Childhood Memories of Tulsa 1960s-1970s

[Steve]

I guess I was spoiled AMP; I don't remember ever not having air conditioning at home.  When my parents built a new house in 1960 when I was 3, that house had central heat & air.  I do remember that none of the Tulsa schools I attended had air conditioning and we didn't have a family car with air conditioning until 1968.  Somehow we all managed to survive.

We got our first color TV in 1967.  I vividly remember racing home from school that day because I knew the new color TV was coming.  NBC did have the most color programs back then, probably because NBC and RCA were jointly owned and RCA manufactured color TV sets.  Our first color set was also a 21" RCA, big "early American" style floor console.  I remember it was rather finicky and we had to have the TV man out about every 6 months to make internal adjustments to it.  I recall we always used Snead's TV service.

The "Fuller Brush" man.  That's something you don't see anymore!  My mom usually would buy something from him, but even when she didn't, she got a free gift of some sort:  a soapdish, small bottle brush, some trinket like that.

[dbacks fan]

quote:Originally posted by Steve

quote:Originally posted by AMP

Speaking of Nathan Hale High School and Tulsa schools,

Anyone remember the Social Clubs of the School days back then.  

The social clubs I remember from my day (Nathan Hale Class of 1975) were centered around sports or academic interests.  There was Reginae Aquae for girl swimmers, band and orchestra clubs, vocal clubs such as the Choralettes, A Capella, and Concert Choir, Fellowship of Christian Atheletes, Key Club, Demoiselles, Chess Club, Math Club (Mu Alpha Theta), Future Homemakers of America, Future Secretaries of America, Future Business Leaders of America, Distributive Education Club (DECA), and various foreign language clubs.

No offence dbacks fan or any Nathan Hale '81 people, but if my class had pulled a stunt like that (the trash & signs picture), our parents would have "beat the crap out of us," after we were made to clean up the mess and make a formal apology to the school administration.

No offense taken. They actually called me at 11:30 that night and asked if I would go with them and take pictures for the yearbook supplement. I said now and went to sleep. Got up the next morning and my mom asks me if I know any of these students that were arrestted. Dumbfounded I asked "What are you talking about?" Then the story came on KRMG news and all I could say was "idiots, haven't even graduated yet!"

Any way of the five arrested, two were 18 and charged as adults, the other three were charged as juvinels. The charges were many, grand theft, grand larceny, destruction of public and private property and I can't remember what else.

The idea started I think my sophomore year when the seniors decorated the school with realestate signs, the next class had to top that, and my class, well they went way overboard got caught and paid for the damages.

[AMP]

Actually the AC had to of been before I was 5 as my dad passed away when I was going on 6, so that would of been around 1954 to 1956. The color TV seemed to of been a few years later.  

I believe the TV man was maybe Mr. Carpenter, but could of been different.  I remember Potts Electric and he owned a big truck with those giant gray Horns mounted on it, used for Political announcements.  

Remember the Ice Cream trucks that were big and made banana splits and other fancy treats.

Schools were not Airconditoned then, we had a fan that ocilated and if you were lucky and the person sitting in front of you did not hog the air, you got a breeze about every 5th rotation.  LOL

My dad had a Packard that had AC in it, it came up two plactic clear tubes in the back widow area of the car.  I always rode laying on that shelf in the back window.  Today, parents would be arrested for child endangerment if they allowed that to occur.  

I always laugh when we take the kids on rides on the motorcycles, they have no child seat on them. Some laws make no sense.

One time the road construction people came and put out these Black Round things that burned stinky oil and smoke came off them.  They were to warn drivers of holes and work they were doing. Back then we had an old bumby asphalt rock kind of road, they put in curbs, drains and paved the road with concrete I believe.

I got that black carbon on my hands and clothes from playing with one of the round torch devices.  I got in much trouble for getting greasy and dirty alot when I was a kid. I took most any mechanical device apart to see what made it work. Took the gas meter apart once and the gas man came to put it back togehter, he was amazed I got all the fasteners loose.  LOL



Those Torches looked like the bombs used in cartoons to me.

Remember Winkey Dink for your TV?

[Steve]

Remember when every grocery store in town had a vacuum tube tester and stocked new radio tubes?  Your TV or radio would go on the fritz and you would pull the suspect tube(s), trot down to the Humpty Dumpty, IGA, or Safeway, and check the tubes?

Vacuum tube amps & technology has never died.  Plenty of us out there (including myself) still use tube amps, especially musicians.  I have a 1964 Hammond A102 organ and Leslie 251 speaker, with all tube preamps and power amps, about 25 tubes in all.  Fortunately even in 2007, there is still a widely available supply of NOS U.S. made tubes around, and new tubes are still made in Russia and China; I have always bought NOS U.S. tubes (RCA, Sylvania, Westinghouse), even as prices skyrocket and stock dwindles, but I hear most of the new Russian product is pretty decent quality.  The new Chinese made tubes are mostly crap, so I have heard.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by AMP

Schools were not Airconditoned then, we had a fan that ocilated and if you were lucky and the person sitting in front of you did not hog the air, you got a breeze about every 5th rotation.  LOL

My dad had a Packard that had AC in it, it came up two plactic clear tubes in the back widow area of the car.  I always rode laying on that shelf in the back window.  Today, parents would be arrested for child endangerment if they allowed that to occur.  

Remember Winkey Dink for your TV?

I remember those school fans, big floor stand fans.  The ones I remember did not oscillate, but I can still see the center label "Emmerson SEABREAZE Electric."  Lucky the kid whose desk was in the path of the fan.

When A/C was introduced in cars in the early 1950s, the compressor and blowers were located in the trunk.  They blew the cooled air through the plastic tubes in the rear package shelf and usually into roof air outlets on the sides of the inside roof.  By around 1958, automakers moved all A/C equipment to the engine compartment and used in-dash air outlets.

"Winky Dink and Me, Winky Dink and You!"  With the clear plastic film you put on the TV screen and colored with Crayons.  Sort of the very first interactive TV show!  Winky Dink would come to a stream with no bridge, the kid viewer would draw a bridge on the screen, and Winky Dink would magically cross over!  Woe to the parent that had to scrape crayon wax off the TV screen when the child did not use the plastic cover!

[waterboy]

I am really enjoying and sharing those memories. The torches were cool. Thought you might enjoy a Central Braves story from 1969.

We sucked at most sports. Lost every football game but one in three years (Edison, I think). But we rocked in basketball. We had black kids that excelled in the sport (6'6" McMullin twins and Carlos Chappelle)and were quite good. Coach only put the white kids in when the score went over 100! Remember only two schools were integrated at the time, Rogers and Central, maybe McLain too. So we won the state championship that year defeating the mighty segregated OKC teams.

The next day early in the morning a rumor started that all the kids were going to cut class at 10:30 and parade down main street in celebration of our win. Strangely the rumor made it through the entire four floors without a single adult finding out. Many kids actually thought it was a sanctioned event!

I was on the School Life staff as a writer and knew that I could cover it as a story and cover my donkey as well. When 10:30 came, I swear, the entire school emptied onto the streets of downtown Tulsa! An impromptu parade began with 55 Chevy's, cigars, members of the marching band, cheerleaders... anyone who wasn't totally geeky was there. The downtown businessmen took it in stride but someone must have complained.

The word passed quickly that if you were not back in class by 1pm you would be expelled. Many of us made it back and made our excuses but with no luck. We all were required to bring our parents to an assembly and discuss our event with the principal, the counselors and sign some paper. It took all day but if you didn't you couldn't come back. It was a wonderful day though, long before Ferris Bueller.

Of course they wouldn't let us even report about it in the school paper. What did we expect from administration that wouldn't even let us put Class of '69 on our sweatshirts! Since some adult knew it had sexual connotations we had to use LXIX.

Anyone know about that little episode?

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by waterboy

I am really enjoying and sharing those memories. The torches were cool. Thought you might enjoy a Central Braves story from 1969.

I was a 7th grader at Whitney Jr. High in 1969, don't remember your story but it is a fun read.  I do remember the big football rivalry between Hale and BTW at the time.  I attended the '69 4A championship game with my family at Skelly Stadium between Hale & BTW, I think it set a Skelly Stadium attendance record that held for many years.  My brother was a soph. at Hale at the time.

I enjoy these trips down memory lane too.  The current events discussions are great and more appropriate to life today, but it sure is fun to wax nostalgic.  The memory threads probably keep me coming back to TulsaNow more than anything else.

[AMP]

My favorite toy as a kid was the box that other things came in.  They made great forts, and places to hide and play in.  

They actually made a cardboard box that was designed like a Tank and you crawled around in it as it rolled along with the printed tread moving on the outside.  

Brewster's Toy store had awesome toys, and a vist there for your birthday was one of the highlights of the year.  Not sure where I got the Tank Box, but it may of been at Brewsters.

[AMP]

Ah the wonderfull tube type amps.  Digital can never seem to have the same soul as the tube.  As a drummer I used to watch the tubes glow and increase in the strength of light as the guitars got louder.  

Vox Super Beatle, Geoff Bond owned one thing was like a top fuel dragster.  He aimed it out his parents sliding glass back door one evening near Evanston Circle in Southern Hills and gave the conservative neighborhood a new meaning with a wild lead guitar solo.  I now know how those folks must of reacted as loud rap hip hop boom boom music kinda of grates on me.  

I am reminded of one night playing at the Camelot Inn during a Young Republicans party.  Those were some great times in the 60s.

Remember the Farfisa Organs

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by AMP

Ah the wonderfull tube type amps.  Digital can never seem to have the same soul as the tube.  As a drummer I used to watch the tubes glow and increase in the strength of light as the guitars got louder.  
Remember the Farfisa Organs

Nothing, NOTHING can replace the warm, wonderful sound of a vacuum tube amp!  I play Hammond organ/Leslie, not a professional by any means, but just for my own personal enjoyment.  I have been playing Hammonds since my parents bought me my first L100 Hammond spinet in 1965.  The distinct tube amp sound of the classic tonewheel Hammond organ/Leslie speaker is a rock/blues/jazz/gospel classic and can never be exactly duplicated, although the new Hammond/Suzuki digital B3 comes pretty darn close!  But the new digital Hammond consoles cost $20,000+!  You can buy a used vintange tonewheel Hammond today for 1/4 the price, or less.  The vintage Hammond tonewheel organs were built like tanks, to last a multitude of lifetimes with proper maintenance.  My Hammond A102 (just like a B3 but with built in speaker and reverb) will outlive me by 100 years.

Farfisa, VOX, et. al. were just Hammond wannabees, IMO.  They had their own sound and contributed to many classic rock recordings, but Hammond is the GOD.

[random]

He aimed it out his parents sliding glass back door one evening near Evanston Circle


Evanston Circle! When I was in High School circa 1975, we used to cruise all over this town. One of the places we used to drive was "Evanston Circle." There were some cool houses and one house had a huge dog that would run at you with a big log in his mouth! He would follow your car as you drove by. I think I have it  on super 8 film somewhere.

My two cents on (guitar) amps I've always played a hybrid trasnistor and tube. (Music Man 410) Nice warm tube sound with the dependability of "solid state" or as we call them now - "analog."

[AMP]

Anyone remember the drive in Root Beer stands with the frosted mugs, kiddie mugs and the trays that hung on the car window.

That was back when they could use real natural flavoring ingrediants in the Root Beer. And man was it good!  

Today, at least for me, nothing comes close to comparing with the flavors, sights and sounds and the living of and enjoying life as it was back in the 1950s.

We have a guy that races a 1954 Harley Davidson, and that bike is still winning races  today.   They sure don't build alot of things like they used to.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by AMP

Anyone remember the drive in Root Beer stands with the frosted mugs, kiddie mugs and the trays that hung on the car window.

When my family moved to Tulsa from Dallas in the spring of 1957, our first home here was at 2246 S. Gary, directly across the street from Madelene Catholic Church.  Brownie's Root Beer and Burgers was just a short 1-block walk from our house and one of the very first childhood memories I have is walking with my family up to Brownie's for a sandwich and frosty mug of root beer.  I also vaguely remember walking (or perhaps I was in a stroller!) with my dad and brother from our house down to Steve's Sundry on Saturdays to browse and get a bite to eat at their lunch counter.

In early 1961, we moved to a brand new house FAR out in the 'burbs of east Tulsa at 20th Street & 69th E. Ave.  The area around 21st & Sheridan became our stomping grounds then for the 1960s-mid 1970s.

[Susan]

Just curious as I am new to the forum - where did our name come up?  I am Susan Olzawski Barrett and was doing a search this morning on something for my brother Carl and found this.  He said to pass along his information to you - Olzawski@aol.com  Susan Olzawski Barrett

[AMP]

It "Olzawski" is in this thread:

http://www.tulsanow.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6195

Not sure where but the search feature showed it to be there.