They say with age comes wisdom. Part of that wisdom involves understanding the past and how we used to do things. There are some items that simply don’t exist anymore.
From telephone booths to jacks, we’ve gathered all of the classics. The fact of the matter is that young people just aren’t going to recognize these images, and if you do, it means that your childhood is likely long gone.
However, the effortless nostalgia provided by this list should go a long way towards cheering up your old heart and soul. It’s a sign of a life well-lived. After all, if you haven’t accidentally exploded a bag of Jiffy Poppy on the stove before, you are definitely missing out.
Jacks is a game that was all the rage back in the day. It involves tossing a bunch of sharp metal
jacks, each with six points. Then, you try and pick up as many as you can while you bounce a rubber ball or something like that…
If you want to get the VCR to work, you always need to make sure the TV is set on channel three. There is nothing broadcasting there. It’s all just static… loud, annoying, static. However, that’s the whole point.
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The 1950s was a time period when weird green and yellow colors were very popular. The
Formica laminate composite tables were basically made out of a form of plastic. They weren’t natural, but at the time, that actually made them seem super modern.
“Does anyone remember having to look for the empty Blockbuster box in front of the game to show it was available to rent?” asks one nostalgic gamer. Things used to be way different. Now you can just download every game online, plus, the availability is unlimited.
Slow cookers have been a staple kitchen item for multiple generations now. Although, in the beginning, there was only one main option. It was the Crockpot.
Anyone who knows what used to go on in between these wooden dividers is obviously at least a few decades old. They are relics from back in the primitive days of landlines. It was a time when in order to make a phone call, you had to be connected to a cord.
Minor cuts and wounds in the past were often disinfected with this miracle mercury-containing dye.
Mercurochrome was eventually banned in the United States. However, many people still remember the stinging feeling it caused when applied to cuts.
Can you guess what used to go on this old-school piece of equipment? Without the label, it might be a little hard to figure out at first. However, avid gamers will quickly recognize this as the classic Nintendo Entertainment System cartridge.
If you have one of these tools in your kitchen, you have definitely been on this earth for a while. Either that or you are really into home cooking. In the world of instant everything, potato mashers just aren’t that popular anymore
If you have any idea what’s going on in these images, you were definitely around in the eighties and nineties. It was an era of rewinding cassette tapes with pencils and buffing off CD scratches with cloths.
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For some people, these three numbers will mean a lot. For others, they mean very little. It all depends on whether you have ever adjusted the speed on a record player or not.
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12. Abandoned Blockbuster
Kids will look at this building and see a big slab of cement. Adults see something else though. They see the ruins of a forgotten era, a time when movies were rented from stores.
Every shoe store used to have one or more of these devices lying around. They were often scattered all over the place. The measurements were crucial to getting a good fit.
Car windows in the past had to be rolled up and down with a crank. It seems like common sense to a lot of us. However, kids might not even believe you if you tell them this.
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Do you know what’s underneath this cute doll’s dress? Don’t worry, it’s nothing too scandalous. It’s just your standard roll of toilet paper.
Every kid wanted to have one of these tiny televisions in their bedroom in the nineties. It was a dream come true for the youngsters. It even had its only little built-in VCR for watching movies after Mom and Dad went to bed.
Cakes wrapped in foil used to be a real thing. All of the top brands were doing it. How else would you keep a chocolate Ding Dong nice and fresh?
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Are you aware of what comes next after this screen? If so, you might be getting old. In addition, you’ve probably wasted a lot of time watching random movie trailers in your life.
Kids have no idea that soda can tabs used to actually detach from the can when you pulled them. They were supposed to go in the trash afterward. However, in many cases, they simply became part of the landscape.
Before the Internet, it wasn’t easy to figure out the showings for the various movies playing at the theater. You either had to acquire a newspaper and hope that they were listed, or simply show up at the theater in person and ask.
21. Old-Fashioned Wash Board
Do you know what this one is? Despite what some goofy people might think, it isn’t a musical instrument. A lot of people tried to use it that way at one point, but really, most of us just washed clothes with it.
Erasers weren’t just for erasing pencil marks. If you had pens with special ink, they could be erased too. Of course, it was only possible with these special blue erasers.
There used to be a store that had a special running all the time that was indicated by a blue light. It was a beacon of low prices, and sadly, it died when K-Mart died. That beautiful blue light will be dearly missed.
Remember, when in order to know who was calling, you needed to own a separate box? It was the early days of caller ID. Only those willing to go the extra mile were able to figure out the numbers behind the voices.
At one point, you could erase all of the marks and scuffs off the sides of your white sneakers. As long as you had the secret polishing tool, you could have everything looking sparkling new again.
You or someone you know has likely owned one of these bad boys at some point. Almost every nightstand had one. It was either this exact model or something very similar.
These are especially common around the holiday season. You have a bowl of chestnuts on the countertop and other assorted nuts to crack and enjoy. Without the pick and crackers, it wouldn’t be possible.
This game looks much easier to play than it really is. It’s Waterful ring toss. While pressing a little button might sound simple in theory, it actually takes a lifetime to master.
Back in the eighties and earlier, bricks of government cheese was totally a thing. Now, the only cheese that comes in a box is Velveeta. It might not be fancy, but it sure hits the spot.
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Kids everywhere used to have tons of fun on car rides and airplanes playing with the tiny built-in ashtrays. They were part of the rear-door armrests in vehicles. If you weren’t careful, you could easily end up getting burnt.
If you are old enough to have spent some time in the kitchen, you might recognize this item. Do the slabs of raw meat give it away? That spiky metal mallet is a meat hammer.
This mat was really popular in kids’ rooms for a while. Technically, you could drive matchbox cars around on it. However, very few people actually ever played with it. It just wasn’t that exciting.
Depending on your age, it might have been your mom, your grandparents, or it might have been you who owned one of these blankets. The colors and patterns are unmistakable. They just don’t make them the same anymore.
Some people will look at this image and see a dog wearing clothes. Others will look at it and see Wishbone, one of the world’s most accomplished detectives. His TV
series was popular in the late nineties.
Getting to the correct radio station used to take a lot of skill. It was a matter of extreme precision. You had to slowly twist a dial back and forth until all of the static faded away and you got the station dialed in.
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Do these two cartoonish characters mean anything to you? One is a wise owl and the other is a young boy with a very important question — “How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie pop?”.
If you recognize this amazing entertainer, it’s likely that you are a fan of the golden years of cinema.
Phyllis Diller started as a stand up comedian and later went on to star in more than 40 different movies. That was in addition to all of her TV sitcom and variety show appearances!
38. Chests For Lost Teeth
Losing a tooth is a big deal for a kid. It’s a rite of passage. What better way to keep that memory secure than inside a little plastic chest?
Vehicles no longer include this little switch anymore. It’s no longer necessary. Things have gotten much more high-tech since back in those days.
For years, VHS movies used to come in these big bulky cases. They were made out of a white plastic vinyl with the movie labels stuck to the outside of them. Everyone had a shelf or two of these in their home.
It’s pretty funny that an image of a computer login screen can trigger nostalgia for so many people. However, that’s exactly what happens in this case. You can include us in those statistics, too!
Before the days of electronic contact lists, you had to write phone numbers down on pieces of paper and in books. Many people used to write numbers down on index cards and then organize them alphabetically using one of these machines.
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Some playgrounds were basically works of art. There were gigantic wooden castles and jungle gyms that would make any toddlers’ eyes glisten. They were beautiful, majestic, and so much fun.
Have you ever made coffee with a percolator coffee pot? It’s no Keurig, that’s for sure. Making a pot of coffee the original way actually takes a lot of effort.
The glider used to be a staple in backyards everywhere. We’re not sure what ever happened to it. Over the years, it slowly went out of style.
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These mirrors were very useful. We’re willing to bet that some of you still have them in your closets too! The bright lights on the side make applying makeup very easy to do.
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47. Chalkboard Accessories
Classrooms all across the world had these strange chalk holders in them. They were used for drawing a bunch of straight lines. It’s something that was quite important for music and English teachers.
If you went to the drive-in movies with your friends, family, or significant other, you needed a speaker. Every parking spot in the field had one. You could pull up next to it, and sometimes, you could even attach it to the window of your car.
It’s your own personal device for watching pictures up close. They were the original movies. You could only view one slide at a time.
Young kids everywhere used to love cap guns. Meanwhile, they drove the parents crazy. The smell of burning gunpowder from the paper caps was unmistakable. We can still smell it today, just by thinking about it.
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They say with age comes wisdom. Part of that wisdom involves understanding the past and how we used to do things. There are some items that simply don’t exist anymore.
From telephone booths to jacks, we’ve gathered all of the classics. The fact of the matter is that young people just aren’t going to recognize these images, and if you do, it means that your childhood is likely long gone.
However, the effortless nostalgia provided by this list should go a long way towards cheering up your old heart and soul. It’s a sign of a life well-lived. After all, if you haven’t accidentally exploded a bag of Jiffy Poppy on the stove before, you are definitely missing out.
