Making another deposit in the memory bank

One of the [many] reasons I keep up this little slice of virtual real estate is so I'll have a place to write down things that I might otherwise forget to share with my kids (or that they might forget that I've shared).

This morning I found something in my inbox purporting to contain "all of my childhood memories in one email".  While that proved to be a bit of an exaggeration, it did contain pictures of a nice collection of things that were certainly still very much part of popular culture when I was a kid (I've added a few at the end that they missed):

45 rpm spindles, Green Stamps, Metal Ice cube trays, Beanie and Cecil, Roller-skate keys, Cork pop guns, Marlin Perkins, Drive in Movies, Drive  in restaurants, Car Hops, Studebakers, Topo Gigio, Washtub wringers, The Fuller Brush Man, Sky King, Reel-To-Reel tape recorders, Tinker-toys, Erector Sets, Lincoln Logs, 15 cent hamburgers, 5 cent packs of baseball cards, Penny candy, 25 cent a gallon gasoline, Jiffy Pop popcorn, 5 cent stamps, Gum wrapper chains, Chatty Cathy dolls, 5 cent Cokes, Speedy Alka-Seltzer , Falstaff Beer, Burma Shave signs, Brownie camera, Flash bulbs, TV Test patterns, Old Yeller,  Chef Boy-AR-dee, Fire escape tubes, Timmy and Lassie, 'Ding Dong - Avon calling' , Brylcreem ("Just a dab'll do ya"), Davy Crockett hats (with the raccoon tail), Pendleton Jackets, Banana bike seats, Ape Hanger handlebars, Wonderama, Howdy Doody Time, "I pledge allegiance...", home-made kites, home movies and slide shows, Polaroid Land Cameras, "It's not nice to fool mother nature", playing 'Cowboys & Indians' and 'Cops and Robbers', TV Dinners (with 'tater tots'), Square Dancing in school, putting a penny on the arm of a phonograph to keep it from skipping,  Sears & Roebuck catalogs, Woolworth lunch counters, Rexall stores, 'Fountain Service', PF Flyers, Mumps, Captain Kangaroo, ...

Feel free to add your own memories to the list.

Anyway, the reason I've shared this today is that the bit about 'Car Hops' and 'Drive-In restaurants' got me thinking about a hall where I used to play in my previous life as a club-date trombonist.

Without mentioning the hall by name, suffice it to say this venue was one of the least favorite of most of the guys in the band (in the music industry!).  Aside from the fact that the place was owned by the mob and that musicians were treated like dirt there (one band leader was even hospitalized!), it was geographically undesirable... located way in hell over in Staten Island; a schlep from just about everywhere!

I think it puzzled the band's office staff that I always seemed delighted when they told me I had a gig there.  In fact, on more than one occasion I tried to switch with another musician so I could play there and not in one of the 'better halls' in a more desirable location.

The reason for my preference was not the fake marble or tacky decor.  It wasn't the ham-handed, neckless staff or the bandstand set-up between the two main doors.  It was the fact that the place was located just down the block from an A&W Root Beer joint (one of the few left in the region), and they were open nearly all night! 

This meant that no matter how late the gig ended, or what a blood-bath it had been, I knew I could stop off afterward for an ice cold, frosty mug of fresh Root Beer!  It didn't matter that I probably looked foolish sitting in the neon-lit booth quaffing my Root Beer in a Tuxedo.  The promise of that frosty drink kept me focused throughout the gig, and the lingering taste of sarsaparilla and wintergreen made my two hour drive home to Connecticut pass in a flash.

I hope I didn't bore you too badly today. Sometimes a guy's gotta make a deposit in the memory bank... before the memories all fly away. 

Big hat tip to my friend Karl Newman who sent me the original email that triggered this wool gathering session.