Childhood Memories of Tulsa 1960s-1970s

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by TulsaMINI

Y'know, I actually graduated with kids I went to kindergarten with. That's the Westside for ya!

I did too, and I grew up in the 1960's around the area of 21st St. & Sheridan, in far southeast Tulsa at the time, so that is not just a west-side phenomenon.  I was in the very first kindergarten class in the fall of 1962 at the then brand new John Paul Jones Elementary School.  Went on to Eli Whitney Jr. High and Nathan Hale Sr. High, graduating in 1975 with many kids that were in my original 1962 kindergarten class at John Paul Jones.

I hear that the school board is relocating the Margaret Hudson program from my former elementary school, Jones, and is going to reopen Jones as an elementary school this fall.  Kudos for that.  This was long over-due for the surrounding neighborhoods and restores a much needed neighborhood school.

[Dejadilla]

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.

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.

Weber's Root Beer on Peoria near 32nd, I believe. Frosty mugs and silver trays. Local owned and operated.

[AngieB]

quote:Originally posted by Dejadilla

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.

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.

Weber's Root Beer on Peoria near 32nd, I believe. Frosty mugs and silver trays. Local owned and operated.

I don't remember Weber's having a drive-in set up or trays. The trays that hung onto the car windows were at A&W. I also remember that they had tiny tiny mugs for the kids.

About Weber's...my brother worked there about '75 or '76 and Leon Russell would come in all the time. Probably had the munchies. [8D]

[RLitterell]

quote:Originally posted by Dejadilla

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.

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.

Weber's Root Beer on Peoria near 32nd, I believe. Frosty mugs and silver trays. Local owned and operated.

Yeah, I remember that place too. It was an old orange colored building, ahh cruising the "restless ribbon"

[AMP]

Up until the FDA banned some of the ingrediants in REAL ROOT BEER, Brownies Hamburgers made their own RB and served it in Frozen Mugs.

They still have RB today in those thick frozen mugs, but it is not the same as back when we were kids.  

I will try to find my Brownies Ad from 1972

Anyone remember Big Miikes
http://s176.photobucket.com/albums/w162/ampracing10/Tulsa%20Speedway/?action=view¤t=PICT1890.jpg

[RecycleMichael]

The only ingrediant I know missing from today's root beer is the oil from sassafras. In 1960, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned sassafras as a potential carcinogen, however, a method was found to remove the oil from sassafras. Only the oil is considered dangerous today.

Hey...I know a lot about root beer...

[Steve]

The banning of cyclamates was the death of Funny Face soft drink mixes.  Anyone else remember those from the 1960s?  Pillsbury's sugar-free alternative to Kool Aid.  I remember Goofy Grape, Lefty Lemon, Loud Mouth Lime, Rootin' Tootin' Raspberry.  And of course Chinese Cherry (the slant-eyed, bucked tooth cherry on the package!) and Injun Orange (with the feather and goofy face), two of the first consumer products to succumb to political correctness.  They were replaced with Choo-Choo Cherry and Jolly Olly Orange.  I have seen unopened mint packages of Chinese Cherry and Injun Orange from the 1960s go for BIG bucks to collectors on EBAY.

I think Pillsbury tried to keep the Funny Face brand going with sugar and sacharine sweetened versions, but just couldn't compete with Kool-Aid.  I saw some of the original Funny Face plastic character drink mugs for sale at a 15th Street resale shop recently.  I laughed out loud when I saw those.

[Steve]

Anyone else remember watching Hollywood studio cartoons (MGM, Warner Brothers, etc.) on Tulsa TV in the 1960s, on shows like the morning "Cartoon Circus" BEFORE these cartoons were edited for violence and political correctness?  

Since around 1970, all these old cartoons have been stripped of racial stereotype images and someone's idea of excessive violence.  Is it possible today to buy DVDs or tapes of the original, uneditted versions of these cartoons?

I particularily remember the Black and Asian stereotypes.  Elmer Fudd would be chasing Bugs Bunny and shoot his gun.  The screen would go black with smoke.  When the smoke cleared, there would be Bugs in blackface with exagerated lips and eyes, shouting "Mammy!" or singing "Swanee" with a banjo.  I also remember Asian stereotypes with slant-eyed characters in coolie hats, particularily from the Tweety Bird cartoons.  All of these types of scenes have been removed and what you see today is not the original version, but a sanitized "politically correct" version.  Some of the most artistic, clever, witty, fluid hand-drawn animation ever created was from the 40s & 50s, and unfortunately because of racial stereotypes, industry censorship, and today's over-sensitivity, can not be viewed in its original form today.

[Steve]

When I was a child at John Paul Jones Elementary in Tulsa, 1962-1968, the school cafeteria had two lunch lines, the cash line and the "ticket" line.  Must have been a very progressive idea at the time.  The "ticket" line was for kids that prepaid their lunch; you would prepay a week or two worth of lunches and the cashier lady would have your prepaid ticket.  When you went through the line, she would mark off the cost of the foods you bought and you never had to carry cash for lunches.  You could buy either the standard plate lunch or ala carte, but when your ticket was full, you had run out of lunch money until you bought a new ticket.

I was always in the "ticket" group, my mom was a firm believer in that so she didn't have to prepare my lunch or give me lunch money every day.  I remember going into the cafeteria early on Monday mornings to buy my prepaid lunch tickets. As I recall, $1.60 would buy you a week or more of full, healthy lunches.  We "ticket" line kids were considered the nerds of the day!

I also remember we ate off of genuine china plates and dishes and with real stainless silverware.  No disposable dishes or utensils back then, and everything was washed and reused.  It was an honor to be a school cafeteria worker and serve on the washing line (I still have my 6th grade cafeteria worker certificate.)  The food was all cooked in-house by the cafeteria cooks, no catering or fast-food outsourcing whatsoever.  I loved the bean chowder, cinnamon rolls, Okie Pizza, and the Okie Spaghetti.  And there was always fresh salads and more healthy foods on the line too.  Kids remember school cafeteria food as awful, but in retrospect to me, it was pretty darn good.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by TulsaMINI

quote:Originally posted by RLitterell

quote:Originally posted by TulsaMINI

So greasy the buns glistened!

I went to Robertson. Mrs. Elsey and Mrs. Gathron were my favorite teachers. I'm trying to remember the 2nd grade teacher's name -- I can picture her, very tall and thin. Seems like her name was Mrs. Barcley? Is that right?

Yes!!! Mrs. Barclay. She was my teacher too. She taught there for many many years. We moved to Berryhill after 2nd grade. Mrs. Barclay lived there and her two sons went to Berryhill School. One was in my grade the other was a year older. I think she has passed away. I am not real sure of that but a friend of mine seemed to think she had.
My 1st grade teacher was Mrs Graham and Kindergarden was Mrs Wilbanks and Mrs Emmerson. Wow not a bad memorey for a 50 something year old huh? I am bashing my brain trying to remember the gym teacher, a male with Elvis like hair. The principal was Mr. Morton.
My goodness the memories you have stirred!!!

Mrs. Emerson was my kindergarten teacher. Do you remember Miss Watkins the music teacher? I have all my yearbooks, I'll dig them out and see if I can throw some more names at you. You're my brother's age but he went to Pleasant Porter. Oh, just remembered, Mr. Layton was our principal.

Y'know, I actually graduated with kids I went to kindergarten with. That's the Westside for ya!

I did too, but different areas.

What's weird is I went to Barnard until the end of 5th grade.  We moved out to the Jenks district, went there, 6th through 9th, finished up at Cascia and wound up graduating with kids I went to school with from both schools.

TM- were you in school w/ Tami Marlar?  We were same year, different schools.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by Steve

When I was a child at John Paul Jones Elementary in Tulsa, 1962-1968, the school cafeteria had two lunch lines, the cash line and the "ticket" line.  Must have been a very progressive idea at the time.  The "ticket" line was for kids that prepaid their lunch; you would prepay a week or two worth of lunches and the cashier lady would have your prepaid ticket.  When you went through the line, she would mark off the cost of the foods you bought and you never had to carry cash for lunches.  You could buy either the standard plate lunch or ala carte, but when your ticket was full, you had run out of lunch money until you bought a new ticket.

I was always in the "ticket" group, my mom was a firm believer in that so she didn't have to prepare my lunch or give me lunch money every day.  I remember going into the cafeteria early on Monday mornings to buy my prepaid lunch tickets. As I recall, $1.60 would buy you a week or more of full, healthy lunches.  We "ticket" line kids were considered the nerds of the day!

I also remember we ate off of genuine china plates and dishes and with real stainless silverware.  No disposable dishes or utensils back then, and everything was washed and reused.  It was an honor to be a school cafeteria worker and serve on the washing line (I still have my 6th grade cafeteria worker certificate.)  The food was all cooked in-house by the cafeteria cooks, no catering or fast-food outsourcing whatsoever.  I loved the bean chowder, cinnamon rolls, Okie Pizza, and the Okie Spaghetti.  And there was always fresh salads and more healthy foods on the line too.  Kids remember school cafeteria food as awful, but in retrospect to me, it was pretty darn good.

Steve,

I didn't even get all the way through your post before I started thinking about working in the cafeteria at Barnard.  I also was thinking about bean chowder, cinnamon rolls, and sauerkraut.  When my mother got the chance, she would come eat lunch w/ me at Barnard on bean chowder day.  She would always ask me to find out when they were serving bean chowder again.  That really was a great lunch.

[Conan71]

quote:Originally posted by Steve

Anyone else remember watching Hollywood studio cartoons (MGM, Warner Brothers, etc.) on Tulsa TV in the 1960s, on shows like the morning "Cartoon Circus" BEFORE these cartoons were edited for violence and political correctness?  

Since around 1970, all these old cartoons have been stripped of racial stereotype images and someone's idea of excessive violence.  Is it possible today to buy DVDs or tapes of the original, uneditted versions of these cartoons?

I particularily remember the Black and Asian stereotypes.  Elmer Fudd would be chasing Bugs Bunny and shoot his gun.  The screen would go black with smoke.  When the smoke cleared, there would be Bugs in blackface with exagerated lips and eyes, shouting "Mammy!" or singing "Swanee" with a banjo.  I also remember Asian stereotypes with slant-eyed characters in coolie hats, particularily from the Tweety Bird cartoons.  All of these types of scenes have been removed and what you see today is not the original version, but a sanitized "politically correct" version.  Some of the most artistic, clever, witty, fluid hand-drawn animation ever created was from the 40s & 50s, and unfortunately because of racial stereotypes, industry censorship, and today's over-sensitivity, can not be viewed in its original form today.

That was back beofore white people decided to become apologists for every culture and race.  I do still remember when it was okay to laugh at ourselves, and particularly remember some of the cartoon instances you cited.  Not too long ago, one member on this forum took me to task and tried to have me booted for making a "Confucious say" reference, implying I was hateful toward Asians (the "hate" in hateful would be your first clue as to whom it was).  I'm sure that same member used to laugh at Looney Toons too.

[AMP]

Golden Corral has a bean chowder product that is as close to the old school Bean Chowder that I have found. It is on the potato bar with the soup. Be sure to grab a handfull of crackers, and some milk to wash it down with.. YUMMY!  

I have a friend that works in a School Cafeteria, she told me they still make the Bean Chowder, Cinammon Rools and the sheet pizza.  

Man that was some good eats....

Did not offer them at Vo Tech when I took a few adult classes in metal fabrication, Welding Pprocesses, and Archetectural Metal Design a few years ago.  Buddy Cagle was the instructor and he was the best teacher I have ever had anywhere.  

Their breakfast up at the North Airport campus rocked.  Lemley's food on Memorial was more gormet as they had a culinary class there.  Prices are very reasonable and anyone can stop in their and eat I believe, at least it was allowed when I was attending there.

Speaing of food and CH students, when I was a border there '66 '69 we got food from Bishops Cafeteria.  

Anyone remember Billie that worked the salad area when you first got in line at the Utica Square Bishops?   She would always put a scoop or two of dressing on your tossed salad and say "That'l Do It"  Sweet lady, and it made the food taste even better.

Anyone remember the young man that played the piano at the Utica Square and the 41st and Garnett Bishops?  I believe he took lessons from the man that owned the general aviation airport out on East 11th Street, Harvey Young.

David was his name, and I think he went big time, he was an excellent planists.  Anyone remember his last name?

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by Conan71

quote:Originally posted by Steve

Anyone else remember watching Hollywood studio cartoons (MGM, Warner Brothers, etc.) on Tulsa TV in the 1960s, on shows like the morning "Cartoon Circus" BEFORE these cartoons were edited for violence and political correctness?  

Since around 1970, all these old cartoons have been stripped of racial stereotype images and someone's idea of excessive violence.  Is it possible today to buy DVDs or tapes of the original, uneditted versions of these cartoons?

I particularily remember the Black and Asian stereotypes.  Elmer Fudd would be chasing Bugs Bunny and shoot his gun.  The screen would go black with smoke.  When the smoke cleared, there would be Bugs in blackface with exagerated lips and eyes, shouting "Mammy!" or singing "Swanee" with a banjo.  I also remember Asian stereotypes with slant-eyed characters in coolie hats, particularily from the Tweety Bird cartoons.  All of these types of scenes have been removed and what you see today is not the original version, but a sanitized "politically correct" version.  Some of the most artistic, clever, witty, fluid hand-drawn animation ever created was from the 40s & 50s, and unfortunately because of racial stereotypes, industry censorship, and today's over-sensitivity, can not be viewed in its original form today.

That was back beofore white people decided to become apologists for every culture and race.  I do still remember when it was okay to laugh at ourselves, and particularly remember some of the cartoon instances you cited.  Not too long ago, one member on this forum took me to task and tried to have me booted for making a "Confucious say" reference, implying I was hateful toward Asians (the "hate" in hateful would be your first clue as to whom it was).  I'm sure that same member used to laugh at Looney Toons too.

Yes, I would love to see the old cartoons in their original form.  I think at 50 years old now, I have grown up enough in attitude to appreciate the artistry and humor, and look past the racial stereotypes, without someone else's imposed censorship.  And after all, most of those old cartoons were produced for adult audiences, not children.

I may get some flak here, but I think one of the greatest animated shorts ever produced was Bob Clampett's 1943 "So White & De Sebben Dwarfs" (also known as "Coal Black & De Sebben Dwarfs'), a WW2 era cartoon take-off of the Snow White story with an all-black cast and military WW2 theme.  Fantastic animation, a break-neck pace, wonderful 1940s swing music, just a masterpiece all-around.  And the voice cast was all black actors, not white people in dialect.  This cartoon was banned for years on TV, but if you search the internet, you can find it today.  Chock full of racial stereotypes for sure, but they say that in its day, black audiences loved it just as much, if not more than white audiences did.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by AMP

Bean Chowder, Cinammon Rools and the sheet pizza.  

Man that was some good eats....

Yea, the sheet pizza was what I referred to as Okie pizza.  It was just a dough crust, seasoned ground beef, and shredded chedar on top, formed in a large rectangular sheet pan.  Would taste pretty lame to us now, but was might tasty back in the day!

The only cafeterias I remember in Utica Square were Danner's Cafeteria in the 1960s, and later Furrs.  I remember the lady that used to play the organ for diner's enjoyment at Furrs!  (I am an organist so I really remember that.)