  the Superpumper and Supertender; water towers; rubber coats and boots; canvas coats; company second sections; many hard working fire companies; many firehouses; boro communication offices; fireboats; company matrons; telegraph system (bells); voice alarm; open doors at firehouses when companies responded; classic helmet front pieces; auxiliaries; Model Cities Program (salvage units); Red Caps (arson); all red fire apparatus; green engine companies; Mack/Ward LaFrance/Ahren Fox/ALF fire apparatus; searchlight units; bells on apparatus; and fire alarm boxes that always worked. 

No: computers; bunker gear; SOC squads; CIDS; FAST truck; safety chiefs; HAZMAT units; EMS runs; shorts; company t-shirts; company patches; cell phones.
 
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