Our Scout troop did the same thing, but used the large Pay-for-Use pool near the Pike Amusement Park at the Rainbow Pier in Long Beach, CA. (thats now the Seaport Village and Convention Center area now). The Pool was indoors and was called the Crystal Plunge !! I have forgotten the amount they charged but it was cheap and we got a group rate for the one-night–a-month evening swims (with suits).

CSD,
“Swimming at the YMCA” brought a flashback. Early-1950’s. We didn’t have a Y in my hometown so a couple times a year our Scout Troop would go to the YMCA in the neighboring town 15 miles away. They had an indoor pool, self enclosed. Back then the rule was No Swim Suits! You swam butt naked. No big deal—Literally! [:I][:I][:D]

I remember selling cigarettes at my dad’s drug store (.15 for non filtered and .17 for filtered). The Chicago public schools sold milk in glass bottles during lunch time for 2 cents, chocolate was 3 cents. The kid’s price at the Saturday matinee was 15 cents and it was 5 cents to go swimming at the YMCA. We were all poor, but no one ever knew it because the things that made us happy were inexpensive.
 
CSD

Cigarettes were 15 cents a pack for the first two years we lived in the U.S. Virgin islands. I still recall how angry we were when the price skyrocketed to 17 cents a pack in 1969.

I recently saw an old (1967-68) “Dragnet” episode and Sgt. Friday had to pay 30 cents for a pack of smokes.  Nowadays the convenience stores push them as a great deal if a carton’s less than $50!

Brad

We paid 15 cent for a pack of Lucky Strikes while in Vietnam in 1968.

No, I don’t remember hearing any of that – must have had my Davy Crockett hat pulled down over my baby ears.
Thanks, mayor al, for pointing out that people in 1955 were being paid in 1955 money. Heck, one of them brand new Thunderbirds for only $2695? Why wasn’t everyone driving one of them? I’d like to find a chart that shows, over the years, how much this or that cost relative to an average salary. Some things, like color tv sets, have fairly plummeted.
From my own reference point, I remember when Ford started selling the DeTomaso Pantera in 1971 – an Italian exotic sports car, with a big-block Ford V8 – as a teenager it looked irresistible…but not at the nosebleed-territory price of $9995. Still a great bargain for a mid-engine supercar, but heck, you could get a new Corvette for $5972!

Yeah, comparing the value of the dollar in purchasing power (as I said above) is not only an exercise in futility, It is almost impossible for the people a generation down on the family tree to comprehend the difference.  I mean I listened to my Mom’s description of the depression years and the zero-income era, and watched all the movies about it too…but I really didn’t grasp the ‘real’ impact on the people at that time.
   Now that I am the representative of the Ancient Past (in my family) my kids and especially my grandkids look at me, when I talk “money”, the way I used to look at my parents.
  I guess the old line about not understanding a persons life until you’ve walked in their moccassans (sp?) or whatever…really is true.
 
I won’t even get into the real estate roller coaster, except to say SoCal was as extreme as Long Island over the years.  My first home purchase in Upstate NY- Rural Oneida County,  was $12,000 for a 16 acre farm with a decent farm house, 2% down on the new Viet G I Bill. (1968)
 
My takehome pay from that “Windfall Teacher Contract” was $99 a week. Married, two kids, one car, and the house. Is it any wonder we didn’t do much Roadfooding in that era ???

My wife grew up in Levittown – she is originally from Brooklyn and Queens – my mom and dad bought a Cape Cod style home in Yonkers in 1949 (just like those in Levittown)  for a little less than 10 grand.
 
When they both passed in 1999 it sold for a little under 200 grand.  My dad was a carpenter and very handy and over the years built a one car detached garage and finished the basement and attic.

Pizza Nut Old Boy—-the house was on Long Island in a town called Huntington, about 25 miles east of NYCity and about 5 from Hicksville which is named after a Hick.   Also about 5 miles from Levittown, named after a Levitt.  Huntington is noted……..oh you can google it and find out all about it.

In 1958 I bought a brand spanking new Ford Station Wagon—-Top of the line—8 cylinders with all the toys any boy could want—–for $1800.  In 1988 I bought another brand new Ford Station wagon –top of the line—with all the bells and whistles for $18,000. 

In 1954 I bought my first house—a 3 bedroom ranch on a 75×100 plot for $12,990.  Kept it for years as a rental and then sold it for $198,000 in 1990.

Funny how the prices of everything kept going up, but they are only numbers—-seems like a big difference, but as the guy says, you only get what you pay for.

What city was the house in?

CTF—–love the trip story.  In ’75 I drove the wife and 2 youngest sons to Disney World for a few days —-stayed at the Contempory Hotel  on premises—it was
“THE IN-PLACE”  — they still talk about that trip—

But, before you get in trouble you had better add all the places you ate on the trip and show pics of all the food. 

LOL, O Ancient One, the train food wasn’t “The Orient Express” type fare, as I recall, not bad though, my thrill was sitting in the “Dome Car’, watching the wild west whiz by at 110 mph, they had a speedometer in the front of the car.
In LA, we ate at Tiny Naylors, a bunch, my Father was not into gourmet dining. I remember we went to a Chinese restaurant in SF, I got Birds Nest Soup as an app., when I found out why it was named that, I gagged, the very thought of sticks with bird crap on them in a soup was beyond my 11 years of fish sticks, fried chicken, meat loaf, etc., [Irish Catholic food] culinery imagination.
I think I saw Micheal Hoffman at one of the Waffle Houses we had breakfast in [;)]. 11 yrs. old, Cheeseburgers and fries thanks! [:p]

Mayor AL, you were making a fortune teaching. My first teaching job (Friars Point, MS in 1966) paid $4200.

I’m surprised you made that much. Historically, MS has the lowest teacher salaries in the nation! I taught H.S. in Butler, PA in 1963 and made $4100/yr plus $500 for coaching the debate team! Got tired of eating cheap Hot Dogs & Kool-Aid and went into sales.

CTF—–love the trip story.  In ’75 I drove the wife and 2 youngest sons to Disney World for a few days —-stayed at the Contempory Hotel  on premises—it was
“THE IN-PLACE”  — they still talk about that trip—
 
But, before you get in trouble you had better add all the places you ate on the trip and show pics of all the food.