A post over on Reddit about kids today has me remembering when I was four years old, how my older brother and I would walk to the Stop'n'Shop, which was at least two miles round trip, to buy penny candy. This was when you could get candy for a penny a piece. My mother usually gave us each a nickel, probably to get us out of the house for an hour or two.
Now'n'Laters were my favorite. You could also get wax coke bottles, and chalky candy cigarettes. There were also candy bars, but those cost an entire nickel, so we never got those. Bazooka gum came with little cartoons inside the wrapper. Root beer barrels were also great.
The ice cream truck came by every day in the summer. Popsicles were a dime each, or you could get those chocolate coated ice cream bars. There were more expensive options, but my mother only gave us a dime each.
No wonder I have two abscessed teeth.
Anyway, the most astonishing part of this memory, to me, is that my mother let us walk all that way alone when we were four and five years old. Then again, when we weren't walking to the store, we were often out in the wilderness behind the house (the woods) for hours at a time, playing with matches and dodging snakes.
Also we were always barefoot. Well, I think we wore shoes in the winter. But other than that.
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Were you in Metairie at the time? If so, I know the Stop 'n' Shop you went to, and I used to walk there, by myself, all alone, no adults (emphasis for Millennials who can't imagine such a thing for a 6 or 7 year old), to buy penny candy as well.
If you weren't in Metairie, never mind.
Yes! It was that one over there on Napoleon Avenue. Later there was a snowball stand by it, and we used to ride our bikes up there.
Do you remember Dr. Nut soda?
I don't! But we didn't really drink soda. My mother drank Tab, if you remember that, but soda always hurt my mouth. Kool-Aid, milk, and water were our drinks of choice!
> Yes! It was that one over there on Napoleon Avenue.
That store figured prominently in my life from age 6 to 9. I don't know how well you knew the neighborhood on the other side of the canal, but we lived on Sandra Ave, and I'd walk to that store at least once a week, weather permitting.
Whenever I talk about how candy has become a meal, in terms of calories, that's what I talk about. How much smaller drinks and candy bars were. Economic theory through the eyes of a 6 year old.
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