I was a city kid. In 2nd or 3rd Grade I was allowed to leave the house completely unsupervised. One of the things I liked to do was hang out by the local supermarket and ask the ladies if I could carry their bags for them. I usually got a nickle or a dime, One time an older woman gave me an entire quarter and I felt like I’d mugged her because that was so much money.
I had a toy pipe with a gun built into it. If you bit on the pipe stem a plastic ‘bullet’ would shoot out. I guess Mattel thought there was nothing suspicious about a bunch of 9 year olds walking around smoking pipes.
Sounds like the “undercover spy gear” that was popular for a while.
I think there was a cigarette case that folded open and became a gun and, of course, the ink pen telescope plus the ink pen with disappearing ink! And several others as well.
It was weird… we all played outside using our imagination to create fabulous worlds in the same backyard that was a grand prix track yesterday and an undersea exploration spot the day before that.
A stick was a horse one minute, a cane the next, a rifle after that , and a baseball bat… hitting home runs with the bases loaded, winning the world series. Those black walnuts would sail when you made good contact!
Oldest ‘high tech’ toy I can remember. I was about 5? It was a box with a steering wheel. There was a translucent drum with a light bulb in the center. When you turned it on the bulb would light up and you’d see a road. The drum would turn and the road would ‘move’ There was a little toy car that you would steer along the road. No dead hookers.
This will blow minds.
I was a city kid. In 2nd or 3rd Grade I was allowed to leave the house completely unsupervised. One of the things I liked to do was hang out by the local supermarket and ask the ladies if I could carry their bags for them. I usually got a nickle or a dime, One time an older woman gave me an entire quarter and I felt like I’d mugged her because that was so much money.
When I was 6-7 years old my friend’s mom would send us to the corner store to buy her cigarettes. We would use the change to buy candy cigarettes.
I had a toy pipe with a gun built into it. If you bit on the pipe stem a plastic ‘bullet’ would shoot out. I guess Mattel thought there was nothing suspicious about a bunch of 9 year olds walking around smoking pipes.
Sounds like the “undercover spy gear” that was popular for a while. I think there was a cigarette case that folded open and became a gun and, of course, the ink pen telescope plus the ink pen with disappearing ink! And several others as well. It was weird… we all played outside using our imagination to create fabulous worlds in the same backyard that was a grand prix track yesterday and an undersea exploration spot the day before that. A stick was a horse one minute, a cane the next, a rifle after that , and a baseball bat… hitting home runs with the bases loaded, winning the world series. Those black walnuts would sail when you made good contact!
Look… ok… it’s right there in my name…old. LOL
Oldest ‘high tech’ toy I can remember. I was about 5? It was a box with a steering wheel. There was a translucent drum with a light bulb in the center. When you turned it on the bulb would light up and you’d see a road. The drum would turn and the road would ‘move’ There was a little toy car that you would steer along the road. No dead hookers.
This unlocked a memory for me of cigarette-shaped… I think it was gum. They came in pastel colors and were coated in a fine powdered sugar.