Released in 1965, "Bash!" by Milton Bradley is a kind of junior version of Jenga or a vertical version of "Don't Break the Ice".
Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Monday, July 27, 2015
Beer Can Memories
Believe it or not, beer can collecting was a legitimate hobby in the 1970's. The father of the kid down the street from me had a huge collection which he displayed on the walls of their basement rec room. My father was a Busch man and my brothers Budweiser, so seeing the great variety of manufacturers and brands fascinated me -- and got me hooked.
Resolute on starting my own collection, but being 10 and extremely underage and with limited access to the Anheuser-Busch brands in my own home, I decided the best way to build my collection would be to scour the roads after the weekend and search the various impromptu garbage dumps in the woods around our house.
Enlisting the help of my younger neighbor Jeff (we'll share the collection!) we set out every weekend one summer and by the end had amassed quite a collection of different brands and variant cans. We kept the cans in a 5 gallon drum we found at one of the dumps (and which probably previously held some now-outlawed toxin). For some reason, rather than keep the collection at either of our houses (one reason probably being that our parents would throw them out and secondly, we probably couldn't work out an equitable agreement for co-ownership), we hid the collection in our neighbor's yew shrubs.
From Blatz to Hamms to Schlitz, we collected 7 oz, 12 oz and 16 oz versions. Yet one can remained my holy grail. One my friend down the street had in his collection. The massive 25 oz Foster's Lager "oil can". Though I'd never seen one outside of his collection, they probably weren't that uncommon. They were an Australian brewer, but they had been imported to the U.S. since 1972, at least 5 years before we started our own collection. But it was still elusive and we never did find one. Then one day that Fall, we discovered our collection was gone. We blamed Jeff's brother for stealing it, but most likely it was discovered by the owner of the home where we hid them and thrown away like so much rubbish. The blow was too much and we abandoned our hobby.
Memories of those days came sharply into focus today in the garage of an estate sale where I found a box lot of beer cans, someone else's abandoned collection. Curious, I looked through the cans, some common and other not so common brands.
Resolute on starting my own collection, but being 10 and extremely underage and with limited access to the Anheuser-Busch brands in my own home, I decided the best way to build my collection would be to scour the roads after the weekend and search the various impromptu garbage dumps in the woods around our house.
Enlisting the help of my younger neighbor Jeff (we'll share the collection!) we set out every weekend one summer and by the end had amassed quite a collection of different brands and variant cans. We kept the cans in a 5 gallon drum we found at one of the dumps (and which probably previously held some now-outlawed toxin). For some reason, rather than keep the collection at either of our houses (one reason probably being that our parents would throw them out and secondly, we probably couldn't work out an equitable agreement for co-ownership), we hid the collection in our neighbor's yew shrubs.
From Blatz to Hamms to Schlitz, we collected 7 oz, 12 oz and 16 oz versions. Yet one can remained my holy grail. One my friend down the street had in his collection. The massive 25 oz Foster's Lager "oil can". Though I'd never seen one outside of his collection, they probably weren't that uncommon. They were an Australian brewer, but they had been imported to the U.S. since 1972, at least 5 years before we started our own collection. But it was still elusive and we never did find one. Then one day that Fall, we discovered our collection was gone. We blamed Jeff's brother for stealing it, but most likely it was discovered by the owner of the home where we hid them and thrown away like so much rubbish. The blow was too much and we abandoned our hobby.
Memories of those days came sharply into focus today in the garage of an estate sale where I found a box lot of beer cans, someone else's abandoned collection. Curious, I looked through the cans, some common and other not so common brands.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
The Big Book of the Real Circus
Notwithstanding the black-eyed, nicotine-stain-toothed psycho clown on the cover, this "Big Book of the Real Circus" has some pretty cool painted pictures. Not to be confused with that fake circus on the other side of town, from 1951 it's the Real Circus.
Saturday, July 25, 2015
In the News -- January 12th, 1942
I picked up this newspaper at an estate sale yesterday for free. Some interesting articles and ads. Enjoy!
Friday, July 24, 2015
Magic as a Hobby
This "Magic as a Hobby" booklet dates from the 1950's and was sold at the surprisingly high price for the times of $1. It contains some classics like the old "remove your thumb" trick that my brother used to pull on me (freaked me out) and "Dead Man's Finger", a trick I first saw "Ralph Malph" use to try to scare Marcia the Waitress on "Happy Days" and one which I attempted to employ in the days after (never scared anyone). There are also some cool Ripley-esque illustrations, some illusions, and a few tricks I didn't know.
Wednesday, July 22, 2015
Grand Canyon or Bust, 1963
Today's installment of the mystery family's vacation is the last on our trip west and begins with a stop at Hoover Dam, then moves on to Meteor Crater and ends at the Grand Canyon.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Disneyland 1963, Part 2
Today we wrap up our trip to Disneyland 1963, but stick around for the remainder of the trip. The one thing I noticed about these slides is you never see the person behind the camera, presumably Dad. And many times, he's not even on the ride with the family. Little did he know that what he saw through his viewfinder would one day be seen by at least 10's of people from around the world (there's that many of you out there, aren't there???)
Fantasyland
Storyland Canal Boat
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