DRAWING PADS:
Before iPads, we had drawing pads, whether it was on paper or things like this:
I did a lot of drawing and had many paper pads. Also remember dot-to-dot pictures and Fun Pads, with a mixture of coloring, dot-to-dot, word searches, crosswords and other activities.
DEPARTMENT STORES AND MALLS:
These were everywhere when I was growing up. We had a JC Penney store, which was two stories. I recall looking at the kids' clothes on the second floor, and seeing the circular clothing racks. My mom would often order from the catalog at the store. She herself worked for Ford's, a defunct California department store chain.
And I went to the mall in another town many times. The one I frequently went to had a variety of stores, including book and record stores, as well as various clothing and shoe stores, and stores like Sears and JC Penney (bigger than the one in my town). I enjoyed just riding the escalator! This mall still exists, but I have not been there in years.
An outlet mall in another nearby town has existed since the 1990s. I still go to this one, once recently to get new shoes and pants. When it opened, there were stores for cookware, dishware, specialty food, books, and toys, but today there are mostly clothing and shoe stores, but there is also a toy store. Since the Lane Bryant across town closed, I now have to go the one at the outlet in the same town.
This was certainly different when I was a teen, as we did not have Amazon or other online shopping. As much as Amazon has seemed to taken over, I still like to go to stores in person. Especially when I need something right away. A lot of stores may be gone, but let's hope some remain.
DICTIONARY:
Others may have though it was crazy to look in the dictionary when they didn't have to, but I was OK with it. It was something I'd do when bored. There was more to be found than just word definitions, such as a listing of colleges and universities, people's names and their meanings, and maps, to name a few. There were more than one in my house, including an unabridged dictionary of over 2000 pages. I even had a small one I could carry in my purse for school. And I also had dictionaries in French, Spanish and Italian for school.
I still like the feel of a dictionary, though the last one I had is a paperback that has since fallen apart, and I have not bothered replacing it. Every year new words get added to the dictionary, yet so few people seem to want to use one today.
DISNEY:
Before the Disney Channel and Disney+, there was the Disney anthology series that ran on all three networks, long before Disney owned ABC. ABC, oddly, was the first network to air the series, beginning in 1954. It went through a number of name changes (one of the more memorable titles was The Wonderful World of Disney) as it moved to NBC, and finally to CBS. After ending its original 29-year run in 1983, the series resurfaced on ABC in 1986 as The Disney Sunday Movie. A few later incarnations aired on NBC and CBS, and once again on ABC as Disney acquired that network in the 1990s. It is now on Disney+, once again titled The Wonderful World of Disney.
I mainly watched the show when it was on NBC until 1981, on Sunday nights. Here is the intro used in 1979-80, the era and theme song I remember the most from watching the show:
I did see many Disney movies in the theater, including Cinderella, one of my favorites. I also had the picture books of the Disney versions of Cinderella, Snow White, and Alice in Wonderland.
And I have some recollection of the Disney books that came with records, but cannot recall if I ever had any of these.
It seems that was a Disney thing. Don't know if anyone else used this gimmick.
I have not used a physical dictionary in years! SO much easier just to look up word definitions online!
ReplyDeleteGreat memories were evoked - thank you!
ReplyDeleteMy A to Z Blogs
DB McNicol - Small Delights, Simple Pleasures, and Significant Memories
My Snap Memories - My Life in Black & White
I love this post. It made me smile from ear to ear! I follow this group on Facebook, I think it's called "The 1980's Child" and your post made me think of that.
ReplyDeleteStopping in from A-to-Z: https://brewingcoffeetwistingwordsbreakingpencils.ca/2023/04/05/drop-dead-book-review/
Oh man, I remember a LOT of these. I loved the books you could get wet and they'd 'paint' too, though, honestly, they were probably the bane of my mother's existence.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the walk down memory lane :)
Kai
Kai's featured A-Z's
I still prefer paper to screens. My inner dinosaur is BIG.
ReplyDeleteI still say the best gift any kid could receive is the box of 64 Crayola crayons with the sharpener on the back. That and a big pad of paper or a coloring book or two.
ReplyDeleteThere are several channels on YouTube that feature walks through dead or dying malls that are interesting to watch. More than a bit sad, because you know that, 20 or 30 years earlier, they were THE place to be. (By the way, I pick Circuit City...)
Yes! I used the movie viewer and remember a lot of these. I guess I was a typical 80s child.
ReplyDeleteSunday Disney was a thing here in Hungary too! We were always so excited for it :)
ReplyDeleteThe Multicolored Diary
We always had a lot of Disney stuff around our house and the Mickey Mouse Club was a mainstay of my afterschool TV viewing. There weren't any malls around when I was growing up though outdoor shopping centers started becoming popular. When I was a child if we went to a department store we would go downtown. It was fun at Christmas time when those stores had elaborate displays in their store windows.
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