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Boomers and Gen Xers recall 17 things they loved in old-school restaurants that are long gone

"Cafeterias in discount stores. K-Mart had a delicious orange drink that I absolutely loved."

via Sandra Foyt/Flickr and Reddit

A Farell's sundae and a Pizza Hut lamp.

Dining out was a different experience in the 1970s and 1980s. Many of the pizza places and family restaurants were elaborate, sit-down joints with ornate decorations, theming, and plenty of video games. The dining experience also catered to smokers, with ashtrays on the table, smoking sections, and machines that distributed cigarettes by the bathrooms.

These days, when you go to a department store or big-box retailer, it’s rare that you’ll find anywhere to sit down and eat besides maybe a Starbucks or, in some Walmarts, a McDonald’s tucked into the corner. But department stores used to have sit-down grills or places to relax and have a hot dog. It was also assumed that going to a K-Mart, GEMCO, or Sears in the ‘70s and ‘80s would smell like freshly popped popcorn.


There was also a time when fast-food restaurants were a lot more elegant. You could get some decent greens at the salad bar in a Carls, Jr., Wendy’s had a great taco buffet, and it wasn’t uncommon to be able to relax in the glow of a solarium while scarfing down fries. Let’s not even get started about how incredible and imaginative the McDonald’s Play Place was.

A group of folks born in 1980 or later shared the things they miss the most about eating establishments that no longer exist on the AskOldPeople Reddit subforum, and it brought back some delightful, if not smoky, memories for many. It also taught young people that an eating establishment doesn’t need to be sterile; a bit of theming and tons of breadsticks can go a long way.

1. Pizza Hut was fantastic

"I miss when Pizza Hut had dining rooms. Dark, plastic Tiffany hanging lamps over each table, and those plastic red cups."
"Pizza Hut is permanently etched into my brain. It was such a treat to go there. The smell of pizza when you walked in the door, the tablecloths, the plastic red cups."

"I always liked the tabletop arcade games that were the start of my gargoyle curve in my posture."

2. Farrell's ice cream was epic

"Farrell's Ice Cream. Every time someone ordered a Zoo -- a bowl with 20 scoops of ice cream, usually for parties -- they'd bring it out on a stretcher-like item, carried by two people. And they'd ring a bell and blow a siren and generally make a racket, and run around the restaurant with it before bringing it to the table. And if one person ate a whole Zoo? An announcement, also accompanied by sirens, bells, etc. And I think for every birthday, also, which included the singing of Happy Birthday by the whole restaurant. Basically, every trip to Farrell's was sure to include multiple loud interruptions to the meal. It was a blast."

"Omg Farrell’s old timey candy store by the register was so fantastic."


3. Cigarette machines in waiting areas

"The closest place to buy cigs was a nice restaurant. If you needed change for the machine, the bartender would help you out. Nobody cared if you were 12."

4. Mini jukeboxes

"Small jukebox at your table to choose songs and insert your quarter (for 3 songs)."

"One of my favorite memories! When I was a kid, we'd go to a diner on Sundays with the little jukebox at the table, and I'd play Heartbreak Hotel every time. Whenever I hear that song I'm right back in that booth."

5. Fewer chain restaurants

"I remember a lot more locally owned restaurants, and fewer chains. When you were on vacation, there would be all these different local restaurants and you would have to ask around to find the good ones. And you would get food that was different than what you would have at home. Now every town seems to have the same chains and the restaurants and the food are all the same."

6. The golden era of salad bars

"Salad bars, lots of restaurants had salad bars in the 1980s. Now, I can't think of one locally. Ruby Tuesday's, but I think they are all closed."

"Remember when Wendy's had this huge salad bar / potato bar thing that everyone loved? Looks like Wendy's closed all of those in 2006 or earlier. I'd say that's about the time that salad bars started to completely fade."



7. Arcade games in pizza joints

"When’s the last time you saw a Street Fighter or other game at any local store?! I’ve been to some laundromats that have old grubby and often broken machines, but outside of deals like that it’s like they just completely disappeared!"

"Oh god, yes. I remember my last great birthday as a kid, 12 maybe 13, my two friends and I went to the local pizza place and after sharing that large with all the gooey cheese carried out on the tray all smoking and greasy, we blew an entire roll of quarters beating some game, I think it was Aliens. We spent that entire roll of quarters and finished the game. That's still my favorite birthday memory from when I was a kid."

8. Discount store cafeterias

"Cafeterias in discount stores. K-Mart had a delicious orange drink that I absolutely loved. And going to Woolworth's for a burger, fries, and a chocolate shake."

"Around the early 1970s, Thrifty had a section with booths and food. Sister and I would go there often. After we ate, we'd go to the front of the store and get an ice cream cone... with the cylindrical scoops. Back then, it was 5 cents a scoop. We always got three :)"

9. Smoking sections

"My first job was as a hostess at a restaurant: 'Smoking or non-smoking?'"

"We went to a restaurant once and asked for non-smoking; the hostess led us to a random table and took the ashtray away. Presto, that was now the non-smoking table."


10. Free matches

"Matches with the restaurant's name embossed on them, by the register, next to the mints."

"Speaking of which, how do they solve crimes today without restaurant matches for clues?"

11. Breadsticks and crackers galore

"A basket with all different varieties of crackers and breadsticks to go with your cup or bowl of soup."

12. McDonald's deep-fried pies

"I had a friend who swears up and down, that before the FDA required ingredients lists, McDonald's Apple Pies were made with potato chunks, apple sauce, cinnamon, sugar, etc."

"'CAUTION: FILLING IS HOT!' We'd repeat it out loud and snicker every time we bought them :)"


13. Parsley

"You used to get a few sprigs of parsley on your plate. You weren't supposed to eat it. It was for decoration."

"Parsley is a good breath freshener after a meal."

14. Better atmosphere

"Whether it's nostalgia or real, I'd say the effort that went into building the atmosphere of a restaurant. It used to be an experience. Restaurants, especially asian ones or buffets would go all out on the ambience and variety. I remember fish tanks, complimentary pots of green tea, fortune cookies, exotic fruits or dishes etc. Now as Elaine from Seinfeld puts it you feel like a hog about to fill up at the trough."

"Nowadays, the problem is that minimalistic and uniform is mistaken for modern. Anything quirky, personable or fun is generally seen as tacky, unprofessional, lacking in class. Unless you're a chain with a theme of some sort. This goes for architecture in general. Restaurants definitely, I think shopping malls have definitely suffered, also."

15. Butter on cardboard

"Little yellow pats of butter on a square of cardboard."

"Whoa. I haven’t had that image in my brain for a loooong time."

16. Ashtrays on tables

"Those little foil ashtrays they had at McDonald’s. I used to fold them up to amuse myself."

"I liked the ones at Burger King better. They were gold LOL."

17. Cocktails on placemats

"When I was a kid in the 70s, many restaurants had paper placemats that were cocktail menus. There’d be photos of each cocktail with fun names like Singapore sunset, grasshopper, pink lady, monkey’s kiss, etc. They looked so good and I couldn’t wait to grow up to order them all one day. But sadly, by the time I was old enough to drink, those menus had long gone."




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Pop Culture

Parents who grew up in the '70s and '80s remember the experiences that blow their kids' minds

Kids were tougher then for a reason.

via Wikimedia Commons

Island School Class, circa 1970s.

Parents, do you think your child would be able to survive if they were transported back to the '70s or '80s? Could they live at a time before the digital revolution put a huge chunk of our lives online? These days, everyone has a phone in their pocket, but before then, if you were in public and needed to call someone, you used a pay phone. Can you remember the last time you stuck 50 cents into one and grabbed the grubby handset?

According to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, roughly 100,000 pay phones remain in the U.S., down from 2 million in 1999. Do you think a 10-year-old kid would have any idea how to use a payphone in 2022? Would they be able to use a Thomas Guide map to find out how to get somewhere? If they stepped into a time warp and wound up in 1975, could they throw a Led Zeppelin album on the record player at a party?

Another big difference between now and life in the '70s and '80s has been public attitudes toward smoking cigarettes. In 1965, 42.4% of Americans smoked and now, it’s just 12.5%. This sea change in public opinion about smoking means there are fewer places where smoking is deemed acceptable.

But in the early '80s, you could smoke on a bus, on a plane, in a movie theater, in restaurants, in the classroom and even in hospitals. How would a child of today react if their third grade teacher lit up a heater in the middle of math class?

Dan Wuori, senior director of early learning at the Hunt Institute, tweeted that his high school had a smoking area “for the kids.” He then asked his followers to share “something you experienced as a kid that would blow your children’s minds.”


A lot of folks responded with stories of how ubiquitous smoking was when they were in school. While others explained that life was perilous for a kid, whether it was the school playground equipment or questionable car seats.

Here are a few responses that’ll show today’s kids just how crazy life used to be in the '70s and '80s.

First of all, let’s talk about smoking.

Want to call someone? Need to get picked up from baseball practice? You can’t text mom or dad, you’ll have to grab a quarter and use a pay phone.

People had little regard for their kids’ safety or health.

You could buy a soda in school.

Things were a lot different before the internet.

Remember pen pals?

A lot of people bemoan the fact that the children of today aren’t as tough as they were a few decades back. But that’s probably because the parents of today are better attuned to their kids’ needs so they don't have to cheat death to make it through the day.

But just imagine how easy parenting would be if all you had to do was throw your kids a bag of Doritos and a Coke for lunch and you never worried about strapping them into a car seat?


This article originally appeared three years ago.

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Health

Trying to guess which twin smokes is the perfect way to help you quit

Nobody would call smoking “glamorous” after seeing these comparisons.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

Which twin smoked?

It's not revolutionary news that smoking wreaks havoc on your body in different ways. More often than not, however, the focus of anti-smoking campaigns is on your internal health, citing emphysema, heart disease, and lung cancer, to name just a few consequences.

While the superficial effects may not be as lethal, appealing to people's sense of vanity can have a powerful effect as this clever gallery below shows. Twins, only one of whom smokes, sit side by side, showing the profound damage smoking can cause to your face, hair, and teeth.

The twins' circumstances vary in each set of pictures, but the differences and effects are undeniable. In some instances, one of the twins never smoked. In others, the "smoking" twin had smoked for at least five years longer than the other "non-smoking" twin.

Though they're not common knowledge, the effects of smoking on your appearance are predictable and consistent. You can identify a smoker with ease if you know what you're looking for. Harmful smoke, dehydration, and even the heat from a burning cigarette can damage your complexion, hair, and eyes. The photos below helpfully point out the symptoms and effects on the smoking twin.

The photos here were taken from those of 79 pairs of identical twins at the Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. Though they weren't taken with this use in mind, that allows them to serve as an even more powerful testament to the effects as perceived by casual observers.

1. The eyes are a strong "tell" if someone's a smoker or not. In this photo, the smoker is the man on the right. He has smaller, more sunken eyes and carries more wrinkles throughout his face than his twin on the left. You'll also notice his hairline has receded further than his brother's. That's a little-known though hardly surprising effect of smoking habitually.

health, danger of smoking, studies on smoking, mental health

Can you tell the smoker?

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

2. Here, the difference is profound. Though they're the same age, they look almost like they represent different generations. The smoking twin on the right has done so for 16 years, and it's manifested in a number of ways. Most noticeable is the pervasive discoloration of her skin compared to her twin on the left. Less noticeable, but still apparent, is the damage done to her lips, eyes, and even her hair. It's difficult to believe they're even related, let alone twins.

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Did I get this one wrong?

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

3. This comparison is less glaring but still apparent. The twin on the left is the smoker. You can see many more pronounced wrinkles on her forehead, under her eyes, and around her nose. There are also pronounced bags under her eyes.

skin aging, medicine, medical insurance, damaged hair

Some differences are more subtle than others.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

4. In this comparison, the smoking twin only smokes about two cigarettes per day, so the difference will be less profound. The twin on the right is the smoker. The differences are on the subtle side, mostly the more damaged hair and the squintier eyes.

twins, research, studies

Smoking can cause a receding hair line.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.


5. Based on what you've read in the earlier side by side pics, you might be able to ID the right twin as the smoker due to the discolored and receding hair as well as the aged skin.

wrinkles, aging, smoking

Smoking appears to cause more gray.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

6. These two twins are both elderly, so the differences are slightly less pronounced. Though the left twin has more graying hair, it's the right twin that's the smoker. She's got a droopier face, especially on the outside of the eyes. The wrinkles are also more pronounced in the brow and upper lip.

wrinkles, skin, health

The hallmarks of smoking apparent on the skin.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

7. Though the two sisters here are also older, it's easier to distinguish the smoker. The left sister bears the hallmarks all over her skin. Her cheek, outer eye, and neck all look weathered from her habit. Not only is she more wrinkled, but the skin has begun to discolor from the fair tone her sister has.

discoloration of skin, dermatology, identifying factors

Wrinkles around the lips distinguish the smoker.

Image via Wolters Kluwer Health.

8. Here it's pretty difficult to tell. The woman on the left is the smoker. She sports slightly discolored lips that are upon inspection, more wrinkled than her sister's. Since the lips are the most proximate to the smoke, they are a pretty telling feature when it comes to identifying smokers.

The pics above show a lot of singular traits that can call out a smoker, but it can be a lot more simple than that. Speaking to the NY Daily News, dermatologist Elizabeth Tanzi from George Washington Medical Center dispenses with the jargon, stating, "Smoking makes you look old. That's all there is to it."


This article originally appeared on 11.01.16

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Health

Cancer deaths are down an incredible 33% since 1991. Here’s why.

More breakthroughs are on the horizon.

via Oregon State University/Flickr

An X-ray of a cancerous lung.

There’s great news from the war on cancer. A new report from the American Cancer Society shows that the cancer death rate has fallen 33% since 1991. An estimated 3.8 million deaths have been averted due to the decline. The study was based on the most recent data available from 2020.

Currently, the top six causes of death in the U.S. are heart disease, cancer, COVID-19, accidents, stroke and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

“The biggest reason for the decline that started in 1991 was the prevalence of smoking in the United States started going down in 1965,” said Dr. Otis Brawley, an oncology professor at Johns Hopkins University and former chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, according to CNN. “Now, in certain diseases, our ability to treat has improved, and there are some people who are not dying because of treatment.”

via Pixabay

Over the past six decades, the prevalence of smoking in the U.S. has gone down dramatically. In 1965, 42% of Americans smoked cigarettes; in 2019 it was just 14%. Cigarette smoking is known to cause lung, bladder and pancreatic cancers.

Another big reason for the drop in cancer mortality has been the development of the HPV vaccine. There was a 65% drop in cervical cancers in women in their 20s between 2012 to 2019. HPV infections are a leading cause of cervical cancers.

“There are other cancers that are HPV-related – whether that’s head and neck cancers or anal cancers – so there’s optimism this will have importance beyond this,” Dr. William Dahut, the American Cancer Society’s chief scientific officer said.

Since 1991 there has also been a decrease in mortality for leukemia, melanoma and kidney cancer.

The cancers that now have the highest survival rates are thyroid (98%), prostate (97%) and melanoma (94%). The deadliest form of cancer is pancreatic cancer, which has a 12% survival rate.

“The report showing the U.S. has cut cancer deaths by one-third over the last 30 years is great progress, which we’ve achieved through driving smoking rates down, improving early detection, and delivering better treatments for many cancers. It means millions of American families have been spared the immeasurable loss of a loved one,” White House Cancer Moonshot Coordinator Dr. Danielle Carnival said in a statement.

“The report also underscores that there’s more work to do to save more lives,” she continued. “President Biden’s vision for ending cancer as we know it is building on the progress we’ve made with an all-hands-on-deck effort to develop new ways to prevent, detect, and treat cancer – and ensure that the tools we have and those we develop along the way reach all Americans.”

The good news on the cancer front comes as there appears to be a breakthrough in the treatment and prevention of the disease on the horizon. There are multiple vaccines in the works that use the same mRNA technology behind the highly successful COVID-19 vaccines that could be used to prevent and treat cancer.

Uğur Şahin and Özlem Türeci, the co-founders of BioNTech, the German firm that partnered with Pfizer to manufacture a revolutionary mRNA COVID vaccine, told The Guardian they believe that cancer vaccines based on mRNA technology might be ready to be used in patients “before 2030.”

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