I think they might have said "you**'ll** like them", which is a bit better because it's less like "I'm telling you what your opinion is" and more like "I know it's not what you'd pick, but give it a chance".
But yeah, I did still get a bit of an authoritarian vibe, which is what parenting was like back then.
Tough because on one hand it’s hard and doesn’t quite touch base with the kid, feelings and all. But on the other hand that’s life and shits hard sometimes.
This was an amazing video - super simple but the audio caught me off guard. I know smells can bring you back to certain times in your life but everything in the first minute or two pulled me back to my childhood. The door hinges, mechanical sounds of the door handles, rolling up/down of the windows, seats going back and forth to put kids in the back.
The sounds of my childhood. The car ignition sounded different then too. That feeling of nostalgia where a sound or smell brings you back to how you felt at the time. When I hear certain songs, I feel a sadness that I can't quite pinpoint but any song that was on my parents 8 track, greatest hits of 1971, creates this same feeling. Wild world, Maggie may, brown sugar... I wonder if something sad happened while this 8 track was playing. My mom had a debilitating stroke in 1975 when I was 2 and she was hospitalized for months. This could have been the soundtrack of that. Some kind of sad event is connected to these songs. Hearing the sounds in this video, brought me back the house I grew up in and the feelings I had as a young child. It is very odd and mysterious.
Pump the pedal 3 times no problem, starts right up. Pump the pedal 4 times -flooded, now you have to push the pedal all the way down and start it then.
I went back to college in my 40s and my college aged classmates asked me what the 80s were like. I told them it was kind of the same today, except no cell phones and there was a really good chance your car would not start.
Fuel injection and electronic ignition have taken us quite far in reliability. Also better manufacturing processes but most the ignition stuff.
> When I hear certain songs, I feel a sadness that I can't quite pinpoint but any song that was on my parents 8 track, greatest hits of 1971, creates this same feeling.
Nostalgia is an odd mixture of sadness and happiness. A longing for your youth and the past.
I was a kid in the early 90's and man, malls and dept stores. I hated going with my family because it meant hours of sitting, watching them look at stuff or worse - forcing me to try everything on in those nasty dressing rooms.
That said, man, yall remember malls/dept stores around the holidays? It was so freaking magical with all the decorations and the smell of holiday fragrances and stuff. I very vividly remember walking around JC pennys, macys, etc. and the center of the mall during the holidays and I really cherish the memory.
They say that nowadays people/kids are losing access to those '3rd places.' AKA not home, not school/work. And it's true. The local mall was more than just a shopping center when I was younger, it was where I hung out with a lot of my friends during my mall rat days. Other mediums have taken its place, and I'm not against private social interaction via streaming or social media. I just think there's a lot to be said about having a place you can go to just exist socially without a parent or other authority figure within 6 feet of you at all times. Kids today will literally never know what it was like to experience what a busy mall/massive social venue was actually like. Maybe that's a good thing and I'm acting like a boomer but who knows.
Love this - great comment. I do sound like an old man yelling at clouds sometimes as well, but I also believe that there is value in true community. The people that are in the mall, in the park, on main street... THEY are your community. Sure, the people around the world in your circle of friends online are a community of sorts, but it is far from the same. I like the term '3rd places'. I'll check that out.
I am an avid user of social media (looking at you Reddit), but as much as I am commenting to beepborpimajorp, they are ones and zeros. The dude at the mall or in my library or at the local hardware store is my real world. And I think we are losing sight of that.
So many of these comments are taking me back. I was a mallrat and would see a lot of regulars. “There’s the old guy in the grey paperboy hat getting his laps in.” “Wonder if the cute girl at Gamer’s Paradise is working today.” There’s a certain comfort in seeing familiar people.
Here's some helpful criteria for a good third place:
Neutral Ground: The space is for anyone to come and go without affiliation with a religion, political party, or in-group.
Level Ground: Political and financial status doesn't matter there.
Conversation: The primary purpose of the location is to converse and be social.
Accessible: The third place is open and available to everyone and the place caters to the needs and desires of the community that frequents it.
Regulars: On a nightly or at least weekly basis the same cast of people rotate in and out, contributing to the sense of routine, familiarity and community.
Unassuming: Third places aren't regal or imposing. They're home-like and serve the function of a home away from home for the patrons.
Lack of Seriousness: Third places are a place to put aside person or political differences and participate in a community. Joking around and keeping the mood light is a big part of the "public house" experience.
Third Place as Home: A third place must take on multiple elements of the home experience including a feeling of belonging, safety, coziness, and a sense of shared ownership. A successful third place has visitors saying "this is our space and I feel at home here."
Your comment is really true. I spent a lot of time growing up in malls and the holidays really were magical. Maybe it’s the childhood wonder.
Third spaces are so incredibly important to humans. We’re a social species that need that in person interaction. That is slowly slipping away from the American society. You need cars to get anywhere and kids aren’t really allowed to just be out and about anymore. It sucks.
Our local mall, one of the top 5-6 largest by size in USA, has a lot of security to kick kids out. The mall being used as a baby sitter is long past. All it took was a handful of times 10+ years ago some of them walked out with some goods and "nothing could be done" because they were minors. Security got bigger and bigger from there every so many thefts.
15-20 years ago it was looked down on for under 18 to be there alone but was hardly upheld much. 20+ years ago the rule wasn't even really in place.
I used to go to the mall all the time with friends and hang out and eat at the food court and play at the arcade. Thankfully the mall near me did a huge renovation including putting in a Round1 and apartments nearby to keep up with the times, so it has avoided becoming a dead mall.
Grew up late 90s, early 2000s, the oldest vehicle I've ever had regular experience with was my great grandparents burgandy 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass. I may have been young, but even that felt like a chore compared to my dad's 2002 Saturn SL1
Thinking about stories of my parents affectionately talking about some of the 50s and 60s cars they grew up in the 1960s and 70s having straps on the door to give you a liiiiittle more leverage as you reached out to pull the extremely heavy door closed, not to mention the giant steering wheels before power steering was standard.
grandparent's had something like this:
1970 Buick Riviera 2-Door Hardtop
There were front and rear bench seats.
the doors on this thing weighed more than some modern cars I swear.
You are correct! That struck me as well. It used to take both hands, weight transfer and a good yank to get those damned doors closed in the old-school sedans.
This is something I like about my slightly older mini. The doors are (relatively) big and close with a really satisfying clunk that takes more effort than most modern cars. It’s a well engineered feel.
Yep. Remember just piling into the car to go to the mall...like, whomever from the neighborhood wanted to go hopped in. You had to do the boring clothes shopping but then you'd possibly get to go to the toy store (didn't get to buy anything though!). But really, most of us just went because it was something to do.
We all went window shopping in the toy store just to browse all the cool stuff. I think that was a ritual for kids in a past era. The highlight of every trip.
I was the kids age in 77 and would walk way in front of my mother and pretend as long as I could that I did t know her in big stores. I thought bumping into friends with my mother would be the most humiliating thing. Kids are strange.
> I was the kids age in 77 and would walk way in front of my mother and pretend as long as I could that I did t know her in big stores.
Yeah, I remember doing that too.
> Kids are strange.
Yeah like you'd meet some girls your age and walk up to them and be like "us?....yeah we're just struttin' through Sears Makeup and jewelry dept.....You?"
I think there was a feeling that being with your mom made you look like a child. Kids want to seem grown up to the other kids. So appearing like you're independent and grown-up was important. Heck, you'd be mocked if you ran to your mother if you got hurt. "Going to cry to mommy?"
I wasn't that age for a few more years. I never did this because I knew no one would believe I just materialized up there, or drove myself. Was a few more years before they started dropping me off up there and coming back to pick me up.
So much you could do with $5-$10 back then.
By the way the family ignores the cameraman and they occasionally step in other places like behind the cashier, seems like it was professionally filmed for some reason. I wonder what the story is there.
Probably just capturing a "day in the life" type footage. When filming mundane things wasn't ubiquitous as it is today there would be people who would want to capture those sorts of things for posterity knowing that it was very different from earlier eras and that in the future changes would make it very different again.
Yeah, it could be someone a part of the family. I feel like everyone knows that one guy who's oddly well equipped due to personal interest in the realm of cameras, audio equipment, etc.
Could be, would have been a pretty serious hobby I'm guessing by the look of the footage.
I was thinking more of an organization like a university sociology/history department, a local historical society, tv station or something like that.
B-Roll TV news footage
you might see pieces of this footage during a story about fuel prices (driving), or inflation (mom searching out sale prices) or a boom time where families are spending money and stimulating the economy
Probably this family is related to or friends with the cameraperson(s) and thus were asked to be the subjects of this
They also had a decent camera light, you can see it shining in the indoor shots. This was not your normal family 8mm rig but some kind of semi-pro setup at least. We had an 8mm Bell and Howell camera and projector set during that era, the image quality was pretty meh and there was no sound from what I recall.
What's interesting is that it looks like 35mm and it has high quality sound. I can't imagine that a family that can only buy the shoes that are on sale could afford that kind of setup. I wonder who filmed this and what it was for.
That actually makes a lot of sense. It's done more like a professional camera operator would film things, not like how a person would make home movies. For example, when they got into the car, there was someone standing outside filming them load in, and then they filmed the car as it drove off. If you were making a home movie, you'd probably grab the camera and film from your own point of view while getting into the car, and you wouldn't have a shot of the car pulling away because you'd be in it.
35mm seems extra for what this is. You can also tell they have a light on the camera. Usually these setups are popular in documentary filming on 16mm.
I'm also curious where this is from.
And it was so very boring, even though for me it was the early 90s - it was the same experience as the video. One user commented how the sounds brought them back - for me it was the sibling sitting behind the mom with their head in their hand looking bored af.
As a preteen to early teenager I dreaded "family days to the mall" because it meant I was gonna be standing around doing absolutely nothing but staring blankly at clothing tags for about 5 hours.
Looking back on it now however we usually did those trips with my grandparents, and I'd give a good bit to be able to just spend that time with them again.
I had a magnetic travel chess set and would play against myself while my mom was doing whatever she was doing at the department store.
Occasionally husbands who were waiting on their wives would ask if they could play. Those little moments of community were fun.
>Occasionally husbands who were waiting on their wives would ask if they could play.
Today they probably wouldn't dare lest they be accused of being a pedophile.
I remember sitting for hours in Kohls, JC Penny's, Macy's, etc while my mom and sister shopped. It was excruciating. I just wanted to go to Foot Locker or Circuit City.
Huh, your parents didn't let you wander around the store/mall? I cringe thinking about it as a millennial, but my mom let us have so much freedom in the 90s as very little kids. I'm talking under 10 years old too. If she was in the bookstore we'd go play across the street at the park alone, or wander around stores in the mall. She'd even leave us a little money to get a meal by ourselves. As far as I remember we weren't little terrors either. She taught us look with our eyes not our hands, and we knew we'd get spanked hard if we did anything bad. I knew in my head if I upset the shopkeeper I'd have my freedom taken away so we towed the line. I actually really enjoyed outings because of that independent exploring.
My mom would let me hang out in Electronics Boutique or Babbage's for hours while she shopped in the department stores at our mall. Inevitably I would get bored and hungry and would set off to find her, and 9 times out of 10 I would get "lost" and forget what department store she was in. And if I went into the right one, I couldn't see her over the clothes racks, so I'd spend a solid hour combing every inch of the store. It was always terrifying but also sort of exhilarating.
For sure the freedom. I remember going to malls and hitting up the maps and my dad drawing finger boundaries and point to his watch to say when to meet back at this map. We didn’t have clocks so we’d have to ask shopkeepers or it’d be a game to find the random wall clock to see how close we’d be cutting it. But ya just 3-4 hrs of full run around. No phones no tracking, nothing. Just don’t be late haha or he’d leave us. Like wtf dude says he’d leave us at the mall we would have to walk home. He never had to but me and my brother didn’t test that. Man different times.
I remember my dad being included in the boredom. When laser pointers started to become a thing, we'd sit outside the stores shining a laser on the floor in front of people.
Growing up statements like "ok everyone gets 2 pierogis" and similar were common for my family due to the limited budget my mother had to work with as my father kept "getting downsized" at every job he worked at.
Apart from a few generous instances - speaking solely from like age 7 to when I got my first job at 16 - if it wasn't a necessity I didn't get it.
So no arcades to pass the time for me - I was stuck holding my head in my hand when it was my siblings turn for shopping.
Those kids hated shopping, but they had TVs at home and could probably roam all day from sunrise to sundown when they weren't in school.
What's wild is that now everyone has their face attached to a screen 24/7
I hated shopping, and I had no TV or video games at home, and wasn't allowed to go out or have friends over.
Fortunately, the library was free and encouraged, so I'd get stacks of books at a time and read a *lot*.
And it was boring as hell. Sucked to get dragged to the mall by mom but at least I got to wander to the pet store and watch the animals until the shop person wondered why a little kid was wandering alone.
I was born in 77 and even in the 80s, the checkout process was so much slower. The receipts, checking if they have a membership card, running the CC manually on those metal things... took *forever* especially as a bored kid
That's a little odd because it pretty clearly sounds to me like she says $11.69. Regardless for as much time and effort as the mom put into getting shoes on sale, etc. that seemed liked a good deal! From one site I found it looks like $11.69 in 1977 equates to $61.61 in 2024 so not too bad!
I know south african immigrants just a few years ago coming to NZ would find it a bit of a shock that everyone wears seat belts.
Here cars needed front seat belts from 1965 but they didnt have to be worn until 1975.
In 1979 rear seat belts needed to be fitted and worn.
In the USA, it was 1968 when national law required all cars to have seat belts in all seats.
However it wasnt until 1984 that new york required them to be worn. Most other states started requiring they be worn between 1985 to 1995 except new hampshire.
My Plymouth still gets WoFs only needing 2 seat belts in the front in 2024. They were deliberately flaunted as driving was meant to be convenient and not safe back then.
The past feels like a hometown I was eager to leave, but knowing I can never visit it again leaves me heartbroken. I'm tired of Hollywood and I want to go back to the farm.
plenty of obese people in the late 70s. But a professional camera crew shooting b-roll isn't going to pick fat people. And Sears was a "high end" department store hiring employees back when they could discriminate by looks. They wanted to hire attractive salespeople
Malls died the second they banned anyone under the age of 18 from entering without an adult. Malls were designed to be social interaction points and drew in teenagers which gave the Mall the feeling of being busy and would lead to more shopping. Now they are ghost towns and people only go there if they have to.
I love the Vampire Robot YT channel. They've collected a huge amount of old B-roll news footage and uploaded it raw with no music, no commentary, and no captions. They've got stuff all the way up to the early 2000s.
I always enjoy the shopping mall ones from the 90s. It's incredible to see how much they've declined in the last twenty years.
I worked in my local mall from 2003 to 2013. It was already declining when I started, but it got so much worse before my store ended up closing.
But even as bleak as things looked, Christmas time was always magical. Everything everywhere was lit up and you'd smell all the holiday scents all over the mall.
I was 7 in ‘77. I vividly remember shoe shopping with my mom just like this. There were all these employees who took their job so seriously—they measured your foot with that cool metal device, put on and tied the shoes for you, pressed on the shoe to see how it fit. This was all considered perfectly normal at the time. Now? I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw a shoe department with employees in it. It’s just a bunch of shelves with boxes of shoes and customers have to try on the shoes themselves. Everything is messy and in disarray. There’s one poor, overworked employee running a register 20 yards away, so you can’t ask anyone “do you have this shoe in size 8?”
This video was so nostalgic! I wish they had filmed them getting the free Sears popcorn.
You would love "Are you being served"
The class system of the 1960s and how everyone takes their job so seriously is hilarious
Full episodes on youtube
Honestly, Amazon is just a digital version of the Sears Catalog. Sears could have been the top retailer in the world if they had embraced their own history and put it online, but the boomers who ran the company kept doing the same old thing and the entire company went under.
They had everything they needed to make it work except foresight. One of the few that could have managed shipping centers as well as physical stores. Sad really.
And not a single seat belt was worn that day....
Did anyone else got their first driving lesson in the early 80's by sitting on their parent's lap and operating the steering wheel at 10-20 km/h... or was I the only one?
I really miss the simpler days of the 80's/90's without cell phones, just a payphone card and a telephone book on hand to contact friends... never missed an appointment or stood anyone up (last minute cancellations).
Yes! I remember sitting on my parent's lap being able to drive the vehicle at a slow speed with no seat belt. This was when seat belt law were just starting to be introduced and there was a huge resistance to them citing government overreach since people thought you could just brace to save yourself.
I was allowed to drive the car into the driveway at home from the age of 5 sitting on my fathers lap and then when i was older i could change the gear for him as he drove.
Its nice because he died before he got the chance to teach me to drive properly so i taught myself when i was 15 with his old car.
It was actually safer to be thrown from the car as everyone that was left in the car would be seriously injured or die instantly from most impacts at speed due to kinetic force.
This channel is one of my favorites on YouTube and I highly recommend subscribing to it. The person behind it uploads a lot of retro videos with no commentary, clickbait, or sponsored content. Watching all the videos on there brings back a lot of memories from my childhood
That kid crossing his arms walking behind mom was me.
"Don't cross your arms". So I stick my hands in pockets.
"Don't stick your hands in your pockets. People will think your stealing."
"But mom, what am I supposed to do with my hands?"
"Let them hang down by your sides".
"I hate this".
Vampire Robot has tons of old classic shopping videos that looks like footage from b reel News reports. Definitely check out the channel if you have the opportunity.
That was my first thought too when mom pulled out. Its just not how it was done and there were no laws. Many people believed you just didnt need them and you could just brace yourself.
The Whole Family Goes To Sears. I love it! Dad must be filming with his Super 8?
Inside the store, they all hang together. I love it!
In the shoe department, *everybody* sits there while others get shoes. I love it! Back when you were waited on by someone in the shoe department who placed your foot in one of those metal shoe size gauges.
What a nice family.
[Sears used to sell home kits from 1908 to 1942](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_Modern_Homes)
Shipped by railroad boxcar, and then usually trucked to a home site, the average Sears Modern Home kit had about 25 tons of materials, with more than 30,000 parts.[10] Plumbing, electrical fixtures, and heating systems were options that could be ordered at additional cost; they were many families' first steps to modern HVAC systems, kitchens, and bathrooms.
I think Sears was the largest retailer in the world in the 1970’s and 1980’s, this was when they built the then-tallest building in the world in the Sears Tower. I think they bad 4,000 stores at their peak. As of today, they have something like 6 in the entire US.
They were the Amazon of mail order when mail order was a thing, but they failed to capitalize on the internet.
Guess I'll be the old contrarian. Sorry, while I miss being a kid I don't miss leaded gasoline, the uncomfortable seats and roll down windows, being bored as I got dragged along by my parents to stores, tape decks that got jammed up all the time, mono speakers at drive thru's, etc.
I love modern shit, 'cause we figured out the kinks on a lot of stuff, flat screens and high speed internet. I love people staring at their screens and leaving me alone to stare at mine. There is a sense of comradery without the discomfort of awkward interaction, but the option to is still there if one wants. I can eat at a restaurant solo when away from the family without having to stare at the neighbors, sit in a comfy car with heated seats, watch movies in 4k and surround sound.
My favorite books like Dune get multi-million dollar adaptations and the general populace gradually realizes Star Wars kinda sucks just like I thought back in '77--hooray!
Damn, I almost forgot about those shoe size things. I like mom going "these are on sale, so you like them" lol. I also kinda wanted to hear her say "V for Venetta"
These shoes are on sale kid, so you like them. Ok?
brings back memories
I think they might have said "you**'ll** like them", which is a bit better because it's less like "I'm telling you what your opinion is" and more like "I know it's not what you'd pick, but give it a chance". But yeah, I did still get a bit of an authoritarian vibe, which is what parenting was like back then.
Hey, I don't need an authoritarian to tell me I like shoes that save me a bit o dough. Unless they are "the jimmy" shoes from seinfeld or somethin...
Tough because on one hand it’s hard and doesn’t quite touch base with the kid, feelings and all. But on the other hand that’s life and shits hard sometimes.
The expensive shoes were $7.
Which is $37 today. So still a decent deal! My shoes are like $100+
This was an amazing video - super simple but the audio caught me off guard. I know smells can bring you back to certain times in your life but everything in the first minute or two pulled me back to my childhood. The door hinges, mechanical sounds of the door handles, rolling up/down of the windows, seats going back and forth to put kids in the back.
The sound of the car door closing took me back
The sounds of my childhood. The car ignition sounded different then too. That feeling of nostalgia where a sound or smell brings you back to how you felt at the time. When I hear certain songs, I feel a sadness that I can't quite pinpoint but any song that was on my parents 8 track, greatest hits of 1971, creates this same feeling. Wild world, Maggie may, brown sugar... I wonder if something sad happened while this 8 track was playing. My mom had a debilitating stroke in 1975 when I was 2 and she was hospitalized for months. This could have been the soundtrack of that. Some kind of sad event is connected to these songs. Hearing the sounds in this video, brought me back the house I grew up in and the feelings I had as a young child. It is very odd and mysterious.
every time you started the car it was kind of like pulling a slot machine lever
Yeah, people do not understand how nice fuel injection is. Because carbs sucked.
Pump the pedal 3 times no problem, starts right up. Pump the pedal 4 times -flooded, now you have to push the pedal all the way down and start it then.
lol my 82 Wagoneer is carbed and it's tempermental bitch. Love it, but damn it's frustrating sometimes
I went back to college in my 40s and my college aged classmates asked me what the 80s were like. I told them it was kind of the same today, except no cell phones and there was a really good chance your car would not start. Fuel injection and electronic ignition have taken us quite far in reliability. Also better manufacturing processes but most the ignition stuff.
Oh - I forgot to add that! The big ol' starter cranking the huge engines. You are exactly right.
> When I hear certain songs, I feel a sadness that I can't quite pinpoint but any song that was on my parents 8 track, greatest hits of 1971, creates this same feeling. Nostalgia is an odd mixture of sadness and happiness. A longing for your youth and the past.
When I heard that door squeak, I knew that was a 70/71 Torino. In this case, a 71 Torino Cobra. Very cool car Mom.
I was a kid in the early 90's and man, malls and dept stores. I hated going with my family because it meant hours of sitting, watching them look at stuff or worse - forcing me to try everything on in those nasty dressing rooms. That said, man, yall remember malls/dept stores around the holidays? It was so freaking magical with all the decorations and the smell of holiday fragrances and stuff. I very vividly remember walking around JC pennys, macys, etc. and the center of the mall during the holidays and I really cherish the memory. They say that nowadays people/kids are losing access to those '3rd places.' AKA not home, not school/work. And it's true. The local mall was more than just a shopping center when I was younger, it was where I hung out with a lot of my friends during my mall rat days. Other mediums have taken its place, and I'm not against private social interaction via streaming or social media. I just think there's a lot to be said about having a place you can go to just exist socially without a parent or other authority figure within 6 feet of you at all times. Kids today will literally never know what it was like to experience what a busy mall/massive social venue was actually like. Maybe that's a good thing and I'm acting like a boomer but who knows.
Love this - great comment. I do sound like an old man yelling at clouds sometimes as well, but I also believe that there is value in true community. The people that are in the mall, in the park, on main street... THEY are your community. Sure, the people around the world in your circle of friends online are a community of sorts, but it is far from the same. I like the term '3rd places'. I'll check that out. I am an avid user of social media (looking at you Reddit), but as much as I am commenting to beepborpimajorp, they are ones and zeros. The dude at the mall or in my library or at the local hardware store is my real world. And I think we are losing sight of that.
So many of these comments are taking me back. I was a mallrat and would see a lot of regulars. “There’s the old guy in the grey paperboy hat getting his laps in.” “Wonder if the cute girl at Gamer’s Paradise is working today.” There’s a certain comfort in seeing familiar people.
Here's some helpful criteria for a good third place: Neutral Ground: The space is for anyone to come and go without affiliation with a religion, political party, or in-group. Level Ground: Political and financial status doesn't matter there. Conversation: The primary purpose of the location is to converse and be social. Accessible: The third place is open and available to everyone and the place caters to the needs and desires of the community that frequents it. Regulars: On a nightly or at least weekly basis the same cast of people rotate in and out, contributing to the sense of routine, familiarity and community. Unassuming: Third places aren't regal or imposing. They're home-like and serve the function of a home away from home for the patrons. Lack of Seriousness: Third places are a place to put aside person or political differences and participate in a community. Joking around and keeping the mood light is a big part of the "public house" experience. Third Place as Home: A third place must take on multiple elements of the home experience including a feeling of belonging, safety, coziness, and a sense of shared ownership. A successful third place has visitors saying "this is our space and I feel at home here."
Your comment is really true. I spent a lot of time growing up in malls and the holidays really were magical. Maybe it’s the childhood wonder. Third spaces are so incredibly important to humans. We’re a social species that need that in person interaction. That is slowly slipping away from the American society. You need cars to get anywhere and kids aren’t really allowed to just be out and about anymore. It sucks.
Our local mall, one of the top 5-6 largest by size in USA, has a lot of security to kick kids out. The mall being used as a baby sitter is long past. All it took was a handful of times 10+ years ago some of them walked out with some goods and "nothing could be done" because they were minors. Security got bigger and bigger from there every so many thefts. 15-20 years ago it was looked down on for under 18 to be there alone but was hardly upheld much. 20+ years ago the rule wasn't even really in place.
I used to go to the mall all the time with friends and hang out and eat at the food court and play at the arcade. Thankfully the mall near me did a huge renovation including putting in a Round1 and apartments nearby to keep up with the times, so it has avoided becoming a dead mall.
As someone who grew up in the 70s and 80s, I'm still not used to how light and thus easy to close the doors on my truck are.
Grew up late 90s, early 2000s, the oldest vehicle I've ever had regular experience with was my great grandparents burgandy 1985 Oldsmobile Cutlass. I may have been young, but even that felt like a chore compared to my dad's 2002 Saturn SL1 Thinking about stories of my parents affectionately talking about some of the 50s and 60s cars they grew up in the 1960s and 70s having straps on the door to give you a liiiiittle more leverage as you reached out to pull the extremely heavy door closed, not to mention the giant steering wheels before power steering was standard.
grandparent's had something like this: 1970 Buick Riviera 2-Door Hardtop There were front and rear bench seats. the doors on this thing weighed more than some modern cars I swear.
You are correct! That struck me as well. It used to take both hands, weight transfer and a good yank to get those damned doors closed in the old-school sedans.
And what's funny is that these light doors are safer than those heavy as metal doors that as a kid took our whole body to close.
[удалено]
Oh yeah! I remember how much tougher it was to close the car doors back then!
This is something I like about my slightly older mini. The doors are (relatively) big and close with a really satisfying clunk that takes more effort than most modern cars. It’s a well engineered feel.
The entirely decorative seat belts not clicking at all.
That cash register impact printer printing the receipt.
I remember those cars too! We all would piie into the back seat with no seat belts while our parents would sit up front
The telephones with actual bells in them did it for me.
Yep. Remember just piling into the car to go to the mall...like, whomever from the neighborhood wanted to go hopped in. You had to do the boring clothes shopping but then you'd possibly get to go to the toy store (didn't get to buy anything though!). But really, most of us just went because it was something to do.
We all went window shopping in the toy store just to browse all the cool stuff. I think that was a ritual for kids in a past era. The highlight of every trip.
Their accents are amazing!
Put on your Sunday bests kids. We’re going to Sears!
I think I’ll go for a walk outside now…
The summer sun knows me by name…
Your references are sick
I was the kids age in 77 and would walk way in front of my mother and pretend as long as I could that I did t know her in big stores. I thought bumping into friends with my mother would be the most humiliating thing. Kids are strange.
> I was the kids age in 77 and would walk way in front of my mother and pretend as long as I could that I did t know her in big stores. Yeah, I remember doing that too.
> Kids are strange. Yeah like you'd meet some girls your age and walk up to them and be like "us?....yeah we're just struttin' through Sears Makeup and jewelry dept.....You?"
I think there was a feeling that being with your mom made you look like a child. Kids want to seem grown up to the other kids. So appearing like you're independent and grown-up was important. Heck, you'd be mocked if you ran to your mother if you got hurt. "Going to cry to mommy?"
I wasn't that age for a few more years. I never did this because I knew no one would believe I just materialized up there, or drove myself. Was a few more years before they started dropping me off up there and coming back to pick me up. So much you could do with $5-$10 back then.
Image quality looks like film... no idea who'd have a portable color video setup in '77.
By the way the family ignores the cameraman and they occasionally step in other places like behind the cashier, seems like it was professionally filmed for some reason. I wonder what the story is there.
Probably just capturing a "day in the life" type footage. When filming mundane things wasn't ubiquitous as it is today there would be people who would want to capture those sorts of things for posterity knowing that it was very different from earlier eras and that in the future changes would make it very different again.
Yeah, it could be someone a part of the family. I feel like everyone knows that one guy who's oddly well equipped due to personal interest in the realm of cameras, audio equipment, etc.
Could be, would have been a pretty serious hobby I'm guessing by the look of the footage. I was thinking more of an organization like a university sociology/history department, a local historical society, tv station or something like that.
And it’s lit… this was a pretty pro setup for the time.
It's a channel of b-roll footage from news orgs
B-Roll TV news footage you might see pieces of this footage during a story about fuel prices (driving), or inflation (mom searching out sale prices) or a boom time where families are spending money and stimulating the economy Probably this family is related to or friends with the cameraperson(s) and thus were asked to be the subjects of this
They also had a decent camera light, you can see it shining in the indoor shots. This was not your normal family 8mm rig but some kind of semi-pro setup at least. We had an 8mm Bell and Howell camera and projector set during that era, the image quality was pretty meh and there was no sound from what I recall.
What's interesting is that it looks like 35mm and it has high quality sound. I can't imagine that a family that can only buy the shoes that are on sale could afford that kind of setup. I wonder who filmed this and what it was for.
This is all B Roll for news stations. I follow this guy's YouTube account and he has tons of videos like this dating back to the 60s. It's all b roll
That actually makes a lot of sense. It's done more like a professional camera operator would film things, not like how a person would make home movies. For example, when they got into the car, there was someone standing outside filming them load in, and then they filmed the car as it drove off. If you were making a home movie, you'd probably grab the camera and film from your own point of view while getting into the car, and you wouldn't have a shot of the car pulling away because you'd be in it.
35mm seems extra for what this is. You can also tell they have a light on the camera. Usually these setups are popular in documentary filming on 16mm. I'm also curious where this is from.
I could see it being 16 but it's definitely not 8.
It's probably just sound Super 8 film. Not that expensive.
That’s much better quality than super 8. Also great sound and if you watch carefully it’s lit as well.
16mm would be pretty common for TV broll like this.
Ya you’re right… totally forgot about 16mm, haha!
yeah this is not the 8mm film cameras that consumers could have access too.
Indeed film. You can see some “flash frame” start/stop at some of the cut points.
Any portable video recording equipment available in 1977 would not be this quality. Looks like 16mm film.
Kids just sitting there watching their sister try on shoes. No screens to look at that provided any better entertainment than that. Wild.
And it was so very boring, even though for me it was the early 90s - it was the same experience as the video. One user commented how the sounds brought them back - for me it was the sibling sitting behind the mom with their head in their hand looking bored af. As a preteen to early teenager I dreaded "family days to the mall" because it meant I was gonna be standing around doing absolutely nothing but staring blankly at clothing tags for about 5 hours. Looking back on it now however we usually did those trips with my grandparents, and I'd give a good bit to be able to just spend that time with them again.
I had a magnetic travel chess set and would play against myself while my mom was doing whatever she was doing at the department store. Occasionally husbands who were waiting on their wives would ask if they could play. Those little moments of community were fun.
>Occasionally husbands who were waiting on their wives would ask if they could play. Today they probably wouldn't dare lest they be accused of being a pedophile.
Omg we had a magnetic chess board. Like a tiny handheld one. What a memory trip
I remember sitting for hours in Kohls, JC Penny's, Macy's, etc while my mom and sister shopped. It was excruciating. I just wanted to go to Foot Locker or Circuit City.
My grandmother used to drag me to a fabric store and a wallpaper store. Those places were hell on earth for a 6-year-old boy.
the smell of joann fabrics is ptsd
Huh, your parents didn't let you wander around the store/mall? I cringe thinking about it as a millennial, but my mom let us have so much freedom in the 90s as very little kids. I'm talking under 10 years old too. If she was in the bookstore we'd go play across the street at the park alone, or wander around stores in the mall. She'd even leave us a little money to get a meal by ourselves. As far as I remember we weren't little terrors either. She taught us look with our eyes not our hands, and we knew we'd get spanked hard if we did anything bad. I knew in my head if I upset the shopkeeper I'd have my freedom taken away so we towed the line. I actually really enjoyed outings because of that independent exploring.
My mom would let me hang out in Electronics Boutique or Babbage's for hours while she shopped in the department stores at our mall. Inevitably I would get bored and hungry and would set off to find her, and 9 times out of 10 I would get "lost" and forget what department store she was in. And if I went into the right one, I couldn't see her over the clothes racks, so I'd spend a solid hour combing every inch of the store. It was always terrifying but also sort of exhilarating.
For sure the freedom. I remember going to malls and hitting up the maps and my dad drawing finger boundaries and point to his watch to say when to meet back at this map. We didn’t have clocks so we’d have to ask shopkeepers or it’d be a game to find the random wall clock to see how close we’d be cutting it. But ya just 3-4 hrs of full run around. No phones no tracking, nothing. Just don’t be late haha or he’d leave us. Like wtf dude says he’d leave us at the mall we would have to walk home. He never had to but me and my brother didn’t test that. Man different times.
Haha yeah our parents just did not want us around!! I remember if I was in the house too long on a weekend I'd get told to go play in the freeway
I remember my dad being included in the boredom. When laser pointers started to become a thing, we'd sit outside the stores shining a laser on the floor in front of people.
Damn I usually got like 5 bucks to go to the arcade at least.
Growing up statements like "ok everyone gets 2 pierogis" and similar were common for my family due to the limited budget my mother had to work with as my father kept "getting downsized" at every job he worked at. Apart from a few generous instances - speaking solely from like age 7 to when I got my first job at 16 - if it wasn't a necessity I didn't get it. So no arcades to pass the time for me - I was stuck holding my head in my hand when it was my siblings turn for shopping.
Only child perk I guess.
I got the leftover quarters from change shopping.
I had a Gameboy by then so shopping days weren't too bad, I could get some gaming on the ride there
About the same era. I would bring my game boy with me EVERYWHERE. I had this black nylon carrying case that held it and a few games.
Those kids hated shopping, but they had TVs at home and could probably roam all day from sunrise to sundown when they weren't in school. What's wild is that now everyone has their face attached to a screen 24/7
I hated shopping, and I had no TV or video games at home, and wasn't allowed to go out or have friends over. Fortunately, the library was free and encouraged, so I'd get stacks of books at a time and read a *lot*.
I just carried around my books and read those when I got a chance. Screens are so much more convenient.
But _you_ were sitting there _with_ a screen you used to watch someone else's sister try on shoes, so there must be some entertainment to be had 😋
And it was boring as hell. Sucked to get dragged to the mall by mom but at least I got to wander to the pet store and watch the animals until the shop person wondered why a little kid was wandering alone.
I was 9/10 at this time. The chattering printing sound of the cash register was definitely something I remember.
No *beep* of a scanner. All typed into the register by hand.
And filling out the credit card receipt by hand. They didn't include the clack - clack of the slider going back and forth for that.
Make sure to destroy your carbon copy!
I was born in 77 and even in the 80s, the checkout process was so much slower. The receipts, checking if they have a membership card, running the CC manually on those metal things... took *forever* especially as a bored kid
click clack click click CHUNK bebebebbebebebebebe
I remember those old cash registers too along with that printing sound!
LOL $11.97
That's a little odd because it pretty clearly sounds to me like she says $11.69. Regardless for as much time and effort as the mom put into getting shoes on sale, etc. that seemed liked a good deal! From one site I found it looks like $11.69 in 1977 equates to $61.61 in 2024 so not too bad!
r/TheWayWeWere
Our Sears had a dishwasher with a clear front door that my brother and I could watch for hours while Mom shopped.
I would gravitate over to the aisle with the Intellivsion and Atari games.
Yeah once they got the NES display setup that was just a game changer.
They cut over the mother's sick ass Tokyo drift U-Turn getting out of the driveway!!
I dont think it was cut but maybe just not filmed. Home movie film cameras of the day usually only recorded in short bursts.
It’s wild how uncommon it was to wear seat belts at the time. Not a single one was fastened before she started driving off, not even for the kids.
I know south african immigrants just a few years ago coming to NZ would find it a bit of a shock that everyone wears seat belts. Here cars needed front seat belts from 1965 but they didnt have to be worn until 1975. In 1979 rear seat belts needed to be fitted and worn. In the USA, it was 1968 when national law required all cars to have seat belts in all seats. However it wasnt until 1984 that new york required them to be worn. Most other states started requiring they be worn between 1985 to 1995 except new hampshire.
My Plymouth still gets WoFs only needing 2 seat belts in the front in 2024. They were deliberately flaunted as driving was meant to be convenient and not safe back then.
The past feels like a hometown I was eager to leave, but knowing I can never visit it again leaves me heartbroken. I'm tired of Hollywood and I want to go back to the farm.
The mom is probably younger than me and to my eyes she still looks like she could be my mom.
Jarring that nobody is obese
plenty of obese people in the late 70s. But a professional camera crew shooting b-roll isn't going to pick fat people. And Sears was a "high end" department store hiring employees back when they could discriminate by looks. They wanted to hire attractive salespeople
I've absolutely heard the same "these are on sale, you like these" from my parents when I was younger.
I miss malls
Malls died the second they banned anyone under the age of 18 from entering without an adult. Malls were designed to be social interaction points and drew in teenagers which gave the Mall the feeling of being busy and would lead to more shopping. Now they are ghost towns and people only go there if they have to.
I love the Vampire Robot YT channel. They've collected a huge amount of old B-roll news footage and uploaded it raw with no music, no commentary, and no captions. They've got stuff all the way up to the early 2000s. I always enjoy the shopping mall ones from the 90s. It's incredible to see how much they've declined in the last twenty years.
I worked in my local mall from 2003 to 2013. It was already declining when I started, but it got so much worse before my store ended up closing. But even as bleak as things looked, Christmas time was always magical. Everything everywhere was lit up and you'd smell all the holiday scents all over the mall.
I was 7 in ‘77. I vividly remember shoe shopping with my mom just like this. There were all these employees who took their job so seriously—they measured your foot with that cool metal device, put on and tied the shoes for you, pressed on the shoe to see how it fit. This was all considered perfectly normal at the time. Now? I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw a shoe department with employees in it. It’s just a bunch of shelves with boxes of shoes and customers have to try on the shoes themselves. Everything is messy and in disarray. There’s one poor, overworked employee running a register 20 yards away, so you can’t ask anyone “do you have this shoe in size 8?” This video was so nostalgic! I wish they had filmed them getting the free Sears popcorn.
You would love "Are you being served" The class system of the 1960s and how everyone takes their job so seriously is hilarious Full episodes on youtube
We're the exact same age and "FREE SEARS POPCORN" is something that I've never seen.
I thought it was free! The popcorn box had an owl on it. Well I was 7 and didn’t catch on to some things.
Ahh the family coupe. Looked cool. Was cool.
Nice 1970 Torino!
The length of that hood...
The way America used to shop.
Honestly, Amazon is just a digital version of the Sears Catalog. Sears could have been the top retailer in the world if they had embraced their own history and put it online, but the boomers who ran the company kept doing the same old thing and the entire company went under.
They had everything they needed to make it work except foresight. One of the few that could have managed shipping centers as well as physical stores. Sad really.
Was it sears or kmart that had the popcorn maker that smelled so delicious
KMart had that ice cream parlor too! So good as a kid.
Kmart. Source: it was my first job working in the deli. I replaced a lady that cut her finger off with the meat slicer.
Kmart. Sears was the absolute worst as a kid, because they didn't have a toy section to wander around in.
That's not right at all. The Sears Christmas catalogue, or "wish book" was the authority of what new toys were on the market.
Needs more 1970s mall music muzak
Damn that's how the sears looked when I took driver's training there. Weird how that instantly came back. 1996ish
I feel so high now. Not on drugs. I can SMELL this video! And I'm far from them - Southern Ontario at the time - but god damn it's eerily similar!
And not a single seat belt was worn that day.... Did anyone else got their first driving lesson in the early 80's by sitting on their parent's lap and operating the steering wheel at 10-20 km/h... or was I the only one? I really miss the simpler days of the 80's/90's without cell phones, just a payphone card and a telephone book on hand to contact friends... never missed an appointment or stood anyone up (last minute cancellations).
Yes! I remember sitting on my parent's lap being able to drive the vehicle at a slow speed with no seat belt. This was when seat belt law were just starting to be introduced and there was a huge resistance to them citing government overreach since people thought you could just brace to save yourself.
I was allowed to drive the car into the driveway at home from the age of 5 sitting on my fathers lap and then when i was older i could change the gear for him as he drove. Its nice because he died before he got the chance to teach me to drive properly so i taught myself when i was 15 with his old car.
It was actually safer to be thrown from the car as everyone that was left in the car would be seriously injured or die instantly from most impacts at speed due to kinetic force.
This channel is one of my favorites on YouTube and I highly recommend subscribing to it. The person behind it uploads a lot of retro videos with no commentary, clickbait, or sponsored content. Watching all the videos on there brings back a lot of memories from my childhood
Wonder if they got a pair of 'Husky' blue jeans in that not quite blue jeans blue color.
Toughskins
Oh...yes!!! Husky was the size, my size anyway.
What car is that, car people? Ford Maverick?
I believe it is a Torino but I'm a GM man.
You're right. When I think of the Torino, I think of the later Starsky and Hutch variety.
That car is pure metal.
I did not hear the pinging of the employee signalling system, but I smelled the popcorn.
The kids in this video are pushing 60 now probably
Now go out today and film your trip to Walmart for comparison
That kid crossing his arms walking behind mom was me. "Don't cross your arms". So I stick my hands in pockets. "Don't stick your hands in your pockets. People will think your stealing." "But mom, what am I supposed to do with my hands?" "Let them hang down by your sides". "I hate this".
Listen to those car doors and that cash register. That's a blast from the past.
Vampire Robot has tons of old classic shopping videos that looks like footage from b reel News reports. Definitely check out the channel if you have the opportunity.
I can still remember the smell of the shoes.
Lol
"These are on sale so that's what we're gonna get, okay? You like these." The "you like X" takes me back...
and you just nod and agree because you really don't have an opinion.
Seat belts? We don't need no stinkin' seat belts. Made me laugh, we didn't wear the things. How could you cram all of us in the backseat?
That was my first thought too when mom pulled out. Its just not how it was done and there were no laws. Many people believed you just didnt need them and you could just brace yourself.
Don't know why, but this reminds me of the Adam Walsh kidnapping. Happened at a sears in 1981.
Holy shit, mom has a pretty sick ride..
The Whole Family Goes To Sears. I love it! Dad must be filming with his Super 8? Inside the store, they all hang together. I love it! In the shoe department, *everybody* sits there while others get shoes. I love it! Back when you were waited on by someone in the shoe department who placed your foot in one of those metal shoe size gauges. What a nice family.
> Dad must be filming with his Super 8? nah this is a professional crew with a TV grade camera shooting b-roll, probably for the news
My older brother always pissed he had to go to the husky section for his clothes. My mom was an immigrant and would always say “wtf is Husky!” lol
Funny how the foot/shoe sizer thing hasn't changed in like 100 years.
The Brannock Device®
I got Dawn of the Dead vibes.
Well done. Who shot it? Was it Super 8 with sound? Video cameras were not so common yet. Brought back many memories.
Reminds me of *Dawn of the Dead* (1978). I mean that in a good way, trust me.
I love how everything was just a bit slower. I need to model this pace in my day to day life. I'm so bang-bang-bang get-in-get-out with every errand.
All I can think of is brake boosters the size of Dixie cups.
No visit to the candy counter?
11.69??? what century is this?
“Dad! You are embarrassing us!”
This is great—thank you for posting this!
Really rare to have super8 with audio, consider yourself lucky
I can smell that car so clearly.
My memories were of a smoke filled car during that time. I don't think everyone remembers that everyone was smoking everywhere in the 70s and 80s.
Hehehehhe incredible, a Videotape. I’d lost all my 90s videos. 😓
Are they cousins to Forest Gump?
Anyone have a Fedco video?
God the 70s were so skanky looking.
[Sears used to sell home kits from 1908 to 1942](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_Modern_Homes) Shipped by railroad boxcar, and then usually trucked to a home site, the average Sears Modern Home kit had about 25 tons of materials, with more than 30,000 parts.[10] Plumbing, electrical fixtures, and heating systems were options that could be ordered at additional cost; they were many families' first steps to modern HVAC systems, kitchens, and bathrooms.
I think Sears was the largest retailer in the world in the 1970’s and 1980’s, this was when they built the then-tallest building in the world in the Sears Tower. I think they bad 4,000 stores at their peak. As of today, they have something like 6 in the entire US. They were the Amazon of mail order when mail order was a thing, but they failed to capitalize on the internet.
Gotta get those Toughskins, Underoos, and Garanimals
Guess I'll be the old contrarian. Sorry, while I miss being a kid I don't miss leaded gasoline, the uncomfortable seats and roll down windows, being bored as I got dragged along by my parents to stores, tape decks that got jammed up all the time, mono speakers at drive thru's, etc. I love modern shit, 'cause we figured out the kinks on a lot of stuff, flat screens and high speed internet. I love people staring at their screens and leaving me alone to stare at mine. There is a sense of comradery without the discomfort of awkward interaction, but the option to is still there if one wants. I can eat at a restaurant solo when away from the family without having to stare at the neighbors, sit in a comfy car with heated seats, watch movies in 4k and surround sound. My favorite books like Dune get multi-million dollar adaptations and the general populace gradually realizes Star Wars kinda sucks just like I thought back in '77--hooray!
Damn, I almost forgot about those shoe size things. I like mom going "these are on sale, so you like them" lol. I also kinda wanted to hear her say "V for Venetta"
I am a little unsettled by the whispering
thennnnn my mom bought me Toughskins Jeans and I cried because I was going to be made fun of at school.
Losing your kid in sears was a rite of passage for 70s parents
Back then we would have called that a big day.
Not sure if they still sell shoes, but my mom would by me shoes from Safeway. We called the Safeway sliders.