You are too old if you remember.......

[ctsignguy]

Lessee......without reading all of what everyone else has on this thread, the old stuff i remember (and where)

Connecticut:
Conn 51 (now US 1)
Conn 52 (Now I-395)
Conn US 44-A (Now US 44)
I-86, and the four shield gantries that had an I-86 on top, Conn 15 and US 44 shields below, and a tiny I-84 below that
Tolls on the Conn Turnpike, the Merritt Parkway
The original Turnpike bridge over the Connecticut River between Old Lyme and Old Saybrook...
Wood signs all over the State...

Ohio:
Ohio 4/69 headed out of Dayton (just Ohio 4 now)
Ohio 440
Sign assemblies with a large US 25 coupled with a 'TO I-75" assembly
all larger signs had two short posts behind them crossways, then mounted on two vertical posts (i especially remember the larger STOP signs mounted in such a way)

General
HoJos all over the place
A&P stores
Atlantic Gas (before they became ARCO)
The Flying A gas
SOHIO gas
Smudge pots instead of barrels or cones to mark construction zones

And i think that is my biggest memory from those days....all the construction and the detours...or where they were expanding a two-lane highway into four
lanes...

[1995hoo]

^^^^^^

This is for you:

[ctsignguy]

Thanks, and these are for me too!   

[Roadrunner75]

I've posted this on another thread awhile ago but here's the entertaining list of defunct retailers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_defunct_retailers_of_the_United_States

See how many you used to shop at...

[roadman65]

Sohio gas stations in Ohio.

When Orlando, Florida was less sprawl and more open area on its area arterials.  What was once a five minuet trip can now take up to twenty minuets if you now live in Central Florida.

When NYSDOT referred to a lot of Rest Areas as Phone Comfort Stations in New York State.

When NJDOT used Lgses on even major freeways.

The Garden State Parkway used just a plain number instead of the traditional exit tab on its road signs.


Here are some real old ones.

Milk vending machines on many street corners.
Mailboxes throughout major suburbs and urban areas.
Rest Areas common on most highways even in populated areas.
Like cts mentioned HoJos everywhere.  Its distinct orange roof and blue steeple made it known from miles without the need for billboards.

[cjk374]

I also remember A&P stores.  What about Murphy's, OTASCO Tire & Service, K&B Drugs, TG&Y Stores?

[roadman65]

I also remember A&P stores.  What about Murphy's, OTASCO Tire & Service, K&B Drugs, TG&Y Stores?

Pantry Pride in the Northeast.
Big Boy Restaurants were pretty much nationwide.  BTW I also remember Shoney's used to have a Big Boy franchise in the 70's.
Winn Dixie and Piggly Wiggly were king in Florida.  Now the former has scaled back a lot while the latter went completely under with Kash n Karry buying out the remainder.
Food Lion started making it big in Orlando area, but now packed up from the Sunshine State altogether.
Jack In The Box used to be in NJ and many other areas east of the ole Miss.

[cjk374]

We still have Piggly Wiggly stores in Homer & Haynesville, LA.  In fact, they are gonna build a new store to replace an old one in Haynesville.

[1995hoo]

I remember a couple of A&P stores in Virginia. Two of them later became "Super Fresh."

We had a chain called High's Dairy Stores in Northern Virginia when I was a kid. I remember them as being somewhat similar to 7-11, though I don't recall many details because we normally went to 7-11 since we could ride our bikes to one near our neighborhood.

Shakey's Pizza Parlor was a popular chain once upon a time. I always wondered what the significance of "parlor" was aside from the alliteration. I think they were nationwide.

[OracleUsr]

When I was a co-op student for IBM, I lived in Marietta, GA, and right at Delk Road and...Powers Ferry (?  I think it was something Ferry Rd) was a huge A&P that I practically lived in.

[mefailenglish]

We had a chain called High's Dairy Stores in Northern Virginia when I was a kid. I remember them as being somewhat similar to 7-11, though I don't recall many details because we normally went to 7-11 since we could ride our bikes to one near our neighborhood.

The biggest difference that I can remember is High's had hand-dipped ice cream in their stores.  They are still around in MD, and maybe Delaware as well?

[roadman]

^^^^^^

This is for you:

Now, you're really too old if you remember when the highway between Hartford and the MA line was only Route 15, or the brief period where part of the highway between Hartford and Manchester was triple signed as I-86, CT 15, and US 6.

[agentsteel53]

on the Mass side ... I just picked up a 1960s spec I-84 shield.  at one point that route was indeed signed as 84, before getting resigned as 86 and then again as 84.

[Roadrunner75]

You are too old if you remember watching this...

[msubulldog]

I also remember A&P stores.  What about Murphy's, OTASCO Tire & Service, K&B Drugs, TG&Y Stores?

I remember TG&Y's in the San Antonio area; my sister-in-law worked at one when she married my brother. I also remember Pine State Dairy products in North Carolina.

[mgk920]

We still have Piggly Wiggly stores in Homer & Haynesville, LA.  In fact, they are gonna build a new store to replace an old one in Haynesville.

You can still "Shop the PIG!" all over Wisconsin, too.



Mike

[DeaconG]

We still have Piggly Wiggly stores in Homer & Haynesville, LA.  In fact, they are gonna build a new store to replace an old one in Haynesville.

You can still "Shop the PIG!" all over Wisconsin, too.



Mike

I haven't seen one of those in years; they used to be quite popular in the Florida Panhandle but Wally World has been taking them out one by one.  I'm actually surprised that the IGA brand is still holding on (there's one in the town my Mom grew up in).

Speaking of groceries, when was the last time anyone saw a Penn Fruit? For me it was the mid-70s in Philly, just before the chain went TU.

[cjk374]

You are too old if you remember watching this...

I remember watching that as a kid....but I didn't realize it was one year older than I am!  Sesame St. apparently kept playing the old skits for many years.

[thenetwork]

You are too old if you remember watching this...

I remember watching that as a kid....but I didn't realize it was one year older than I am!  Sesame St. apparently kept playing the old skits for many years.

...Until EVERYTHING revolved around Elmo's World.  Old School Sesame Street (everything BEFORE Snuffleupagus was visible to all) will ALWAYS be the best!  Same with The Electric Company when Morgan Freeman was best known as Easy Reader.

[BamaZeus]

You are too old if you remember watching this...

I've watched that one on Youtube before to re-live my youth, and there are variations of it where they speed up/slow down the video.

One of them had the whole video played backward, and at one point someone correctly points out that it sounds like a drunk Andre the Giant talking.

[cpzilliacus]

Speaking of groceries, when was the last time anyone saw a Penn Fruit? For me it was the mid-70s in Philly, just before the chain went TU.

I think they existed as far south as Baltimore (I have vague memories of them in the Baltimore area).

[cjk374]

...Until EVERYTHING revolved around Elmo's World.  Old School Sesame Street (everything BEFORE Snuffleupagus was visible to all) will ALWAYS be the best!  Same with The Electric Company when Morgan Freeman was best known as Easy Reader.

I guess you would also be considered "old" if you remember the old school "Electric Company" with their Spiderman comic skits, 5 seconds to say a word before someone else does, and their grumpy smart-ass version of Mr. Roger's "Speedy Delivery" guy.

[misterjimmy]

Yeah, like cts I remember Atlantic/Arco, HoJos, and flare pots.  But also...

-When the CT Turnpike was tolled.
-After CT retired the tolls, those big, wordy orange signs that ended with "Road legally closed.  State liability limited."
-When Mobil's cylindrical glass enclosed pumps looked futuristic instead of retro, and when synthetic Mobil 1 was a new, cutting edge product.
-When the red arrow on the Sunoco sign used to blink on and off. (on purpose )
-Gulf "No-Nox" and Clark "Super 100"
-Before they "bunched" the tolls on the GSP and it felt like you were pitching a dime into a basket every 1/2 mile.
-When STP stickers were available for free, and we plastered them all over our bikes, school notebooks, and Dad's Ford Country Squire Wagon.
-When the DAV would mail you keytags that were a miniature replica of your car's license plate. (I REALLY miss those!)
-When the toll tickets on the Mass Pike, NY Thruway, and probably everywhere else were those full-size IBM punchcards.
-"THE WAR", painted on the bottom half of stop signs circa 1969.  ("What war, Dad?", and he'd just clench his jaws and pretend he didn't hear me.)
And finally.....50 Atomic Fire Balls for a quarter from the corner drug store!!

[cpzilliacus]

We had a chain called High's Dairy Stores in Northern Virginia when I was a kid. I remember them as being somewhat similar to 7-11, though I don't recall many details because we normally went to 7-11 since we could ride our bikes to one near our neighborhood.

Highs can still be found in Maryland in the counties that make up the Baltimore region (in particular Anne Arundel and Howard Counties).

[misterjimmy]

We had a chain called High's Dairy Stores in Northern Virginia when I was a kid. I remember them as being somewhat similar to 7-11, though I don't recall many details because we normally went to 7-11 since we could ride our bikes to one near our neighborhood.

Highs can still be found in Maryland in the counties that make up the Baltimore region (in particular Anne Arundel and Howard Counties).

I KNEW High's sounded familiar, I just couldn't place it. I think there was one in Odenton that I used to stop at on my way to work.